Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

One museum, two stories: Place identity at the Hong Kong Museum of
History
Alexandru Dimache*, Amare Wondirad, Elizabeth Agyeiwaah
School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

h i g h l i g h t s

Place identity as a co-construction between individual and official narratives.

Official narrative based remembering positive aspects and forgetting negative ones.

History museums used by authorities for identitarian indoctrination.

Subtle changes identified in identitarian perceptions pre- and post- visitation.

New model for understanding the visiting experience-narratives-place identity nexus.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Tourism academia has attempted to individually explore the concepts of visiting experience, place
Received 6 September 2016 identity, narratives, and history museums, but it has rarely delved into the deep and sometimes murky
Received in revised form waters of the intimate connection among these notions. Focusing on the Museum of History in present-
16 June 2017
day identity torn Hong Kong, the current study sheds light on the identitarian and ideological impli-
Accepted 17 June 2017
Available online 7 July 2017
cations visiting this museum has for Hong Kong born-and-raised Millennials. The findings challenge the
current understanding of place identity at heritage sites of contested identity by revealing the subtle,
sensitive, and fluid connections between individual and official narratives, and also among the investi-
Keywords:
Place identity
gated concepts. They also raise important critical assumptions about the politics of museography.
Narrative © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Tourist experience
History museum
Co-construction

1. Introduction
Place identity has been a recurring theme of research for
tourism academia. Aiming to continue and enhance this thematic
trend, the current study employs an experiential perspective to
place identity. More precisely, the quest for meaning in life has
turned individuals into storytellers or homo narrans (Fisher, 1984),
which ultimately transforms the visiting experience at places of
memory e concept developed by Nora (1989) - into a discourse
between personal and official narratives. The aim of most history
museums is to meaningfully connect these narratives by exhibiting
a sequence of events in a coherent and consumable order. Hence,
public memory is entrenched in the master narrative designed by
those with authority (Rowe, Wertsch, & Kosyaeva, 2002). Narra-
tives are created by leaders to perpetuate local membership to a
particular group (Anderson, 1991), thereby influencing the way
people perceive the world (Bruner, 1991). These select elites usually
reconstruct collective recollections according to the present agenda
in order to shape the future (Halbwachs, 1992). These issues are
even more stringent in destinations characterized by continuous
identitarian tensions such as Hong Kong. Several identitarian dif-
ferences between Hong Kong locals and Mainland Chinese were
already identified by Lau and Kuan (1988) but these have not been
re-addressed ever since. In times of socio-political turmoil in the
Hong Kong SAR, the current study attempts to bring together the
topics of visiting experience, place identity, narratives, and history
museums under a thorough framework of understanding.

