Evolution of Our Times: Developing Democratic Identities in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Two trends have become increasingly apparent from public opinion polls in Taiwan and Hong Kong over the past decade. One is a growing identification with and confidence in being exclusively Taiwanese or Hong Konger. The other is increasing public support for democracy. Existing research investigates the association between local identity and democracy, but does not address the meanings people in Taiwan and Hong Kong ascribe to their identities. This limits a fuller understanding of the relationships and driving forces between and behind these trends. One interpretation is that demands for greater democracy mask growing nativism, even xenophobia. An alternative one is that heightened local identification reflects aspirations for greater political participation and restraint on executive authority in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Using discourse analysis collected through the Making Identities Count in Asia project, alongside polling data, we submit that elite and mass discourse reveal an integration of democratic expectations with local identity and its broadening appeal in Taiwan and Hong Kong. People in these two societies take principles associated with democracy to be closely tied to their sense of identification and locality. Such ideas do not eschew the value of tradition rooted in local experiences and can outweigh economic growth. However, Hong Kongers and Taiwanese have come to identify substantively more with democracy than the exceptionalism implied in “localism,” “Asian values,” or some form of nativism. PRC attempts to appeal to local concerns in Taiwan and Hong Kong need to grapple with either meaningful respect for democratic aspirations or effectively repressing them. PRC insistence on the erasure of such values will likely result in continued tensions with Taiwan and Hong Kong, and include mass resistance and the need for force, even violence.

时代演化：香港和台湾发展中的民主认同

关键词：香港, 台湾, 民主认同, 唯本土主义, 本土主义, 华人性, 抵抗威权主义。

过去十年在香港和台湾进行的民意调查中有两个趋势越来越明显。一个是对自己（分别）作为台湾人和香港人的排他性的身份日益认同并充满信心；另一个是公众对民主的亲和感甚至执着心都日渐高涨。现有研究检视了本土身份和民主的关联，但没有考察台湾和香港民众对自己身份所赋予的意义。这就限制了对这些趋势之间及其背后的关系和驱动力的更充分的理解。一种说法认为要求更多民主的诉求背后掩盖的是高涨的唯本土主义，甚至于是排外主义。另一种说法则认为，地方身份认同的增强反映出台湾和香港对更多政治参与以及对行政权力加以更多限制的渴望。

利用“认真对待身份认同”课题的亚洲项目搜集到的话语分析，结合民意调查数据，我们提出，精英和大众话语显示出民主期望已经与本土身份认同相融合，并在台湾和香港拥有日益广泛的吸引力。这两个社会的人们将民主相关的准则与他们的认同感和本土意识紧密相连。这些观念并没有放弃植根于本土经验中的传统的价值，也会比经济增长更受重视。然而，香港和台湾人都变得比“本土主义”“亚洲价值观”或是某种形式的唯本土论所内涵的例外论更为实质性地认同民主。中国试图唤起台湾和香港的本土关怀，但其尝试需要正视两地对民主抱负的有意义的尊重，否则就只能采取某种方式打消掉这些抱负。中国如果执意抹杀这些价值观很可能会导致与台湾和香港的持久的紧张关系，包括导致大众抵抗以及需要动用强力甚至暴力。

Translated by Li Guo