Chapter 4. Identity of Hong Kongers in Taiwan
4.3 Cultural Identity and Collective Memories
4.4.2 Yellow Economic Circle in Taiwan
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the political issues, both people struggle for democracy and the separate identity from China. Today, the political issue in Hong Kong has alarmed Taiwanese youth and forced them to rethink the future of Taiwan. As a platform, Dcard allows students to exchange views and even affected their peers from other places, it has brought positive effects and allow students to think.
When comparing interviewees of different ages, it‘s clear that those who are younger are more willing to participate in politics using SNSs, especially on local issues (the political incidents in Hong Kong). This is consistent with Davidson and Cotter (1989) research, people with a strong sense of community expressed themselves politically through a variety of channels. Through their conversation with family and friends, they have begun to reflect on their self-identity. For the interviewees who are older, they still maintain certain ties with political incidents in Hong Kong, but they may not have much political dialogues with family and friends publicly. They are more willing to focus on helping other Hong Kongers in Taiwan to solve their daily life issues.
4.4.2 Yellow Economic Circle in Taiwan
The ethnic economy may be defined as an economic sub-system within a larger economy (Collier, 2001), and the ethnic economy exists whenever any immigrant or ethnic minority maintains a private economic sector in which it has a controlling ownership stake‘ (Light & Karageorgis, 1994). An ethnic economy consists of two sectors: the ethnic-controlled economy and the ethnic ownership economy (Light, 2005). Here, the ―Yellow Economic Circle ( 黃 色 經 濟 圈 )‖ in Taiwan may be defined as one of the potential ethnic economy. Following by more Hong Kongers move to Taiwan, and after they set up more restaurants or stores here.
The scale of this potential ethnic economy will enlarge, how it will affect Taiwanese society is still unpredictable and observable.
The ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ in Hong Kong was formed by shops or restaurants that support the yellow side. Those who support the yellow side will also choose to visit such shops or restaurants rather than the blue side. On H‘s Facebook page, he always uses the ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ hash-tag when visiting Hong
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Kongese restaurants in Taiwan. According to him, the ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ in Taiwan is also possible. As B said, Hong Kong migrants in Taiwan build a strong connection in different cities, with regular meetings and gatherings to help new migrants get familiar with their life in Taiwan. The setup of ―Yellow Stores(黃店)‖ in Taiwan is one example that the sense of community affects the political behaviour of individuals. Indeed, most of the Hong Kong migrants have chosen to set up the Hong Kongese restaurant or shops in Taiwan, and they usually show their political attitude in their restaurants or shops. Hong Kongers in Taiwan also selectively visit restaurants or shops that have the same political stance with them.
Recently, D ordered a lunch delivery from a Hong Kongese restaurant in Taipei with his colleagues. He sends me a photo of a memo received in the delivery:
Figure 17. Memo from Interviewee D
D doesn‘t know at first that the restaurant is a ―yellow store‖, but after receiving this memo, one of his Hong Kong colleagues told him that the owner of the restaurant had studied in Taiwan and opened the restaurant after graduating. When D‘s colleagues order delivery, they sometimes send a message and say ―Add oil Hong Kong (香港加油)!‖ to the restaurant, and the restaurant‘s owner responded through memos. According to the interviewees, most Hong Kongers in Taiwan share the same political stances and have a strong self-identification as ―Hong Kongers‖. The set-up
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of ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ in Taiwan further enhances their sense of belonging to their Hong Kong identity even if they live in Taiwan.
According to my own observation, before 2019, it‘s not popular in Taiwan to show one‘s political attitude in restaurants or shops, even though it‘s opened by Hong Kongers in Taiwan. But following the contradiction between Hong Kongers and the Hong Kong government, Hong Kongers in Taiwan express their political stance in Taiwan to show support to their people. In 2020, two iconic ―yellow store‖ opened in Taipei, which began building the ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ in Taiwan. One of them is the Aegis restaurant (保護傘) opened by Daniel Wong Kwok-tung, a lawyer from Hong Kong who volunteered to provide legal assistance to protesters arrested as part of the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, to support protesters who came to Taiwan. Another one is the Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店), which was opened by former Causeway Bay Books‘ owner, Lam Wing Kee.
When deciding where to shop or where to eat, Hong Kongers in Taiwan prioritizes to visit the yellow stores or restaurants, to show their support for their people, as well as representing their political views. And Taiwanese people often visit these restaurants to enjoy Hong Kongese cuisine.
In addition, the ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ does not only affects Hong Kongers in Taiwan, but it‘s more localized and includes local Taiwanese stores or restaurants that support the Hong Kong protestors. A symbolic example of the local Taiwanese ―yellow store‖ is the restaurant ―Ahua‘s store (阿華的店)‖. The restaurant was established in the 1970s, at the golden age of the Taiwanese social movement. It has been considered as the holy land of democracy in Taiwan25. The store owner – Ahua supports Hong Kong democracy and has displayed political brochures and posters in the restaurant.
25 阿 才 的 店 老 闆 阿 華 去 世 台 灣 味 見 證 民 主 史 Retrieved from:
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202002210341.aspx
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Figure 18. Hong Kong related Stickers and Slogan in Ahua‘s Store 26
Another example is the Café Philo, the founders showed their attention to social issues, in particular democracy and equal rights. They also show their support for the Hong Kong protesters by setup the ―Lennon Wall‖ in the store and use stickers to write ―STAND WITH HK‖ on the display window.
26阿才的店 Facebook Retrieved from:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2730670737058427&set=a.1163913303734186
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Figure 19. Lennon Wall in Café Philo27
Figure 20. ―Stand With HK‖ Slogan on Café Philo‘s display window28
27Retrieved from:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2419184831451681&set=a.1144959755540868
28Retrieved from:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2647878818582280&set=a.1207345102635666
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This is just the beginning of the ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ in Taiwan. But we can be sure of that: Hong Kongers in Taiwan will play an important role in its development and it will be able to strengthen the cohesion of Hong Kongers in Taiwan. In the previous section, the case of young Hong Kongers has been used to discuss the relationship between the sense of community, identity and political behaviour of Hong Kongers in Taiwan. Combined the analysis with the discussion on the Yellow Economic Circle in Taiwan, it indicates that the Hong Konger‘s sense of community has had a positive correlation with their identity and both affect their political behaviour.
This chapter began with the self-identification of the interviewees. There are significant differences between different age groups: for the young Hong Kongers, they have different paths exploring their identity, politics is one factor affecting their self-identification. For other interviewees, politics might not be the factor affects their self-identification. Then, three perspectives of collective identity were discussed using the case of Hong Kongers in Taiwan: national identity, cultural identity and social identity. In the analysis, factors affecting identity formation were identified and the differences between ―Hong Konger‖ and ―Chinese‖ are significant in distinguishing the Hong Kong identity from Chinese ethnic identity. In terms of national identity, immigrants from China and the policies of the Hong Kong government are two main factors. For cultural identity, preserving the local culture of Hong Kong in Taiwan is one way for Hong Kongers to present their identity. Which consistent with Verkuyten and Brug‘s study in 2004: the more minority group people who identify with their ethnic group, they are more likely to consider the importance of preserving their home culture. For social identity, the study of sense of community was used as a discussion aspect. The use of social media and the formation of the ―Yellow Economic Circle‖ in Taiwan are covered in this section too.
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