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When the Union Jack was lowered at midnight on June 30, 1997, the 156-year British rule in Hong Kong officially and instantly came to an end. But for many of the 6.5 million people living in this territory and for many other people in the rest of the world who are associated - in whatever way - with Hong Kong, this handover was by no means an overnight simple matter. What did they think of this sovereignty transfer? What did this change mean to them? And what did they have to say about this change? Questions like these had been raised long before the handover took place; thoughts and feelings the handover had evoked among those people lingered long after the event.
Many of these thoughts and feelings were related to heart and soul searches for identities based on personal experiences with the former British crown colony and various concerns about its future. This paper is intended, therefore, to examine such thoughts and feelings by focusing on dozens of diaries written and posted by twenty individuals on the Public Broadcasting Service's Web site <http://www.pbs.org> during a six-month period before and after Hong Kong's handover.

World Wide Web: A New Communication Channel
In the 1990s, the world once again witnessed how technologies change human beings' lives. As a fastest-growing segment on the Internet and a major force in computer-mediated communication (Cavanaugh 1998; Dizard, Jr. 1997; Harris 1996; Laver 1996; Niekamp 1996; Reddick and King 1997; Wu 1999), the World Wide Web has provided anyone - organization and individual alike - who has "a computer, modern, phone line, and 'access provider'" (Johnson 1995, 20) with an entirely new channel of communication.
Among the organizations that have jumped online were traditional news media. Thanks to the occurrence of the Web, "the phrase 'mass communication' takes on a whole new meaning" for the first time in history (Cavanaugh 1998, 3). Instead of the traditional one-way communication of publishing to the masses, the Web "mediates human interaction better than any other medium" (Levy 1996, 27).
In addition to their coverage of happenings with conventional journalistic genres such as hard news and feature stories on a daily basis or even an hourly basis, many news organizations have mobilized their resources to provide extensive coverage of important international news on the Web. On June 30 and July 1, 1997, for example, news Web sites[1] from 62 percent of the countries or territories that used English as an operational language covered Hong Kong's return to China; 56 percent of these countries or territories had all of their English-language news sites covering this event. And 44 percent of the countries or territories that had their English-language news sites covering Hong Kong's handover offered the coverage on the front page of their sites, which does not need any further click on a news site to see the news and naturally indicates the priority a news item is given on the site (Cheng 2000).
In the meantime, many news Web sites experimented with new techniques in their coverage. Almost a quarter of the countries that had English-language news sites in mid-1997 had at least one site from each country offering a special project on Hong Kong's handover (Ibid.). Sites with such a special project carried far more information on Hong Kong than the sites without such a project.
"Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition"
"Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition" <http://www.pbs.org/pov/hongkong/diaries
/writers.shtml> is the title of a PBS special project, still accessible on the Web today - nearly three years after Hong Kong's handover. As stated clearly on PBS's home page, "Lives in Transition is about human-sized perspectives on Hong Kong's history and transition" <http://www.pbs.org/cgi-bin/pov/hongkong/discuss/discuss.cgi>. Brian Clark, the project's producer, also had this to say about why PBS launched this special Web section:
The Hong Kong handover was such a complex issue that we knew the traditional media would give only "news attention" (which meant heavy on the formal speeches and declarations with few, if any, glimpses of the effect on the people). . . . [W]hile news was reflected in the diaries, we envisioned the effort much more as "real-time" documentary for the Web. (Clark 2000, 2)

As a cyber-forum for Web users, "Lives in Transition" began publishing diary entries on April 30, 1997. If one clicks on "By Date" in this special project, the seventy-one archived diaries will be listed in chronological order; if one clicks on "By Contributor," the twenty participating diarists will be listed alphabetically, with a one-paragraph biography for each of them and a photograph for four of them shown on the Web page. A diarist's name is clickable, too, which leads to all entries contributed by the individual. From all walks of life, the diarists were men and women believed to be representative of those who live in Hong Kong by the "Lives in Transition" production team. Hilary Klotz, the PBS project's associate producer, found most of the diarists during a two-week trip to Hong Kong in April 1997.
We were trying to find a wide variety of people to represent a broad spectrum of Hong Kong society - students, artists, business people, scholars, working-class people, and Chinese and non-Chinese residents. I had some contacts in Hong Kong before the trip and got referrals that way. Then once in Hong Kong, I found people via referrals and also through organizations like Hong Kong Journalists Association. So, I met all these people, introduced the project and asked them to volunteer to write diaries. Afterwards, when I returned to the U.S., we had a production meeting and selected participants. Again, we were looking for diversity and hoping to get people who would commit to writing regular installments over a period of four months. (Klotz 2000, 1)

