With Hong Kong in the grip of widespread discontent at the harsh sentencing of pro-democracy activists, mass protests over a controversial extradition law, and a general sinking feeling associated with the seeming erosion of the city’s long-held freedoms, it would appear to the casual observer that enthusiasm for the “One Country, Two Systems” model is approaching a new low.
That being the case, it may come as no surprise that some in the pro-Beijing camp felt that the city needed a patriotic shot in the arm in the form of a star-studded video of local luminaries singing the Chinese national anthem. Because nothing fires people up quite like a public display of adequate state-sanctioned solemnity.
The video seeks to promote another controversial law currently wending its way through the Legislative Council, namely the mainland-mandated National Anthem Law, which will criminalize in the broadest possible terms disrespecting or insulting The March of the Volunteers.
The video was posted on May 1, and coincides with this year’s Labor Day Golden Week holiday, for which the mainland gets a week off. Jackie Chan shows up looking fittingly somber, as does “Heavenly King of Cantopop” Alan Tam, business magnate and father of Lan Kwai Fong Allan Zeman, Chinese Olympic diver Guo Jingjing, and politicians like former Health Secretary Ko Wing-man and former Mainland Affairs Secretary Raymond Tam.
The takeaway, apparently, is that if cool dudes like Raymond Tam and Allan Zeman are taken with patriotic fervor by the strains of March of the Volunteers, then you should be too.
According to Stand News, the video was produced by Kenneth Fok Kai-fung, the executive chairman of the Committee of Youth Activities in Hong Kong, and — among other things — an advisor for the think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, which was behind a controversial proposal to reclaim 2,200 hectares of land in the waters off East Lantau.
The film begins with what appears to be a primary school trip to Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, as the gentle piano theme from Forrest Gump tinkles in the background (does Alan Silvestri know about this?). As the group stops next to the sculpture of the bauhinia flower, the emblem of Hong Kong, the teacher explains to the class that they’re at the square to see the flag-raising ceremony — which happens on the first day of each month between 7:50 and 8am — and asks the students if they know how to sing the Chinese national anthem.
“I know! The national anthem is a song that represents the country,” says one student, who clearly knows the definition of “national anthem.”
“When you sing the national anthem, you must be serious and solemn,” says another, who already has a leg up on the portion of the National Anthem Law that requires proper respect for the song be taught in schools.
The rest of class then chimes in, in the sort of stilted unison that can only come from a spontaneous and appropriate outpouring of patriotic feeling: “Teacher, we know how to sing it!”
Then, as if on cue, a column of Hong Kong police officers in dress whites comes marching in, a coach driver dashes out of his vehicle, cleaners stop wiping windows, snap-happy tourists stop taking selfies, Allan Zeman appears out of nowhere and comes running over, and an elderly woman in a wheelchair stands (it’s a miracle!), and they all begin to sing as the Chinese and Hong Kong flags flutter in the breeze — and hey, there’s Jackie Chan! (To be fair, the woman’s medallion appears to indicate she was a resistance fighter against the Japanese occupation during World War II, so she’s probably a bona fide badass.)
The video then transitions into a highlights reel of Hongkongers singing the anthem in schools, at a science park, outside an MTR station, on a boat, and at the West Kowloon rail terminus, where China controversially insisted it would be enforcing mainland law on Hong Kong soil. The video even shows the anthem being sung at sporting events, which were among the places where it was famously booed, prodding Beijing to demand the passage of the anthem law in the first place.
There are also lingering shots of the Westpoint skyscraper and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge thrown in for good measure, because nothing says “love for the motherland” like the vaguely Orwellian offices of the Central Government and infrastructure boondoggles.
As the video’s end credits roll, some of the featured players talk about what the national anthem means, starting with Fok — flanked by his wife, Guo, the Olympic diver — who says “for every Hongkonger, they feel a sense of pride when they hear the national anthem.”
Zeman adds: “Singing the national anthem in Chinese, I felt very, very patriotic; I felt very, very good.”
Jackie Chan, meanwhile, said he was “very moved, and [he was] proud to be Chinese,” while Tam added that “every Chinese person singing the Chinese national anthem is right and proper; I’m very happy.”
Unsurprisingly, not everyone agreed, with netizens predictably making fun of the video and its participants.
One person poked fun at the Drunken Master himself, saying that Chan’s rendition had the power to raise the dead.
“Whenever Jackie Chan sings with so much pride, Chairman Mao rises from his grave.”
Of particular hilarity to social media users was the healing effect the anthem appeared to have on the woman who rose from her wheelchair to sing.
As one person joked: “She’s only standing because she knows if she doesn’t, she’ll be arrested.”
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong also got in on the fun, posting to Facebook last night that “The national anthem is more powerful than Jesus, even people in wheelchairs can stand up.”
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