Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China’s Shadow: Penguin Specials

Penguin Specials: The Hong Kong Series

by Ben Bland

Teenage activists turned politicians, multi-millionaire super tutors and artists fighting censorship - these are the stories of Generation HK. From radically different backgrounds yet with a common legacy, having grown up in post-handover Hong Kong, these young people have little attachment to the era of British colonial rule or today's China. Instead, they see themselves as Hong Kongers, an identity both reinforced and threatened by the rapid expansion of Beijing's influence. Amid great political and social uncertainty, Generation HK is trying to build a brighter future. Theirs is a truly captivating coming-of-age story that reflects the bitter struggles beneath the gleaming facade of modern Hong Kong.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, China, Asia, Asian Literature, History

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2017

Reviews

[HR · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up Generation HK from a bookshop in Central and read it in an afternoon and an evening. Bland looks at several remarkable young people in Generation HK, each with diverse stakes in a unique society at a decisive time. The chapter on the Umbrella movement student protesters was a fine précis of the fraught identity situation in which Hong Kongers find themselves as China takes a more assertive role in consolidating historical claims of sovereignty. Bland has been around a bit, covering Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam, so he’s not badly placed to offer perspective on the shifting context of Hong Kong’s relations with China, given the evolution of the ASEAN countries’ complex bilateral and collective experience in dealing with Beijing. The chapter on the rock star private tutors is a great yarn, vividly told—the pressure on these kids is something else. One in five Hong Kongers is poor in a city with the world’s most-expensive real estate market—the book doesn’t speak to those young people who lack a voice and a platform, but that’s not really what it sets out to do. Generation HK is about the people playing historically significant roles in the most important time since the handover. It’s a very good overview and a short read.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a book that is especially worth reading for those who want to understand more about Hong Kong but have not yet found a place to start. Bland’s book will then give you a good heads-up even it was published back in 2017, around two years before the eventful latter half of 2019.

Has the content gone obsolete? Not at all. As a FT correspondent, Bland manages to fill the chapters with his interviews with quite a few notable people in different social and political groups. Therefore, each chapter is basically a different perspective and finally accumulates to a nexus of opinions that, in my opinion, reflects quite truthfully how the so-called Generation HK really feels about their city. Evidently, it is inevitable to relate to the tension between mainland China and Hong Kong when investigating the younger generation of the former British colony, Bland does not leave other pressing and heated issues behind: education, freedom, employment, housing, just to name a few. Overall, Bland’s book reads like a case study of the current Hong Kong. It is perfectly palatable as it is but a bit-size in both length and density. If you are quite familiar with Hong Kong, you will definitely have no trouble to finish it in a setting.

However, strength and weakness sometimes are the two sides of a single coin, or the two sides of a double-edged sword. Bland has pointed out some of the problems of the Generation HK is facing as well as their struggles in seeking a local identity, but he has also only touched upon the issues with few assessments. It might well be the true purpose of the book, after all, as a brief introduction of the current society of Hong Kong; yet the unsatisfying depth is real. Bland tries to include as many representatives of Generation HK as he could, but the effect is far from stunning: it ends up to be a glossing over of different general opinions on phenomena or problems that, in my opinion, are quite well acknowledged in Hong Kong. That is why I think for those who are from Hong Kong, and those who know the city quite well, should read this book as a kind of revision or review of what events have taken place in the post-Occupy Hong Kong.

Another problem with this book is that it is not well-researched enough but I think it could be exonerated as many claims or suggestions made by Bland are quite fair and general. The lack of depth does not make it a worse piece of writing as probably this is how it should be written. Interestingly, Bland’s interview with Joshua Wong in the Vietnamese eatery renews my impression on Wong, given that he is piled with “a cascade of messages” that always takes away his attention from the interview, and his voraciousness in biting the extra order of spring roll due to his surprisingly good appetite. I do not venture to surmise or judge Bland’s intention in including this rather light-hearted episode.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an informative look into the twenty- and thirty-something generation in Hong Kong. Bland looks at a handful of different groups of Generation HK: student activists, artists, the children of Hong Kong’s tycoons, cram school moguls, independence activists, and professionals who have gotten into politics. Some of the vignettes left me wondering about things Bland had mentioned in his book. He talked about Kelvin Lee’s Chinese name and how his parents named him with the word “hope” a year after Tiananmen. But we never learn his Chinese name. That seemed like an editorial oversight. I was also puzzled about the 1997 agreement that he mentioned at the end and how the China of 1997 is not the same as the China today. That is true, of course, but the real comparison should be between 1984, when the Basic Law was ratified (that is the year of the agreement to return HK to China) or half a dozen years after that when the Basic Law was ratified. Again, that’s an editorial oversight. And Joshua Wong’s portrayal was also a little misleading. Bland describes his transformation from hoodies to blazers, but when Wong entered the political arena, he was a uniform-wearing high school student, and that uniform included a blazer. He also isn’t new to meeting with high powered politicians in Hong Kong. In 2012, when he was in his mid-teens, he met with CY Leung during the National Education debacle. These are all fairly minor points that don’t take away from Bland’s journalistic thoroughness. He covered many demographics within Generation HK and leaves the reader not only wondering just what will happen to Hong Kong in the years to come, but also invested in its future.