Some of the diarists chose to contribute under pseudonyms for fear of reprisals. Once the project got rolling, a few Web users joined on after sending e-mail to the PBS team. One of them even wrote the most frequent entries (Clark 2000; Klotz 2000).
The diarists could not post their entries directly on the Web. They first sent their entries via e-mail, fax, or occasionally, regular mail to the PBS team, who then posted for them, because some diarists did not have Web access at that time. Many of the diarists spoke English and they sent their diaries directly to the PBS team. But some diarists only spoke Cantonese, so a graduate student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong translated their diaries into English. Again, the PBS team "wanted to make sure we had both English and non-English speakers - as well as [the] young, old, wealthy, non-wealthy, etc." (Klotz 2000, 1).
When PBS stopped actively publishing diaries to the site in late 1997 (remember, the Internet population was relatively small then), the number of the Web users who had visited this special project was already more than 250,000 (Clark 2000).

Cultural and Social Identities in Hong Kong
As a "self-concept," identity occurs in two major types: cultural and social. Referred to as "one's sense of belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group," cultural identity "is formed in a process that results from membership in a particular culture" and "involves learning about and accepting the traditions, heritage, language, religion, ancestry, aesthetics, thinking patterns, and social structures of a culture" (Lustig and Koester 2000, 3). As "a consequence of memberships in particular groups within one's culture," social identity is shaped by "the characteristics and concerns common to most members of such social groups." The types of groups with which people identify "can vary widely and might include perceived similarities such as age, gender, work, religion, ideology, social class, place (neighborhood, region, and nation), and common interests" (Ibid.).
Both cultural and social identities "are negotiated, co-created, reinforced, and challenged through communication" (Collier 2000, 23). As Hall (1994) pointed out,
instead of thinking of identity as an already accomplished fact, which the new cultural practices then represent, we should think, instead, of identity as a "production" which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation. (p. 392)

Identity defining in a post-colonial territory always involves "ideological battles" (Gibson 1995, 73). The "sense of an ending, of the completion of one period of history and the emergence of another, is . . . hard to maintain in any simple or unproblematic fashion" (Childs and Williams 1997, 1).
However, compared with the people in most other former colonies, there are two major differences when Hong Kong people define their identities. For one thing, there was "the passion for decolonization in the 1960s and 70s" since the citizens in those former colonial territories "believed that there was no higher good than self-government" (Campbell 1997, 253). But for Hong Kong, the decolonization was not a voluntary choice of its citizens; instead, it was a decision made by its former colonizer and its motherland. The other difference is that most former colonies became independent nation states after decolonization, so they could - at least in theory - determine their own fates. But for Hong Kong, its sovereignty was transferred from one country to another. With these two differences, the identity defining in Hong Kong is more complicated, more controversial, and naturally, more pressing than that for most other former colonies. Since the early 1990s, when Hong Kong's return to China had become imminent, people in Hong Kong have been discussing their identities "with increasing fervor" (Ho 1998, 39).
In fact, the identity issue in Hong Kong could be traced back to 1843 when this territory was taken over as part of the ratification of the Treaty of Nanking by the British, who wanted a trading port with China. From then on, Hong Kong became "a bridge between the East and West, with no existence of its own except as a convenient passage between these two cultures" (Ibid.). Natural disasters, economic crises, and political unrest in China forced many of its citizens to move to the British colony. So, in the first half of the twentieth century, Hong Kong also became "a center for refugees who had no engagement with the city" (Ibid.). They worked hard and tried to make as much money as possible in order to immigrate to other places or return to China once the situation there improved. In this sense, "Hong Kong was only a railway station, with many romances but no marriages" (Ibid.).
Before communists took over China in 1949 ensued another massive flow of refugees, who psychologically and culturally still linked with China, although they had made Hong Kong their home. The first baby boom in the 1950s gave birth to "a truly 'Hong Kong' generation" (Ibid.), brought up in a British colony with no direct contact with China. To this generation, China became a distant entity.
No colonial power wants its colonists to have a strong sense of local identities. Over the years, the British government nurtured Hong Kong people with neither a Hong Kong nor a Chinese identity, encouraging them "to live in an ambiguous cultural state" (Ibid.). It was not until 1984 when Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 as a special administrative region of China, a need for identity became apparent. When the British government refused to grant the right of abode in the United Kingdom to Hong Kong citizens, it was made clear that Hong Kong people were not British, either. To many people in Hong Kong, the territory "remained a transcultural political entity that was neither Chinese nor British, neither Eastern nor Western" (Ibid., 40).
After the 1989 Tiananmen incident in China, Hong Kong people became more anxious. Many of them emigrated. For those who could not or did not want to leave, the need for establishing an identity - something they could hold on to - increased. For example, the Hong Kong Arts Center, an independent arts organization with no government subsidies, engaged itself in "the identification and definition of Hong Kong's cultural identity by examining its visual culture" (Ibid.).
Since Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, it has become increasingly apparent that discussions of cultural and social identities in Hong Kong are polarizing into two extremes. On the one hand, the Chinese government has worked hard to enlist the people's patriotism; on the other hand, "the sense of Hong Kong-ness has never been stronger" (Ibid., 42).
When Hong Kong people admit their cultural associations with China, they would identify with their "motherland" culturally. In the meantime, their attitudes toward the social, political differences and the different levels of economic development between Hong Kong and the mainland often determine if they want to identify with China socially.

