Community Awareness and Engagement of Residents in Various Districts in Hong Kong

Below is a study of my community identity in Hong Kong, which analyzed respondents' perceptions of the last District Council election. Only recently, the community is very concerned about the district council election, and the publication schedule may not be completed in time for the election at the end of the year. In particular, I will share the article here first, hoping to help all friends who plan to run for the district council.

The research highlights are as follows:
1. Hong Kong people have their own community life and identity, but they are hidden and difficult to detect.
2. When the community faces crises and challenges, the sense of community identity will rise significantly.
3. Generally speaking, I am extremely disappointed with District Councillors, but not without expectations.
4. Limited understanding of District Councils as a political system and their political functions.
5. Frequent migrants are relatively emotionally distant from the community.
6. Online regional groups have a positive effect on promoting community attention.

The research materials are from the "Hong Kong Cultural Indicators Project". We would like to thank Professor Li Lifeng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong for his support of the research and Professor Zhang Shaoqiang of Hong Kong Shue Yan University for his comments on the manuscript. Of course, any errors in the manuscript are solely my responsibility.

The time limit of the data is a bit old. Recently, I hope to arrange an update survey between the "anti-extradition" movement and the election at the end of the year. The news will be shared with you later.

Community Awareness and Engagement of Residents in Various Districts in Hong Kong

introduction

Since the Occupy Movement in 2014, Hong Kong's constitutional reform has been stalled. Many commentators believe that returning to community building is the way out for democratic development, and there is even a so-called "umbrella community". For example, the "Community Citizenship Charter" established in 2015 clearly stated that "self-determination of destiny" should start from the community. Later, independent media (Hong Kong) funded the distribution of a number of community publications. It also promotes community participation as an approach to fighting for democracy. . In the district council elections held in 2015, candidates called "paratroopers" by the media, i.e. candidates from non-traditional political parties inspired by the Occupy movement, became the focus of attention. For a time, community participation seemed to be the key word in Hong Kong's democracy movement.

From the perspective of community participation, the definition of a community should have three levels: geographically, it should be a population group that shares geographic scope or characteristics; contextually, this population group should be related to each other to a certain extent; and action On the other hand, this population group can spontaneously organize and intervene in related affairs, that is, the community becomes a collective political force. Academic research generally believes that the higher the residents' sense of community, the more conducive to promoting community participation. Chavis and Wandersman (1990) proposed that an individual's community participation is influenced by three elements that can be mobilized by community awareness: understanding of the environment, understanding of social relationships, and understanding of one's own control and empowerment in the community.

Returning to the objective environment of Hong Kong, looking at the above-mentioned three factors, the community awareness and dynamic sense of Hong Kong people have been questioned, and it is not optimistic to promote the democratic movement through community participation. In recent years, the new town environment has been criticized for focusing on facilitating commuting and shopping, while neglecting to promote civic gathering and highlighting community characteristics. Taking Tseung Kwan O as an example, each MTR station has developed superstructures, and surrounding developments are connected by shopping malls. Street life has almost disappeared.

From the perspective of control and empowerment, the Department of Politics and Administration of the Chinese University of Hong Kong conducted two opinion surveys from May to June 2016 to measure citizens' sense of belonging to their own community and their conscious influence on changing the community. The results found that although Hong Kong people’s sense of community belonging is not low, young people and highly educated people feel alienated and powerless to the community, and even think that their influence on Hong Kong as a whole is higher than the influence on the community (Huang Weihao, Chen Huihua). , 2015). The critics blamed this "helpless and absurd phenomenon" on the inadequacy of the current district council system, arguing that "even if young people are full of enthusiasm and intellectuals are full of ideals, it is difficult to play in the community" in the absence of real power.

