Since Hong Kong's retrocession, the government has endeavoured to strengthen local citizens' identification with the People's Republic of China - a project that acquired new impetus with the 2010 decision to introduce Moral and National Education' (MNE) as a compulsory school subject. In the face of strong local opposition, this policy was withdrawn in 2012, and implementation of MNE made optional. This article seeks to elucidate the background to the MNE controversy of 2012 by locating the emergence of a distinctive Hong Kong identity in its historical context, and analysing successive official attempts (before and after the 1997 retrocession) to use schooling for purposes of political socialisation. We argue that the school curriculum has projected and reflected a dual sense of identity: a Chineseness' located mainly in ethno-cultural qualities, and a Hongkongeseness' rooted in civic attributes. While reinforced by schooling, local civic consciousness has been intimately related to a tradition of public activism strongly evident since the 1970s, and further strengthened post-1997.
[Copyright of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2015.1033169]

Since the return of sovereignty to China in 1997, national identification with China has been a priority in Hong Kong SAR government’s educational policy agenda. Hong Kong has seen an increase of national education activities which aim at cultivating a Chinese identity with emphasis on ethnic and cultural dimensions. By using case studies with in-depth interviews on selected samples of Hong Kong’s secondary school teachers, this study analyzes how do they perceive their national identity and how do they teach national education. The findings reveal that under the proclamation of Chinese national identity, there are differences in connotation emphases on their own national identity given by the respondents and they have different teaching strategies on national education. These findings have implications for understanding the meanings of national identity and national education in Hong Kong in a globalization era.

This first part of the paper briefly reviews the historical development of civic education in Hong Kong arguing that there had been three stages of development, namely Stage one: Depoliticizing by the State and the School (before 1984), Stage two: Politicization of the Intended Curriculum (1985-1996) and Stage three: Re-depoliticisation of Civic Education and Official Affirmation of Nationalistic Education (1997-2008). In stage two, civic education was considered to encompass five foci, namely, human rights education, education for democracy, education for rule of law, nationalistic education and global education. But in stage three, political content such as human rights and democracy were replaced by personal, interpersonal and moral issues. In addition, stage three is characterized by a strong promotion of nationalistic/patriotic education. In the second part of the paper, the author argues that as starting from 2009, civic education will be stepping into stage four, which can be called ‘Civic education through Liberal Studies’. A new, compulsory subject, Liberal Studies, will be introduced in 2009 containing modules related to rule of law, socio-political participation where democracy and human rights can be explored. The aims and content of the Liberal Studies will be discussed in details to explore whether and how it can serve as a vehicle for civic education for rule of law, democracy and human rights.

Empirical Research Background: Our analyses and report in this study were based on data from the IEA Civic Education Study conducted by the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in 1999. The IEA Civic Education Study is the largest and most rigorous study of civic education ever conducted internationally. This research tested and surveyed nationally representative samples totalling 90,000 14-year-old students in 28 countries. In our study the analyses and report focuses on the Hong Kong sample: 4,996 students aged 14.00-14.11 from 150 schools in Hong Kong. Empirical Research Aims: Our study aims to construct benchmark estimates for scales to be used to measure changes in citizenship attitudes and knowledge in Hong Kong students since 1999. In that case it is necessary to reveal any extra scales and/or variations of dimensions within a scale from the Hong Kong sample that were not reported in the IEA Technical report published in 2004, where common scales were adopted for all country comparisons. Empirical Research Sample: An instrument containing attitudinal items towards citizenship, including sections A to N, was administered to students in 28 countries, including Hong Kong, during the Civic Education Study (CivEd) of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in 1999. A two stage stratified cluster sample design was used in line with those adopted for other large scale assessments. This involved schools being selected within a stratified sampling frame as the first stage and single intact classes being selected in the second stage. Two explicit strata were used in the sampling frame: district and financial mode, with the number of schools selected within each stratum proportional to the total number of schools. 150 Hong Kong schools were included in the sample in order "to obtain sufficient data for reliable analysis at school and class levels". The population was made up of students who are from 14.00-14.11 (Form 3)

On July 1, 1997, the hand-over ceremony ended 155 years' British colonial rule and marked the beginning of resumption of China's sovereignty over Hong Kong. The implementation of the "one country, two systems" began. Did allegiance and sense of belonging of the people of Hong Kong readjust to match the political transfer ? What does the identity of 'citizen under "one country, two systems'" mean to the people of Hong Kong, especially the student teachers珦culptors of the mind of tomorrow ? This paper is the report of a two-year longitudinal study of student teachers' conceptions of citizenship under the "one country, two systems". Two surveys were conducted in the Hong Kong Institute of Education, one in Dec. 1997 and another in Nov. 1998. The samples were the Certificate of Education (secondary) student teachers who had at least one Social Science subject as their elective subjects. The instruments were two more or less identical questionnaires. In this report, comparison between the 1997 and the 1998 surveys was made. It aimed at revealing the evolution of student teachers' conceptions of citizenship after the transfer of sovereignty; agents that helped to shape such conceptions and student teachers' opinions related to Civic Education curriculum development. Implication on the development of Civic Education in Hong Kong was discussed and suggestion made.

Generally speaking, after the Chinese Communist Party had gained political power, the colonial Hong Kong Government intended to resist the spread and influence of communism and to that end implemented Civic Education in Hong Kong. The present study disagrees with this simple description and analysis. The postwar Hong Kong was confronted with the complex Chinese civil war situation while the British maintained their colonial governance. Faced with the rising power of the Communist Party, the victory of the war and the outbreak of the Korean War, the entire geo-political transformation process influenced the administration and strategy of the Hong Kong Government. The question was that did Hong Kong conduct the Nationalist education as civic education before 1949 and under the cultural and educational influence of the Communist across the border? Hong Kong had to implement the embargo policy of the United Nations and the Cold War’s strategy between the capitalist world and the communist blocs. It was not necessary for Civic Education wholly revealing a responding problem but it can partly explain the real situation.
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