* Corresponding author. Room 842, School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 17 Science Museum Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
E-mail address: alexandru.dimache@connect.polyu.hk (A. Dimache).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.06.020
0261-5177/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
288 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
2. Hong Kong: a destination of torn identity
In 2015, Hong Kong remained one of the world's top tourism
destinations, climbing from 10th to 9th place in the ranking of in-
ternational tourism receipts compared to the previous year
(UNWTO, 2016). According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board,
approximately 78 percent of the total visitor arrivals to Hong Kong
in 2015 were from Mainland China (HKTB, 2016). The main moti-
vator for most of the visitors from the Mainland is shopping (Tsang,
Lee, & Liu, 2014). Thus, on the one hand, Hong Kong is perceived to
be financially dependent on the monetary influx stemming from
visitors from Mainland China. On the other hand, the interaction
between Hong Kong residents and the large volumes of Mainland
tourists have recently led to growing tension between the two
groups (Liu, 2012; Luk, 2014). According to a 2015-survey con-
ducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 63 percent of re-
spondents argued that the number of individual travellers from the
Mainland had exceeded Hong Kong's capacity, while nearly 90
percent of them agreed with the need for limiting the number of
incoming Mainland visitors no matter what the negative impact of
such a decision on Hong Kong's economy may be (Lai & Li, 2015).
With so much at stake, understanding the identitarian context
of Hong Kong becomes of vital importance to the current study.
Initially inhabited by the Baiyue fishermen tribes, Hong Kong was
occupied by the Han Dynasty in 111 BCE, while the subsequent
dynasties further consolidated their influence in the region. It was
under British rule from 1842 until becoming a Special Adminis-
trative Region (SAR) of China in 1997. Officially, the Hong Kong SAR
is ruled according to the ‘one country, two systems’ constitutional
principle developed by Deng Xiaoping. According to Chapter 1,
Article 5 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, ‘The socialist system and
policies shall not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Adminis-
trative Region, and the previous capitalist system and way of life
shall remain unchanged for 50 years’ (Hong Kong SAR Government,
2014). Within the legal framework of the Hong Kong Basic Law, the
Hong Kong SAR enjoys a high degree of executive, economic and
judicial autonomy, and the protection of fundamental freedoms
and human rights (Hong Kong SAR Government, 2014). In practice,
a considerable number of scholars and journalists have been
mourning the death of the ‘two systems’ concept, while empha-
sizing the ever-increasing influence of the Beijing government over
the Hong Kong SAR internal affairs (Dobbs, 2014; Keating, 2014;
Wong, 2004). Since the handover in 1997, there have been
continuous initiatives by the Chinese government to depict a col-
lective identity for Mainland China and Hong Kong. One of the
significant ways is through the narratives that downplay the colo-
nial relations and emphasize its identitarian relationship with
Mainland China (Harris, 2014; Kan & Vickers, 2002; Kuah-Pearce &
Fong, 2010; Tse, 2007, 2014; Vickers, 2003).
Nevertheless, these initiatives have been met with rising tension
by the Hong Kong residents. For example, over half a million pro-
tested in 2003 against a perceived censoring National-Security Bill
legislated under Article 23 of Hong Kong's Basic Law (Chan, 2003).
In July and September 2012, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong
residents took to the streets against the implementation of the
perceived brainwashing Chinese ‘patriotic education campaign’
which purposefully gives a pro-Communist Party account of China's
history and political system (Chen, 2012; Evans, 2012). In Febru-
aryeMarch 2014, tens of thousands protested for press freedom,
especially after a knife attack on Kevin Lau, former chief editor of
the Ming Pao Daily News and active criticizer of the Beijing gov-
ernment (Forsythe & Buckley, 2014; Li, 2014; Liu, 2014; Pomfret,
2014). The last months of 2014 saw hundreds of thousands of
protesters occupying financially strategic areas of Hong Kong e a
movement known as ‘Occupy Central’ or the ‘Umbrella Revolution’
- as a result of the Beijing and Hong Kong SAR governments not
agreeing to implement universal suffrage for the upcoming chief
executive and Legislative Council elections (Occupy Central with
Love and Peace, 2014).
2.1. The Hong Kong Millennials
Most of the participants and leaders of these movements were
representatives of the Hong Kong Millennials e Hong Kong-born-
and-raised residents aged 35 and under (Beech, 2014; Rafoth,
2014; Wong & Khong, 2015). The high level of discontent among
Hong Kong Millennials is also visible from a poll conducted by the
Chinese University's Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
between 23rd and 27th September 2016 on the topic of emigrating
from Hong Kong. Of the 710 local respondents, 38.9 percent
answered they would move elsewhere if given the chance (Cheung,
2016). Almost 57 percent of the interviewees aged between 18 and
30 mentioned they had emigration plans, compared to 26 percent
of those aged 51 and above (Cheung, 2016). Approximately 70
percent blamed their willingness to leave Hong Kong on the current
political environment, and many of them mentioned criteria such
as higher democracy, freedom levels, and better economic per-
spectives for choosing their destinations (Cheung, 2016). Dr Andy
Kwan Cheuk-chui - the director of the ACE Centre for Business and
Economic Research - warns that the highly educated young people
- the future pillars of society e are the most dissatisfied with the
current political environment in Hong Kong (Time Out Hong Kong,
2016).
As the Hong Kong Millennials seem to be both the most affected
by the aforementioned educational and economic campaigns and
the most actively opposed to them, this group represents the
subject of investigation for the current study.
3. Study objectives
Considering the aforementioned ongoing identitarian issues
and the political nature of history museums, the main aim of the
study is to explore the possible influence of the master narrative at
the Hong Kong Museum of History over Hong Kong-born-and-
raised Millennials' perceptions of Mainland Chinese visitors. Spe-
cifically, the study draws three interrelated objectives. In order to
give validity to the second objective, the first objective of the study
is to investigate the (in)existence of a master narrative at the Hong
Kong Museum of History. Supported by relevant literature, this
objective involves two mutually reinforcing stages: stage one e
mapping the narrative trajectory of the museum; stage two e
confirming/infirming the narrative trajectory by observing indi-
vidual visitors' ‘following’ of the trajectory mapped in stage one.
The second objective of the study is to critically compare the Hong
Kong-born-and-raised visitors' perception of Mainland China
before and after encountering the master narration at the Hong
Kong Museum of History. The third objective is to explore if any of
the identitarian differences between Hong Kong locals and Main-
land Chinese identified by Lau & Kuan in their 1988 study are still
relevant in present-day Hong Kong.
4. Literature review
The current section critically reviews the literature on three
concepts needed for a thorough understanding of the discussed
topic: history museums, narratives as discourse, and tourist expe-
rience as place identity.
 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
4.1. History museums
Generally speaking, space becomes place when imbued with
meaning through human experience, while a sense of place arises
when personal and community histories and identities are inter-
twined with places (Tuan, 1977). Within this framework of under-
standing, landscapes are theoretically understood as ‘arenas of
political discourse and action in which cultures are continuously
reproduced and contested’ (Graham, 1998, p. 21), where ‘in-
dividuals and groups define themselves, [and] claim and challenge
political authority’ (Nash, 1999, p. 225). Boyer (1994, p. 321) calls
such spaces ‘rhetorical topoi’ and defines them as ‘those civic
compositions that teach us about our national heritage and our
public responsibilities and assume that the urban landscape itself is
the emblematic embodiment of power and memory’. Although
perceived as frozen in time and meaning, memorials and history
museums are in a constant process of becoming, according to
contemporary events, interests and tensions (Lowenthal, 1975;
Mitchell, 2003). Moreover, Dwyer and Alderman (2008) warn
that places of collective memory such as history museums hide as
much as they reveal and bear traces of deeper stories about how
they were created, by whom, and for what ideological purpose.
History museums and their subsequent narrative choices do not
arise as if by natural law to celebrate the deserving, but are
designed and planned by those who have the time, resources and,
most importantly, the state mandate to define the past (Dwyer,
2004). It is not uncommon for political regimes and elites to
invest considerable amounts of time and money in the establish-
ment and remaking of symbolic national landscapes to maintain
social stability, accumulate political legitimacy and project mythic
narratives of a distinctive national identity (De Soto, 1996; Foote,
To