In this regard, Jin Peiwei, a former Wanchai District Councillor, believes that the District Council plays the role of "empty key feeding" in the development of Hong Kong's community, that is, it uses various types of benevolent social construction to create dependence, so as not to provide real community empowerment. Nutrients (2016). By setting up district councils that appear to be democratic but do not practice community empowerment, citizens are "continuously mentally handicapped", creating a selfish mentality of "not in my backyard". The role of district councillors has been downgraded to immerse themselves in the politics of Shezhai pancakes and rice cakes, and to go through the motions in various “stage community” activities (such as traffic safety carnivals and fire safety carnivals) (Jin Peiwei, 2013).

It is worth mentioning that the District Councils are not completely without real power. District Councillors are often mistaken for being in charge of the daily affairs of their small constituencies, and there are also sayings as "neighborhood security guards". In fact, District Councillors have a wide range of responsibilities. Large-scale projects in various districts and even the whole community need the support of the District Council before they are submitted to the Legislative Council for deliberation. In recent years, it has been revealed that the grant recipients have a close relationship with the district councillors themselves in the grants for regional projects and regional activities of many district councils, raising questions about the transmission of benefits (CAU, 2017). Taking the "Community Key Projects Scheme" as an example, many projects proposed by District Councils have been widely criticized due to topic selection, design, consultation process and conflicts of interest. The Hong Kong government often submits some territory-wide issues such as political reform or the co-location plan for the high-speed rail to the district councils for support, in an attempt to seek public approval outside the Legislative Council. In the end, among the 1,200 members of the Election Committee, which voted for the Chief Executive, 117 members were elected by the District Councils from among themselves, which shows the political status of the District Councils.

The residents' sense of powerlessness towards the community, the lack of community empowerment practices by the district council, and the fact that the district councillor's work beyond the neighborhood service has been neglected, what is the relationship between the above three and whether there is a possible breakthrough, is the main topic of this article. subject.

Research methods

Faced with the potential of community participation and the gap in practice in Hong Kong, this paper explores whether community awareness is prevalent in Hong Kong itself, and what Hong Kong people imagine and pursue for community life. Through a series of focus group discussions with residents from various districts in Hong Kong, through the community experience of the interviewees, their feelings of community changes, their understanding and expectations of community participation, and the connotation of community awareness in their eyes before, the community construction in Hong Kong is explored. difficulties and opportunities.

The research data used in this article are derived from the findings of a focus group survey conducted by the Hong Kong Cultural Indicators Project in 2016. This focus group survey consists of 13 groups, each with 5 to 8 people. There are 12 focus groups based on where the respondents live. From north to south, they are Sheung Shui, Tin Shui Wai, Tai Po, Shatin (public housing), Shatin (private housing), Sham Shui Po, Sau Mau Ping and Tseung Kwan O , Whampoa / Harbour Plaza, Western District, Taikoo Shing, and Pokfulam / Chi Fu, respondents must have lived in their community for three consecutive years or more before the interview. The selection of the above-mentioned communities is based on the even distribution of space in Hong Kong, and tries to cover communities with different development and social and economic backgrounds. The other group is "regular migrants", that is, they have lived in at least three communities in the past 10 years as a corresponding reference. All respondents are Hong Kong citizens aged 18 to 70 and can communicate in Cantonese.

The general focus group process is for the interviewees to introduce themselves and their basic impressions of the community to which they belong, and then discuss their likes and dislikes in the community. Subsequent discussions will revolve around how the community has changed in recent years, and what respondents expected or did not expect to see. Respondents were also asked how they would introduce their community to others and whether they would refer friends to move into the area. Finally, respondents will be invited to share personal and group activities they have been involved in in the community, how they obtained community information, experiences interacting with district councillors, and expectations for district councils.