Discourse Analysis and Ideology
        Seeing textual analysis not only as a method of research but also as "an autonomous endeavor toward the construction of a sound theory of media discourse" (van Dijk 1983, 20), discourse analysis "provides us with rather powerful, while subtle and precise, insights to pinpoint the everyday manifestations and displays of social problems in communication and interaction" (van Dijk 1985, 7).
        Among the goals of discourse analysis is to find out the "underlying ideologies" of media discourse. In other words, "[t]hrough more explicit linguistic discourse analysis . . . such work attempts to uncover implied meanings that represent ideological positions" (van Dijk 1983, 27). To achieve this goal, discourse analysis may be focused on what van Dijk (1983) called "global coherence" that pertains to large parts of the discourse and "is usually described in terms of such notions as 'topic' or 'theme' . . . accounted for theoretically in terms of so-called 'semantic macrostructures'" (p. 25), which is "derived from the information, represented in the respective propositions expressed by the text, of the discourse as a whole" (pp. 33-34). "Theme is an important element for building cohesion. It is a major means by which information is structured in text: It signals what is 'given' and what is 'new' information, what is prominent, and what the clause is about" (Stillar 1998, 17). As van Dijk (1983) further elaborated,
. . . a fragment of a discourse or a whole discourse is considered to be globally coherent if a topic (represented by a macroproposition) can be derived from such a fragment. Note that part of the meaningfulness criterion for discourse is not only that (sequences of) sentences have meaning, but also that they are "about" something; they refer to (real or imagined) facts and to components of facts, such as objects, persons, properties, actions, or events. (pp. 25-26)

In this paper, we chose to focus on the cultural and social identities-related thematic topics that emerged from the diaries posted on PBS's Web site by various individuals in Hong Kong during the historic transition. Through an examination of how these diarists associated with or disattached from China culturally and socially, we hope to add to the literature of how ideology influences one's cultural and social identities, and how language, culture, and ideology interact with one another in a particular context like Hong Kong's handover.

Cultural and Social Identities Revealed in PBS Web Diaries
In regard to cultural and social identities in Hong Kong, we found three themes that had emerged from the seventy-one diaries posted on the PBS special project from April 30 through October 10, 1997. (a) Some diarists were willing to identify with China both culturally and socially. Even if they did not give any indication of their cultural identities, they could still identify with China socially. (b) Some diarists identified with China only culturally but not socially. (c) Some diarists identified with China neither culturally nor socially. In a similar vein, they might choose to focus on or to search for a pure Hong Kong identity.

Both Culturally and Socially Identified with China
        In this section, we selected and analyzed a few diary excerpts that indicated the diarists' willingness to identify with China culturally and socially.
In my case, my father and I had very little to do with the Brits. In fact, we didn't distinguish between the Brits and other Westerners: I used the words "Brits," "Westerners," "gweilos," etc., interchangeably right into adulthood. My life was firmly rooted in the Chinese and Cantonese folk culture of food, of the yearly cycles of festivals and worships, of Chinese medical remedies (my father worked in a wholesale shop dealing with Chinese herbs), of the stories and legends my mother relayed to me . . . I also read the newspapers my father brought home, often fighting with my brother for the inside pages, which were full of reminiscences of life back in China, as well as forlorn poems and serial knight-errant stories. In a nutshell, the greater part of my life seemed to have gone on as if there had been no Brits in town. (Cat-Lover, May 6, 1997)