th, & Arvay, 2002; Forest & Johnson, 2002; Johnson, 1995). In
this regards, museums play a crucial role in every society by
reminding its members of who they are and their place in the
world. According to Kim, Timothy, and Han (2007), the use of
heritage tourism to create patriotism is the most common political
use of tourism worldwide. Hence, through establishing museums,
political leaders seek to ensure a nation that is fully aware of its
political ideologies, and one commonly used tool is museum nar-
ratives (Azaryahu & Foote, 2008; Azaryahu, 2003).
4.2. Narratives as discourse
Researchers agree that people's continuous need for meaning
and understanding of life drives them to create stories (Baumeister
& Newman, 1994; Bruner, 1991, 2004; Shankar, Elliott, & Goulding,
2001), which they articulate and exchange during the process of
storytelling with the purpose of interpreting and transmitting their
experience (Chronis, 2012; Polkinghorne, 1988). This fact essen-
tially transforms individuals into ‘storytelling animals’ (MacIntyre,
1981, p. 201), or homo narrans (Fisher, 1984).
Narratives are defined as cultural tools that mediate human
communicative, cognitive and behavioural activities in various
ways (Wertsch, 1998). Humans receive life in the form of narratives
(Bruner, 1991; Gubrium & Holstein, 1998). ‘It is through narrative
we constantly construct and reconstruct ourselves to meet the
needs of the situations we encounter, and we do so with the
guidance of our memories of the past and our hopes for the future’
(Bruner, 2002, p. 64).
Brockmeier (2002) proposes three orders of narrative integra-
tion: linguistic, semiotic, and performative or discursive. For its
purpose, the current study focuses on the discursive order of
narrative integration which emphasizes that narrative, as a means
of communication and symbolic mediation, is not only an outcome,
but also a process, a performance of meaning, a discourse
289
(Brockmeier, 2002). Scholars such as Cronon (1992) and Chronis
(2005, 2008, 2012) also perceive narratives as human co-
constructions. The narrative is the personalized expression of the
narrator's own poetic aptitude and distinctive reading (Chronis,
2005), while the narrative text is created by selecting the appro-
priate events and means to be used, arranging them in a certain
order, and linking them in a coherent and meaningful way (Chronis,
2008; Onega & Landa, 1996). However, narratives are conversations
and the role of the listener/reader should also be taken into account
(Robinson, 1981; Scott, 1994). The listener/reader is dynamically
engaged in a dialogue with the text, thus filling the narrator's gaps,
combining individual parts into a unified whole, and participating
in meaning creation (Stern, 1989). Braid (1996, p. 6) understands
this active involvement through the concept of ‘following’ that
refers to the ‘ongoing process in which the listener repeatedly tries
to integrate the unfolding narrative and the dynamics of perfor-
mance into a coherent and meaningful interpretation of what
happened’. Giving the example of a heritage museum, Chronis
(2012) suggests that the success of a narrative presentation in a
tourism site also depends on visitors' active participation in the
storytelling experience. Thus, heritage tourists can be viewed as
story-builders who make an effort to connect the pieces, create
personal relevance, and ascribe a new dimension to history by
constructing coherent narrative accounts of what happened in the
past, all of these in order to make their tourism experiences
meaningful (Chronis, 2012). In this regards, Rowe et al. (2002)
propose the narratives at history museums to be a dialogue be-
tween little e family, vernacular - narratives, and big e official,
public - narratives. The political implication of narratives is clearly
emphasized by Anderson (1991) who tersely writes that leaders try
to ensure loyal members of an imagined community by providing
stories for visitors to connect to their personal narratives.
4.3. Tourist experience as place identity
As seen, heritage sites such as history museums connect per-
sonal narratives to metanarratives (Rickly-Boyd, 2010). This de-
velops into a ‘a sense of belonging that binds the individual into a
culture while binding the culture into the individual's mind’
(Brockmeier, 2002, p. 18). And it is exactly this personal connection
to place that visitors are truly seeking at heritage sites (Bruner,
1994). People's experience of heritage tourism enables individuals
to conceive, imagine and confirm their belonging to a certain social
group (Palmer, 2005). Thus, it is widely accepted among re-
searchers that heritage places are commonly used tools for building
nationalism and patriotism among domestic tourists (Chronis,
2005; Park, 2010; Timothy & Boyd, 2006).
When entering a heritage site, visitors bring along their existing
knowledge and experiences related to the site presentation, and, in
turn, this prior knowledge influences consumers' process of inter-
pretation, meaning-making and narrative co-construction
(Chronis, 2012). This existential fusion of one's own personal bi-
ography with the history of the groups he belongs to is an essential
part of social identity, which, in turn, maintains and nurtures what
Nora (1989, p. 16) called a ‘cult of continuity’. In turn, this helps to
sustain and reproduce the ‘imagined communities’ individuals
identify with and that give them a sense of history, place and
belonging (Anderson, 1991). In his groundbreaking research into
nationalism, Anderson refers to the nation as:
‘imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will
never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even
hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their
communion’ (1991, p. 6), and ‘community, because, regardless of
the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each,
290 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comrade-
ship. Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over
the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so
much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings’
(1991, p. 7).
Collective recollections are in most of the cases selectively and
systematically reconstructed with regard to the interests, needs
and preoccupations of the present in order to shape the future
(Chang & Huang, 2005; Halbwachs, 1992; Wang, 2008). Likewise,
Bell (2006, p. 6) notes that ‘as identities are challenged, under-
mined, or possibly shattered, so memories are drawn on and
reshaped to defend unity and coherence, to shore up a sense of self
and community’. It is often the case that a select elite e leaders,
officials, academics e appropriate the memories of ordinary people
and employ them towards boosting their dominance and legiti-