The opinions expressed by the participants were recorded by audio recordings, which were then turned into verbatim records as research materials. In order to protect personal privacy and the interests of respondents, all names or traceable information have been withheld.

hidden community life

The study found that respondents' sense of community often came not from something in the community itself, but from how easily respondents were able to leave the area. When respondents described their community, the top themes generally revolved around the availability of local transportation. Many respondents were very willing to share their local ways to travel to various districts in Hong Kong. The respondents also liked to compare the commuting routes they took with each other, and discussed the pros and cons of various means of transportation like transportation experts. "Convenience" has also become the source of many respondents' sense of identity with the community to which they belong. They believe that the convenience of transportation and the accessibility of various life requirements can bring pride. It is worth noting that the objective accessibility of each community can vary greatly. Whether it is Taikoo Shing or Tin Shui Wai, residents will use "convenient" as an adjective to describe the advantages of their communities, although the distance between the two places and the city center is objective. The difference is very far.

Respondents describe their community in terms of external connections rather than internal characteristics. Do they have no sense of belonging to the community itself, so they only focus on how to leave the place? Some interviewees do have this idea, thinking that the community they belong to has neither characteristics nor facilities that other people need. Said, would not invite friends in" (Sau Mau Ping). Objectively speaking, Hong Kong's entertainment and leisure centers such as Mong Kok and Causeway Bay are located in the center of the city, and their accessibility is similar for residents living in different communities, so they naturally become the first choice for social gatherings. On the other hand, whether the local community can easily reach these places, such as whether there are overnight minibuses to and from Mong Kok, is very important in social life.

But this does not mean that the respondents are ignorant of the mainland characteristics of their communities. When further questioned about the inherent characteristics of their communities, respondents usually cite some relatively common adjectives, such as "comfortable," and then gradually make some observations about individual communities:

I don't like a few degrees hotter than others in summer and a few degrees colder than others in winter (Sheung Shui)
I like that there are many flat roads in Tin Shui Wai instead of inclined roads (Tin Shui Wai)
There are not many small shops, and as everyone may know recently, there is no McDonald's, and then Jizhidao is also (Taikoo Shing)
I used to live there when I was a child, and there are many people downstairs who seem to be underworld (Sau Mau Ping)
Our entire housing estate in Tseung Kwan O used to come from a bowl, so the mist cannot be dissipated when it gets wet (Tseung Kwan O)
I think Sham Shui Po is messy and a little unsafe, because I have tried being followed by others, and I have tried being followed by two people. From the beginning, I never dared to wear shorts out of the street at night (Sham Shui Po)

On the one hand, these statements point out some objective local conditions (such as Sheung Shui is not close to the sea, so the temperature difference is large; Tin Shui Wai is located in the plain), but also infiltrate some subjective understandings (for the middle-class community of Taikoo Shing, McDonald's and Jizhidao) Such low-consumption stores are also considered "small stores").

These perceptions of the community to which they belong, and the associated sense of identity, vary markedly from one community to another. First of all, respondents living in new towns will have a stronger sense of community, that is, they will emphasize that the place they live in is a community and has its own characteristics. This is most evident for respondents living in Shatin:

I think the urban design of Shatin is very good, that is, its living environment, and it has commercial areas, except for a few industrial areas, the urban part is doing well (Shatin public housing)
I have heard that Tsuen Wan and Shatin are both satellite cities that started to develop at the same time ten years ago...Because I used to go to Tsuen Wan often, and I felt that those trucks would appear in the center of Tsuen Wan all day long, because there are not so many container trucks in Shatin ( Shatin public housing)

Respondents in the Sha Tin district tend to refer to their fondness for Sha Tin to their well-organized town planning, which separates them from the urban area or other new towns that have developed at the same time. These arguments are very consistent with the British Hong Kong government's claim that Shatin is a model of urban planning in Hong Kong. Some scholars have also used the "value of Shatin" to generalize urban planning to implement domestication governance (Dang Wing-shing et al., 2007).

