Description
This work challenges the conventional understanding of Hong Kong's political culture as one of indifference. It takes a historical look at political participation in the former colony and includes an in-depth analysis of 13 selected cases.
Table of Contents
This book challenges the conventional understanding of Hong Kong's political culture as one of indifference, a view articulated by many scholars. It takes a broad historical look at political participation in the former colony and includes an in-depth analysis of thirteen selected cases. The author provides a new understanding of the nature of Hong Kong politics, which may be described as a combination of political activism and a culture of depoliticization. The term "political indifference" is an umbrella term that is used to suggest the apathy, naivete, disinterest, passivity, and utilitarianism of Hong Kong people toward political life. The author focuses on the period from 1949 to 1979 because this time span in Hong Kong's history is filled with significant political activity despite attempts to label it as a period of political indifference. Hong Kong's numerous social organizations and the media were successful in organizing and mobilizing the people to place demands on the government. However, despite this activism, another segment of society generated a culture of depoliticization that served to check the political activism and constrict political expression. The epilogue carries the analysis to the present and highlights the development of Hong Kong's political culture from 1980 to 2003. It also examines the changing patterns of political participation in Hong Kong after the handover to China in 1997. The post-handover period is often characterized by increasing tension between the democratic and pro-China forces.