Using narration of her personal experience as a communication strategy, this diarist distinctly identified with the Chinese culture, which as she mentioned, includes food, customs, herb medicines, legends, and literature. On the contrary, the diarist clearly expressed her indifference about the British ruling. Since her family life and her personal life had little to do with the British directly, the greater part of her life could go on after the handover "as if there had been no Brits in town." To express such indifference and dislike for the British, the diarist even resorted to some highly derogatory words like "Brits" and "gweilos" in her writing. This diary suggests that one's personal experience with the British could, to a large extent, determine one's attitude toward the colonial ruling and the handover.
In any case, when I started primary school at six, I also started my double life: one at home and the other in school. My teacher even gave me an English name, and my eldest brother, who attended a Chinese school, derived endless mirth by teasing me about it. Of course, he also derided me for not being able to recite the Chinese classics that he was made to learn at school. Day in and day out, I moved between two different worlds. Home meant falling back into my native language, Cantonese, while school meant working in a foreign tongue, at least in class. Even the Cantonese my teachers spoke was different from what I knew: it had an air of alien, stern formality, while at home, it was warm, fluid and gregarious.
So there were these two worlds for me: one alien and stern, English-speaking, Catholic and "high-class," and the other warm and comfortable, Cantonese (Chinese), Taoist and Buddhist (superstitious . . . by Catholic standards), and "low-class." I knew, even then, that the whole point was to leave that of the latter (home) to join that of the former (school). This essentially meant that I was to abandon my Cantonese, superstitious, and "low-class" origins for a vague sort of future among the English-speaking for the sake of a more materially comfortable way of life. . . .
This feeling of displacement, I think, is universal to people who have experienced class mobility. . . . For us in Hong Kong, there is the additional factor of colonialism which adds to the chasm between home and school, between "here" and "there." (Cat-Lover, May 21, 1997)

        Also using narration of personal experience as a communication strategy, this diarist clearly expressed her identity with Chinese culture, particularly her mother tongue Cantonese. With such adjectives as "foreign," "alien," and "stern" to describe the English language and with such adjectives as "warm," "fluid," "gregarious," and "comfortable" to describe her mother tongue, her emotional attachment to the Chinese culture became evident and intense. What is more, the "high-class" and "low-class" connotations associated with the two languages strongly indicate the existence of social discrepancies and of cultural and linguistic clashes in the colonial Hong Kong.
At present, nearly 30 percent of the capital flowing into Hong Kong is from mainland China. Many mainland investors and capitalists have established their companies here, issuing stocks and shares in Hong Kong. This kind of development will strengthen the economy of the territory. It also demonstrated that China understands the importance of Hong Kong as a center of international trade; to damage the strategic importance of Hong Kong's status in the world economy is not China's interest. Subsequently, Chinese interference in the political administration of Hong Kong has decreased over these last two months. It seems that their attitude toward Hong Kong is getting more liberal. They have started to "act more, say less." This is really a good phenomenon. . . .
As for me, my capital is invested in the Hong Kong property market, where the picture is currently quite rosy. Just since May, property values have increased up to five percent. Speculation abounds that the price will continue to rise through October. By that time, according to my plans, I will have sold some of my properties. (Seek the opportunity!)
I have confidence that when the leaders of the central government in Beijing turn their attention to Shanghai, the future will be quite positive. Shanghai people are generally pretty open-minded, and are willing to accept the ways of newcomers that superior to their own. I think they will be able to grasp the essence of the existing philosophy of management in Hong Kong and use our model to catch up with the world. (Einna, June 1, 1997)

        Although this diarist did not give any emphasis on her cultural identity in this piece, she socially identified with the Chinese government's Hong Kong policy. Using a mix of reasoning and personal account as her communication strategy, the diarist expressed her optimism about the handover with little reservation. When she was reasoning, she selected such facts as the capital flow from China and the open-mindedness of the Shanghai people to support her argument. One thing is also obvious from this excerpt that the diarist's positive view toward the Chinese government's Hong Kong policy was based on the personal economic gains she had obtained in the new sociocultural ecology during the territory's transition.
It seems like the handover no longer causes a great panic and worry either to Hong Kong people or the Hong Kong economy. . . . Besides bringing us a new identity, I hope the handover will bring Hong Kong to a new era and that it will remain the "Pearl of the Orient" in the region. (Chi, June 26, 1997)

Although this diarist did not specify what new identity the handover would bring to Hong Kong, it sounded like she had already accepted it by using the prepositional phrase "besides bringing us a new identity" in her writing. The "acceptance" of the new identity the sovereignty transfer would bring to Hong Kong, as indicated in this excerpt, self-explained why the diarist was so positive about the transition.
Today, I am living and working in Hong Kong, enjoying every minute of it. The new SAR [Special Administrative Region] government is doing a pretty good job, and most people in Hong Kong are pretty happy with how things are turning out. Yes, there will always be opposition, but that is inevitable. Hopefully, the prosperity and peace in Hong Kong will continue, and gradually a system will evolve that everybody likes. (Chu, October 10,1997)
	
Although the diarist did not mention anything related to Chinese culture here, his writing was permeated with positiveness about the new Hong Kong government, which represents Beijing's policy toward this returned land. He was satisfied with what the Chinese government had done in Hong Kong. This diary excerpt is another example that when one is willing to identify with China socially, one would be positive about the transition in Hong Kong.