macy (Hoelscher & Alderman, 2004; Trouillot, 1995; Withers,
1996). As Connerton (1989) puts it: ‘control of a society's memory
largely conditions the hierarchy of power’ (p. 1), while ‘the images
of the past commonly legitimate a present social order’ (p. 3). Smith
(1986) proposes that ethnic, national, or religious identities are
built on historical myths that define who is a group member, what
it means to be a group member who the group's enemies are.
4.4. Lau and Kuan's (1988) Hong Kong e Mainland China
identitarian differences
One chapter in Vickers' (2003) study on the politics of history as
part of Hong Kong's school curriculum presents five identitarian
differences between Hong Kong locals and Mainland Chinese
identified by Lau and Kuan in 1988. These differences are: ‘There is
in Hong Kong more social and interpersonal trust, personal
freedom, civil liberty and social and political tolerance’, ‘There is
more tolerance of social conflict, less fatalism and less egalitari-
anism’, ‘Hong Kongers expect fair treatment from government and
are less frightened by it’, ‘Economics are distinguished from politics
and are accepted as being non-egalitarian, the capitalist system
being fully endorsed’, and ‘Law is respected and distinguished from
politics’ (Lau & Kuan, 1988, cited in Vickers, 2003, p. 61). Three
decades have passed since Lau and Kuan (1988) presented their
findings during which important events such as the 1989-
Tiananmen movement, the 1997-handover, China's economic
boom, and the large-scale protests in Hong Kong happened.
Considering these aspects, the current study attempts to investi-
gate the relevance of Lau and Kuan's (1988) findings to present-day
Hong Kong.
5. Methodology
Riley and Love (2000) have criticized the methodologies that
quantify experiences for reducing the complexities of human ex-
periences to numbers and statistics as well as for their inadequacy
to capture complete accounts of their understanding and meaning.
Contrastingly, qualitative-driven praxis enables the researcher to
develop an idiographic understanding of participants, more pre-
cisely of what living with a particular condition or being in a spe-
cific condition means to them within their social reality (Bryman,
2004). Based on the factors above, the current study employs an
interpretivist paradigm, stemming from interpretive ethnography,
phenomenology, semiotic and hermeneutic traditions within cul-
tural anthropology, sociology, psychology, folklore and literary
criticism (Geertz, 1973; Schultz & Hatch, 1996). Under the inter-
pretivist umbrella, the present research adopts a relativist ontology
which perceives reality as socially constructed and constantly
changing. This ontology invites a social epistemology where
knowledge and beliefs are positioned within a certain social, cul-
tural, historical and political context.
For the purpose of the current study, naturalistic observation
and in-depth interviews are the main tools used for data collection.
More precisely, each of the three objectives of the research employs
the method considered most appropriate.
The first objective of the study is to identify whether or not there
is indeed a master narrative at the Hong Kong Museum of History.
Naturalistic observation which records phenomena in their natural
environments is used. The two stages of observation conducted are
meant to complement and reinforce each other towards the
aforementioned objective. Stage one is aimed at mapping out the
master narrative trajectory of the museum. Relevant literature in
museum narratives states that chronology is usually employed as a
method for displaying a certain story in history museums
(Azaryahu & Foote, 2008). Furthermore, the literature on narratives
at places of contested identity argues that master themes are
employed to exhibit a common identitarian story (Azaryahu &
Foote, 2008). Consequently, during stage one of observation, each
of the three authors performs an individual thorough walk from
one end of the museum to the other. This is aimed at observing and
recording whether or not historical chronology or master themes
are employed towards creating an identitarian narrative story.
Based on this, a map of the master narrative is developed. The sole
purpose of stage two of observation is to confirm or infirm the
master narrative trajectory identified in stage one. Relevant liter-
ature on museum narratives as discourse mentions the concept of
'following' as a common means through which visitors stitch
themselves to the master narrative of a museum (Braid, 1996). Thus,
stage two of observation revolves around observing whether or not
individual visitors follow the narrative trajectory mapped out in
stage one. Similarly to stage one, stage two of observation requires
each of the three authors to observe and record individual visitors'
trajectory. For the purpose of the study no other behavioural as-
pects than the visiting trajectories were observed in detail. Obser-
vation is perceived as a vital tool to the study. Without identifying
and (re)confirming the existence of a museum master narrative, the
pre and post-visitation interviews are irrelevant. For the purpose of
the study, participants are chosen based on convenience, and the
observations are conducted on Wednesdays when the free-of-
charge access to the museum encourages large numbers of visi-
tors. Regarding the degree of participation, the study employs
Spradley's (1980) scale, which ranges from non-participation to
complete participation. While performing the observations at the
Hong Kong Museum of History, the researchers engage in moderate
participation. This level involves a balanced approached between
being an ‘insider’ (participant) and an ‘outsider’ (observer), and this
combination of involvement and detachment is presumed to
decrease the level of subjectivity (DeWalt, DeWalt, & Wayland,
1998). To increase the reliability and richness of data, detailed
notes and photographs are taken to support the subsequent
analysis.
For tackling the second and third objectives, semi-structured
interviews are employed to record and critically compare pre-
and post-visitation personal narratives in order to analyse possible
changes in perception from the encounter with the museum master
narrative. This approach is chosen due to its versatility and its
ability to reveal a deep understanding of the research question by
exploring varied and sometimes contradicting or conflicting as-
pects within participants' accounts (Fylan, 2005).
For aforementioned reasons, the targeted interview participants
are Hong Kong Millennials: born-and-raised residents of Hong
Kong, aged 18e35. The current study involves 15 interviewees of
varied professional and educational backgrounds, as can be seen in
 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301 291

