The Function of Education in Shaping Chinese National Identity in Colonial Hong Kong

The substantive issue of shaping local Chinese identity for social cohesion in the face of internal social disruption, external communist threats and international cold-war politics was one of the key policy challenges of the British colonial government. This article examines how education could support the formation and establishment of pro-British-government Chinese identities in colonial Hong Kong. Some researchers (Kan, 2007; Vickers, Kan and Morris, 2003; Vickers, 2000, Luk 1991)) have noted that the curriculum for colonial Hong Kong does not support theories of colonial cultural imperialism in which colonial governments diminish the indigenous culture of the local population and indoctrinate the local people with the host country's culture. On the contrary, traditional Chinese culture and values were promoted in the colonial education system of Hong Kong.