Culturally but Not Socially Identified with China
        The following diary excerpts showed how some diarists identified with the Chinese culture but not with the Chinese society.
I have mixed feelings about China taking over again. On the one hand, as a Chinese person, I should be proud that my "mother country," so to speak, is regaining control of something that is rightfully hers. I also have some faith that China will be sensible enough to leave the freedom and autonomy of Hong Kong's people alone. On the other hand, I fear that the plays for power going on right now between locals, Chinese leaders, and a few remaining figures of British authority may contribute to a possible downfall of our flourishing colony. (Wong, May 9, 1997)

The cultural identity as a Chinese and the social disattachment from China are both explicitly indicated in this diary. By calling himself "a Chinese" and China his "mother country," and by saying he is "proud of" China's reclaiming its sovereignty, the diarist clearly indicated his Chinese identity. In the meantime, by using the words "sorry to see the British go," "so to speak," and "mixed feelings," he also indicated that he was socially attached more to the British than to the Chinese system. 
It can be said without doubt that the British government transformed Hong Kong from a primitive place into a bright and well-known city. Invariably, everyone hopes the success can and will continue. The British government has given us the largest degree of freedom we have ever known, both in our community and in trade. Under the British, the rights of the Hong Kong people have been respected. I do hope China will use the British system as a blueprint for rectifying the weaknesses in her own plan. (Lau, May 15, 1997)

        Although the diarist did not deal with cultural identity directly here, his use of the word "her" when referring to China suggested his emotional attachment to his mother country. Meanwhile, his nostalgia for the British system and his reservation about the Chinese system were fully expressed by his hope that "China will use the British system as a blueprint for rectifying the weaknesses in her own plan."
        Hong Kong citizens tend to view the Brits as administrators of a dependable social and legal system, rather than colonial overloads. On the other hand, I feel it is proper that Hong Kong should unite with the Chinese mainland, although the China of today is not exactly the China of my dreams. The entrepreneurial side of my Hong Kong personality welcomes the change as a challenge and a new opportunity. After all, Hong Kong has always thrived on change. (Chang, May 28, 1997)

Culturally, the diarist felt "it is proper that Hong Kong should unite with the Chinese mainland." Socially, he yearned for the "dependable social and legal system" that the British colony used to provide the Hong Kong citizens with. Nevertheless, the diarist could not identify with the British. The indicator for such a cultural disattachment was the word "Brits" still used in his writing. Even with such mixed feelings, this diarist was, in general, positive about the handover. This diary excerpt is another example that discrepancy between one's cultural and social identities could give rise to one's mixed feelings about Hong Kong's handover.
For myself, the end of the colonial rule is certainly great. Even though Hong Kong has been ruled by Britain [for] more than 150 years[,] I have strong feelings of connection to my motherland. When my family and I were watching the Olympic Games, we concerned ourselves with the performance of China's teams and were proud of their victories. Few Hong Kong people, I believe, would deny their Chinese identities. In this sense, we are eager to see the reunification. But there are doubts as well. (Kwok, June 27, 1997)

        This diarist's Chinese cultural identity was so self-explanatory in his writing. The example of watching the Olympic Games was very forceful because it is a typical situation in which one would distinctively and forcefully express one's cultural identity. "But there are doubts as well." What doubts? Doubts concerning the social impact of the sovereignty transfer on Hong Kong. Since the diarist could not identify with China socially, his enthusiasm about the reunification of the two parts of China was expressed with reservation.
The handover is finally over. Like it or not, Hong Kong is now part of China and Mr. Tung is now the chief executive of Hong Kong. . . . 
I am not a nationalist. Maybe because I grew up in a colonial system, I never felt any strong emotional attachment toward China (duck! duck!), or toward any other country in the world. However, I love being a Chinese, not as an identity, but because I appreciate the culture of China and I love being with other Chinese. (Chu, July 8, 1997)

