Hong Kong Since the British
handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and increasingly since the mid-2000s when travel restrictions on
Mainland Chinese citizens to Hong Kong eased, there has been increasing tension between the local Hong Kong population with the
Chinese central government and the Mainland-origin population. While a
Hong Kong identity has been present since the colonial period, it became stronger and more pronounced over the last decade, with 53% of Hong Kong residents identifying themselves as solely Hong Kong residents but not Chinese residents (while the figure is over 75% among residents aged 18–29), and 78% of Hong Kong residents identifying themselves as both "Hong Kong citizens" and "Chinese citizens". Furthermore, some youth population of Hong Kong do not even identify themselves as broadly, and ethnically, "Chinese". Less than a fifth of Hong Kongers now identify themselves as exclusively "Chinese". As a
British colony for over 150 years, the
culture of Hong Kong is unique in its blending of
Western and
Chinese elements. This cultural difference has been emphasized and embraced by some to distinguish Hong Kong from mainland China.
Hong Kong Cantonese differs from other
Cantonese varieties as used in the Mainland province of
Guangdong, in large part due to the influence of
Hong Kong English and
code-switching in Hong Kong. Language differences also play a major role in separating Hong Kong identity from mainland Chinese identity. While
Mandarin is the official
variety of
Chinese in mainland China, the regionally traditional
Cantonese variant has long been used in Hong Kong. The increasing presence of Mandarin-speakers in the territory since 1997, and expectations of mainland Chinese for Hong Kong residents to speak Mandarin, has caused conflicts and defensive measures by citizens to
protect Cantonese against the encroachment of Mandarin. Such actions include stigmatizing Mandarin as a language of
communism, while
Cantonese and
English language are perceived as languages of democracy; reflecting the political differences between Hong Kong and China. This
political linguistic view has also spread among
Overseas Chinese communities, the majority of which are historically Cantonese-speaking. The lack of
democratic development in Hong Kong has further eroded a sense of a Chinese identity. Under the
one country, two systems policy agreed between the United Kingdom and China as a condition of Hong Kong's return, the territory is guaranteed the right to retain its free way of life for at least 50 years after 1997. However, increasing attempts from the Beijing government to curb
democratic institutions and
free speech, including the delay of eventual universal suffrage, have drawn continual protests and unrest among locals. This cumulated in the
2014 Hong Kong protests, when the
Chinese Communist Party allowed Hong Kongers to vote for the territory's chief executive under the condition that Beijing first approves of the running candidates. The political crises have led to a strengthening of a local Hong Kong identity, with an
independence movement beginning to take form as a result.
Taiwan Following the
retrocession of Taiwan from Japan to the
Republic of China in 1945, the
Kuomintang-led government promoted a "resinicization" of the island's population, sponsoring
Chinese calligraphy,
traditional Chinese painting,
folk art, and
Chinese opera. De-Sinicization occurred most rapidly between 1992 and 2005, according to a survey by the
National Chengchi University about national identity in Taiwan. Identification as "Chinese" during this time dropped from 26.2% to 7.3%, "Taiwanese" identity increased from 17.3% to 46.5%, and identification as both Taiwanese and Chinese dropped from 45.4% to 42.0%. The autocratic administrations of
Chiang Kai-shek and
Chiang Ching Kuo claimed legitimacy as pan-Chinese leaders because the Republic of China's
National Assembly was elected from all over China (in 1947), rather than just from Taiwan. However, the
Lee Teng-hui administration (1988–2000) began to desinicize the polity by abolishing this Assembly in 1991, to form a parliamentary body with a Taiwan-only electorate. De-Sinicization accelerated under the
Chen Shui-bian administration (2000–2008), with the pro-
Taiwan independence Democratic Progressive Party in control of the
Executive Yuan. Chen's Minister of Education,
Tu Cheng-sheng, directed the rewriting of high school history textbooks to abolish the "remnants of greater Chinese consciousness" (). This textbook's de-Sinicization included the separation of Taiwanese history and Chinese history into separate volumes, a ban on the term
mainland China, and the portrayal of Chinese immigration to Taiwan during the
Qing dynasty as "
colonization". Concurrently, Chen introduced the
One Country on Each Side concept in 2002, which posited that China and Taiwan are separate countries, while ordering the addition of the words "Issued in Taiwan" on
Republic of China passports. The name changing issue was a topic in the Republic of China presidential elections in Taiwan in March 2008. Former Taipei mayor
Ma Ying-Jeou was elected as the
President, whereupon he sought to reverse some of the de-Sinicization policies of Chen. On 1 August 2008, the postal service resolved to reverse the name change and restore the name "Chunghwa Post". As of 1 January 2009, Tongyong Pinyin was abolished by the government in favor of Hanyu Pinyin. On 28 September 2009, Ma celebrated the 2559th birthday of
Confucius at the
Taiwan Confucian Temple, which was built in 1665. And on 1 January 2011, President Ma entitled his New Year's address "Building up Taiwan, Invigorating Chinese Heritage", which stressed "
Chinese culture and virtues, such as benevolence, righteousness,
filial devotion, respect for teachers, kindness, and simplicity".
