Global citizenship and Chinese identity: the case of Hong Kong youth

Identity politics is a major topic in Hong Kong studies. The literature has offered insights into citizens’ shifting Chinese and Hong Kong identities. This study aims to examine Hong Kong citizens’ identities from a new perspective, that is, how the Hong Kong youth interpret the compatibility and incompatibility of global citizenship identity and Chinese identity. This study adopted mixed methods. First of all, survey data illustrates that after 2019, more Hong Kong youth held that global citizenship identity is incompatible with Chinese identity. Second, in qualitative interviews, several interviewees argue that China has a strong nationalism, which makes Chinese only care about domestic issues while not paying attention to global issues. Therefore, they hold that the global citizenship identity is incompatible with Chinese identity. By adding the dimension of global citizenship identity, this study contributes to understanding how Chinese and Chinese identity are interpreted with data from Hong Kong.