Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1994

A Research Project for Social Reintegration In what ways is a better understanding of social changes in the next few years relevant to the interest of the citizens of Hong Kong? Academically speaking, there are very few precedents of colonies being returned to countries from which they were taken. This is why Hong Kong is academically interesting, and Prof. Lau proposes to tackle the issue from the following angles: (a) The political conflict, cultural change, and changes in the identity, rights and obligations of the Hong Kong citizen that will appear after the end of colonial rule; (b) The problems that w i ll occur under the one- country, two-systems arrangements, for example, Hong Kong's relationship w i th China, and problems that w i ll surface when the Chinese mode o f management/ government is being introduced into Hong Kong; (c) How social changes in Hong Kong w i ll be oriented after socialist China resumes sovereignty; (d) The progress of democratization in Hong Kong. Great as it is, the academic value of this research project is far outweighed by the project's social significance. The researchers, being Hong Kong citizens or Hong Kong-belongers, are deeply concerned with social stability and growth in the territory. They hope that, through their research, they could identify factors that are conducive to social reintegration which w i ll in turn bring about a more solidary society, serve as new bases of community belongingness, and enhance community well-being. Research Methods and Their Characteristics Prof. Lau and his colleagues have divided the project into a number of sub-projects which will, at different levels, study problems related to decline in authority, social conflicts and social reintegration: (a) Social and political leaders — the decline in authority of social and political leaders and the social factors contributing to such a phenomenon; (b) Popular culture 一 how the media react to and reflect rapid changes in society and how they reflect decline in au t ho r i ty and social conflicts. It is expected that through a study of the changes in the form and content of the media, the mentality, behaviour and interpersonal relationships of Hong Kong citizens, and the uniqueness of Hong Kong culture may be better understood; (c) Education — the equity of the educational system in Hong Kong, the authority of the teacher, the standard of education, and the role of the intelligentsia; (d) Religion — the activities of various religions in Hong Kong in recent years, people's sense of religiosity, the possible correlation between a heightened sense of the religious and the decline in authority, the possibility of religious au t ho r i ty becomi ng the new domi nant authority in society, and the relationship between a heightened faith in religion and changes in cultural ethos; (e) The petite bourgeoisie 一 how do members of the petite bourgeoisie view Hong Kong in transition, and how do they view their own role in this process. In the past the lower middle class nurtured a Hong Kong dream, one in which the streets of the territory were strewn w i th gold and opportunities were boundless. The study w i ll chart changes in this dream. Materials for this study w i ll be gathered by means of questionnaires, personal interviews, site research, and co l l ec t i on and analysis o f documentary data. The project is still in its conceptual and preliminary data collection stage and is expected to take three years, that is, until 1996, to complete. Prof. Lau himself is chiefly responsible for the study on the ethos of the Hong Kong people, and a large-scale questionnaire has begun in May 1994. Research Projects 7