Table 1 below. This number is perceived as appropriate, since the
purpose of the study is not to generalize results, but to explore the
depth and complexity of human experience and provide detailed
accounts of how individuals make sense of a given phenomenon.
Also, 15 interviewees were enough to spot out convergent and
divergent themes. The participants were selected purposefully at
the entrance of the museum based on initial questions of age and
residential status. For confidentiality reasons, the real names of the
interviewees are replaced by pseudonyms (HK 1e15). Considering
the sensitive topic, the participants are assured of the highest levels
of confidentiality which is presumed to increase their perceived
levels of freedom of speech. For legal purposes, written consent is
sought from both the museum authorities and interviewees.
Each interview is composed of two sections: one before and one
after the visitation. To smoothen the process, both rounds of
interview take place in the open space where the entrance, the exit
and a seating area of the museum are. Museum souvenirs are
offered as incentives upon the respondents' return for the second
part of the interview. To reduce the possible level of discomfort or
annoyance with being interviewed twice in a short period of time,
each round of interviewing is limited to seven questions which can
be answered within 15e20 min. On average, including the two
rounds of interviewing, each interview lasted 40e45 min. Two
open questions per round are focused on their backgrounds in
Hong Kong, previous visits to the History Museum, and plans for
future. For increasing the reliability of comparison, five essential
questions directly linked to their perception of Mainland China
were repeated pre- and post- visitation. As they revolve around the
same phenomenon, these questions are seen as sufficient for
identifying themes, perceptual changes, or eventual in-
consistencies. These five questions are:
➢ Do you perceive Hong Kong and Mainland China to be two
distinct entities?
➢ What is common between Hong Kong and Mainland China?
➢ What is different between Hong Kong and Mainland China?
➢ What is your opinion of Mainland China?
➢ Do you perceive yourself to belong to Hong Kong or Mainland
China?
Building on the work of Attride-Stirling (2001), a four-step
process was used for coding the interview transcripts and identi-
fying a series of themes which allow for subsequent critical as-
sumptions to be drawn. The first stage requires the audio-recorded
raw data to be transcribed, screened and prepared for content
analysis. Then, open coding is used to code the transcripts and
generate basic thematic categories. In stage three, the researchers
utilize axial coding in order to organize the categories and explore
relationships between subcategories (Merriam, 2009; Pandit,
1996). In the final stage, selective coding is employed to integrate
and form categories possessing similar thematic connotations (Dey,
1998; Merriam, 2009; Pandit, 1996; Strauss & Corbin, 1990).
5.1. Statement of positionality
The current study adheres to Sultana's (2007, p. 380) statement
according to which ‘it is critical to pay attention to positionality,
reflexivity, the production of knowledge and the power relations
that are inherent in research processes in order to undertake ethical
research’. The importance of positionality and reflexivity in quali-
tative academic research has further been emphasized by scholars
such as Hall (2004), Alvesson and Sko €ldberg (2009), Creswell
(2013), and Maxwell (2013). Positionality ‘[…] reflects the posi-
tion that the researcher has chosen to adopt within a given research
study’ and it usually describes individuals' world-view and the
position they have chosen to adopt in relation to three areas: the
research problem, the participants, and the research process and
context (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013, p. 71). It is informed by
reflexivity understood as the researchers' sustained explicit at-
tempts to acknowledge, assess and disclose their own views and
positions and how they might have influenced the research (Cohen,
Manion, & Morrison, 2011; Greenbank, 2003). Such an under-
standing is rooted in the recognition of the researchers as ines-
capably existing in the social world they are researching
(Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). More precisely, researchers exist
in and investigate ‘[…] an already interpreted world by the actors,
undermining the notion of objective reality’ (Cohen et al., 2011, p.
225). In turn, the researchers' social, cultural, and political contexts
and backgrounds unavoidably shape their research, influence their
interpretation, and affect the perceived credibility of their work
(Bryman, 2016; Greenbank, 2003). Thus, an open and honest re-
flexive process and disclosure of researchers' positionality towards
their work is proposed for reducing bias and partisanship (Cohen
et al., 2011; Sikes, 2004).
Taking these aspects into consideration, the authors of the
present study feel the need to mention certain aspects which may
have influenced their choice of topic and subsequent research
approach and interpretation.
The authors originate from nations on different continents. All
countries of origin have experienced totalitarian regimes in mod-
ern history and have been transitioning e in different shapes and
paces e to democratic forms of governance. Thus, the authors'
emotional and identitarian self-identification with the ongoing
state of events in Hong Kong based on a similar national recent past

