Separate Identity

[Ian_Lee]

Judged by the recent events, I would say that not only people in Taiwan have developed a separate identity but even people in Hong Kong have developed a separate identity.

After the death of diva Anita Mui, Jackie Chan said that she belonged to all the people of Hong Kong. Her funeral committee labelled her as "Daughter of Hong Kong" in the big ads they put up on the newspapers.

Maybe the celebrities are not politically sensitive. But they have persuasive influence among the population especially the youths.

But even the chief officials have revealed their harboring of separate identity.

During the press conference after Tung Chee Hwa revealed that HK's political reform got to acquire Beijing's consent first, the 3 chief officials in charge of consulting Beijing are grilled by reporters that would they betray the interests of Hong Kong?

Donald Tsang replied that he as well as Leung and Lam (the other two officials) were born in Hong Kong, "drinking HK's water and flowing the blood of HK inside their bodies".

I guess Beijing doesn't like these words.

[Quest]

I thought HK's water comes directly from China? Their parents probably have/had blood that was made in China.

I am just being antagonistic. Ignore me if you would like to

[ala]

Judged by the recent events, I would say that not only people in Taiwan have developed a separate identity but even people in Hong Kong have developed a separate identity.

Um, people all over China have separate identities that they hold high regard toward and cherish. Don't have to be politically independent to develop a separate cultural and philosophical identity. Although that certainly has a strong catalytic effect. Ever been to Shanghai? Or just Ningbo?

[Ian_Lee]

Ala:

My father-in-law was a Ningbo native and had lived in Shanghai until 1949. For the 40+ years he stayed in Hong Kong, he deliberately spoke Cantonese with strong Shanghaiese accent because Shanghaiese style product in his industry can fetch a premium price.

[ala]

Ala:

My father-in-law was a Ningbo native and had lived in Shanghai until 1949. For the 40+ years he stayed in Hong Kong' date=' he deliberately spoke Cantonese with strong Shanghaiese accent because Shanghaiese style product in his industry can fetch a premium price.[/quote']

Exactly. Shanghainese people (and those around it like in Ningbo and Suzhou) have an incredibly strong sense of individual identity. And they don't even have the political boundary to help them out. Even within the same region, you see a lot of independent identity (Ningbo culture is quite different from Suzhou's). It's also kind of why the Wu dialects are so disparate even though Shanghai's economic and cultural clout is so large. People there often use accents to provide identification. Recently, however, there has been more integration among Wu-speaking regions to counter the competition coming from Guangdong/Hong Kong. But this integration is extremely cautious and decentralized. There is no "Cantonese" equivalent in the Wu-speaking region. Consider it a loose competitive federation of Wu-speaking towns and cities. The common Wu identity exists, but in the very back of the mind; and when they go outside of their area, they call themselves Shanghai-ren, Ningbo-ren, Suzhou-ren, Wuxi-ren, etc.

One could argue that the Wu people are not very easily socialized (compared to other Chinese populations), and one of their common bond with each other is the awareness of this trait and their respect for self-determination.