My insights towards the social phenomenon (Karson)

What defines me as an individual?
I am Karson, a Hong Kong student studying in university. If somebody asks my identity, I will definitely answer that I am a Chinese instead of “Hong Konger”. However, some people may not. Since Hong Kong was the colonial of Britain before, the sense of identity and belonging towards China is generally low. Even though after the handover, some Hong Kong people are still very insistent about their Hong Konger’s identity. It is undeniable that Hong Kong is only an administrative region of China. We have to clarify the truth, China is our mother country and our nationality is Chinese.

What do I think about my generation?
I was born in 1980s, a true Post-80s. Regarding a series of social movements happened recently, like
- Anti-high speed railway protest,
- Marching to Liaison Office of the Central People's Government during January 1,
- Criticizing the politicians of pro-Beijing camp in City Forum (城市論壇) every Sunday,
- Intensely demanding for the abolishment of Functional Constituencies and
- Supporting the de facto referendum advocated by League of Social Democrats and Civic Party
Post-80s’ youngsters are the most active participator in the above-mentioned social movements. I will describe our generation is becoming more and more RADICAL. Post-80s’ youngsters claim that they are struggling for equality. They claim that the Hong Kong government only concern about the Central government and rich people, the social noises by general publics are being ignored. So, they have to protest and take part in social movements in order to reflect their disappointment towards the government. The purpose is to arouse the attention of the government.

The most important value in the society
Personally, I think the most important value in the society is mutual understanding. To alleviate the problem of youngsters become more radicalized, it is necessary to listen to their opinions. I think there is a room for the government to improve their communications with youngsters. Due to the technological advancement, youngsters are no longer to rely on traditional medium to express their views. They tend to heavily use Internet. So, the government has to make a better use of Internet for collecting various opinions. Setting up some blogs and chatting forums are some possible ways to allow the officials and publics communicating directly.

I do understand that the government is facing a dilemma between executing policies and balancing the social consensus. In current situation, no matter what policies is going to be implemented, there will be some opponents who against it. So, the government should increase the transparency during the execution. For instance, to hire independent companies to collect opinions from different classes of people, different political parties and different age groups. The aim is to make the consultations be more all-rounded and covering the vast majority.

It is an uphill task for the government to strike a balance before setting up a policy. If the government can stick to the principle of equity, I am optimistic that the controversies and conflicts can be minimized.