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Two Systems, Two Countries: A Nationalist Guide to Hong Kong
As Hong Kong is integrated into the People’s Republic of China, ever fewer people in the city identify as Chinese. Two Systems, Two Countries explains why.
Two Systems, Two Countries traces the origins of Hong Kong nationalism and introduces readers to its main schools of city-state theory, self-determination, independence, and returnism. The idea of Hong Kong independence, Kevin Carrico shows, is more than just a provocation testing Beijing’s red it represents a collective awakening to the failure of One Country Two Systems and the need to transcend obsolete orthodoxies. With a conclusion that examines Hong Kong nationalism’s influence on the 2019 protest movement, Two Systems, Two Countries is an engaging and accessible introduction to the tumultuous shifts in Hong Kong politics and identity over the past decade.
Two Systems, Two Countries traces the origins of Hong Kong nationalism and introduces readers to its main schools of city-state theory, self-determination, independence, and returnism. The idea of Hong Kong independence, Kevin Carrico shows, is more than just a provocation testing Beijing’s red it represents a collective awakening to the failure of One Country Two Systems and the need to transcend obsolete orthodoxies. With a conclusion that examines Hong Kong nationalism’s influence on the 2019 protest movement, Two Systems, Two Countries is an engaging and accessible introduction to the tumultuous shifts in Hong Kong politics and identity over the past decade.
233 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 5, 2024
Two Systems, Two Countries
A very thorough and decisive book on the relationship between Hong Kong and China.
Part of the book was hard to read about the recent news in Hong Kong.
That being said... On a similar note
I am LOCKED on the important January 13, 2024 Taiwanese presidential election (general) elections.
So far, the opinion polls are in favor of DPP (the current party in power).
We shall see!
Keeping a close eye on this and China's recent interactions with the Philippines and, of course, Taiwan. I know Italy recently announced some big news about its relationship with China, so things are changing quickly. Makes me want to go back to Italy now!
Anyways, this was a great political read!
Check it out if you care about conflicts and foreign policy.
4.8/5
A very thorough and decisive book on the relationship between Hong Kong and China.
Part of the book was hard to read about the recent news in Hong Kong.
That being said... On a similar note
I am LOCKED on the important January 13, 2024 Taiwanese presidential election (general) elections.
So far, the opinion polls are in favor of DPP (the current party in power).
We shall see!
Keeping a close eye on this and China's recent interactions with the Philippines and, of course, Taiwan. I know Italy recently announced some big news about its relationship with China, so things are changing quickly. Makes me want to go back to Italy now!
Anyways, this was a great political read!
Check it out if you care about conflicts and foreign policy.
4.8/5
July 9, 2022
A neat and well-researched recount of how the Hong Kong people and CCP viewed “One Country Two Systems” and their respective answer to the problems arising from a failed system with fundamental flaws.
In Ch2, the author explained in a very clear manner how the four schools of post-OCTS (one country two system) thoughts were developed in Hong Kong, as well as provided analysis of each of their breakthroughs and flaws.
And in Ch.3, the author analyzed China’s official rhetoric about HK and how they framed the “Hong Kong problem”, providing much insight to the inner workings of the so-called “Hong Kong-ology” that aimed not to “understand and solve Hong Kong’s problems according to HK ppl’s needs”, but to provide preformed narrative constructions to shape the society according to its planning, and to give discursive support to the CCP’s disregard and intentional misreading of the Basic Law that is written specifically to counter such transgressions.
(p.118)
There are certain tropes in the Chinese state's stereotypical portrayals of minority others:
(1) the ethnic other as a child, in need of guidance from the mature and rational Han majority;
(2) the ethnic other as underdeveloped or primitive, embodying an earlier stage of history in the present, in need of guidance from the modern and developed Han majority;
(3) the ethnic other as different and uncivilized, not yet fully inducted into the glory of Han Chinese culture, and finally, a discourse that has become increasingly prominent in recent years, which sees (4) the ethnic other as a potential biological threat to the body politic, requiring constant monitoring, confinement, and even elimination, as we see in occupied Xinjiang today.
These images are unrelated to the actual existence of those purportedly described therein, determined in advance by Han nationalist orientalizing (premised on a binary of exoticism and normalcy, primitivism and modernity) and encompassing (forcefully incorporating the exoticized other to play a particular predetermined role in the narrative of the Chinese nation) perspectives, thereby imagining those represented therein as invariably benefiting from their forced incorporation into a Han-led nation.
Insightful quotes from the book:
(p.117) Rather than emphasizing different aspects of the self in different contexts, encompassment subsumes lower-level differences into higher-level commonalities, thereby expressing ownership over that which is encompassed. Encompassment is thus always hierarchical: "The self-styled others are but a subordinate part of an encompassing Us." One can see such encompassing processes in, for example, the all too familiar declaration that the people of HK are inherently and undeniably Chinese:「大家都是中國人」.
