ABSTRACT
Before the 1970s, the Hong Kong people’s identity was mainly ‘Chinese’. Politically they were ‘rightist’, ‘leftist’, ‘neutral’ or ‘apolitical’. The mainstream newspapers in the 1970s – namely, the Wah Kiu Yat Po, Keung Sheung Daily News and Sing Tao Jih Pao – were largely pro-Taiwan, but relatively apolitical in news coverage and editorials. Perhaps the identity of the Hong Kong people is manifested by these newspapers’ popularity. One illustration of Hong Kong people’s sense of Chinese identity was the press response to student protests in 1971 against the American handover of the Tiao Yu Tai Islands to Japan.
