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This afterword addresses how the prodemocracy community and activists have been besieged by the battle of defending Hong Kong against the perceptible erosion of its freedoms and its turn to greater authoritarianism. The Umbrella Movement of 2014 in Hong Kong shocked the world and captured global attention. Indeed, the movement has been hailed by many in the world, as so many Hong Kong people had the courage to challenge bluntly the largest dictatorial regime on earth for democracy. That said, the democracy movement has hit a bump, with Beijing not budging on democratization. What is worse, Beijing and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government have patently tightened their control over Hong Kong's freedoms and genuine electoral contestation in the aftermath of the movement. Soon after the termination of the Umbrella Movement, Beijing doggedly stuck to its hardline policy on Hong Kong by dramatically raising the political cost for those challenging its suppression of Hong Kong's democratization. To pre-empt another large-scale Occupy Movement, Beijing and the HKSAR government have also curbed Hong Kong's press freedom and academic freedom.

This chapter offers an analytical account of the definitions of public opinion, the roles of the mass media, and how they may influence the government and politics of Hong Kong. It also proposes a discursive conception of public opinion that is characterized by struggles to represent public opinion and mediated by professional communicators. The chapter then unravels four types of media effect, including agenda-setting effects, publicity effects, legitimation effects, and omission effects. Moreover, the mechanisms in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the strategies it employs in influencing and mediating public opinion are addressed. Furthermore, the impacts of the media in the making of public opinion and collective action in Hong Kong are explained.

This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the election of the Chief Executive (CE) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). This book reviews the history and development of both the Election Committee (EC) and its predecessor, the 1996 Selection Committee (SC), and discusses the significance of the EC in both Hong Kong and China. It describes the system of electing the CE and reflects upon the future of the EC system particularly in the context of universal suffrage.

This chapter outlines the history and development of Hong Kong's unique political structure. It traces the origins of the Election Committee (EC) and analyzes official justifications for its inclusion in the political structure of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It reviews the operation and function of the pre-handover Selection Committee and the several ECs which were formed post-1997.

This chapter examines the constitutional and wider political significance of the Election Committee (EC) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It investigates the relationship between the EC and the operation of the executive in Hong Kong and analyzes the association between the EC and the Legislative Council. The findings indicate that the EC system lacked real political legitimacy from the time of its inclusion in the Basic Law and that the EC system has done little to remedy its clear shortcomings.

This chapter examines the system of election of the 800 members of the Election Committee in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It explains that the Basic Law provides no more than general parameters and principles of design and that China left details of the electoral system to be worked out and implemented by the Hong Kong Government and Hong Kong people. It analyzes detailed empirical and historical data collected in respect of the voters, delineation of sectors and subsectors and members of the EC.

This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the legal and operational dimensions of the prevailing system for electing the Chief Executive (CE) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It describes the synoptic profile of the 2006 Election Committee (EC) and explains the eligibility rules for the CE. It reviews the voting regime that applies in CE election itself and discusses the changes in the political landscape of the CE election since 1997.

This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the election of the chief executive (CE) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It explains that the Election Committee (EC) is the child in Hong Kong's political system and that its birth in 1998 was a milestone as it embodied a system that gave Hong Kong people, for the first time, the power to select the highest political office holder in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It suggests that this child is clearly in the process of growing up and that both nature and nurture will play a role in its future development.

This chapter concludes that mainlandization of HKSAR is inevitable because of the rapid globalization of China and because of the political correctness of Beijing's clientelist rulers and supporters in Hong Kong. And while Hong Kong's “one country, two systems” proved to be turbulent and marked by political mainlandization and convergence with the People's Republic of China, the spirit of HKSAR “one country, two systems” can be creatively applied to resolve and bring about change in the political relationship between Beijing and Taipei.

This chapter provides a general overview of the extent of social and economic integration between Hong Kong and the Mainland. It also outlines the formal communication channels between the two administrations, followed by an analysis of the irony of the growing tension between Hong Kong and the Mainland in spite of the growing integration and bureaucratic exchanges. The roles of Beijing, the Tung administration, and the Hong Kong people are critically investigated. The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) holds the key to better communication and understanding between Hong Kong and Beijing, and the resignation of Tung Chee-hwa may have opened the door for a more effective dialogue.

The concept of conventions emerged from British scholars who wrote on the relationships between law and politics. Among these British scholars is Sir Ivor Jennings who distinguished conventions from non-obligatory usages or practices. To him, conventions are supported by constitutional reasons and principles and are a homogenous group of rules. This chapter examines the emergence of constitutional conventions in HKSAR. It refers to the case of Hong Kong to illuminate the evolution of conventions from the British regime to the Chinese governance, with special focus and emphasis on the resignations of principal officials of HKSAR.

This chapter explores the overall implementation of the Basic Law in Hong Kong and discusses the developing conventions prevailing in the Beijing-HKSAR relations. By evaluating the content of the Basic Law and its implementation, the new practices and conventions in the Beijing-HKSAR relations can be defined and outlined. Moreover, the chapter discusses the difficulties and dilemmas posed by the developing mainland Chinese conventions on the relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong.

This chapter explores the politics of selecting Hong Kong members of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) as well as the role of the Liaison Officer in the second election of NPC deputies. As little research has been done on the NPC election processes, this chapter focuses on the elections held for the Hong Kong Members of the NPC as these show the uniqueness of the mainland-style Chinese election in the politically pluralistic setting of Hong Kong. The chapter also discusses the implications of the HKSAR NPC elections for Taiwan.