Ethnic identity of Hong Kong people

The study of ethnic identity of Hong Kong people predates the sovereignty handover of Hong Kong by almost 20 years, and the dichotomy of “Hongkonger” versus “Chinese” as a research instrument was widely used by Hong Kong sociologists in the 1980s. In a 1985 survey, Lau and Kuan (Lau and Kuan 1988: 2) reported that “59.5 percent of the respondents identify themselves as Hongkongese, 36.2 percent as Chinese.” The researchers then considered the proportion of those opting for a Hong Kong identity to be “striking,” and together with other findings, concluded that people’s “sense of attachment to Hong Kong is tremendous.”