Hong Kong's Unlikely Hope:That Its Future remains Its Past

Abstract

The thinker Slavoj Zisek (1989, pp. 274-5) tells us that the future is the ＂supreme object of ideology＂ and that it is ＂without form, shape or color: it demands yet exceeds all figuration＂. Beijing seems to be privileging a future where Hong Kong is increasingly assimilated into the mainland despite promising a high degree of autonomy as part of the ＂One Country, Two Systems＂ framework; Hong Kong however privileges a future that maintains this high degree of autonomy. The Extradition Bill of 2019, which led to massive protests, was seen by a broad section of the community as a ＂tipping point＂ in Hong Kong's full integration into China. In this essay, the discussion revolves around the date of 2047, the end point of ＂50 years no change＂ to Hong Kong's systems as promised in its Basic Law and how the young, the CE, and Xi Jingping see the future. It will be argued that critical elements in Hong Kong see the city as being apart from China, rather than a part of it, a situation that China feels should no longer be the case.