Table 1
Demographic summary of respondents.

Pseudonyms Gender Age (in years) Educational Level Occupation

HK1 Male 23 Bachelor Degree Student

HK2 Male 27 Master Degree Web Designer
HK3 Female 21 Bachelor Degree Student
HK4 Male 20 Bachelor Degree Student
HK5 Male 30 Master Degree Business Administrator
HK6 Female 26 Bachelor Degree Unemployed
HK7 Female 29 Bachelor Degree Personal Assistant
HK8 Male 22 Bachelor Degree Student
HK9 Female 26 Bachelor Degree Teacher
HK10 Male 31 Higher-diploma Gallery Assistant
HK11 Female 27 Master Degree Teacher
HK12 Male 30 Doctorate Degree Research Student
HK13 Female 24 Bachelor Degree Student
HK14 Female 23 Bachelor Degree Student
HK15 Female 28 Master Degree Cultural event coordinator
292 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
can be questioned. Considering the sensitivity and urgency of the
investigated topic, the authors anticipated such possible legitimate
concerns and scheduled the research process to include steps and
approaches which have the potential to reduce the perceived bias
at the different phases of investigation. For example, before the first
stage of observation, the researchers performed three visits to the
Museum of History. The first one was expected to reveal possible
emotional biases caused by the initial encounter with the site. The
second one was estimated to reveal potential cognitive biases based
on a closer inspection of the narrative on display. The third visit was
anticipated to confirm or disconfirm any biases and taken-for-
granted assumptions identified during the previous visits. As
advised by Hatch (2002), reflections and reactions were recorded
by each author in raw notes and protocols during each visit. All of
these notes and personal reflections were gathered in a shared
research journal following Spradley's (1980) advice. The re-
searchers could refer back to journal entries as the study pro-
gressed, acknowledging that ‘the information helps with field note
interpretation and provides a means of accounting for personal
biases and feelings’ (Hatch, 2002, p. 88).
The two stages of observation required mapping out and con-
firming the museum master narrative which involved no on-site
interpretation thus reducing the possibility of imposing bias. To
further reduce the eventuality of partisanship, all interviews
included open questions, were conducted by pairs of researchers,
and recorded in both audio and written formats. Measures for
reducing the likelihood of imposing bias in the interpretive stages
of the study include contextualizing the study with relevant liter-
ature and also with recent data conducted by leading institutions in
Hong Kong and published in popular local press. Transparent and
thorough descriptions of the reasoning behind conducting this
study and of the group under investigation were also provided for
this purpose.
One popular debate among etnographers is that of the re-
searchers' position as an insider or outsider to the investigated
culture. Scholars such as Merton (1972) have separated the two
based on their membership in a specified group or collectivity.
Griffith (1998, cited in Mercer, 2007, p. 3) provides an alternative
distinction when defining an insider as ‘someone whose biography
(gender, race, class, sexual orientation and so on) gives her [sic] a
lived familiarity with the group being researched’, and an outsider
as ‘a researcher who does not have any intimate knowledge of the
group being researched, prior to entry into the group’. Each position
has been argued to have certain advantages and disadvantages.
Considering these aspects and also their own personal status, the
authors attempted to conduct a research which balances between
the two positions. This rests on Mercer's (2007, p. 1) argument that
‘the insider/outsider dichotomy is actually a continuum with mul-
tiple dimensions, and that all researchers constantly move back and
forth along a number of axes, depending upon time, location, par-
ticipants and topic’. As mentioned, the authors are not natives of
Hong Kong. But they have been living in Hong Kong for a sustained
amount of time and have directly experienced and witnessed the
societal events described in the contextual section of the paper.
They have also directly experienced totalitarian regimes in different
contexts and peoples' struggles for democracy. Thus, while not
being natives, it is argued that the authors have an ‘intimate
knowledge with the group being researched’ based on lived fa-
miliarity (Griffith, 1998, cited in; Mercer, 2007, p. 3). Such a
perspective does not bind the authors to custom or code which is
argued to reduce the possibility of them being overly sympathetic
to the culture and unknowingly or inherently biased. In turn, it
enabled the authors to raise provocative questions and encouraged
and entrusted the local respondents to disclose more honest,
detailed, and sensitive information.
6. Findings and discussion
As previously mentioned, the first stage of observation is aimed
at confirming or infirming the existence of a master narrative and
