Constructing Chinese Identity in Post‐colonial Hong Kong: A Discursive Analysis of the Official Nation‐Building Project

By Thomas Kwan-choi Tse

Volume 14, Issue 1, pages 188-206

Abstract

After the handover of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China in 1997, the post‐colonial government in Hong Kong initiated a nation‐building project aimed at boosting nationalism and patriotism. Drawing on documentary analysis, this article analyses how the dominant bloc subtly manipulates a Chinese identity rooted in local traditions through its national education policy, and how it seeks to foster hegemony via several discursive strategies including normalization, naturalization, homogenization, utilitarianization, glorification, moralization, and eclecticism. This article also draws attention to the alternative discourses by the civil society in opposition to the hegemony project.

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