Troubled Political Identity:Study On Factors Causing Transmutation Of National Identity Of Chinese In Hong Kong(1949?1997)

Nation building as an issue is still mentioned on certain occasions.Hong Kong is an example,where the implementation of "one country,two systems" policy involves it.It,though,turns out that despite prosperity and stability after 1997,Hong Kong suffers continual political disturbances.One reasonable explanation is that within governance of the British Hong Kong government,the weakened national identity gradually came into existence,by showing troubled political identity towards the Mainland and priority of local identity and emphasis on "two systems" rather than"one country".Such process is pragmatically worth research.The research questions of the thesis are as follows:from 1949 to 1997,how did the national identity of Hong Kong change?Within the period,what's the relationship between the national identity and the other three changes in population of Chinese in Hong Kong,in political situations in the Mainland,and in immigration policy of the British Hong Kong government?Via methods of analysis of literature and analysis of history,the thesis aims at studying change of the national identity through three dimensions—the variation in population,political situations in the Mainland,and immigration policy of the British Hong Kong government.It begins with definitions of concepts and divide the research period into three sub-periods(1949-1971,1971-1984,1984-1997)according to relationship between the Mainland and Hong Kong,followed by respective researches of the national identity within three sub-periods from three dimensions.It is concluded that from 1949 to 1997,the rise of localism weakened the national identity,especially the political identity towards People's Republic of China.The reasons cover political separation between the Mainland and Hong Kong,the guidance of citizenship of Chinese in Hong Kong by means of immigration policy,as well as the unfamiliarity stemmed from changes in generations of indigenous people in Hong Kong.It,thus,is argued that the national identity can be strengthened based on cultural identity,via gradual improvement in political identity.