Japan Around the time of the Meiji Restoration, debates arose in Japan regarding the "Datsu-A Ron" (Leaving Asia theory) and the perceived backwardness of China, leading to discussions on whether to abolish Kanji (Chinese characters) and fully adopt Kana or the Roman alphabet. Ultimately, the idea of reducing the number of Kanji, proposed by Fukuzawa Yukichi, became mainstream. In 1873, he compiled the elementary school textbook
Moji no Oshie (The Teaching of Characters), stating in its preface that although Kanji are difficult to learn, the Japanese language already contains a large accumulation of them, making immediate abolition impractical. He suggested initially limiting Kanji usage, with the goal of eventual abolition when circumstances allowed. In his own textbook, he used only 802 Kanji. After World War II, under the suggestion of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ) to promote the Romanization of Japanese, the Japanese government established the
Tōyō Kanji list (General Use Kanji) in 1946, which was intended to strictly limit the number of Kanji used, with the ultimate goal of complete abolition. However, in the 1980s, the
Tōyō Kanji list was replaced by the
Jōyō Kanji list (Regular Use Kanji), and the abolition of Kanji was no longer the objective.This is because Kana are not purely phonetic characters; for example, Kana do not indicate pitch accents (アクセント). Both "chopsticks" (箸) and "bridge" (橋) are written as "はし" (hashi). In Kana, "chopsticks" (箸) is pronounced as "はし" with a high-low pitch pattern (háshi), while "bridge" (橋) is pronounced as "はし" with a low-high pitch pattern (hashí). When speaking, the meaning of words must be distinguished by these pitch patterns. Writing without Kanji would cause confusion due to homophones.
Thailand Vietnam Hoa people, or ethnic Chinese in Vietnam, form a significant minority in the country with a presence traced from the
Nanyue era and became organized since the foundation of
Later Lê dynasty. Chinese immigration to Vietnam peaked during the late 19th to mid-20th century, when China experienced political turmoil and life quality stagnation, as well the communist takeover in 1949 and business incentives provided by the
French colonial government. The Hoa largely integrated well, forming a large portion of the Vietnam's middle and upper class and playing an important role in its economy. In addition to their native dialects and/or Cantonese (the
lingua franca of Chinese in Southeast Asia), Vietnamese proficiency rates among the Hoa were extremely high and were the largest among Vietnam's ethnic minority groups. Most Hoa eventually considered themselves as Vietnamese first and then Chinese, with those with origins not from mainland China identifying themselves to their specific place, such as "Hong Kong Chinese" or "Macau Chinese", especially in
South Vietnam. Following the
Fall of Saigon and communist reunification of the Vietnam, most Hoa in the former South Vietnam opted to immigrate to other countries, especially the United States, France and Australia. Only ethnic Chinese persecuted by government in northern Vietnam chose to immigrate back to China, especially to
Guangxi Province. Overseas Chinese with origins from Vietnam usually interact with both local Chinese and Vietnamese communities. However, the presence of non-Cantonese speaking and/or mainland Chinese-descended communities results in the community identifying itself with the Vietnamese community instead, as in the case with the
Chinese community in France.
North Korea Using
Hanja (한자,漢字), or Chinese characters in Korean language, was banned in 1949 in
North Korea by
Kim Il Sung. Kim banned the use of hanja because he viewed the abolishment of hanja as a symbol of decolonization and
Korean nationalism.
South Korea Hangul was made the official script of the Korean language since 1948, replacing
Hanja, and Hanja is not required to be learned until high school as an elective course in
South Korea. Former
Mayor of Seoul Lee Myung-bak's move to change Seoul's official Chinese name from
Hancheng () to ''Shou'er
() in 2005 as a model of de-Sinicization. The previous name, pronounced Hànchéng in Mandarin and Hanseong in Korean, is an old name for Seoul. Hanseong was derived from the Han River, and literally means "Walled City on the Han (Wide) River" but the name can be misinterpreted as Han Chinese City''. The new name Shou'er carried no such connotation, and was close in both sound and meaning to
Seoul, which, uniquely among Korean place names, does not have a
Sino-Korean name. See also
Names of Seoul.
Kyrgyzstan The
Dungans of
Kyrgyzstan represent a less conscious process of de-Sinicization, during which, over the course of a little more than a century (since the
Hui Minorities' War), a
Hui population became alienated from the literary tradition and local culture of
Shaanxi and
Gansu.
Indonesia ==See also==