Hongkongers' unacceptable ignorance of China's government

A couple of weeks ago, something strange started to happen. It seemed most people I met who knew me here in Hong Kong were all asking me the same question: why wasn't I in Beijing?

The explanation is simple. Around every March, I go to Beijing for 10 days or so to attend the annual full session of the National People's Congress. It takes place in the Great Hall of the People, and the TV news shows pictures of China's leaders giving speeches, while a huge audience listens. That was what happened a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it?

Of course it wasn't. The gathering in mid-November was the 18th congress of the Communist Party. I am not a member of the party.

I was struck by how many Hong Kong people were unaware what that event was. It might have looked like the NPC's big annual gathering, but it was a very different occasion. The party nominated the people who will lead the government and bureaucracy, and it defined the broad policies the government will follow. These decisions go to the NPC in March for approval.

Hong Kong people were not alone in paying little attention to the party congress. Mainland students I spoke to here in Hong Kong at the time seemed pretty uninterested, even though they are generally more informed about the country's government structure. We will soon be going through elections for Hong Kong delegates to the NPC - as part of the same five-year cycle as the party congress - and it is quite likely that the local community will largely ignore that process.

It is easy to see why people probably feel remote from the congresses. Information is limited, and these gatherings do not deal with purely Hong Kong issues. Since the vast majority of people here have no part in the selection of Hong Kong NPC delegates, it is understandable that they show little interest in the outcome. It doesn't help that the sessions do not feature public debate.