Flexible and plastic national identification in Hong Kong: Its historical configuration and changes since 1997

This article, based upon the experience of Hong Kong society, is an attempt to look at the social constitution of its peculiar brand of national identification. Particularly, emphasis is placed on the effects of the political environment of the Cold War in the early post-WWII decades on how Hong Kong people perceived the nation and the political regime in power. The decoupling of the political regime in power from the nation has its enduring impact on identity formation and people’s perception and definition of the national. This gives the people of Hong Kong a rather special perspective in locating themselves in an ideological and political environment characterized by colonialism and Cold War geo-politics in East Asia. As a result, they develop their own brand of national identification that allows for both attachment and critical engagement. Copyright © 2015 The Institute for Social Development and Policy Research.