For some of them, this was not just a matter of mourning for a monarch who ruled the city for 45 years, but a subtle form of protest at how China has tightened its grip on a once free and boisterous city that critics question has has seen its civil liberties steadily eroded since the British handed over sovereignty to Beijing 25 years ago. Public gatherings have been rare since China imposed a national security law in June 2020 in an effort to quell increasingly violent pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city since 2019. That crackdown, along with Coronavirus restrictions that critics argue are sometimes co-opted for political purposes have effectively silenced most overt forms of mass gathering or public dissent. But in celebrating the monarchy and its symbols, some Hong Kongers see an opportunity for a veiled dig at both the Chinese Communist Party, which has made no secret of its eagerness for Hong Kongers to forget the era, and local authorities that they recently introduced textbooks that claim the city was never even a colony to begin with. Instead, the books refer to the period of British rule as “forced occupation”. A retiree named Wing, who spoke to CNN outside the consulate on Monday but declined to give his full name, said it was “unbelievable” to be part of a mass rally again. “I feel angry that the Hong Kong government does not show any respect properly (to the queen). They are afraid of being told by the Chinese government, but we were part of the colony,” said Wing, who was born in the 1960s. Another, Sylvia Lee said she was saddened to hear of the Queen’s death, saying she was a symbol of stability around the world. “No one lives forever and we knew this day would come someday. He was a respected figure and the government during the colonial period contributed a lot to the development of Hong Kong, especially in the 70s and 80s,” Lee told CNN, referring to a period in which the city’s appointed governors built public housing and transportation infrastructure.
A symbol of protest – and a complicated past
On the surface, mourning the queen might not seem confrontational — especially given that both Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee (a former police officer who began his career with the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1977 ) have sent their condolences” to the UK.
But the displays of affection are also a reminder of the city’s pro-democracy protests, in which demonstrators adopted the colonial flag as a sign of resistance to Chinese one-party rule.
At the height of the 2019 protests, anti-government protesters stormed the city’s legislative chamber, defacing it with graffiti calling for universal suffrage while hanging a colonial flag over the council president’s seat.
Britain’s ties to Hong Kong date back to the 19th century, when the empire’s desire to impose opium on China — both in trade and through its population’s addiction to the illegal drug — led to two wars that forced China to grant land to the British .
Britain ruled Hong Kong for 156 years until it was handed back to China in 1997 as part of a long-standing agreement, but signs of British influence remain in the city’s English street names and use of the common law system.
Queen Elizabeth herself visited Hong Kong twice while the city was a British territory, while her son, now King Charles III, attended the handover ceremony.
However, the city’s colonial past was far from peaceful, nor was it without its detractors. The riots erupted in the 1960s, when what began as protests against ferry fare increases and demands for better labor rights turned into rampant strikes and bombings that at times brought the city to a standstill.
In the wake of the protests, the British colonial government introduced a series of welfare reforms, including public housing programs and compulsory free education.
But colonial-era critics point out that even under British rule Hong Kong residents did not have universal suffrage. And many felt London had neglected its duty by failing to grant British citizenship to Hong Kongers at the time of the handover, offering most a limited passport that did not give them the right to live and work in Britain. Since the introduction of the National Security Act, Britain has created what it calls a pathway to citizenship through a new type of visa.
“It was (the queen’s) empire that, in 1997, handed us over to China against our will,” said Jeffrey Ngo, a Washington-based activist who was born in the last years of colonial Hong Kong.
Ngo said he was too young to remember life under British rule, but said older generations of Hong Kongers look back on Queen Elizabeth II’s reign – especially her visits in 1975 and 1986 – with tremendous fondness “because the they associate with a freer, simpler, happier bygone era.”
“The sentiment is understandable given that the intuitive point of comparison is Hong Kong under Chinese rule. I respect their lived experience, although it is not one I share. For me, the wealth and prestige of the monarchy is impossible to separate from the violence of empire and expansionism,” he said.
Ngo said draconian laws used by Beijing to prosecute pro-democracy activists today — such as colonial-era sedition laws — were a reminder that there was a darker side to Britain’s heritage.
CNN’s Jan Camenzind Broomby contributed reporting.
