When Britain and China hammered out their 1984 agreement to terminate Hong Kong’s colonial lease, the deal was presented as a technicality. The colony’s ultimate loyalty might switch from London to Beijing, but the essence of life
as a free and open gateway to the world would survive. So much for official myths. The city has already been transformed in myriad ways - it’s moved closer to China economically and culturally, if not politically. The turnover, too, is putting China to the test: it’s an occasion not just for surging national pride but for renewed international scrutiny of a regime whose authoritarian instincts are a source of profound suspicion to the world.
After a century and a half, in a shower of fireworks and laser light-shows, China will free itself from the weight of colonialism. Whether they like it or not, about 6.4 million Hong Kong people - priests and poets, dissidents and tycoons - will become citizens of the People’s Republic of China, a communist state that most of their families had fled.
That point will be driven home at the midnight ceremony, where the two spoken languages will be English and Mandarin, the Chinese dialect spoken not in Hong Kong but in Beijing. The democratically elected legislature put into place under British rule will instantly be out of a job, replaced by the pro-Beijing provisional legislature. The Chinese language - both Cantonese, the local dialect, and Mandarin - will join English as the language of Hong Kong officialdom. Some Hong Kong people worry that Chinese-style corruption and lack of respect for the rule of law might creep across the border, too.
Some things won’t change. Hong Kong will not adopt a communist system. The future Chinese rulers say there will be no knocks on the door at night, no mass arrests of political dissidents. Aside from the new legislature and a new group of advisers to the new chief executive, there will be no change in the government bureaucracy.
Indeed, the territory’s new Constitution protects political freedoms, human rights and the independent judiciary, among other institutions crucial to keeping Hong Kong’s heart beating. Hong Kong’s democrats are worried that new election laws will limit their role, but the new chief executive, C. H. Tung, has promised elections early in 1998.
At least on the surface, Hong Kong’s people are taking the promises of continuity at face value. Property prices are at a record high, and the stock market is booming. Patriotic slogans and neon signs, put up by private businessmen on office towers, depict dolphins (the region’s mascot) and the bauhinia flower. CELEBRATE TOGETHER THE RETURN TO THE MOTHERLAND, says a sign on one Wanchai building, not far from the famous Suzie Wong girlie district. TOGETHER FORGE A BETTER TOMORROW!
THE HANDOVER WILL BE THE biggest party Hong Kong has ever seen. Spending on the festivities will top $130 million. There will be a teary bagpipe ceremony to bid farewell to the British, a solemn lowering and raising of flags at midnight, a huge light-show with floating pandas and Chinese symbols of prosperity, and 73 song-and-dance galas over the week. At private parties, the champagne will flow. “‘July 1 is a very happy event for Chinese people in Hong Kong, for Chinese people in China and for Chinese people all around the world,’’ says Chief Executive Tung. “‘Nothing will spoil the happiness of [this] occasion… We are finally masters of our own house.’’ In a nod to Hong Kong’s new Chinese identity, Tung will “‘inherit the throne’’ in a Buddhist ceremony attended by 30,000 spectators.
There’s no denying, though, that much of Hong Kong’s daily life will be inexorably altered in small but telling ways. From now on, for instance, Hong Kong students will get a good dose of a new politically correct curriculum. Under new guidelines, textbooks will present Taiwan as a part of China. Though the island’s president, Lee Teng-hui, is the first Chinese leader to be elected in a democratic popular election, Hong Kong’s textbooks will call him “‘Mr. Lee’’ instead of “‘President Lee.’’ There are no specific guidelines for presenting the 1989 crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, but Rodney Chui, president of the Educational Publishers Association, believes in avoiding “‘argumentative words.’’ “‘I would refer to it as an “incident’ rather than a “massacre’,’’ he says.
As the city loses its British ties, could Hong Kong become too Chinese? Perhaps there is no sharper test than the future of its courts. Until recently, all trials in Hong Kong were in English, often with poor translation for Chinese speakers. The new Constitution guarantees that Hong Kong will continue to use British common law - wigs and all. The challenge will come in introducing Chinese into a legal system whose lawyers and judges, including the Hong Kong Chinese who dominate the profession, have all been trained in English.
The most delicate feature of the new legal dispensation is that China will have the final say on the interpretation of Hong Kong’s Constitution. If China’s National People’s Congress rules that a Hong Kong defendant’s action is “‘an act of state’’ or involves “’national security,’’ Hong Kong courts can’t try the case. A philosophical difference in cultures, meanwhile, has resulted in two very different legal systems. China’s law is based on the idea that you can’t do something unless the law says you can. “‘In our context, it’s the opposite,’’ says Anna Wu, a Hong Kong lawyer. “‘You are allowed to do everything unless the law says you can’t.’’
A more subtle change scares some intellectuals. They say politically correct patriotism could dull the cosmopolitan edge that sustains the city’s economy and culture. “‘People are suffering from a self-restraint syndrome,’’ says lawyer Wu. Local investment banks won’t underwrite a stock offering by a company founded by Jimmy Lai, the popular newspaper publisher known for criticizing China. And many Hong Kong business people these days clamor to be seen with Chinese officials.
Some worry that the promotion of the Chinese language could go too far, too. At a recent reception held by Hong Kong’s financial exchanges, foreign guests were shocked that all the speeches were in Chinese, with no translation. Another fear is that the Chinese political culture - in which personal relationships are given greater weight than legal regulations - is creeping in. Tung has appointed several top-level advisers with longstanding ties to the pro-Beijing camp. He says he trusts his appointees. Others say trust is not good enough. “‘There is this new sense that this is the way things are done in Chinese culture, so we should accept it,’’ says Oscar Ho, a social critic and curator at the Hong Kong Arts Center. “‘In the Chinese system they say, “We do things based on trust.’ Maybe these are very nice people, but it sets a precedent. It means the rules can be broken - it’s OK, because I trust you.’’
While Hong Kong’s wealthy elite, with huge business interests in China, may be celebrating, common folk are deeply ambivalent - both proud and nervous - about their return to Chinese sovereignty. “‘They are just trying to kiss up to the Chinese,’’ says cabdriver Lau Kam Fat. “‘We don’t care about the handover. We care about our freedom. Everybody knows that if freedom dies, that’s the end of Hong Kong.’’ In the final days before the handover, outgoing Gov. Chris Patten’s standing has risen in the polls to a record 79 percent. “‘All this celebrating, it hides a deep anxiety,’’ says performance artist Young Hay. ““Already people are betraying the things they said they believed in before.’’
Despite the concerns, Hong Kong will carry on. Tung has hinted heavily that he won’t arrest protesters. Professionals like the new chief justice will fight for the independence of Hong Kong’s courts and the professionalism of the civil service. But as the revelers paint the town red, they will be wise to think hard about what it is - a stunning combination of Chinese entrepreneurialism, Western-style institutions and a cosmopolitan sense that all are equal in business - that has made their magnificent city sparkle. If not, they may find one day that Hong Kong is just another Chinese city.
