Hong Kong nationalism ( or ) is a system of thought that spans the

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

, and

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. It reflects a strong desire to protect democracy in Hong Kong, to oppose mainlandization, and to preserve local Hong Kong identity. As such, many Hong Kong nationalists are opposed to Chinese state nationalism (中國國家主義). Hong Kong nationalism is generally considered a new phenomenon. The

self-identification In the psychology of self, one's self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity, self-perspective or self-structure) is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to the question ''"Who am I ...

of the

Hong Kong people Hongkongers (), Hong Kongers, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people are demonyms that refer to a resident of Hong Kong, although they may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory. The earliest inhabitants of Hon ...

became considered as nationalism when local discourse developed claims of self-determination, autonomy and varying degrees of separation from China.

History

Tens of thousands of people moved to Hong Kong in 1949 to escape the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...

. The population of Hong Kong increased from 1.8 million in 1947 to 2.2 million in 1951. As many mainland Chinese fled to Hong Kong over the next 30 years, the population of Hong Kong increased by 1 million every 10 years. Those who experienced hunger and political struggle under the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) internalized stronger

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

sentiments than Hong Kongers who didn't experience CCP rule. A distinct sense of Hong Kong identity existed since the 1970s, but Hong Kong nationalist sentiment didn't significantly appear until the

Tiananmen massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

of 1989. Both the Tiananmen massacre and the pro-democracy movement in colonial Hong Kong strengthened feelings of division between Hong Kong and

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. Since the 2010s, the Hong Kong nationalist movement has emerged as the "

localist camp Localist camp or localist and self-determination groups refers to the various groups with localist ideologies in Hong Kong. It emerged from post-80s social movements in the late 2000s which centred on the preservation of the city's autono ...

Pro-Taiwanese sentiment

The Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict and the

Umbrella Revolution A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after t ...

reminded many Hong Kongers of the

February 28 incident The February 28 incident (also called the February 28 massacre, the 228 incident, or the 228 massacre) was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947 that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang–led nationalist government of the R ...

and the

Sunflower Movement The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the prod ...

in Taiwan. Some young Hong Kongers have begun to support Hong Kong independence and additionally show a more favorable attitude towards

Taiwanese independence The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an Independence, independent and Sovereign state, sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Stra ...

View of the United Kingdom

In the mid-20th century,

anti-colonial Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolon ...

Hong Kong nationalism was critical of

British imperialism The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts establish ...

. It distinguished itself from

Chinese nationalism Chinese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that the Chinese people are a nation and promotes the cultural and national unity of all Chinese people. According to Sun Yat-sen's philosophy in the Three Principles of the People, Chin ...

and advocated for regional characteristics such as

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

. In the 21st century, however, some Hong Kong nationalists began to romanticize

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

as a consequence of their antipathy towards the mainland Chinese government.

Hong Kong independence

The Hong Kong independence movement is one part of Hong Kong nationalism. Hong Kong independence activists reject the doctrine of "

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems ...

" (一國兩制) and instead support "two countries, two systems" (兩國兩制). The Hong Kong independence movement is considered "radical" even within the localist camp.

Criticism

Some media outlets have criticized the anti-

sentiment that exists inside Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, in part for its provocation of

Chinese nationalists The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the sole ruling party of the country during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until its relocation to Taiwan, and in Taiwan ruled under ...

among the mainland population. Some have claimed that this enables

leadership to reap political gains through a hardline stance.

Organizations

* Alliance of Resuming British Sovereignty over Hong Kong and Independence *

Civic Passion Civic Passion was a radical, populist, localist, and nativist political party in Hong Kong. Founded by Wong Yeung-tat as an activist group in 2012, it held strong localist views and opposed the involvement of the Chinese government in th ...

Democratic Progressive Party of Hong Kong The Democratic Progressive Party ( zh, t=民主進步黨) was a small localist political party in Hong Kong established by Yeung Ke-cheong ( zh, t=楊繼昌, labels=no) in 2015. It considered Chinese rule in Hong Kong foreign and promoted the ri ...

* Hong Kong Independence Party *

Hong Kong Indigenous Hong Kong Indigenous (; ) is a localist political group established in 2015. It is known for its hardline localist stances and militant methods of protesting. It has been actively involved in protests and engaged into violent clashes with pol ...

* Hong Kong National Front * Hong Kong National Party * Studentlocalism * Tsz Wan Shan Constructive Power *

Youngspiration Youngspiration is a localist political party in Hong Kong founded in 2015. It emerged after the 2014 Hong Kong protests (often dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution") with an agenda of protection of Hong Kong people's interests and culture again ...

References

{{2019–2020 Hong Kong protests Anti-Chinese sentiment in China Hong Kong democracy movements Hong Kong independence movement Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict * Nationalist movements in Asia Nationalism in China Nationalisms Stateless nationalism in Asia