The distinction made by the diarist here between "China" and "Chinese" is very meaningful. Although he did not call his "love for being a Chinese" an indicator of his having a sense of Chinese identity, the joy he could find from being a Chinese and from associating with other Chinese spoke for itself. His disattachment from China indicated, however, that he could not identify socially with China - most likely, its government and its social system. It was probably because of such mixed feelings that the diarist sounded a little impatient about the process of the handover. The word "finally" he used fully revealed his impatience.
As a Chinese, I ought to be happy about the reunification of Hong Kong with mainland China. However, my happiness has yet to sweep away my paradoxical feelings about the future of Hong Kong. Why? Because just a few decades ago, the Chinese government was very conservative and stubborn. In 1949, China had just broken with a feudalistic dynasty to become a real unified modern nation. But it wasn't until the 1980s that she opened herself up.
The Chinese government is still developing advanced technologies while learning from the West a more democratic political system. However, Hong Kong has already been fully developed as a civilian and capitalistic society for quite some time. Our political system is now mature enough for greater democratization. Between these two places, China and Hong Kong, there exists a gap left to be bridged between two political and economic systems. We are worried whether our reinstated sovereign will or can catch up with us, and whether she will permit a greater pace of democratization. Or will it be the case that Hong Kong will need to step backgrounds for a little while and wait until our motherland is ready for greater political change? I really don't know. (Einna, July 10, 1997)

In this diary, the author expressed her social disattachment from China frankly while admitting her Chinese cultural identity candidly. Her disattachment came from her pessimistic view about China, which was seemingly based on an analysis of the discrepancies in social and economic situations between mainland China and Hong Kong. Through a brief review of Chinese modern history, the diarist compared the mainland with Hong Kong one aspect at a time. This diary excerpt is a perfect example to support the theory that a major reason for many Hong Kong citizens' hesitation about reunification with China is that they "had commonly regarded our motherland as backward and oppressive" (Ho 1998, 40).
Here, the use of a "why" question has demonstrated an important difference between writing an online diary and writing a traditional diary. A traditional diary's reader is usually the diarist, whereas a Web diary is apparently written for others - most likely, for other Web surfers. When admitting that her happiness has yet to sweep away her "paradoxical feelings about the future of Hong Kong," this diarist had predicted that her readers would ask her why, so she raised the question for them in her writing and then answered it clearly by herself.

Neither Culturally Nor Socially Identified with China
        The diaries analyzed in this section showed how some diarists identified with China neither culturally nor socially, or how they focused on a pure Hong Kong identity.
Suddenly I was gripped by the feeling of how quickly 1997 was approaching. I then took note of the changes I expected to happen in our daily life after June 30, 1997, when governance of my hometown would be assumed by China. (Chi, June 6, 1997)

This excerpt indicates that the diarist identified with China neither culturally nor socially. Her unwillingness to identify with the Chinese culture was revealed by the adverbial clause, ". . . when governance of my hometown would be assumed by China." Here, "China" sounded like a foreign country while Hong Kong was called "my hometown." The diarist's social disattachment from China was also evident. The verb "grip" used to describe her feelings about the handover strongly revealed that.
At this very instant, the neon red digits on a clock in the heart of Beijing are flashing away audaciously, counting down to the second exactly how much time is left until the historic handover takes place. When I went to Beijing this summer, I was chilled to the bone as I stared at these incessantly blinking numbers, and realized there was only one year left. Now there is a mere month left, according to the "handover clock" installed at the local Regent Hotel, and I just can't bring myself to believe July 1 is approaching so quickly . . . (Wong, June 23, 1997)

Although the diarist did not give any indication about her cultural identity here, it was clear that she had no social attachment with Beijing. "Audaciously" and "chilled to the bone" were two expressions that set the tone for this diary - its 16-year-old author did not like the handover at all. This diary excerpt is a typical example that "the Hong Kong-born generations were hesitant about the reunification" (Ho 1998, 40).

In our Wednesday morning assembly, the flag of China was raised on the roof of my school for the first time. At that moment, my emotions were indeed mixed. The principal declared that as Chinese, we should revel in the moment.
Nevertheless, some of my classmates were criticizing the Chinese government, saying that a gloomy period was coming. They feel that the [policies] of the Chinese government are ambiguous and hypocritical, and difficult for people to follow. The idea of being a Chinese was not so honorable, some of them said. Some were even unwilling to sing the national song. . . . They are passive. (Lau, July 16, 1997).

