Heart-breaking statistics

How should I begin? A simple statement is that over 90 percent of Hong Kongers would rather be ruled by the British than the Chinese, according to a recent opinion poll. But where does the number come from? Let’s start with the inspiration for this online poll.

A referendum took place earlier this week on the Falkland Islands about people’s opinion regarding the sovereignty of the Islands – should they remain a British Overseas Territory or go back to Argentina? The history here was that there was a war between Argentina and the UK in 1982; the UK won, and the Islands are legally British. Now let’s go back to the referendum. Almost 1700 islanders voted in this referendum, and only three people voted against.

However, the real heart-breaking statistic comes from Hong Kong. The poll that I mentioned in the first paragraph was conducted very recently online by South China Morning Post (SCMP), the only paid English newspaper in the city. The question was ‘If Hongkongers were given the option, would we choose to be a British colony again’. The last time I checked, 93 percent of Hong Kongers preferred the British to the Chinese.

In order to put it into context, you need to have some knowledge of Hong Kong history. Hong Kong was seized by the British after the Opium War in the 19^th century. The Chinese lost again in a subsequent war, and another part of Hong Kong was annexed to the British in 1898 with a lease for 99 years. Whatever the reason was, in 1984 the Chinese announced they would take Hong Kong back from the British in 1997. Then Hong Kong went through a decade of exodus where tens of thousands of people joined the queue to emigrate, as people started to become extremely worried about the Chinese communist government. The massacre in 1989 did not make it any better, and I considered it pathetic at a time that my fellow citizens would rather move to Singapore. In hindsight, they had a better idea of the Chinese government than I had.

Hong Kong was ‘taken back’ by China in 1997, and barely after 15 years the city has become a joke (otherwise the poll result would have been different).  However, I consider it very interesting that SCMP would have the courage to create such online poll since it is regarded as a pro-government paper. Anyhow, the poll may not be scientific, but no one can deny it does reflect a general sentiment – history has proved me right, the Chinese government has been trying to destroy Hong Kong, and it has done an excellent job.