The relationship between the internal layout of the community and community identity is also evident in other new towns. An interviewee who moved from Tai Po to Tseung Kwan O eagerly explained how the differences between the two places affected his sense of belonging:

There are old and new in Tai Po, but the whole of Tseung Kwan O is new. So Tseung Kwan O is convenient, but if it has its own characteristics, Tseung Kwan O is really lacking. Because there is an old market in Tai Po, there are many hawkers, small stalls or very special things in the old market, but Tseung Kwan O is a shopping mall as soon as you see it. In fact, it is convenient, but if I can choose again, or have the opportunity in the future, I would like to return to Tai Po (Tseung Kwan O)

When it comes to Tseung Kwan O, public opinion tends to describe it as one of the most uncharacteristic neighborhoods in Hong Kong, and it is assumed that local residents lack community life (Example: Wen Hao Xin, 2017). Some respondents agreed with this, saying that "I don't like the living environment in Tseung Kwan O because there are too many buildings and shopping malls." Some respondents even thought that "Tseung Kwan O is just a place for me to sleep. " I agree with the term "sleeping community". However, some interviewees thought that the "shopping mall" in Tseung Kwan O was a feature in itself, and he was worthy of his pride, because when it rained, he could go home directly from the subway station, "without opening the umbrella".

Strictly speaking, every community in Hong Kong must have its own community characteristics, just whether it is discovered and recognized. Some interviewees in the same group listed the outing routes around Tseung Kwan O in detail, for example, "passing through Little Hawaii from Tseng Lanshu, and coming to Tseung Kwan O, there are many people on that road, because that road is more beautiful in summer and has water, you know the big tow. The best thing to do is to play in the water.” This completely overturned the stereotype of Tseung Kwan O as a concrete forest. In the Sheung Shui group, after all the interviewees expressed that "Sheung Shui is boring", some interviewees also raised objections, saying that fishing, cycling and kite flying are very unique along the Indus River. It is worth mentioning that the things that residents in the district consider to be distinctive may not be the same as those of outsiders. One interviewee in Sham Shui Po expressed that he was very resistant to the long queues of some well-known restaurants in the district during holidays, which made him not want to walk on the streets.

Crisis and Challenge

Although most of the respondents did not talk about the internal conditions of their communities at the beginning of the group discussion, this does not mean that they do not care about the conditions of the community. Especially when it comes to how the community has changed or been threatened in recent years, and whether there are concerns about future development, the discussion immediately becomes very hot. These concerns usually involve the increase of outsiders, changing the community environment, causing respondents to feel threatened by their old life patterns and even losing their autonomy in the community.

The increase in outsiders can come in different forms. Taking the two groups of Western Central and Whampoa/Haiyi as examples, the opening of the subway has become a common concern. Respondents from the Western District Group said that since the construction of the West Island Line, there have been a lot of redevelopment projects in the area, and many old shops have also been forced to relocate because they cannot withstand the pressure of rising rents. Respondents from the Whampoa/Haiyi Group also pointed out that the store mix of shopping malls has been reorganized due to the opening of the subway. For example, although some stores have been renovated recently, they have to move out because they are close to the entrances and exits of future subway stations, so that owners can “use up the Location". For many respondents, the street scene is an important part of community life, and since the closing of the store touches their childhood memories, it can directly affect their community sentiment. The growing number of immigrants can also make them feel alien to the community and perceive newcomers as not being part of the community. For example, when it comes to the gentrification of Western District in recent years, some respondents said:

Going to Nanli...it becomes completely true. I was not like that when I was young, but now I have become like Lan Kwai Fong, so pretty, so pretty. (Western Circle)
The Kennedy Town waterfront has become like a flower street, that is, it is already full of tourists. Oh, not tourists, I mean foreigners. (Western Circle)
Now those shopkeepers, I don't know whether their target is more foreigners than locals, that is, whether it is the neighbors who live in the area. Because, for example, in Kennedy Town and Sai Wan Village, those bars still don’t know anything, those restaurants that sell foreign food and fruit […] Their menus are all in English, but if my mother-in-law or father-in-law go to These places will not know how to read these menus, which means that their actual target is not us at all, that is, the neighbors who live in that area. (Western Circle)

Of course, there are some generalities in these statements. In recent years, many foreigners who have moved to Western District are actually residents of Western District, but the respondents do not necessarily regard them as "neighbors". This response is not purely xenophobic, after all, a store that respondents feel cherished can be a multinational company itself. Taking the Western District group as an example, when talking about which stores have witnessed the growth of each interviewee, they all answered "McDonald's in the Hill Road".

