So as my signature say, my current WIP is set in future Hong Kong. 70% of the book is about racial and ethnic tensions within the city, which is hilarious because I'm white, American, and have never been to Hong Kong, especially not in the future. *groan* In all seriousness, I'm really scared of messing things up, because it's a serious issue. There's a million questions I have about various things related to the book, but the biggest is this: How much of a distinction is there in China, and especially Hong Kong, between people of Mandarin and Cantonese background? Mandarin friends from mainland China have said the Cantonese language is just a dialect and there isn't a big difference. But I live in Scotland and am used to the English saying one thing and the Scots saying entirely another. It's a very niche bit of knowledge, but if anyone knows about Cantonese identity in China, I would love some clarification.
(To complicate things, my MC is Indian-South African and Muslim, but born and raised in Hong Kong, and the city is controlled by refugees from Finland. I genuinely don't know how I got myself into this mess.)
Oh dear, this is quite the question. Will give a stab at the answer; it won't contain a huge amount of detail, but perhaps enough to answer some of your questions. Btw, HK resident here; could be considered an HK native.
How much of a distinction is there in China, and especially Hong Kong, between people of Mandarin and Cantonese background?
1997 Tensions:
There were mixed feelings throughout the HKers (Hongkongers as we call ourselves) about this "return to China". Reasons simply centered around the freedoms enjoyed and established while being a colony that would be massively restricted or removed once China took over, despite the 50-year agreement to remain autonomous. Many Hongkongers, who had the means and options, left HK.
1997 - 2015:
Since then, China has "flooded" the region with Mainlanders, with the intention of taking over HK before the 50-year agreement was up. HKers have resisted and tensions have escalated.
Schools are now required to teach Putonghua (aka, Mandarin) as the official second language to Cantonese, but English is still a mainstay and remains an official language. Legal documents mainly contain a phrase similar to, "If there is any discrepancy between the English and Chinese versions, the English version shall prevail."
Present Time:
Recently, relations between HKers and Mainlanders have reached an explosive height, with the more vocal and impulsive HKers victimising various residents, especially if they have an accent when speaking Cantonese.
Baby Formula Issues:
China has been embroiled in a shameful scandal involving false baby food, where the milk powder was grossly faked. This forced Mainlanders to flood HK and buy up almost all the baby formula here, thus depriving HKers of food for HK infants and forcing HKers to pay tax for goods that they do not benefit from. As a tourist in HK, you enjoy DFS. HKers foot the bill. Mainlanders buying ridiculous, outrageous amounts of baby formula (e.g., 10+ large cans per person per trip) in HK basically meant HKers were paying Mainlanders to remove essential food for HK babies.
However you look at it, this was one of the main situations that increased the already-simmering animosity and sparked protests. Hence, the number of Mainlanders allowed to visit HK per year was capped.
Cultural Differences: the Biggest
Behaviour, attitude and manners.
HKers, overall, tend to be more respectful and understanding of different cultures. We've had a long time to adjust and become familiar with cultures outside our own thanks to being a colony. You'd notice the British influence -- posture, attitude, etc. But in a word, we're "worldly" compared to the our Mainland counterparts. We also don't spit (mostly) and are more conscious of public spaces, hygiene practices and behaving appropriately in public in an international city. HKers, while we can be conceited and rude, do accept that we need to compromise when it comes to space -- there's just too many of us to "take up lots of personal room". So, we don't; we try to accommodate and mutually agree that we'll be tolerant.
Mainlanders, mostly the "New Rich", in HK stroll around and take up as much personal space as possible -- towing large, unwieldy suitcases; standing in the middle of the street in big groups blocking said street; crouching in a "toilet is a hole in the ground" position because there's nowhere to sit, thus obstructing pathways; making outrageous demands because "money talks". (It does, but many HKers do not dance to that tune.)
However, HKers and Mainlanders do swap roles. It's a medley of subtle nuances, minuscule differences, and unspoken cultural tensions here.
