Hong Kong - More than a fifth of Hong Kong people view themselves not as Chinese but as Hong Kongers and the ratio is rising, according to a survey released Wednesday. Ten years after the former British colony reverted to Chinese sovereignty, 21.3 per cent of people said they saw themselves as Hong Kongers, up 7.9 per cent from a similar survey last year.
Fractionally more - 21.7 per cent - said they considered themselves Chinese, but the figure was 11.3 percentage points down on the poll last year, University of Hong Kong researchers said.
The percentage of people among the 1,000-plus interviewees who said they saw themselves as equally Hong Kongers and Chinese rose 3.3 percentage points to 56.3 per cent.
Wealthy Hong Kong was a British colony for 156 years before reverting in July 1997 to Chinese sovereignty under a "one country, two systems" arrangement, guaranteeing it political freedoms.
Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed administration has introduced patriotic broadcasts and flag-raising ceremonies to try to stir up love for the motherland among its 6.9 million residents.
