
Two Systems, Two Countries
A Nationalist Guide to Hong Kong
Kevin Carrico(Author)
University of California Press
1st Edition
Published on 10. May 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
234 pages
978-0-520-38675-4 (ISBN)
Description
As Hong Kong is integrated into the People's Republic of China, ever fewer people in the city identify as Chinese. Two Systems, Two Countries explains why.
Two Systems, Two Countries traces the origins of Hong Kong nationalism and introduces readers to its main schools of thought: city-state theory, self-determination, independence, and returnism. The idea of Hong Kong independence, Kevin Carrico shows, is more than just a provocation testing Beijing's red lines: it represents a collective awakening to the failure of One Country Two Systems and the need to transcend obsolete orthodoxies. With a conclusion that examines Hong Kong nationalism's influence on the 2019 protest movement, Two Systems, Two Countries is an engaging and accessible introduction to the tumultuous shifts in Hong Kong politics and identity over the past decade.
Two Systems, Two Countries traces the origins of Hong Kong nationalism and introduces readers to its main schools of thought: city-state theory, self-determination, independence, and returnism. The idea of Hong Kong independence, Kevin Carrico shows, is more than just a provocation testing Beijing's red lines: it represents a collective awakening to the failure of One Country Two Systems and the need to transcend obsolete orthodoxies. With a conclusion that examines Hong Kong nationalism's influence on the 2019 protest movement, Two Systems, Two Countries is an engaging and accessible introduction to the tumultuous shifts in Hong Kong politics and identity over the past decade.
Reviews / Votes
"Carrico's goal is to provide 'an introduction to the main schools of Hong Kong nationalism, giving readers the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of independence activists and recognize their intellectual contribution to the study of the politics of Hong Kong and China'. He achieves this and more: his lucid and comprehensive survey is likely to become the pre-eminent account of Hong Kong's nationalist currents." * TLS * "One of the most important English-language books written on post-handover Hong Kong. . . .written in a clear and captivating style that makes it attractive far beyond the academic community." * The China Quarterly * "In Hong Kong, with its own language, political culture, and history, the limits are harder and steeper, and Carrico's book shows why Beijing has even more reason to be wary of a precipitating event that could expose them." * Chinese Studies International *More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-38675-4 (9780520386754)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2022
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€28.99
Available for download
Person
Kevin Carrico is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at Monash University. He is author of The Great Han: Race, Nationalism, and Tradition in China Today and translator of Tibet on Fire. He is also a former columnist for Hong Kong's Apple Daily.
Content
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Newest Nationalism
From One Country, Two Systems to Two Systems, Two Countries
A Note on Method and Surveillance
Layout of the Book
1. Hong Kong Ethnogenesis
Take One: The Psychopathology of Identity
Take Two: Noncompliance Cycle
Take Three: Toward a Critique of Hong Kong under Chinese Rule
Take Four: On the Ethnicization of the Hong Kong Police Force
2. Two Systems, Two Countries: New Directions in Political
Thought in Hong Kong since 2011
From City-State
Theory to Eternal Basic Law
Self-Determination:
An Unrequited Social Contract
Hong Kong Independence
Returnism: Party Like It's 1997
Conclusion: Hong Kong's Political Enlightenment
3. Seeing (Exactly) Like a State: Knowledge/Power
in the Hong Kong-China
Relationship
Toward a Structuralist Orientalism
Hong Kong as Child
Hong Kong as Hysteric
Hong Kong as Outlaw
Hong Kong as Virus: One Body, Two Systems
From Knowledge/Power to Ignorance/Power to Knowledge versus Power:
The Not-So-Hidden Script of Hong Kong Policy
Conclusion: Knowledge versus Power
Character Glossary with Cantonese (Yale)
and Mandarin (Pinyin) Romanization
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Newest Nationalism
From One Country, Two Systems to Two Systems, Two Countries
A Note on Method and Surveillance
Layout of the Book
1. Hong Kong Ethnogenesis
Take One: The Psychopathology of Identity
Take Two: Noncompliance Cycle
Take Three: Toward a Critique of Hong Kong under Chinese Rule
Take Four: On the Ethnicization of the Hong Kong Police Force
2. Two Systems, Two Countries: New Directions in Political
Thought in Hong Kong since 2011
From City-State
Theory to Eternal Basic Law
Self-Determination:
An Unrequited Social Contract
Hong Kong Independence
Returnism: Party Like It's 1997
Conclusion: Hong Kong's Political Enlightenment
3. Seeing (Exactly) Like a State: Knowledge/Power
in the Hong Kong-China
Relationship
Toward a Structuralist Orientalism
Hong Kong as Child
Hong Kong as Hysteric
Hong Kong as Outlaw
Hong Kong as Virus: One Body, Two Systems
From Knowledge/Power to Ignorance/Power to Knowledge versus Power:
The Not-So-Hidden Script of Hong Kong Policy
Conclusion: Knowledge versus Power
Character Glossary with Cantonese (Yale)
and Mandarin (Pinyin) Romanization
Notes
Bibliography
Index