Taiwan–Hong Kong United – a socio-historical analysis on the alliance of Taiwan and Hong Kong football

Abstract

Abstract This article argues that football in Taiwan and Hong Kong embodies the complicated and dynamic history of the Chinese Diaspora. First, during 1949 and 1997, Hong Kong football talent was recruited by Taiwan to compete under the name of the Republic of China (ROC). The predominately Hong Kong team won two gold medals under the ROC banner at the Asian Games in 1954 and 1958. Yet their Hong Kong provenance was barely recognized by most Taiwanese people. Second, when Taiwan found itself in a dire diplomatic situation during the 1970s, football embodied the struggle for international recognition. At the same time, Hong Kong was able to maintain its football passion and heritage Finally, when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began to gain control over Hong Kong and, thereby, heavily influence Taiwan in the twenty-first century, football is again a bridge that forms an alliance for the two jurisdictions. In the present period, instead of governmental and nationalistic motives, it is civil society that is appropriating football to bolster the democratic alliance between Taiwan and Hong Kong vis-à-vis China, their common significant other, as evinced during Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’.