Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Research Background
affected by the pan-Chinese nationalism1 to differing degrees. Over the past decade or so, political protests triggered by policies involving China‘s relationships with Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively have drawn attention to the identity issues in both societies. In the Taiwan case, it is the Sunflower Movement occurring in 2013 against the background of the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). In Hong Kong, it is the 2014 Umbrella (also called Occupy) Movement protesting against the decision issued by the Standing Committee of the National People‘s Congress regarding the proposed reforms to Hong Kong‘s electoral system.
Ma Man-fai, a politician and social activist from Hong Kong, proposed that Hong Kong should be listed as one of the ―Non-self-governing Territories‖. Hong Kong is now an autonomous administrative region of China, but it was heavily controlled by China as the result of Beijing‘s practicing ―One country, Two System‖. In recent years, the political conflicts in Hong Kong have been argued to reflect the dissatisfaction of Hong Kongers with the Hong Kong government and the Chinese central government. Moreover, the widely shared dissatisfaction has affected negatively the level of trust of general Hong Kongers in Hong Kong governments and Beijing. As Steinhardt, Li & Jiang (2018) has pointed out, the trust in the central government affect the national identity of Hong Kongers.
The concept of ―One Country, Two Systems‖ was established by Deng Xiao-ping in the 1980s. It was adapted to Hong Kong since 1997, after the transfer of Hong Kong sovereignty. The ―50 years unchanged‖ principle will expire in 2047. The immense success of Hong Kong‘s economy has shown that the system itself is perfect for a win-win situation for both Hong Kong and China. According to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, Hong Kong ranked 3rd out of 141 economies globally, it is the highest of all Asian economies. However, Hong Kong‘s democracy was deeply
1 Pan-Chinese Nationalism: The pan-Chinese nationalism is one perspective of ―new nationalism‖ in China in the 1990s to promote a set of shared values and cultural identity to hold the overseas Chinese,
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concerned by the world in 2019. In the 2019 Democracy Index, established by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), a photo from the Hong Kong‘s demonstration was selected as the report‘s cover page, the report also addressed the reason behind the protest. The report divided the countries into four grades, Hong Kong belongs to
―flawed democracy‖, similar to most Asian countries. In the report, Hong Kong ranked 75th, down from most Southeast Asian countries.
Since 1997, the Chinese Central Government began to promote the national identity in Hong Kong, which contrasts to the local identity formed under colonial period. Also, the influx of mainland immigrants has already begun to provoke new social tensions in Hong Kong society. Each day, 150 Chinese residents obtain a one-way entry permit to legally reside in Hong Kong. The 2003 National Security Bill (Legislative Provisions) was the straw that broke the camel‘s back and caused discontent among the Hong Kongers over the Chinese central government. The bill implementing Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which stated that:
“The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organisations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organisations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organisations or bodies.”
Many Hong Kongers think the Article 23 might affect the freedom of speech in Hong Kong and it violates the ―One country, Two systems‖. On 1 July 2003, 500,000 Hong Kong citizens joined a massive protest calling for the withdrawal of the bill. In the latest book published by a famous Hong Kong writer – Chip Tsao, he recalled the peaceful demonstration and said that these protesters were so well-behaved.
After the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, the support for the anti-China localism has grown rapidly among the younger generations (Wong, Zheng and Wan, 2020).
Young Hong Kongers have become the leaders in social movements. The role of the political generation in identity processes also helps explain how individuals who share a socially devalued identity, but have little else in common, develop new standards of
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self-approval (Brown and Rohlinger, 2016). In 2019, 2,000,000 Hong Kong citizens joined another massive demonstration to pull back the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill. The movement highlights the opposition of the Hong Kong government and the protesters. The protesters called on the Hong Kong government to respond to the ―five demands‖, which include a complete withdrawal of the Extradition Bill, withdraw the proclamation of the ―riots‖ at the protests on June 9 and 12; withdraw all criminal charges against all protesters; investigate the abuse of power by the Hong Kong police and the implementation of Dual Universal Suffrage.
In the survey conducted by Hong Kong University‘s Public Opinion Program, the ethnic identity of ―Hong Kongers‖ in 2019 has reached its highest level since 1997 and the number also reached a higher level in the year the political incident occurred.
According to Klandermans (2013), collective identity, politicized collective identity, dual identity, and multiple identities are concepts that help to understand and describe the social psychological dynamics of protest. This explains why the social movements in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong identity have had an impact on each other.
In 2019, EIU compared the cost of living in 133 cities with New York, and Hong Kong is one of the most costly cities – alongside Paris and Singapore. Another research was conducted by MERCER, the world‘s largest human resources consulting firm, also comparing the cost of living of 209 cities with New York City, Hong Kong has the highest rent in the world. According to data from the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, the median monthly employment earnings of employed persons aged 20 to 59 were 16,600 Hong Kong dollars in 2017. Social problems in Hong Kong have become severe, in particular the issue of housing, quality of life and mental health. In the 2020 World Happiness Report, which evaluated people‘s happiness level in 2017-2019, Hong Kong ranked 78 out of 153 countries in the world.
Taiwan ranks 25th in the same report, which is the highest in Asia. In the 2018 report, it also analyzed the foreign-born migrant‘s happiness ranking in different countries. In this report, Taiwan ranks 38th, 3rd among Asian countries.
Since the mid-19th century, Hong Kong has been the main nodal port linking trans-Pacific Chinese migration. Beginning with the 1984 Sino-British Joint
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contrasts in the socio-political systems and economic development between Hong Kong and China have worried many Hong Kongers. From 1984 to 1995, an estimated 500,000 Hong Kong residents had immigrated to countries such as Canada, the United States, Australia and the UK (Chan & Fung, 2018) to avoid political risk. Today, the trend of international migrants has grown from 153 million in the 1990s to 244 million in 2015 (World Happiness Report, 2018). In addition, an estimated 700 million people want to move but have not yet moved. As for the recent trend, many Hong Kongers choose to migrate to Taiwan – a place that has a similar ideology and culture with Hong Kong; a better geographic location (not connected to China); lower living expenses when compared to Hong Kong. And more importantly, Taiwan has a lower migration threshold than other countries, which have attracted a lot of young migrants aged 30 to 40. Those young people were very much affected by the political incident in Hong Kong, the decision to emigrate was taken on complex reasons and motives. What makes the Hong Kongers come to Taiwan? Has the living experience in Taiwan strengthen their sense of identity? How‘s their life in Taiwan? To answer the above questions, this paper explores the stories of Hong Kongers who now live in Taiwan.Table 1. Number of Hong Kongers who received ARC/APRC in Taiwan, 2016-2019
Year Approval for ARC Approval for APRC
2016 4057 1086
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government has provided many friendly policies to the Hong Kongers, and the number of migrants from Hong Kong and Macau has grown since 2013. Since 2013, the number of approvals for the Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) have increased slightly, and even decreased from 2016 to 2017. From 2018 to 2019, the number of approvals for ARC and APRC increased by 41% and 35% respectively. In 2019, there were 5858 Hong Kongers obtained the ARC and 1474 Hong Kongers obtained the APRC. Growth is strong in comparison to previous years. For sure, following the political incidents in Hong Kong, there will be more Hong Kongers deciding to migrate. Why they come to Taiwan and what they are looking for are important, this paper will try to find them out.