Respondents were significantly more focused on the presence of mainland tourists or immigrants in their communities than foreigners. The identity of the outsider as a mainland visitor or immigrant is often highlighted, and this is particularly evident in communities that are deeply affected by various cross-border policies. When it comes to the impact of mainland tourists or immigrants, the discussion will be more nuanced, and respondents will be particularly willing to carefully describe different scenarios in various ways to support their views.

Taking water as an example, the interviewees discussed the parallel trade in far more detail than other topics. For example, they will explain in detail how the way they put things in public places hinders others. . They would also take the initiative to share their personal experiences and coping methods. For example, when they got off the train at Sheung Shui Railway Station, how to get out of the carriage by the passengers who boarded the train backwards and headed for the port, which became the subject of the interviewees' "exchange of experience" with each other. One interviewee expressed in a figurative manner, "As soon as five o'clock passed, I told my daughter to go behind. If I went out, I would block it with my hand. My daughter is always shorter." As for the Shatin district, the respondents paid special attention to the fact that the New Town Plaza has changed from a consumption center in the district to a consumption hotspot for mainland tourists. The dismantling of the music fountain in the shopping mall’s pavilion was regarded by the respondents as an indicator event that Shatin residents “lost” the New Town Plaza. .

Besides parallel traders and shopping spaces, idiomatic language is also an indicator used by respondents to describe the crisis in their communities. Respondents from the Sai Wan group, who lived close to the dormitory of the University of Hong Kong, said that "there used to be more Koreans or people of different nationalities, but in the past decade or so, I felt that the students I met on the road were all Mandarin-speaking students." On the other hand, some respondents from Sheung Shui and Tin Shui Wai agreed that hearing students from primary and secondary schools in the district communicate in Putonghua was an important community change, and they regarded the emergence of different language groups as a sign of "unharmonious communities" .

Respondents' negative perceptions of mainland tourists or immigrants can easily be extended to negative perceptions of the community as a whole, or at least conflicting feelings. Some respondents from Sheung Shui believed that the demand for degrees from mainland immigrants and the environmental challenges brought by parallel importers made him think that the place is no longer livable. Another interviewee from Sheung Shui, on the one hand, pointed out that the suburbs of Sheung Shui still have a beautiful and beautiful environment, "you can see fireflies, you can ride a bicycle", but at the same time, he thinks that the most familiar people in Sheung Shui are the mainland real estate speculators who come to Hong Kong. rich people. When it comes to separating investment and living value, some Shatin private property group even more unequivocally said that Shatin has become a place where "investment is possible but not self-living", because "it is no longer a suitable place for people to live", and then returned to To hate the crowded discussions around New Town Square.

Disappointed with District Councillor

Although it can be seen from the perspective of the crisis that the respondents still pay attention to the situation of the community, they often express a sense of powerlessness or even an attitude of giving up. Taking Tin Shui Wai as an example, some interviewees expressed that they only have a vision of "unless there is a miracle that Link will not engage in our shopping malls". Respondents neither believed they could change these crises, nor did they think of the possibility of collective action. And district councillors, as representatives of the community, are not often seen by respondents as a way to intervene in crises. Some interviewees from Sheung Shui bluntly said, "One is that the district councilors can't help us, and the other is that when we have problems, we will spit bitterness to the people around us, or complain on social media, which may not really be done through legislation or amendments. Substantially changing this matter, in the end, it was reduced to suffocation, but it did not disappear, but there was no way to do it, that is, a helpless acceptance.”