Through description and narration, this diarist showed us how some Hong Kong high school students had experienced difficulty in identifying with China either culturally or socially. Here, both China's national flag and national anthem were used to symbolize China. The "mixed feelings" aroused by the national flag and the students' reluctance to sing the national anthem fully indicated that they had an emotional resistance toward China. Even though they admitted that they were Chinese, they did not like their Chinese cultural identity because "being a Chinese was not so honorable" to them.
Now, however, we live under the reign of a Chinese-style government. Chinese rulers are accustomed to a system in which political power is centralized. They tend to resist democracy. I am afraid that democrats will find their fight for a dominant role in the current Hong Kong polity a difficult one.
Needless to say, Hong Kong should and can sustain her status as an international economic center. However, I am very worried about whether she will be able to preserve the principle of Rule of Law. Before the handover, the Privy Council of Great Britain acted as our Court of Final Appeal, setting controversial and complicated legal problems. Soon the People's Congress will replace the Privy Council, and will enjoy the "divine" right to interpret our constitution.
In my view, the People's Congress is not a proper and legitimate legal institution. You know, almost none of the members in the Congress possess[es] a legal degree. For such an ancient society, China hardly has a mature legal concept. Therefore the Congress is, no doubt, going to commit mistakes when it operates as the supreme body for handling legal issues. (Einna, Sept. 18, 1997)

This diarist not only had strong disattachment from China socially but also expressed great reluctance to identify with it culturally. Her social disattachment was clearly shown from her forceful argument about the unlikeness of a rule of law in Hong Kong after the handover because the Chinese rulers do not have a strong sense of law and a legal heritage. She used the fact that "almost none of the members in the [Chinese] Congress possess[es] a legal degree" to reinforce her argument. 
The diarist's unwillingness to identify with China was mainly revealed by her diction. In addition to using such phrases as "a Chinese-style government" and "Chinese rulers," she wrote, "China hardly has a mature legal concept." It sounds as if the people in Hong Kong are not Chinese (it is true that some of them are not), and the diarist even "forgot" that she was originally from mainland China, too.
Of course, there's also a feeling of hurt, as one sees oneself being slighted (Hong Kong has had no place in the negotiations concerning the transfer of sovereignty), and one's own nature and life being twisted in official representations, first by the Brits, who characterized us Hong Kong people as dirty and at times riotous, but generally weak and docile. Now our new Chinese rulers seem to regard us as soulless money-making machines who are sometimes counter-revolutionary and other times passionately nationalistic. (Cat-Lover, June 30, 1997)

Here, this diary excerpt involved three identities - Hong Kong, [mainland] Chinese, and British. The diarist showed a very strong Hong Kong identity by using such wording as "us Hong Kong people" and by expressing her feelings of "being hurt" and "being slighted" by "our new Chinese rulers" and "the Brits."
Whether Hong Kong is called a British colony or a Chinese special administrative region, whether it is universal values of human dignity or particularistic cultural aspirations that we are struggling with, hopefully at the end of the day we shall all come through and appreciate the plethora of opportunities to reflect our identities. At times, that would mean a rejection of the identity prescribed to us by our rulers. The reflection process seems never-ending, but that's exactly why there have always been so many new possibilities to explore and create, and such a great chance of finding solidarity with friends from home and afar. (Si-wai, July 23, 1997).

Although it is unclear in this diary excerpt what "our identities" are and what the diarist exactly meant by "solidarity with friends from home and afar," it is very clear that she rejected the identities "prescribed to us by our rulers." She justified the necessity of such a heart and soul search for identities by mentioning the "universal values of human dignity" and the "particularistic cultural aspirations that we are struggling with."
During the handover period I heard a number of speeches and soundbites in which Hong Kong was described as a place where "East meets West." My personal view is that this is an empty clich‚ that reduced the territory to a passive and neutral site where forces from elsewhere come into contact. It wrongly treated local culture as merely the sum of given Chinese and Western components, and thus serves to blind us to that which is unique in the art or way of life of Hong Kong. In the handover ceremony itself, only Mandarin Chinese and English were used. The local Hong Kong dialect, Cantonese, was not used even to announce to guests when they could sit down.
One of the biggest events of the handover period was the performance of a specially commissioned piece of music by compose Tan Dun. It was played during the July 1 firework display. I find it significant that a mainland Chinese composer who lives in the West was chosen, rather than a local Hong Kong composer. I'm not a musical expert, but the impression I've gotten from reviews and other comments is that Tan Dun's piece had a kind of "East meets West" theme, mixing aspects of Western classical musical form with things Chinese. (Clarke, Aug. 4, 1997)

This excerpt showed the diarist's very strong Hong Kong identity by doing three things. First, such an identity was indicated in the diarist's unhappiness about seeing Hong Kong "reduced . . . to a passive and neutral site" for external powers to interact and dominate, and the Hong Kong locals were blinded to what "is unique in the art or way of life of Hong Kong." Second, the diarist criticized the widely used but rarely questioned "clich‚" that Hong Kong is a place where "East meets West." The diarist's unconventional view added much weight to his argument. Third, the diarist used language and music, two important and typical cultural artifacts, to illustrate and reinforce his argument. 

