Securing Hong Kong’s identity in the colonial past: strategic essentialism and the umbrella movement

ABSTRACT

The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong is the most radical political movement to have taken place in the former British colony since 1967 anti-colonial demonstrations. Using empirical evidence obtained from activists who participated in the Umbrella Movement, this paper explains how Hong Kong’s youth are looking simultaneously to both the past and future to secure their identity in the colonial past even as some hope to achieve ultimate secession from Mainland rule. Racism and anti-Mainland hostilities in Hong Kong are the result of nostalgia and the insurrectionary impulse akin to the millenarianism of social movements founded on suffering and loss that continually seek the recovery of pasts of which they are now deprived. We illuminate how, to young activists, the Umbrella Movement presents hope for a future embedded in the past that remains one the territory and former colony may still aspire toward.     

Hong Kong's Elite Structure,Legislature and the Bleak Future of Democracy under Chinese Sovereignty

A decade after retrocession to China, Hong Kong still has limited democracy. Only half of the legislature is directly elected by the people, and the Chief Executive – the leader of Hong Kong government – is chosen by an election committee of 800 people, most of them loyal to Beijing. In December 2007, the Chinese Central Government announced that the direct election of the Chief Executive and the whole legislature may be implemented from 2017 and 2020, respectively. Still, in this paper it is suggested that real democracy in the foreseeable future is unlikely. This paper demonstrates the existence of a “power elite” of tightly knit business-state networks in Hong Kong society and argues that this constitutes a systemic barrier against further democratic development. Central to the discussion is an analysis of the formation and composition of the legislature and the relations to the elite-interlocks among influential organisations in society. Mainly based on 2006‐07 data, the Elite Database which is subject to network analyses is composed of 1531 individuals holding 1854 seats from 40 listed corporations, 27 government committees, 20 non-governmental organisations, and eight universities.     

“完善‘一国两制’制度体系,落实‘爱国者治港’根本原则”专题研讨会综述

全国港澳研究会于2021年2月在北京举办完善‘一国两制’制度体系,落实‘爱国者治港’根本原则专题研讨会。夏宝龙同志在讲话中表示,习近平总书记关于爱国者治港的重要论述,是对香港回归以来一国两制实践经验的高度提炼,是对一国两制实践规律的深刻揭示,为推动一国两制实践行稳致远、保持香港长治久安指明了方向。爱国者治港是一国两制方针的核心要义,是推进一国两制事业的时代呼唤,要坚持爱国者治港的客观标准和要求,对相关制度进行完善。与会专家学者表示,爱国者治港是在香港特别行政区维护国家主权、安全、发展利益的重要前提。香港现行选举制度还不能为全面落实爱国者治港原则提供坚实的制度保障,需要尽快加以完善,修补漏洞。     

Haven under erasure?: Hong Kong,global Asia and human rights

Discussions of Hong Kong's human rights situation tend to focus on the ex-colony's struggle to protect civil and political rights against the encroachment of the Chinese state. Without contradicting the well-grounded concern with Hong Kong's human rights future articulated in these discussions, this article offers a complementary narrative of human rights development in post-1997 Hong Kong that looks beyond the national frame of such discussions. Drawing attention to Hong Kong's position as a regional centre in the struggle for human rights in Asia under globalisation, the article argues that the activities of local and transnational human rights advocacy groups in the city show positive and promising possibilities of coalitional solidarity on the ground of human rights. Notably, the protests against national security legislation opened up opportunities of articulating diverse struggles for the rights of various social groups, including migrant groups, with the local struggle for civil and political rights. A perspective of Global Asia enables a reading of this important episode in Hong Kong's struggle for human rights that suggests more open-ended future possibilities than the common nationally-framed accounts.     

明防暗退——从香港保卫战前的部署看英国如何操作放弃香港

1941年12月日本进攻港英当局殖民统治下的香港,香港保卫战爆发前英国政府为了保全其帝国整体利益,对香港进行了战略性放弃,明线上表现出坚决保卫香港的姿态,暗线上却将主要军力撤至战略位置更重要的新加坡。英国在军事上放弃防御香港的同时,又拒绝通过不设防城市的方式避免香港受战火摧残,最终导致香港军民承受了重大伤亡,香港陷入日本的残酷占领和统治。     

日本的香港研究综述

日本的香港研究历史悠久,近年来发展迅速。与中国内地、香港特区自身以及英美等西方国家的香港研究相比,日本的香港研究自有其特色。为便于学界对此有更多的了解,就研究主题与发表时序,逐一介绍近年日本对港研究的著作。由于日本香港研究触及香港社会的诸多议题,题材相对丰富,所以更适合就政治发展、社会经济、法律法规、文化艺术等视角逐一进行考察及综述。与此同时,也不可讳言,日本的香港研究存在种种不足,包括其对于内地与香港关系的偏见、研究取材的狭隘以及研究方法的滞后等等。从这个角度看,日本香港研究的成果值得国内学界关注,其局限也需要我们引以为戒。     