When it comes to their impressions of district councillors, some respondents felt vague, for example, "I have lived for many years, but I have not felt the existence of district councillors" (Sham Shui Po). Respondents who can tell an example are generally more negative. For example, they think that their actions are based on votes, and they may not be able to exert a different influence in community affairs. Some interviewees in Sheung Shui said, "If I hadn't been in the election, I would never have seen them. Normally I wouldn't be here canvassing votes, bowing to you at the door, and telling you about the morning. Basically, I wouldn't see him at normal times." Dissatisfied with the dissatisfaction of district councillors who only care about the election, some interviewees from Sau Mau Ping expressed angrily, "Before the election, they would knock on the door to see if the toilet was leaking. will leak".

Regarding the work performance reports issued by district councillors, many respondents expressed their disgust at such statements as "successfully strive for". One interviewee from Tianshui Garden said that his district councillors had listed various achievements in the leaflet, but most of them just "follow up with the management office" on individual issues. The interviewee complained, "I can do it too, only It’s just writing a letter, how difficult is it?” Another interviewee from Tai Po expressed appreciation for the district councillor’s bid for airport bus service, but at the same time mentioned that the frequency of this route is very small, and felt whether the so-called struggle was successful or not. There seems to be "no set standard" at all.

In general, although most of the respondents were able to name their current district councillors, their expectations were generally very low, believing that they would only be seen at community outreach events or during elections. Respondents almost completely ignored the political work of district councillors, and expressed reluctance to accept their use of "snake buns" to woo voters, and even believed that this was their job.

Taking some communities with more subsidized housing as an example, the requirements for district councillors often focus on neighborhood services. For example, a respondent from Sau Mau Ping said, "You can basically take care of those elderly people, measure blood, weigh, and they are very happy just chatting with them. If he is willing to do this, I can accept it myself." One interviewee from Tai Po said bluntly that the job of a district councillor in his eyes is "whatever takes a photo for ten yuan each, that is, something that is convenient for the residents." Respondents also understand that providing these services often involves organizational resources, so how good a district councillor’s service is depends on “whether his party has the money to do these things, and whether he has any achievements depends on what he throws at it. How many resources go in” (Tin Shui Wai).

The above phenomenon reinforces the respondents' sense of powerlessness towards District Councils. An interviewee from the Shatin Public Housing Group said that even district councillors from People Power cannot be radical. "The district policy is to help you take pictures of students, and this cannot be changed." Another interviewee in the same group said that his constituency had competition between the New Democratic Party and the Democratic Party, but he felt that "neither of them could vote" because "in fact, the pan-democrats are all about snake cakes, and everyone is wearing snake cakes. Dumplings". In this regard, he further extended that the poor quality of district councilors was caused by voters themselves, because "when the quality of citizens is not good, you should not expect the quality of district councillors to be good."

Among the groups, the respondents with the lowest expectations for district councillors were those who were automatically elected. They usually say "no vote because there's no chance to vote" and then stop speaking in the discussions with councillors and the community.

Hope the district council changes

Although interviewees generally have very low expectations for district councillors, they still express their hope that district councils will change after in-depth discussions. It is worth noting that respondents from areas with relatively high socio-economic status have slightly higher expectations of District Councillors, although they may not be able to articulate what their specific expectations are.

The minimum change is to see the improvement of the personal quality of the District Councillors themselves. A Taikoo Shing interviewee bluntly said, "You will think that you are here to promote but you mispronounced your words, so how can you help us? How are you going to represent us?" Doing the work of neighborhood association: "Actually, I don't think he really has to stand up every day, like a cardboard doll, but at least what you do will really put the neighborhood first" (Western District). However, when it comes to what constitutes "neighborhood first", discussions often become very abstract. Some interviewees would hope that district councillors have leadership and vision, and they should be "more active, because I think the whole community should be led by them" (Tin Shui Wai). Some respondents chose to express their emotions, thinking that "I hope that a district councillor loves the community of Tai Po" (Tai Po).