(p. 133)
{Hong Kong needs a "new consensus" for the new era: setting aside political disputes to focus on the people's livelihood, enhancing regional cooperation to provide "more space" for Hong Kong's development, employing Hong Kong's strengths in finance to support the Belt and Road Initiative, and expanding Hong Kong's role as a global Renminbi trading center.}
1. every element of this new consensus is focused on economics, ignoring the social and political controversies that have been at the forefront of concern in HK for at least the past two decades. Zhu and Zhang's figure of the underdeveloped hysteric child has been so warmly received and repeatedly invoked in official Chinese narratives, because it simplifies all of HK's complex issues down to matters of economics, making these issues easy to explain and to resolve. If political strife is simply a result of resentment about HK's fading economic power relative to China, then all that Beijing needs to do to resolve this problem is to further integrate HK into its own economic development plans. Such a transformation of political, ethnic, or social issues into an economic issue is a common tactic in official Chinese narratives, precisely because the economic realm is an area in which the state is eager to take action (as opposed to developing new political or social policies) and in which it has the resources and will to make an impact. *economic salvationism*
2. the solutions to all of HK's issues in this framework are to be found not in HK but rather solely in China. This solution precisely inverts the logic of HK nationalism: counter ChinWan's paradigm-shifting call to abandon all hope in China and instead seek local solutions to HK's challenges, Chen and Li instead tell residents to abandon all hope in HK and find all solutions in China, whether this takes the form of expanding the city's role as a Renminbi trading outpost or playing a supporting role in the B&R Initiative.
Beijing's Hong Kong-ology is after all not about understanding the actually existing dynamics of politics and identity in HK, it is about ignoring and indeed erasing these realities, so as to replace them with preformed narrative constructions through which the central state can exercise imaginary mastery over the city.
—-
As the book has mentioned, many Hong Kong Independence activists had to leave Hong Kong, but an idea cannot be easily eradicated once its been conceived. We shall see.
In Ch2, the author explained in a very clear manner how the four schools of post-OCTS (one country two system) thoughts were developed in Hong Kong, as well as provided analysis of each of their breakthroughs and flaws.
And in Ch.3, the author analyzed China’s official rhetoric about HK and how they framed the “Hong Kong problem”, providing much insight to the inner workings of the so-called “Hong Kong-ology” that aimed not to “understand and solve Hong Kong’s problems according to HK ppl’s needs”, but to provide preformed narrative constructions to shape the society according to its planning, and to give discursive support to the CCP’s disregard and intentional misreading of the Basic Law that is written specifically to counter such transgressions.
(p.118)
There are certain tropes in the Chinese state's stereotypical portrayals of minority others:
(1) the ethnic other as a child, in need of guidance from the mature and rational Han majority;
(2) the ethnic other as underdeveloped or primitive, embodying an earlier stage of history in the present, in need of guidance from the modern and developed Han majority;
(3) the ethnic other as different and uncivilized, not yet fully inducted into the glory of Han Chinese culture, and finally, a discourse that has become increasingly prominent in recent years, which sees (4) the ethnic other as a potential biological threat to the body politic, requiring constant monitoring, confinement, and even elimination, as we see in occupied Xinjiang today.
These images are unrelated to the actual existence of those purportedly described therein, determined in advance by Han nationalist orientalizing (premised on a binary of exoticism and normalcy, primitivism and modernity) and encompassing (forcefully incorporating the exoticized other to play a particular predetermined role in the narrative of the Chinese nation) perspectives, thereby imagining those represented therein as invariably benefiting from their forced incorporation into a Han-led nation.
Insightful quotes from the book:
(p.117) Rather than emphasizing different aspects of the self in different contexts, encompassment subsumes lower-level differences into higher-level commonalities, thereby expressing ownership over that which is encompassed. Encompassment is thus always hierarchical: "The self-styled others are but a subordinate part of an encompassing Us." One can see such encompassing processes in, for example, the all too familiar declaration that the people of HK are inherently and undeniably Chinese:「大家都是中國人」.
(p. 133)
{Hong Kong needs a "new consensus" for the new era: setting aside political disputes to focus on the people's livelihood, enhancing regional cooperation to provide "more space" for Hong Kong's development, employing Hong Kong's strengths in finance to support the Belt and Road Initiative, and expanding Hong Kong's role as a global Renminbi trading center.}
1. every element of this new consensus is focused on economics, ignoring the social and political controversies that have been at the forefront of concern in HK for at least the past two decades. Zhu and Zhang's figure of the underdeveloped hysteric child has been so warmly received and repeatedly invoked in official Chinese narratives, because it simplifies all of HK's complex issues down to matters of economics, making these issues easy to explain and to resolve. If political strife is simply a result of resentment about HK's fading economic power relative to China, then all that Beijing needs to do to resolve this problem is to further integrate HK into its own economic development plans. Such a transformation of political, ethnic, or social issues into an economic issue is a common tactic in official Chinese narratives, precisely because the economic realm is an area in which the state is eager to take action (as opposed to developing new political or social policies) and in which it has the resources and will to make an impact. *economic salvationism*
2. the solutions to all of HK's issues in this framework are to be found not in HK but rather solely in China. This solution precisely inverts the logic of HK nationalism: counter ChinWan's paradigm-shifting call to abandon all hope in China and instead seek local solutions to HK's challenges, Chen and Li instead tell residents to abandon all hope in HK and find all solutions in China, whether this takes the form of expanding the city's role as a Renminbi trading outpost or playing a supporting role in the B&R Initiative.
