ABSTRACT
A series of unique tendencies and developments have resulted in Hong Kong being a dual periphery. Hong Kong is shown to have been part of the British colonial periphery and before this of the Imperial Chinese Society, and later of the modern Chinese nation under the authority of the Chinese Communist Party. The analysis considers the historical transitions in the political governance, ideological outlook and economic system ensuing from Hong Kong’s peculiar dual periphery situation and its consequential entangled modernization. It, first, sketches the structure of Hong Kong as a colonial social formation and how this conditions later developments, drawing attention to the salience of internal social divisions and the comprador elite’s mediation of relations with the British. It, second, details the historical dynamics of different historical phases of Hong Kong’s development, highlighting its role as an intermediary and conduit of economic exchange and outward Chinese migration. Third, the antinomies of Hong Kong’s transition from a British colony to a ‘Special Autonomous Region’ of China are explored. Hong Kong’s lack of effective self-determination is considered to have conditioned the transition period’s sequence of intensive protests and the local Hong Kong authority’s repressive measures and increased mainland Chinese control.