Both groups, though, are highly educated -- another "war" if you will.
But, HK's focus is always, "don't get in the way of business".
Mandarin friends from mainland China have said the Cantonese language is just a dialect and there isn't a big difference.
Chinese
Consider the size of the country and the regions and provinces. Everyone speaks the same language with the main difference being the dialect. However, all these dialects fall into the language category of "Chinese"; there's no distinction between "North Chinese" or "West Chinese", etc. However, some dialects are unintelligible without actually learning them, e.g., Shanghaiese and Chiuchowhua.
Spoken
Cantonese is a dialect. Legend says that it is older than Putonghua / Mandarin, which was brought to China by the Manchurians.
Myths aside, Cantonese has 6 core tones and about 3 extra tones, while Mandarin has 4 tones only. However, note that Guangdong Cantonese has slightly different pronunciations to HK Cantonese, but for all intents and purposes, both places speak Cantonese.
Except for certain words, the spoken form of both languages are incompatible with each other.
Vocabulary / Grammar
Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese have the same grammar structure, but the vocabulary differs significantly in some cases. For example, "laisee" is HK Chinese for "lucky red envelope"; "hongbao" is the Mainland Chinese equivalent, i.e., "red packet".
Another example: HK Chinese tend to say, "sou tai deen wah", aka, "hand held portable phone" (common short form is "sou tai", i.e., "hand held"); Mainland Chinese defaults to, "shouji" which is "hand device".
And Guangdong Cantonese is slightly different to HK Cantonese.
Btw, just to confuse the issue more, Taiwanese Chinese is also slightly different when it comes to vocabulary and for Taiwan, they have 2 separate languages: Chinese and Taiwanese (this is
not a Chinese dialect).
Written
HK (and Taiwan) uses Traditional Chinese (T.Chi) while the Mainland uses Simplified Chinese (S.Chi). Your browser should be able to render the following example:
T.Chi: 這裡是香港不是中國大陸 (tseh lui see heung gong buht see dai luk) (This is HK, not Mainland China)
S.Chi: 这里是香港不是中国大陆 (zheli shi xianggang bushi dalu) (This is HK, not Mainland China)
The difference is mainly in the number of strokes.
By-the-bye, the Cantonese written version would be: 呢度係香港唔係大陸 (nee doe hai heung gong ng hai dai luk) (This is HK, not the Mainland)
my MC is Indian-South African and Muslim, but born and raised in Hong Kong
While I love the combination, I see a huge problem that your protagonist will need to overcome or at least find a workaround:
Some HKers are as racist and bigoted as they come when talking about race. Extreme example: Muslims, Africans, Indians, anyone not HK Chinese are assumed to be impoverished, thieves, liars and worse. They also all live or stay in a place called Chung King Mansions. It's (almost) exclusively all those nationalities mentioned; HKers rarely go there (but there's 2 really great Indian restaurants in that building!). So, accordingly, the building itself has a reputation for being a rough, uneducated, filthy, crime-ridden place filled with unsavoury characters from those nationalities.
Ergo, the protagonist will face incredibly bigoted trouble because of their heritage.
However, bonus is, the MC speaks the local language and should have local friends who are
not prejudiced against him/her.
the city is controlled by refugees from Finland.
This sits wrong with me, basically because there are, perhaps, only a handful of Finnish people here, if that. And for refugee Finns to control HK, there must have been utter anarchy here -- this is now a territory of China, and as such, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) have a presence. And while HKers aren't happy with China and many would prefer to either be independent or be a colony again, being controlled by Finns is too anomalous. How many are actually controlling HK? The Government, as it stands, employs several thousand people, and the the "controlling" parties total in the hundreds. Even in chaos, there would be a measure of control. And if necessary, the Central Government would step in -- they've waited too long to regain HK to lose it again.
So, the story would have a very difficult time convincing me that refugee Finns could be the government, let alone control the territory.
Hope this helps!