POP goes Beijing’s ‘HK patriots’ bubble

Another item for Beijing’s Hong Kong Mainlandization ‘to do’ list: the HKU public opinion survey on residents’ self-identity. The pollsters are now joining the 21st Century and conducting surveys over mobile phone as well as landlines, so they are in theory questioning a more representative, younger sample of respondents. This will not help deliver the numbers Beijing would like to see. The latest data show, very broadly, that 66% currently identify primarily as Hongkongers versus 32% as Chinese.

HKUPOP has been annoying all the right people ever since its extremely thorough monitoring of then-Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s relentlessly declining popularity ratings. Rectification is long overdue. That goes for everyone else at HKU, too.

On a related note: socio-political analysis from the FT’s former local correspondent on the forthcoming national anthem law. (We will also be hearing more on the legal side. I recently heard a pro-Beijing figure, asked about the vagueness of the proposed legislation, confidently say it’s no problem because ‘the courts will sort all that out’.)

And your Fun Statistic of the Day: from 2007 to September 2018, mortgage debt in China has grown 823%, ‘which even after accounting for nominal GDP and wages is an amazing number’.

 

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One Response to POP goes Beijing’s ‘HK patriots’ bubble

  1. Mjrelje says:

    In the first scenario, assume Beijing opts to take the deleveraging medicine and accept the pain, of which we believe there is a substantial amount waiting… Yes!

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