ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the evolution of identity consciousness in Taiwan and Hong Kong, analyzing its relationship both to official education policy and to developments beyond the school gates. It expresses that, in these societies, shifts in the curricular representation of identity have often reflected preceding changes in popular consciousness, rather than producing them. A key insight – that should be obvious to political leaders, but clearly is not – is that top-down efforts to mould identity, when they go against the grain of lived experience, tend further to alienate estranged communities, rather than reconciling them. Many in Hong Kong, and even Taiwan, still retain an idea of themselves as in some sense 'Chinese'. But growing socio-economic inequality and increasing economic dependence on China have reinforced hostility towards integration with the mainland. On one level, therefore, reconciliation requires convincing Taiwanese and Hongkongers that engagement with China can deliver broadly shared benefits for their societies, without undermining their way of life.