2020年香港经济形势分析及未来展望

报告从宏观层面对2020年香港经济形势进行了分析,对2021年香港经济发展前景做了展望,对香港经济中期发展面临的风险和机遇进行了研判,并提出了一些对策和建议。分析表明,香港经济在2020年陷入深度衰退,在2021年将迎来复苏,复苏程度取决于疫情防控状况。香港经济未来几年的发展风险与机遇并存:一方面,中美竞争加剧、社会贫富差距加大、政府财政赤字持续等是不利因素;另一方面,我国"十四五"规划的出台和粤港澳大湾区建设的深入推进将帮助香港进一步融入国家发展大局,获得更广阔的发展空间。     

“一国两制”下的香港司法机关

香港特别行政区司法机关得到国际社会和香港本地社会的高度评价。本文阐述了香港司法制度的结构,包括法院的架构、规模以及双语法制;介绍了香港的法官制度,包括法官的任命和服务条件,法官的选拔、培训、考核和行为守则,对法官的投诉机制,法官的任期、薪酬待遇以及司法行政等;梳理总结了香港对司法独立和司法公义的制度保障。在“一国两制”的宪制安排下,香港司法也体现出特殊性。香港享有终审权,各级法院对基本法亦有解释权,但全国人大常委会颁布的基本法的解释,香港各级法院必须遵从。     

香港修例风波背后的深层次问题

香港2019年爆发的修例风波是香港回归祖国后遇到的最严峻的政治局面,也是“一国两制”在香港实践以来遇到的最大挑战。这场风波清晰地暴露了一系列严重妨碍“一国两制”在香港全面和准确贯彻的因素和情况。这些因素和情况包括:国家安全漏洞明显、政治体制内“自由”和“威权”失衡、“一国两制”的“另类诠释”存在、香港“核心价值”并不牢固、部分香港人“亲西方、抗中国”固有心态、国家宪法和基本法教育不到位、香港自由放任资本主义体制的缺失。中央对此已有察觉,并针对部分因素和情况制定了应对之策,从而为在香港全面和准确贯彻“一国两制”营造有利条件。     

Reflecting on Social Movement Unionism in Hong Kong: The Case of the Dockworkers’ Strike in 2013

By analysing the 2013 Hong Kong dockworkers’ strike, this article explores how workers, precariously situated in the world’s freest economy, fight for decent wages with the support of civil society. It is argued that the trade union movement in Hong Kong, a Special Administration Region of the People’s Republic of China, is a typical example of social movement unionism. It suggests that the rise of social movement unionism in Hong Kong was a practical strategy of social activists to support labour rights under the specific context of vulnerable structural power, weak institutional power, failed political unionism and a vibrant civil society. Social movement unionism has a “double-edged sword” effect on workers’ power: on the one hand, it has the potential to create societal power and strengthen associational power; on the other hand, it may compromise workers’ militancy and the possibility of stronger workplace bargaining power during workers’ struggle.     

Free trade agreements and “economic territory” as a geoeconomic imaginary in South Korea

Since the early 2000s, the discourse of “economic territory” has surfaced in conjunction with economic neoliberalization in South Korea. This paper argues that economic territory as a geoeconomic imaginary not only facilitated the expansion of free trade agreements as an accumulation strategy but also served as a hegemonic project which masked the nature of an accumulation strategy as a class project and consolidated political legitimacy by manipulating nationalism. To examine this linkage, it critically draws upon the idea of cultural political economy (CPE) developed by Lancaster-based sociologists Bob Jessop and Ngai-Ling Sum. This paper offers a fresh and more substantial interpretation of South Korea’s political economy and opens up new analytical space for CPE.     

华人新移民研究

华人新移民包括自20世纪50年代以来的中国大陆移民、台港澳移民和东南亚华人二次移民.本文拟探讨华人新移民的分布、特点、新移民内部以及新、老移民之间的关系.笔者认为国际移民是经济全球化的一个重要因素,在地区间经济发展不平衡的情况下,跨国移民将不断增加.华人新移民是国际移民的一个重要组成部分,她改变了海外华人分布的格局,赋于海外华人新的特点,并为移居国和祖籍国的经济、社会和文化的发展作出了巨大的贡献.     

独立模式对建国初期政治发展的影响:印度尼西亚与马来西亚的比较

战后印度尼西亚、马来西亚两国的民族解放运动通过不同的模式先后摆脱了殖民统治 ,取得民族独立 ,开始走上了探索政治、经济现代化的道路。由于两国独立经历的差异 ,建国初期即第一代国家领导人执政时期 ,两国的政治发展也呈现了各具特色的态势 ,这在领导人的政治意识形态 ,军队在政治中的作用 ,公职人员状况三个方面表现得尤为突出。     

论香港特別行政区立法会的功能和改革方向

在自由主义和民主主义结盟反对封建主义的历史进程中,形成了一套关于国家建构的系统学说。香港并非国家,但这套学说却在香港社会关于特别行政区立法会功能角色的讨论中拥有不小的影响力。片面强调两制差异,以自由主义代议制学说描摹一个地方行政单位的立法机构,终将沿着这套学说的国家建构逻辑挑战一国之本。本世纪初以来,香港特别行政区立法会出现内部对立、扩权,职能上轻立法、重监督的趋势和现象,与这种学说在香港社会的影响不无关系。就解决历史遗留的香港问题而言,一国两制是各方都能接受的最大公约数,讲求平衡政府原则、混合政体设计的共和精神较契合香港特别行政区的这一政治现实,或可成为引导特别行政区立法会变革的方向之一。