[Edwina · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who has a deep connection and cultural/historical ties to the city of Hong Kong, reading this book was definitely refreshing. We see Ben Bland, a journalist write about Hong Kongers who are aiming to retain their cultural identity as a Hong Konger amidst the tensions and looming threat of China over their city. The different segments of each chapter focusing on the Artists, the Tutors, the Students, the Rich and the Revolutionaries all create a sense of perspective from the eyes of these individual citizens of Hong Kong. We look into the world they are living in and one they are actively shaping through their actions - most importantly reinforcing the idea as to why they are doing what they are doing - so they can preserve their culture, heritage and their bloodlines to the city that they call home. It is quite sentimental for me to read something so inherently close to my heart - my home and the city that I've grown up visiting. Bland's message on identity for Hong Kongers really makes it even more important for Hong Kongers themselves to maintain their identity and cultural practices but also as it begins to shift within the ties of political changes following its handover and the One Country, Two Systems principle. This book was eye-opening and deserving of the four stars I gave it. Personally, you would be doing it a disservice if you didn't attempt to read the book - it's especially symbolic given of the events of the past year.

[Kai T · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick snapshot of the sociopolitical situation in Hong Kong in the 2010s. There are good interviewees to help portray the viewpoints of the young generation(s) who oppose the Chinese state. It would be particularly helpful for people who wanted to know more about Hong Kong yet had no/ little prior knowledge.

My only question is the dichotomy between generations - young and old. As the book title suggests, there is a "generation HK', the young Hongkongers. Implicitly, it suggests there is another generation - but what are they? Are they not "HK" enough to be included in the term "generation HK"? Although popular, conventional knowledge may support the idea that resistance and protest are things that belong to the young people. However, in a book that specifically discusses these issues, justification is needed for this old-young dichotomy.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of Hong Kong youth politics and the current push for independence in the city. Some of this (Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, etc.) will read a little repetitively if you're familiar with it already, but the material on the young rich was eye-opening, if unsurprising. Also great to read more about Ten Years, and glad to see the production team interviewed. I'm glad I'm not the only one who cried during "Self-Immolator."

Well worth a read to find out what Hong Kong's future might hold, and why its present is so disheartening for those of a certain generation.

[Robin Kwong · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful and entertaining look at young Hong Kong-ers and their search for a unique identity. You'll meet interesting characters with a range of views about the future of Hong Kong and their role in the city's future. Deeply reported and well worth your time

[Chloe Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regardless of what one’s views are towards Hong Kong (and especially its political situation), this is worth a read due to the various parties Bland has tried to approach to make sense of the whole situation.

[Frances Burrage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helped to clarify why Hong Kong faces current crisis. Interesting and balanced account of some of the tensions the city has faced since the Umbrella movement.

[Kirsty Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short insight into youth-led political uprisings in Hong Kong in the past 5 years.

[Mr Siegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A New Generation

To define yourself in a land which is not yours (on paper), and in a place where it has an expiration date is tough by any standards. It only gets worse when your neighbours are powerful and tend to make decisions for you, even though you would rather have them not to.

Up to now, this was one of the best HK special books (another one written by a foreigner though), and I liked it how each chapter focused on a specific topic and how this current interplay with defining oneself affects the new generation in all walks of life.

I personally have high hopes for generation HK, as I believe that in times of uncertainty people tend to be more creative in making a future that they can see themselves in. Yes, granted that this is a difficult endeavour, but one thing is for certain that the people of HK have yet to give up.

All in all, I highly recommend this book if you are interested in HK current affairs.