Conclusion
In this study, we examined how Hong Kong people searched for their cultural and social identities during the transitional period of handover. As a complex and pressing sociocultural issue in this former British crown colony, such identities were also created, argued, and transformed in the seventy or so diaries posted on PBS's Web site. From the above analysis of these diary discourses, we noticed that Hong Kong people had more disagreement than consensus on how they would relate with the Chinese culture and the Chinese society. As a long-term and dynamic process, the search for new cultural and social identities in the post-handover Hong Kong is most likely to be continued in the twenty-first century. 
Cultural and social identities are "important at some historical moments when a people (or an individual . . .) needs to strengthen and protect itself from becoming overwhelmed. However, an obsession with defining a singularly distinctive culture can be devastating, at least in the case of Hong Kong" (Ho 1998, 43). To many people in Hong Kong, the territory's success was "built on its ability to accommodate, absorb, adopt, manipulate, and transform anything that can help resolve our problems and enrich our life" (Ibid.). So, the rootlessness of Hong Kong is believed to have given birth to "an open, accommodative culture" (Ibid.), which is so essential to the survival as well as success of this longtime trading port and former refugee center.
The diversified ways the diarists under study had in identifying with or in disattaching from China culturally and socially, to a great extent, determined their attitudes toward Hong Kong's handover. It was not difficult to see that they were more often than not willing to identify with the Chinese culture but reluctant to identify with the Chinese society.
While trying to pinpoint the cultural and social identities-related ideological themes embedded in these Web diaries, this study has also observed how Hong Kong's handover provided the Web with an opportunity to showcase its potential. In the Web diaries, two features of this new global medium were clearly demonstrated. First, it may extend the traditional diary writing from an intrapersonal communication mode to a many-to-many mass communication mode. As a channel for intrapersonal communication, traditional diaries are mainly written for self-expression and self-reflection, and are usually read by the diarists themselves. As a new genre for many-to-many mass communication, however, Web diaries can - in theory at least - be posted by multiple diarists and read by numerous Web users anytime. This new mass communication feature is leading to a reader-centered style in Web diary writing, with the writer-centered style in traditional diary writing being avoided.
What is more, the Web's interactivity feature has provided online publications, including Web diaries, with numerous opportunities and great convenience for two-way communication instead of the one-way communication that dominates traditional mass media. For example, in the case of the diaries on Hong Kong's handover posted on PBS's Web site, a message board called "Share Your Opinion" was provided at the end of each diary. Those who wanted to respond to a diarist and to reach the general Web public may do so by a simple click to open the message board. In this board, they may choose to post their comments under the existing topics or to create a new discussion thread. Currently, seventy-seven such opinion topics have been listed in the message board, which carries several hundreds of opinion items posted by the Web users who visited this special project on Hong Kong's handover <http://www.pbs.org/cgi-bin/pov/hongkong/bin/pov/
hongkong/discuss/discuss.cgi>.
        On the other hand, however, the landscape of Web diaries is not always rosy. In the case of "Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition," some limitations may have hindered this innovative Web project from achieving its full potential. For one thing, many audience members in the world, including some of the diarists for this PBS special project, did not have Web access and/or did not speak English. So, the practice of many-to-many mass communication via Web diaries was limited. For another, even those who had Web access and had no language barrier may still not be able to provide their insight to this PBS Web project in a handy and timely fashion because Web users had to go through the production team before they could have their diaries posted. Admittedly, the PBS production team's deliberate selection may have identified a much more diversified and representative group of diarists than passively awaiting and allowing any Web users to post diaries could.
In sum, the dozens of Web diary discourses analyzed in this paper revealed significant influences ideology exerted on Hong Kong people's searches for cultural and social identities, which in turn determined their attitudes toward Hong Kong's handover. Such influences and determination occurred in dynamic and multifaceted interactions of language, culture, and ideology. These Web diaries also displayed part of the World Wide Web's potential for encouraging and facilitating mass audience's participation in civic lives and in dealing with social and cultural issues. In the meantime, however, the Web diaries were still limited in accessibility to general Web users because of the limited Web access and the language barrier that some Web users had experienced, together with the PBS production team's "gatekeeping" on diary posting. In other words, these Web diaries, as a new communication genre, had a potential for empowering the mass audience members who had access to this innovative Web project while enlarging the knowledge gap between others who did not have such access.

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[1]  In this study, a news site is defined as one on the World Wide Web that features news coverage. The site can be run by a news organization such as a newspaper or a television station; it can also be run by a non-news organization such as a company or a government department.