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Imagining the Hong Kong Diaspora as an Imagined Community through the Lens of Relationality as a Feminist Spirituality

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Asian Spiritualities and Social Transformation
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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the Hong Kong diaspora, which has become a pressing issue due to the large-scale migration wave that followed the 2019 protest movement and the passage of the National Security Law in June 2020. The chapter examines the recent political changes in Hong Kong, which have been rapid, unexpected, and have caused widespread anxiety in the city. The author, Yan, argues that diasporas are an imagined community, although there are three distinct types. However, Yan raises the question of whether these three groups can still see themselves as part of the same imagined community, given that Hong Kongers are feeling increasingly estranged and that their identity is being eroded by various political strategies. Moreover, the Hong Kong diaspora is geographically dispersed, which further complicates matters. Nevertheless, a strong sense of identity is crucial for the resistance movement to maintain its momentum. To strengthen the solidarity of Hong Kongers as an imagined community, Yan proposes the adoption of a feminist relational spirituality, which must be conceptualized and practiced.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I use the term “Hong Kongers” instead of “Hong Kong people” to stress that their identity is beyond geography boundary and to emphasize their subjectivity.

  2. 2.

    This is a battlefront that emerged in the Anti-ELAB Movement that seeks international support.

  3. 3.

    Here, “stranger-within” is borrowed from Charusheela (2007); however, my usage is slightly but crucially different. In Charusheela’s (2007) usage, the “within” refers to a person being within their country, whereas many Hong Kongers do not consider the PRC their own country.

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Yan, H.W. (2023). Imagining the Hong Kong Diaspora as an Imagined Community through the Lens of Relationality as a Feminist Spirituality. In: KWAN, S.SM., CHOW, WY. (eds) Asian Spiritualities and Social Transformation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2641-1_3

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