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Kong as their homeland. Even so, it can still be said that this
sense of community commitment is only weakly developed. The
sudden intrusion of the 1997 problem not only exposes the
fragility of this sense of community, it also weakens it. Faced
with a future sovereign which is widely perceived as
overwhelmingly powerful and incontrollably arbitrary, as well as
an inalterable situation dictated by history, Hong Kong Chinese
have become fatalistic, frustrated, fearful, jittery and
pessimistic. They are gripped by a paralyzing sense of
powerlessness. Lacking a sense of security, people turn inward to
themselves. Self-regarding behavior becomes rampant and is amply
reflected in the large-scale emigration of people in recent
years. Interpersonal trust has gone down and deterioration of
public morality, even among officials, can be detected. People
are increasingly guided by short-term considerations and
utilitarian calculations. More and more people feel no qualm
about resorting to dubious, illicit or downright illegal means to
achieve their goals. A large number of people are so overwhelmed
by anxieties and diffuse fear that irrationalities infuse their
thinking and behavior. The community formation process, which
started in the 1960s, is interrupted and the social fabric is
frayed. A weakened community naturally becomes the breeding
ground of social conflict, and this is borne out by the rise in
violent and organized crime, corruption and social problems in
recent years.
As both an integral part of the weakened social fabric and
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