¹ Unlike many other colonies, Hong Kong society was generally satisfied with its colonial ruler. A poll found that 39.4 per cent of respondents had affectionate memories of the British administration, compared to 20.6 per cent who had negative feelings (Apple Daily, 30 June 1997). Another poll reported that two-thirds of respondents believed that the British government had done more good than harm in the development of Hong Kong (Pop Express, Social Science Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Special Release of 19 June 1998). See also Siu-kai, Lau, ‘The Rise and Decline of Political Support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’, Government and Opposition , 34:3 (Summer 1999), pp. 352–71Google Scholar.

² See Chi-kuen, Lau, Hong Kong’s Colonial Legacy , Hong Kong, The Chinese University Press, 1997, pp. 15–17 Google Scholar.

³ Weber, Max, ‘The Nation’, in Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds), Nationalism , Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 25.Google Scholar

⁴ Calhoun, Craig, Nationalism , Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1997, p. 5 Google Scholar.

⁵ Following Anthony D. Smith, the nation is ‘a named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members’. See Smith, Anthony D., National Identity , London, Penguin, 1991, p. 4 Google Scholar.

⁶ Adopting Mann’s Weberian understanding, the state is defined as ‘a differentiated set of institutions and personnel embodying centrality, in the sense that political relations radiate outward to cover a territorially demarcated area, over which it claims a monopoly of binding and permanent rule-making, backed up by physical violence’. Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, Vol. 1: A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 37.

⁷ The nation and the state may work closely together, but one does not dominate the other. There are cases when the nation rises up against the state.

⁸ Smith, Anthony D., Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era , Cambridge, Polity Press, 1995, p. 159 Google Scholar.

⁹ Miller, David, On Nationality , Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995 Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Verba, Sidney, ‘Sequences and Development’ in Binder, Leonard (ed.), Crisis and Sequences in Political Development , Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1970, p. 299 Google Scholar.

¹¹ The official emigration estimates showed an overall upward trend since the 1980s. The out-migration estimates in 1980 were 22,400 and peaked at 62,000 in 1994. See Skeldon, Ronald, ‘Emigration from Hong Kong, 1945–1994’ in Skeldon, Ronald (ed.), Emigration from Hong Kong: Tendencies and Impacts , Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 1995, p. 57 Google Scholar.

¹² Hobsbawm, Eric, ‘Introduction: Inventing Traditions’, in Hobsbawn, Eric and Ranger, Terence (eds), The Invention of Tradition , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983 Google Scholar.

¹³ Cerulo, Karen A., ‘Symbols and the World Systems: National Anthems and Flags’, Sociological Forum , 8:2 (1993), pp. 243–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴ Cerulo, Karen A., Identity Designs: The Sights and Sounds of a Nation , New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 1995 Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism, London, Thousand Oaks, Cal. and New Delhi, Sage, 1995.

¹⁶ Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition, op. cit.; and Siskind, Janet, ‘The Invention of Thanksgiving: A Ritual of American Nationality’, Critique of Anthropology , 12:2 (1992), pp. 167–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁷ Smith, Anthony D., National Identity , London, Penguin, 1991 Google Scholar; Prys Morgan, ‘From a Death to a View: The Hunt for the Welsh Past in the Romantic Period’, in Hobsbawn and Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition, op. cit.

¹⁸ David Miller, On Nationality, op. cit.

¹⁹ Gillis, John R. (ed.), Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity , Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1994 Google Scholar; Spillman, Lyn, Nation and Commemoration: Creating National Identities in the United States and Australia , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁰ Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities , London and New York, Verso, 1991 Google Scholar; Gellner, Ernest, Nations and Nationalism , Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1983 Google Scholar; Hobsbawn, Eric, Nations and Nationalism Since 1789: Programme, Myth, Reality, 2nd edn, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990;Google Scholar Schudson, Michael, ‘Culture and the Integration of National Societies’, International Social Science Journal , 46:1–2 (1994), pp. 63–81.Google Scholar

²¹ Lipset, Seymour Martin, Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada , New York and London, Routledge, 1990 Google Scholar, for example, compares the United States with Canada. By comparing two similar nations, the uniqueness of each can be better captured.

