Suchergebnisse

The Asian financial turmoil that hit Hong Kong unexpectedly has produced the worst postwar economic crisis in this bastion of unfettered capitalism. It has exacerbated some worrisome trends that have plagued Hong Kong for more than a decade: diminishing international competitiveness of the economy; widening income inequality; greater involvement of the government in economic affairs; declining mobility opportunities; and an increasingly anxious middle class. Empirical findings however show that whilst Hongkongers' confidence in Hong Kong's capitalist society has been shaken a little, popular support for it has, on the whole, remained robust. Still, social discontent is on the rise, particularly among the middle-classes. Growing popular demand for governmental intervention and the proclivity of the post-1997 regime to exercise economic activism might in the long run, threaten the viability of this last example of untrammeled capitalism. (J Contemp China/DÜI)

ON 1 JULY 1997, THE END OF COLONIAL RULE USHERED IN A NEW government for the 6½ million people of Hong Kong. Ironically, in stark contrast to other new regimes which took over from colonial rulers, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government was greeted with only a moderate amount of enthusiasm by the governed. Nevertheless, public support for the new regime mounted in the first four months of its existence. Since October 1997, however, it has declined continuously and has now reached a low level. Evidently, the governing strategy crafted by the HKSAR government had achieved a certain degree of success in the early months of its existence. Since then, though the HKSAR government obstinately follows this governing strategy, changes in the conditions in Hong Kong have in any case rendered this strategy obsolete. Low public support is bound to undermine effective governance in postcolonial Hong Kong.

Includes social change since the early 1980s, interpersonal trust, a fair society, acceptance of the capitalist system, and social integration; focuses on pre-handover society.