Language Attitudes at the Handover

1997 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Hyland
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Status ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Considerable Impact

Britain's 150 year colonial administration of Hong Kong came to an end in June 1997 when the territory reverted to Chinese sovereignty. Because the fate of languages is closely related to the power of different groups in a society, this constitutional transition raises important issues of language and identity. At present English continues to play an important role in business and administration while Cantonese is the lingua franca of a highly cohesive and independent community. However, the extent to which the colonial language is a component of the Territory's identity, and the prospect of it retaining an influential role, remains to be seen. Reunification is likely to have a considerable impact on language attitudes and use with Putonghua, the official language of mainland China, emerging to challenge English and Cantonese as a high status language in public domains. This paper builds on previous studies by Pierson et al. (1980) and Pennington & Yue (1994) to examine the changing language attitudes brought about by the handover. A questionnaire was administered to 900 Hong Kong undergraduates to discover students' perspectives on language and cultural identity, social, affective and instrumental attitudes and general predictions for language use with a view towards the political transition.

Individual variation in attitudes towards Chinese-English code-switching

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Liu
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
High Status ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Quantitative Analyses

Abstract This paper aims to improve our understanding of the social psychology of code-switching by investigating societal attitudes towards two types of Chinese-English code-switching, insertions of English words in Chinese sentences and switching to English at clausal boundaries in Chinese. It examines how subjects’ evaluation of code-switching is influenced by their general language attitudes and language use associated with network exposure. The subjects were recruited from four different cities in mainland China. They participated in an online perception experiment and completed a socio-biographical questionnaire. Quantitative analyses show that clausal switching was rated as the least likable CS mode, but at the same time was considered as having high status as an indication of high English proficiency. Their evaluation was mainly influenced by their general attitudes towards English language and culture. Network exposure also played a marginal role, affecting their judgement of the speaker’s English proficiency.

Dealings with ccp and kmt in British Hong Kong: The Shanghai Bankers, 1948–1951 (在英屬香港面對中國共產黨和中國國民黨──上海銀行家的抉擇與挑戰,1948〜1951年)

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-149
Author(s):  
Pui-Tak Lee (李培德)
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Assumption ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Final Destination ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Modern Chinese History

The year 1949 was a great divide in modern Chinese history. How Shanghai bankers responded to it is an interesting question to address. For those bankers who chose to leave Shanghai and settle in British Hong Kong, can we suppose they were permanently separated from China or Taiwan? It is generally assumed that once the Shanghai bankers confined themselves to their new home in Hong Kong or moved on to other locations in the United States or elsewhere, they immediately severed all ties with either mainland China under the ccp (Chinese Communist Party) or Taiwan under the kmt (Kuomintang or Guomindang). Such an assumption leads to a mistaken argument that the departure of Chinese bankers from Shanghai cut short their involvements in China politics. Perhaps it is true that some emigrant bankers never returned, but others remained in touch with their home in China, whether because they were solicited by the agents who were sent to the colony by the ccp in China and the kmt in Taiwan, or, because they took the initiative in reaching across the borders to mainland China or Taiwan. From their sanctuary in Hong Kong, how did the bankers conduct cross-border relations after 1949? This paper will go beyond the general assumption that the Shanghai bankers turned to Hong Kong solely for the colony’s being a sanctuary during the political and economic turmoil of the 1940s. Instead, these bankers continued to engage in political confrontation to the ccp and the kmt after they fled Shanghai. This paper argues that once they were in the colony, they had to address several problems. These included, first, to choose their final destination in either Shanghai, Hong Kong or Taipei; second, whether to continue or quit their banking careers and thirdly, to find a solution in order to counteract the alignment with either the ccp or the kmt. 1949年是中國近代史的分水嶺，上海銀行家對面對動盪不安的局勢會作出怎樣的回應，是一個很值得討論的問題。一旦銀行家選擇離開上海，轉移到英屬香港，他們就可完全脫離國共內戰的地理範疇──中國大陸或臺灣嗎？一般的研究無不認為已從香港轉移到香港的上海銀行家，目的為遠離包括在大陸執政的中國共產黨或撤退至臺灣的國民黨。本文指出，這樣的設想是對當時處於動盪政治經濟局勢的上海銀行家的錯誤理解。事實上，當時是有一部份從上海撤離的銀行家並不願意再被捲入政治，但是有更多已在境外的銀行家，透過自己在國共兩黨的代表，與中國大陸或臺灣保持緊密之聯繫，也有許多銀行家是主動地發展出跨境的管道來維持與中國大陸或臺灣的關係。值得探討的是，1949年之後，這些以英屬香港為基地的跨境聯繫是如何運作的呢？ 本文探討1940年代末在中國變動的政治與經濟局勢下，香港不僅為離開上海的銀行家提供一個安全的庇護所，同時更是這些銀行家在離開上海後繼續面對中國共產黨和國民黨，進行各種活動的最重要境外基地。本文指出這些上海銀行家在移居香港之際所要面對的諸多問題。首先，如何在上海、香港和臺北三地之間作出選擇，哪裏是他們最佳的落腳處？其次，是否要繼續和如何維持銀行的業務？最後，應如何因應中國共產黨和中國國民黨向他們的統戰而作出適當的反應？ (This article is in English).

scholarly journals “I Want to be More Hong Kong Than a Hongkonger”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-27
Author(s):  
Charlene Peishan Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
National Identification

  The years leading up to the political handover of Hong Kong to Mainland China surfaced issues regarding national identification and intergroup relations. These issues manifested in Hong Kong films of the time in the form of film characters’ language ideologies. An analysis of six films reveals three themes: (1) the assumption of mutual intelligibility between Cantonese and Putonghua, (2) the importance of English towards one’s Hong Kong identity, and (3) the expectation that Mainland immigrants use Cantonese as their primary language of communication in Hong Kong. The recurrence of these findings indicates their prevalence amongst native Hongkongers, even in a post-handover context.