subsequent narrative trajectory. Commonalities in researchers'
observations reveal certain elements which clearly suggest the
existence of a master narrative. The title of the exhibition e ‘The
Hong Kong Story’ e explicitly states the presence of a storyline
(Fig. 1). The narrative of the exhibition is flanked by two interpre-
tive panels labelled ‘Preface’ and ‘Epilogue’, which are clear in-
dicators of a story (Fig. 2). This storyline has to be followed and
leaves little space for free roaming and unrestricted meaning-
making. The museum authorities ensure the visitors follow the
intended narrative trajectory by employing clear signage, such as
‘no entry’ and ‘please follow this route’ signs and arrows.
Building on the work of Azaryahu and Foote (2008), further el-
ements of a museum master narrative are identified. Eight master
narrative themes are clearly numbered, labelled and organized to
depict one identitarian story. In the exhibiting order, these master
themes are: Ground Floor - (1) ‘The Natural Environment’, (2)
‘Prehistoric Hong Kong’, (3) ‘The Dynasties: From the Han to the
Qing’, (4) ‘Folk Culture in Hong Kong’; Second Floor e (5) ‘The
Opium Wars & The Cession of Hong Kong’, (6) ‘Birth & Early Growth
of the City’, (7) ‘The Japanese Occupation’, (8) ‘Modern Metropolis
& The Return to China’. These eight master narrative themes are
exhibited in chronological order, starting with Prehistoric times
and ending with the handover in 1997. Based on these elements, a
map of the master narrative trajectory was developed (Figs. 3 and
4).
As the master trajectory unfolds, exhibiting areas (1), (3), (4), (5),
(6) and (8) cannot be avoided and have to be visited by everyone
advancing from the entrance to the exit of the museum. Two areas
can be skipped: (2) ‘Prehistoric Hong Kong’, and (7) ‘The Japanese
Occupation’. Observing individuals' visiting trajectory in the
museum during the second stage of observation represents a crit-
ical point of the study. Sixteen individual visitors were observed as
this was enough to reveal a clear visiting pattern. Due to the length
limitation of the paper and the difficulty of graphic representation,
Fig. 5 below only depicts the visiting trajectory of every fourth
observed visitor and only on the ground floor. As Fig. 5 shows, all
four represented visitors advanced according to the unavoidable
trajectory, from area (1) to (3) to (4), but one of them also visited
area (2) before advancing to (3). Although not graphically depicted
in this paper, it was observed that all of them continued visiting the
museum according to the thematic chronology, but one of them
skipped exhibiting area (7). The fact that individuals follow the
Fig. 1. Signs towards 'The Hong Kong Story'.
 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301 293

Fig. 2. 'Preface' and 'Epilogue' of 'The Hong Kong Story'.

Fig. 3. Map of master narrative trajectory (ground floor).

narrative trajectory identified in stage one confirms the existence of
a museum master narrative.
This selection of the narrative trajectory raises important critical
assumptions. On a closer look, what appears to exist in place is an
official narrative which revolves around strategic undertakings of
remembering favourable aspects of the past and forgetting unde-
sirable ones (Devan & Heng, 1994; Tay & Goh, 2003). What is
chosen for remembering is a storyline based on two interwoven
elements in the development of group identity: a ‘chosen trauma’
symbolizing ‘this group's deepest threats and fears through feelings
of hopelessness and victimization’, and a ‘chosen glory’ comprised
of myths about a glorious future, often seen as a re-enactment of a
glorious past (Volkan, 1997, p. 48). In the case of the Hong Kong
Museum of History, the ‘chosen trauma’ put on display involves
sections (5) and (7) and focuses on the Opium Wars, the Cession of
Hong Kong, and the Japanese Occupation. The ‘chosen glory’
involves sections (1), (3), (4), (6) and (8) and is represented by the
continuity of Hong Kong as a Chinese city and by the 1997 handover
to China. The handover is presented as the ‘epilogue’ and the last
words to the depicted museum narrative read ‘With its reunifica-
tion with China on 1 July 1997, Hong Kong turned a new page.
>>The Hong Kong Story<< draws to a close with that event, but the
Hong Kong story will continue to be written’.
As seen, two sections of the museum can be skipped as the
narrative trajectory unfolds. Section (2) of the museum is the only
one which speaks of a different group of people e the Baiyue or Yue
people e having had inhabited these land before it became part of
present-day China. When depicting the Japanese invasion in sec-
tion (7), the Hong Kong Museum of History employs similar his-
torical argumentation to patriotic educational bases in China, such
as the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. In March 1995, out of more
than 10,000 memory sites in Mainland China, a list of 100 national
294 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301

Fig. 4. Map of master narrative trajectory (second floor).