²² Colley, Linda, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 , New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1992, p. 23 Google Scholar.

²³ Giessen, Bernhard, Intellectuals and the National Collective Identity in a German Axial Age , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998 Google Scholar.

²⁴ Elias, Norbert and Scotson, John L., The Established and the Outsiders: A Sociological Enquiry into Community Problems , 2nd edn, London and Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 1994 Google Scholar.

²⁵ Triandafyllidou, Anna, ‘National Identity and the “Other” ’, Ethnic and Racial Studies , 21:4 (07 1998), pp. 593–612 Google Scholar.

²⁶ For a recent review of the overall development in research in the area of identity, see Cerulo, Karen A., ‘Identity Construction: New Issues, New Directions’, Annual Review of Sociology , 23 (1997), pp. 385–409.Google Scholar

²⁷ Polling data from the Hong Kong Transition Project show that there have been a consistently higher percentage of respondents identifying themselves as Hong Kong people rather than Chinese. In February 1993, 19 per cent of respondents called themselves ‘Chinese’, 36 per cent ‘Hong Kong Chinese’, and 37 per cent ‘Hong Kong people’. The corresponding figures in January 1998 were 25 per cent, 27 per cent and 39 per cent. For a longitudinal comparison, see Michael E. DeGolyer, ‘Tomorrow Has Not Died’, pp. 21–2, Table 25.

²⁸ Ming Pao [Chinese language Hong Kong newspaper], 4 February 1998.

²⁹ Ibid., 20 August 1998.

³⁰ Pop Express, Social Science Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Special Release of 25 June 1998.

³¹ Pop Express, Social Science Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Special Release of 30 June 1998.

³² Ming Pao, 2 June 1998.

³³ Hongkongers were perceived to be more moral, friendly, sophisticated, optimistic, disciplined, sympathetic, tolerant, adaptive, sharp, pragmatic, and more willing to speak out, care about society, and Westernized. Anthony Fung and Eric Ma, ‘Summary findings of Hongkongers’ cultural identifications’, Department of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 3 February 1998.

³⁴ Shui-fong Lam, Chi-yue Chiu, Ivy Lau and Ying-yi Hong, ‘Social Identity of Hong Kong Adolescents Before 1997’. Unpublished manuscript, 1996.

³⁵ The process of labelling Mainlanders as ‘others’ did not begin with this CFA ruling. As Ma has demonstrated persuasively, Mainlanders were portrayed as outsiders in popular television serials in the 1970s and 1980s. See Kit-wai Ma, Eric, Culture, Politics, and Television in Hong Kong, London, Routledge, 1999.Google Scholar It seems that the right-of-abode issue was the first large-scale stigmatization of Mainlanders carried out by the government, and ironically this took place after Hong Kong had become part of the PRC.

³⁶ There was free f low of people between Hong Kong and the mainland until the Second World War. From then on, restrictions were imposed because of a large influx of refugees from China. In 1980 the government decided that all illegal immigrants from China would be repatriated. The Hong Kong and PRC governments then agreed on a daily quota of migrants from China who would be allowed to enter the territory. In 1983 the daily quota was 75; it was subsequently increased to 150 in 1995. See Yat-ming, Siu, ‘Population and Immigration: With A Special Account on Chinese Immigrants’ in Mee-Kau, Nyaw and Si-ming, Li (eds), The Other Hong Kong Report, 1996, Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 1996.Google Scholar

³⁷ South China Morning Post [Hong Kong English language newspaper], hereafter cited as SCMP, 29 April 1999; Ming Pao, 29 April 1999.

³⁸ Ming Pao, 30 April 1999.

³⁹ SCMP, 29 April 1999.

⁴⁰ Sing Tao [Hong Kong Chinese language newspaper], 29 April 1999.

⁴¹ Ming Pao, 2 May 1999.

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ SCMP, 29 April 1999.

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Ibid., 30 April 1999.

⁴⁶ SCMP, 6 May 1999. For an interview with the Assistant Commissioner of the Census and Statistics Department on how the survey was conducted, see Ming Pao, 2 May 1999.

