China's flag flutters in HK

By Carrie Lee

HONG KONG (Reuter): Britain's Union Jack still flies proudly across Hong Kong, but eight months before the colony is handed back to Beijing, the bright red communist flag of China that once was anathema is starting to win hearts and minds.

The changing perception towards the red flag underscores people's increasing acceptance of the inevitability of Hong Kong's return to China at the stroke of midnight next June 30.

Despite worries that China may crimp democratic freedoms in Hong Kong, that acceptance also reflects local people's recognition of their Chinese roots and an improved attitude to Beijing's ruling Communist Party, analysts said.

"Overall, Hong Kong people are increasingly accepting China," said political analyst Andy Ho. He attributed this to burgeoning economic interdependence and growing contacts.

The attitude towards the Communists has improved since a low point in 1989 when China sent tanks into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to crush a student-led democracy movement.

"Hong Kong people's attitude to the Communist Party is definitely better now than 10 odd years ago," said Lau Siu-kai, an academic and a member of the Beijing-appointed Preparatory Committee that is steering Hong Kong to Chinese rule next year.

"People used to be afraid of the five-star flag. Now everybody seems ready to wave it," a local citizen said.

Hong Kong activists raised the flag on the Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea in October to assert Chinese sovereignty over the islets, which Japan also claims.

The flag also flew from a Hong Kong ship carrying protesters to the islands. "Standing under the Chinese flag, I felt great protection," said Wong Wai-ming, one of the demonstrators.

The flag was draped ceremoniously over the coffin of activist David Chan, who drowned after jumping off a protest ship. Tens of thousands mourned him at a Hong Kong candlelight vigil, as more Chinese flags bobbed from the crowd.

The sight of the Chinese flags fluttering in significant numbers is rare, though. The last time it happened was during the bloody, communist-inspired riots in Hong Kong in 1967 at the height of China's disastrous Cultural Revolution.

The red flag of the People's Republic of China has been a bugbear for many Hong Kong people.

They or their parents fled the mainland after the communists stormed to power on the battlefield in 1949, winning a long and bitter civil war and executing members of the old ruling elites.

On June 30 next year the red, white and blue Union Jack will be lowered for the last time after 150 years of British rule. On July 1 the flag of China, red with yellow stars, will fly in its place.

Hong Kong will also have its own flag as a Special Administrative Region of China, depicting a mauve bauhinia tree orchid, one of the sub-tropical city's commonest blooms.

"Previously, Hong Kong people psychologically resisted the Chinese five-star flag. But since the Diaoyu row, they no longer resist it, especially after it was draped over the body of David Chan," said Cheung Man-yee, head of Hong Kong government radio.

The flag of China's Nationalist rival Taiwan has also been a familiar sight.

The Taiwan ensign, in white, blue and red representing clear skies, white sun and the earth flushed with the redness of warriors' blood, flies over nationalist villages in Hong Kong and pops up everywhere on Taiwan's October 10 national day.

But it is unlikely to fly in post-handover Hong Kong, as China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must, like Hong Kong itself, be reabsorbed into the "Greater China" motherland.

One Hong Kong village that to celebrate Taiwan's national day by hanging out Taiwanese flags, this year flew the red flag to celebrate China's October 1 national day instead.

China-funded stores sell mainland flags in the territory, while hawkers also sell T-shirts emblazoned with it.

"The vast majority have started to accept it gradually," said Ho. A recent survey showed more Hong Kong people feel at ease over the sovereignty change as the handover approaches.

About 35 percent were unhappy in May about the change, versus more than 40 percent in January, it showed.

Some 65.5 percent were willing to accept China and the mainland Chinese in May, against less than 60 percent in January.

"It's obvious people generally recognize their Chinese identity and feel loyalty to their country," Lau said.

"On the one hand they may not think the Chinese Communist Party is democratic and open enough, but on the other hand they see the country's military and economic power is on the rise, and so is its international status," he said. "This can indirectly help improve their attitude to the Communist Party."