Beijing's Hong Kong-ology is after all not about understanding the actually existing dynamics of politics and identity in HK, it is about ignoring and indeed erasing these realities, so as to replace them with preformed narrative constructions through which the central state can exercise imaginary mastery over the city.
—-
As the book has mentioned, many Hong Kong Independence activists had to leave Hong Kong, but an idea cannot be easily eradicated once its been conceived. We shall see.
November 25, 2025
I cannot fathom how Carrico manages to continually drop the most fire paragraphs one after the other. I really appreciate this book's recognition of the diverse range of intellectuals who "contributed to a nuanced, theoretically engaged debate in a politically complex society." Given the widespread rejection of the thoughts of those intellectuals, his application of Orientalism was profoundly impactful as well.
November 3, 2023
Wow! This is maybe the fifth book I've read on Hong Kong, and although I admit that it was dense (which is to be expected, it's not a novel, but research and theory after all) I still found it very stimulating and couldn't wait for my commute every day to read a few more pages.
In it, Carrico explains the four "schools" of HK nationalism - (1) city-state theory, (2) self-determination, (3) independence and (4) returnism), as well as the responses of the CCP, in a sort of inverted orientalism where scholars in the mainland projecting Hong Kong as (1) an immature child, (2) an underdeveloped hysteric, (3) an uncivilised outlaw and (4) a virus or cancer.
I really appreciated his complexification of certain ideas, such as :
- the binary discourse on colonialism (which doesn't work for Hong Kong, because there's a sort of triangulation which happened between the British, the Mainland and Hongkongers) ;
- the inverted directionality of Orientalism in which a historical object of the Occident's orientalist gaze (mainland China) then others and orientalises a traditionally more culturally Western-leaning Neo-colony (Hong Kong) ;
- the confusing moralities of (im)migration politics in a system where the influx of migrants is not seen as a progressive and sympathy-worthy cause but rather as an articulation the dominant entity's settler politics.
I think these paradoxes are honestly part of what makes Hong Kong such a fascinating place and history. It breaks all of the rules we think we know about the post-colonial world.
He also does a really good job at discussing the auto-ethnicisation of the Hong Konger and their sense of nationhood, and the racial essentialist/biological logic at the root of mainland China's claim that a society that speaks a different language, has a different history and unique self-perception is "inherently" Chinese.
The term Sinophone theory was new to me and I found it to be a useful framework which he referenced. It makes a lot of sense to anyone who knows literally anyone who is "ethnically Han Chinese" but not from the mainland.
Also the fact that pro-Beijing politicians constantly call upon any dissenters to "study the Basic Law!" therefore positioning themselves as the sole valid interpreters and infantilising legitimate legal dissent.
Overall I really appreciated this book and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in an academic delve into the concept of Hong Kong nationalism.
Note to self - To re-read at some point : Ch 3 § 2 Toward a Structuralist Orientalism - this process of oriental object-becomes-subjugator might also help explain Ottoman/post-Ottoman settler-colonial and genocidal treatment of minorities
In it, Carrico explains the four "schools" of HK nationalism - (1) city-state theory, (2) self-determination, (3) independence and (4) returnism), as well as the responses of the CCP, in a sort of inverted orientalism where scholars in the mainland projecting Hong Kong as (1) an immature child, (2) an underdeveloped hysteric, (3) an uncivilised outlaw and (4) a virus or cancer.
I really appreciated his complexification of certain ideas, such as :
- the binary discourse on colonialism (which doesn't work for Hong Kong, because there's a sort of triangulation which happened between the British, the Mainland and Hongkongers) ;
- the inverted directionality of Orientalism in which a historical object of the Occident's orientalist gaze (mainland China) then others and orientalises a traditionally more culturally Western-leaning Neo-colony (Hong Kong) ;
- the confusing moralities of (im)migration politics in a system where the influx of migrants is not seen as a progressive and sympathy-worthy cause but rather as an articulation the dominant entity's settler politics.
I think these paradoxes are honestly part of what makes Hong Kong such a fascinating place and history. It breaks all of the rules we think we know about the post-colonial world.
He also does a really good job at discussing the auto-ethnicisation of the Hong Konger and their sense of nationhood, and the racial essentialist/biological logic at the root of mainland China's claim that a society that speaks a different language, has a different history and unique self-perception is "inherently" Chinese.
The term Sinophone theory was new to me and I found it to be a useful framework which he referenced. It makes a lot of sense to anyone who knows literally anyone who is "ethnically Han Chinese" but not from the mainland.
Also the fact that pro-Beijing politicians constantly call upon any dissenters to "study the Basic Law!" therefore positioning themselves as the sole valid interpreters and infantilising legitimate legal dissent.
Overall I really appreciated this book and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in an academic delve into the concept of Hong Kong nationalism.
Note to self - To re-read at some point : Ch 3 § 2 Toward a Structuralist Orientalism - this process of oriental object-becomes-subjugator might also help explain Ottoman/post-Ottoman settler-colonial and genocidal treatment of minorities
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews