What Do You Think England's Relationship With Hong Kong Is Like?

What do you think England's relationship with Hong Kong is like?

hmmm good question! this is how i think it would’ve been during the Victorian era: from England’s perspective, I see him positioning himself as HK’s “”benefactor”” (laden with all the ironies and caveats of empire), if that makes sense? (China’s perspective would of course, be completely different.) I don’t really see a parental dynamic the way I analogise Arthur and Alfred’s relationship. The closest analogy I can think of as to how England sees it is like a wealthy patron who funds a younger person’s education—those kinds of 19th century dynamics. I guess I’m thinking of the cultural dimension of the British empire here? The way I see it, HK as a teenager being ‘educated’ in the British schooling system in the 19th century is also about instilling certain concepts, ideas and world views too. The aspect of history that I’m trying to incorporate is the historical dynamic of how HK existed within the larger empire—intended as an important port city that further facilitated trade and commercial links across the British empire’s other colonies, as well as the cultural influence and legacy British rule had on HK. Victoria’s reign was an era where the concept of Westernisation was uncritically assumed to be synonymous with modernisation and progress by a lot of people: therefore, in terms of global imperial dynamics, the narrative was that the older, formerly powerful empires Qing China had become stagnant and therefore, its value systems and way of life were outdated etcetera.

From HK’s perspective, I think he sort of tries to make the best of the situation (he doesn’t have much leverage, between Arthur and Yao, whom are from his perspective, the old world empires with all the cards, even if the latter has been shorn of a lot of prestige after the Opium Wars) and that means sometimes going along with some things. But I do think the end result of all of this is him growing into his own distinct person with a unique way of seeing things, and in some ways he has a perspective of two (and more) different cultural worldviews from it. On this level, this is where I think he has some things in common with Eleanor/Zee (NZ); both being distinctly read as not-English and having to navigate that cultural terrain. I also pretty much can see them both going to university in the 1800s (I already headcanon Zee being educated at the first women’s college at Oxford, whereas I don’t see Alfred, Matthew or Jack/Australia going to university then, at least not until they decide to take it up after WWII).

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hetalia ive always wondered about this since hong kong has always been a weird cultural spot

Frater Familias

Words: 5,719

Summary: Churchill lies, Singapore falls, an empire abandons his children in a sea of wolves. When their brother finds out, there will be hell to pay.In early 1942, Alfred Jones travels across the globe to save his baby brother and sister from the betrayal of their father. When Arthur Kirkland returns at long last, his eldest is waiting for him, ready to spill blood.

Warnings: Language, mentions of death and bodily injury.

Author’s Note: I kept things very vague to make it easier for myself, but this takes place not too long after the Battle of Coral Sea in May 1942.

You can also read on Ao3 if you prefer

————–

Alfred Jones hadn’t wanted to kill his father this badly since 1781. Come to think of it, Alfred wasn’t sure he’d ever wanted to kill his father as much as he did now.

Sure, he hadn’t been pleased that President Roosevelt acquiesced to Britain’s insistence on a Germany-first strategy. The scar of Pearl Harbor was still fresh and livid, and he was spoiling for a chance to hunt Kiko down personally. Even so, he’d kept his mouth diplomatically shut and had taken heart when Churchill assured him that British forces in the pacific would hold, that the ANZACs would have plenty of reinforcements to hold allied territories there.

That, as it turned out, had been a massive lie. Gargantuan. Colossal. Titanic, in fact. His father might as well have designed the ship himself, stuck his two youngest on board without lifeboats bound straight for an ice field, and stayed cozy in Belfast while Alfred broke his back feeding coal to the Carpathia in a blind, unplanned panic. Churchill fiddled while Singapore fell, and Father fiddled along with him.

“Where is he?” Alfred demanded, ignoring the guard at the entrance who was trying to slow him down.“

“I’m sorry?” Asked the startled British soldier stationed at the war room door.

“Arthur Kirkland. Where is he?”

The soldier took a few tries to say, “General Kirkland hasn’t yet arrived, sir.”

“Fine. Which room will be his?”

“Sir, I’m so sorry, can I get your name, I’ll need to ask–”

“Where?” Alfred demanded, and there was something in his too-perfect voice, his too-blue eyes, that made the soldier startle and point immediately down the hall.

“End of the hall, on the left.”

Alfred stormed in that direction without a word. The soldier blinked a few times. A deer released from headlights, it took him a moment to get his bearings.

“Wait,” he called after Alfred, quickly jogging after him. “Wait sir, you’re not allowed to-” but Alfred was already inside, going around to sit in the officer’s chair behind the empty letter desk. “Sir, the General won’t be here for another five, six hours.”

“Fine,” Alfred said, and had this young Australian known him better, he would have known to be frightened by his stoic, collected anger. Facial expression unchanging, the American wheeled back in the chair and propped his feet on the desk. “I’ll wait.”

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hetalia hws england hws america hws australia hws new zealand slurps this up with a straw

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antesdelanochecer

9 months ago