Eleven years after Hong Kong’s hand over to China, an increasing number of Hong Kong residents have come to identify themselves as Chinese.

Changes in their self-image were evident in a recent opinion survey, in which nearly 40 per cent said they thought of themselves as Chinese.

With patriotic school education considered key in such changes, in particular among young people, democratic activists expressed concerns over the potential adverse effect on Hong Kong’s democratization.

At Wong Wha San Middle School in a residential area in Hong Kong’s northern Kowloon Peninsula, 1,100 students looked on as the five-starred red flag of China was run up a flagpole while the Chinese national anthem played in a morning gathering.

When members of the Association of Hong Kong Flag-guards finished raising the Chinese national flag, school principal Ou Yuejing spoke up: "Let’s get more interested in our country as Chinese citizens and may our country become much stronger."

"If someone asks me (whether I’m a Chinese or Hong Kongner), I would answer that I’m a Chinese," said 18-year-old Li Zhuoxian, a sixth-year student at the school.

"I’m very proud that I’m allowed to raise the national flag as a representative of this school," said Li, who is a member of the flag-raising group at the school.

According to the University of Hong Kong’s latest opinion poll on the self-image and identity of Hong Kong residents, about 39 per cent of respondents considered themselves Chinese. The figure, the highest ever recorded, is more than double the number in 1997, the year when control of Hong Kong was handed back to China

On the other hand, about 18 per cent of those surveyed identified themselves as a ‘Hong Konger’, dropping below the 20 per cent mark for the first time since Hong Kong’s hand over.

Li Zhuming, a former head of the Democratic Party and a heavyweight of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, pointed to the role played by school education in encouraging Hong Kong residents to see themselves as Chinese.

"It’s impossible to talk (about the change) without referring to the patriotic education at school, such as flag-raising ceremonies at school," Li said.

According to the Association of Hong Kong Flag-guards, the number of its member schools was about 80 when the group was formed in 2002, but has risen to about 310.

Hong Kong schools are also active in sending children to China with the aim of familiarizing them with the mainland through meetings with Olympic medalists and astronauts, among other events.