Hong Kong government cannot ignore protester demands

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Independent Judiciary ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
The Government ◽  
Selection Of

Subject The demands set out by anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. Significance Mass protests have forced the government to withdraw an unpopular bill allowing extradition to mainland China. However, the protesters’ agenda has broadened to include four more demands: repudiation of the government’s designation of the protests as ‘riots’; amnesty for all protesters; an independent probe into the police’s use of force; and universal suffrage for the selection of Hong Kong’s chief executive. Impacts Investigations, trials and lawsuits will drag on for years, poisoning the political atmosphere and hindering cooperation between camps. Hong Kong’s independent judiciary may be a moderating influence. Replacing Lam would not be a fresh start; the process would spotlight Hong Kong’s lack of democracy.

Transborder Infrastructure

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Hirsh
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Migration ◽  
Economic Framework ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
Passenger Flows ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
Migration Regimes

The second chapter investigates the “upstream” check-in system that allows passengers in Mainland China to fly through Hong Kong's airport without going through customs and immigration procedures. These facilities serve travelers whose cross-border movement is limited by their income or citizenship, such as tourists or traders from Africa and the Middle East. At the upstream terminal in China, travelers print their boarding pass and proceed through emigration. A sealed ferry then takes them across the border to Hong Kong, where they are transferred to an underground train that takes them to their departure gate. Isolated from other passenger flows, these “upstream” travelers technically never enter Hong Kong. Mapping the movement of passengers between Mainland China and the airport, this chapter documents the insertion of aviation infrastructure into marginal neighborhoods and unspectacular structures. It analyzes the aesthetics of transborder infrastructure in order to interpret broader discrepancies in global migration regimes in the political and economic framework of the Pearl River Delta.

The Umbrella Movement

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Common Thread

This volume examines the most spectacular struggle for democracy in post-handover Hong Kong. Bringing together scholars with different disciplinary focuses and comparative perspectives from mainland China, Taiwan and Macau, one common thread that stitches the chapters is the use of first-hand data collected through on-site fieldwork. This study unearths how trajectories can create favourable conditions for the spontaneous civil resistance despite the absence of political opportunities and surveys the dynamics through which the protestors, the regime and the wider public responses differently to the prolonged contentious space. The Umbrella Movement: Civil Resistance and Contentious Space in Hong Kong offers an informed analysis of the political future of Hong Kong and its relations with the authoritarian sovereignty as well as sheds light on the methodological challenges and promises in studying modern-day protests.

scholarly journals A Call for Consistency in the Official Naming of the Disease Caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Non-English Languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. e25-e26
Author(s):  
Lu Dong ◽  
Zhe Li ◽  
Isaac Chun Hai Fung
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
World Health ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Literal Translation ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Health Organization

ABSTRACTWe investigated the adoption of World Health Organization (WHO) naming of COVID-19 into the respective languages among the Group of Twenty (G20) countries, and the variation of COVID-19 naming in the Chinese language across different health authorities. On May 7, 2020, we identified the websites of the national health authorities of the G20 countries to identify naming of COVID-19 in their respective languages, and the websites of the health authorities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore and identify their Chinese name for COVID-19. Among the G20 nations, Argentina, China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Turkey do not use the literal translation of COVID-19 in their official language(s) to refer to COVID-19, as they retain “novel” in the naming of this disease. China is the only G20 nation that names COVID-19 a pneumonia. Among Chinese-speaking jurisdictions, Hong Kong and Singapore governments follow the WHO’s recommendation and adopt the literal translation of COVID-19 in Chinese. In contrast, mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan refer to COVID-19 as a type of pneumonia in Chinese. We urge health authorities worldwide to adopt naming in their native languages that are consistent with WHO’s naming of COVID-19.

Putonghua

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Lu ◽  
Yin yee Au-Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Psychological Support ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Twin Research ◽  
Research Questions

Putonghua, the official Chinese language of mainland China, has become an intriguing topic for language researchers and teachers in Hong Kong. This study involved 275 Form VI (Grade 12) students in Hong Kong. The twin research questions are to investigate the subjects’ general attitudes toward the use of Putonghua in Hong Kong contexts as well as the learning of the language. The research is qualitative in nature and discusses the data through statistical analysis. The major findings are: (1) on the whole the subjects are instrumentally motivated to learn Putonghua; (2) subjects’ learning motivation is related to their political and cultural identity; (3) subjects still give more preference to English over Putonghua; (4) currently it is premature to greatly expand the use of Putonghua in education and other social domains such as government affairs. Based on these findings, the paper poses critical comments on Pierson’s study (1991, 1998). It seems clear that the spread of Putonghua in Hong Kong lacks a social and psychological support currently. The spread can occur only on a logical and incremental basis in tandem with a titanic effort to produce qualified, competent local teachers in order to teach this target language.

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