Respondents yearning for change but failing to articulate what change they want was particularly evident in the Whampoa/Haiyi group. In the 2015 district council election, the New Deal, a political organization established after the Occupy Movement, sent two young people aged 24 and 29 to the Whampoa East and Whampoa West constituencies to challenge the establishment Leung Mei Fun, a founding member of the Hong Kong Economic and People's Livelihood Alliance, and Lau Wai Wing, who has been re-elected for five consecutive terms since 1994, like Leung Mei Fun, belong to the new driving force of the West Kowloon. During the discussion, an interviewee summed up his stance on the election as follows:

In Whampoa, the past members have actually been doing it for too long. The things that everyone might win, or the things he did are already well-formulated, and even nothing new can be given to us. In this way, I feel that there is a new person coming, no matter she may have less political experience, I hope she will bring some different views to us. No matter what her party background is, in fact, every party is filthy behind. I think the district councillor is doing our own community well, so I don't care what political background she has behind. I just think that a young girl, new thinking, or will there be any special concept behind her, can give us a new impact. In fact, the most important thing for me is "new", it's only a few years, right? If it is not good, choose the second one next year, and then choose the previous one. (Whampoa / Harbour Plaza)

Although the election was seen as a showdown between the post-Occupy "post-umbrella organization" and the establishment party, for this interviewee, the party background was not important to the work of the district councilor, and even thought that all political parties were "" filth". He just asks the candidate to be new, even if he can't tell if she actually has a new idea, and admits to just voting for a possible change.

Returning to the community crisis mentioned above, there are also individual respondents who hope that the district councillors can be more active in assisting the residents to cope with the challenges. For example, in the Western District Group, some respondents believed that their ideal District Council could assist them in responding to community planning (such as hotel move-in), and another Sha Tin Private Building Group was dissatisfied with the failure of District Councillors to provide assistance in issues such as building maintenance and bid framing. . Other respondents' demands were relatively vague, such as "be positive" or "love this community" mentioned above. As for making more macro requirements for district councillors, if you have noticed the abuses of the 100 million "Community Key Project Plan" in each district, you hope that the district council's funding will not be controlled by the transfer of benefits, and even hope that the district councillors will "have a good view of this area. The idea that Hong Kong as a whole contributes” (Tai Koo Shing) is almost unique among the respondents.

One possible reason for the failure to broaden the role of district councillors beyond the neighborhood services in small constituencies is that the geographical scope of the community identified by the residents is not as sensitive as the scope of the 18 district councils defined by the government. Taking the Whampoa/Haiyi group as an example, none of the interviewees agreed that they lived in Kowloon City, even though Whampoa and Harbour Plaza belonged to the Kowloon City area administratively. Some interviewees clearly denied that they lived in Kowloon City, saying "No, I think I am in Hung Hom", stressing that they "have nothing to do with Kowloon City." Another person echoed that "mostly about Hung Hom, but more specifically about Whampoa", and pointed out that when he sent the letter, he would not write "Kowloon City" in the address bar, but only "Kowloon" and "Kowloon Whampoa". Or "Kowloon Hung Hom". Strangely, these respondents were not unaware of the existence of externally defined regional boundaries. Some respondents, while refusing to agree that they belonged to Kowloon City, voluntarily added the phrase "most of them are Kowloon West voters".

Alienation among frequent migrants

A separate group of "frequent migrant" respondents who had lived in at least three communities in the past ten years was set up for the study as a corresponding reference. Because these respondents lived in each community for a relatively short period of time, they were not able to present their observations of community change as well as other groups. It's not that they don't have a sense of where they live, but that they more often see local conditions as an inherent feature. If they are unhappy with these characteristics, they will think first about their background as immigrants, not whether the community is going through transformation or challenges. And because they have a certain impression of the situation in the area before moving in, they are more accepting of negative experiences after moving in. For example, an interviewee living in Cannes Sunrise mentioned traffic and landfill odors, saying that the situation was better than he thought. He also pointed out that one of the reasons for moving in is that property prices are more affordable, so expectations are relatively low.

