Long pampered by the week-long National Day holidays, I was a little bit disappointed with the one-day vacation in Hong Kong and unconsciously suspected that Hongkongers wouldn't be passionate enough to celebrate the 60th anniversary of New China in grand style.
But on the day my speculation was proved false; some 400,000 people gathered to admire the 23-minute fireworks over the Victoria Harbor.
Almost all adults in Hong Kong were born and raised in colonial Hong Kong.
Biological features and cultural practices told them that they were not Anglo-Saxon, kinship ties affirmed that they were Chinese, however, for decades the question of "Who are we?" haunted Hongkongers: How can they justify a national identity as part of a country to which they don't legally belong?
The absence of the national concept officially ended on July 1, 1997. Nonetheless, people in Hong Kong did not start to label themselves as Chinese overnight, but rather ascended into the mist of ambiguity.
Domestically, Hong Kong is the Special Administrative Region, a part of China but somehow "better" than the rest. Internationally, it brands itself as "Asia's world city," a place where East meets West and a metropolis that nurtures a group of independent Chinese. Thus, a nuanced national identity burgeoned.