⁴⁷ SCMP, 6 May 1999.

⁴⁸ ‘30 pc may not claim abode right’, SCMP, 6 May 1999.

⁴⁹ SCMP, 6 May 1999.

⁵⁰ Ming Pao, 30 April 1999.

⁵¹ Altogether ten top officials attended the Legislative Council session. They included: the Acting Chief Secretary for Administration, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, the Secretary for Security, the Secretary for Transport, the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, the Secretary for Education and Manpower, the Commissioner for Census and Statistics, the Director of Immigration and Government Economists. See SCMP, 6 May 1999.

⁵² SCMP, 7 May 1999.

⁵³ Ibid.

⁵⁴ Ming Pao, 7 May 1999.

⁵⁵ ‘Influx may hurt SAR visa status’, SCMP, 9 May 1999.

⁵⁶ ‘$710b for migrants in 10 years’, ibid., 7 May 1999.

⁵⁷ For challenges to various government estimates, see ‘Spending figures fail to pass test’, SCMP, 9 May 1999; ‘Lee Cheuk-yan and Ho Hei-wah question Census’ estimation formula’, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 11 May 1999.

⁵⁸ Ming Pao, 7 May 1999.

⁵⁹ See ‘Figures based on too many assumptions’ and ‘Legislators urged for a review of the validity of estimation’, ibid.; ‘Loopholes in the estimation of Mainlander children’, ibid., 15 May 1999. A pressure group, The Human Rights Monitor, reported that the HKSAR government had overestimated the number of potential Mainland immigrants by more than 1 million. See Release, Press, ‘New Survey on Right of Abode Casts Doubt on Government’s “Taxi Method” Survey’, Human Rights Monitor, 18 10 1999.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ ‘Nearly 80 per cent thought that the ruling was wrong’, Wen Wei Pao [Hong Kong Chinese language newspaper], 8 May 1999.

⁶¹ ‘60 per cent object to arrivals: poll’, SCMP, 10 May 1999.

⁶² The survey was commissioned by The Better Hong Kong Foundation and conducted by Asia-Pacific Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It was a telephone survey carried out on the evenings of 9 and 10 May. See Wen Wei Pao, 13 May 1999.

⁶³ The Legislative Council, which is supposed to represent public opinion, resolved to support the government’s request to get the Standing Committee of the People’s National Congress to reinterpret the laws involved in the ruling. See Ming Pao, 20 May 1999. The Standing Committee eventually overruled the decision of the CFA. It ruled that the CFA’s interpretation did not reflect the ‘true legislative intent’, and that children born before one of their parents had Hong Kong residency did not have right of abode. The reinterpretation substantially reduced the number of potential Mainland immigrants. See SCMP, 27 June 1999.

⁶⁴ See for example, Baker, Hugh, ‘Life in the Cities: the Emergence of Hong Kong Man’, The China Quarterly, 95 (1983), pp. 469–79;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Siu-kai, Lau and Hsin-chi, Kuan, The Ethos of the Hong Kong Chinese, Hong Kong, The Chinese University Press, 1988 Google Scholar; Siu, Helen, ‘Remade in Hong Kong’, in Liu, Tao-tao and Faure, David (eds), Unity and Diversity, Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press, 1996;Google Scholar Choi Po-king, ‘From Dependence to Self-Sufficiency: Rise of the Indigenous Culture of Hong Kong, 1945– 1989’, Asian Culture, 14 April 1990, pp. 161–77; Kit-wai Ma, Eric, Culture, Politics and Television in Hong Kong, London and New York, Routledge, 1999.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ ‘Polls show that abode right issue disintegrated Hong Kong society’, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 7 September 1999.

⁶⁶ Triandafyllidou, Anna, ‘National Identity and the “Other”’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21:4 ( July 1988), pp. 593–612.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ ‘Polls show’, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 7 September 1999.

⁶⁸ ‘Speed abode cases, says top official’, SCMP, 7 August 2000.

⁶⁹ ‘Mainlanders face backlash’, SCMP, 4 August 2000.

⁷⁰ Ming Pao, 12 August 2000.