In addition, whenever this group of respondents talks about issues in individual communities, it is easy to expand the discussion to issues of a territory-wide nature. For example, when some residents of Ma On Shan and Tseung Kwan O mentioned the lack of bars near their residences, the discussion quickly turned into a discussion of a territory-wide urban development phenomenon. For example, the urban planning of new towns is not as old as the urban areas. Lack of bar. Even when it comes to some facilities that are clearly related to the district council, such as parks and rain shelters, the discussion quickly turns into a discussion of public space management and civic quality, without talking about one's own relationship with these facilities, let alone talking about Will they express their views to community representatives.

The relatively weak sense of community in this group is also reflected in their imagination of whether they will migrate again in the future. They will link the choice of living community with their living conditions, such as choosing a better school district for their children’s enrollment plan, and those without a parenting plan will consider whether the local area is convenient for work or entertainment, and whether the income can afford it. area to live.

According to the 2016 mid-term population census, 10.6% of Hong Kong's population had made internal migration (i.e. inter-district, inter-new town, or movement between a new town and other parts of the district) in the past five years. . Whether these individuals have a weaker sense of community than long-term settlers in the community, or whether they are less directly involved in solving community problems, warrants further analysis.

Online Groups: The Way Out for Community Engagement?

Although the general respondents have low expectations for community participation as mentioned above, there are also cases that show that when residents interact with each other and integrate into their daily lives, the respondents' community awareness will be significantly improved. For example, in the Pokfulam/Chi Fu group, some interviewees could introduce the personal relationships between the various owners' corporations and residents' associations in the district, as well as the influence on the 2015 district council election. The respondents who know and get involved in community affairs through personal contact are an absolute minority. However, the rise of regional discussion groups on online social media in recent years has enabled many respondents to find a new model for residents to interact and exchange information.

In each group discussion, if respondents participated in regional discussion groups on social media, they tended to actively share their experiences in these groups. The interviewees of the Tai Po Group mentioned many personal experiences in the group, such as finding a mobile phone on the road and successfully retrieving the owner of the group, or finding the cause of congestion in the group during traffic jams. The topics they discuss in the regional discussion groups tend to be related to daily life. For example, the respondents in Tin Shui Wai and Whampoa/Haiyi mentioned in their respective groups and other neighborhoods where there are new restaurants and other neighborhoods. information. Some respondents from the Western District Group mentioned the real interaction brought about by these regional discussion groups. For example, neighbors can exchange second-hand daily necessities through the group, and they called the group "a mutual aid organization". Overall, respondents who participated in these regional discussion groups were significantly more community-conscious than those who did not, and realized that the groups made them more concerned about community affairs.

This study found that community engagement in Hong Kong appears to be in a state of repression. On the surface, the respondents did not have a strong sense of community, and did not actively emphasize their sense of identity and pride in the community to which they belonged. But further discussion showed that they were not without affection for the community to which they belonged, especially when faced with changes and challenges. However, this feeling has not been transformed into systematic community participation, because the original function of the district council to promote community participation was not taken seriously, and later it involved the lack of understanding of the function and work of the district council and the extended sense of powerlessness. In turn, however, promoting resident interaction and information exchange should break down these barriers to community participation. And as regional discussion groups on social media become more popular, a new model of community engagement may emerge.

Wen Haoxin, 2017, 7 things only people in Tseung Kwan O understand. Shopping malls besieged the city of Cannes Reincarnation, Hong Kong 01 October 24, 2017 https://opener.hk01.com/open writing/122926/【Real Hong Kong people】Only people in Tseung Kwan O understand 7 Things - Mall Siege - Cannes Reincarnation

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