Fig. 5. Map of individuals' ‘following’ of the master narrative trajectory (ground floor).

‘demonstration bases’ for patriotic education was made public
(Wang, 2008). In a constant struggle to maintain its version of the
master narrative, Wang (2008) writes, the CCP Central Committee
launched the ‘Red Tourism’ program and, between 2004 and 2007,
more than 400 million people visited former revolutionary bases
and landmarks in China. Schools have incorporated visits to these
sites in their curriculum (Wang, 2008). The result is that ‘today's
students are far less willing to criticize the party because to do so
would be seen, somehow, as being unpatriotic’ (Crothall, 1994, p. 8).
Similarly to the Nanjing Memorial, the number of victims promoted
by the Chinese government e 300,000 e is also mentioned in the
official interpretation of section (7) at the Hong Kong Museum of
History. The number of victims and the placing of responsibility
remain controversial topics both within and between China and
Japan (He, 2007; Heinzen, 2004; Seo, 2008; Yang, 1999).
Contrastingly, what the museum authorities do not depict is the
post-1997 history of Hong Kong, including the increasing discon-
tent and active opposition of the Hong Kong's residents at the ever-
growing influence of the Beijing authorities in the internal affairs of
Hong Kong. Some large-scale acts of opposition have already been
 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
presented in the contextual section of this paper. Also, no mention
is made about other important moments in the modern history of
Hong Kong. For example, about the hundreds of thousands of
Mainland Chinese who escaped China for Hong Kong during Mao's
Cultural Revolution, as described in Chen's book ‘The Great Exodus
to Hong Kong’ (2010). Nor is anything mentioned about the hun-
dreds of Tiananmen activists who managed to escape the purges of
the CCP through Hong Kong during ‘Operation Yellowbird’ (Lam,
2014). Another important historical fact left out of the master
narrative is that almost all of the military forces fighting the war
against the Japanese and losing their lives in the process of
regaining independence were Nationalists (Buruma, 2002).
This selective historiography can be critically assumed to draw
upon the leitmotif of the Patriotic Education Campaign which has
framed the contemporary Chinese thought on all levels: ‘a hundred
years of national humiliation’ (bǎi nia
n guo
chǐ, 百年国耻). Wang
(2008) shows how this concept is used to refer to the period of
imperialist interventions by Western powers and Japan in China
between 1839 (start of the First Opium War) and 1949 (the estab-
lishment of the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong and
the Communist Party of China). This statement has become a theme
invoked by the Chinese authorities to gain national cohesion in
incidents such as protests for Tibetan independence, or the US
bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, or the relay
for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and reinforce territorial claims
(Wang, 2008, 2012).
It is also used to deflect foreign criticism of human and animal
rights abuses, and shift domestic attention from issues of corrup-
tion and embracement of capitalist practices (Denton, 2007). Ac-
cording to Volkan (1997), a group unconsciously incorporates the
mental representation of the traumatic event into its identity and
transmits its injured self and memory of ancestors' trauma across
generations. Volkan (1997) goes on to argue that once a trauma
becomes a chosen trauma, the historical truth about it does not
matter anymore, as leaders evoke the memories of the chosen
trauma and the chosen glory according to political agenda. This is
similar with Zandberg, Meyers, and Neiger's (2012) notion of
‘reversed memory’ which cultivates the continuity of past events
into the present by commemorating the traumatic past while
glorifying the present.
Once the master narrative was confirmed, 15 interviews were
conducted according to the second objective of the study. The
[Before] e [After] separation is used only for those answers where it
makes sense, and where it adds value and relevance to the findings.
By employing the coding model mentioned in the Methodology
section of the study, a series of themes emerged.
One theme that clearly emerged is the purpose of visit. A sub-
theme shared among all the interviewees is that they had visited
the museum before as part of compulsory school trips.

Today's visit is for leisure [smile]. I first visited the museum when I
was in primary school, it was compulsory. I was happy when I
visited it at that tender age seeing the temples [chuckle]; village
settings were nice so I keep going [HK2].

The first time I came to the museum on a school trip. It was
compulsory. Now I came here to relax. We have a day off from
university. On the compulsory primary school trip we wanted to
have fun [short pause]. [HK8].
The fact that all of the interviewees mentioned the compulsory
school trips to the museum leads to the critical assumption that the
Hong Kong Museum of History has become what Ingrao (2009, p.
180) labelled a ‘weapon of mass instruction’. Although originally
referring to history textbooks, the current study shows that Ingrao's
concept is also highly relevant in the context of history museums,
295
especially in places of contested identity. Collateral knowledge
acquired in early developmental stages influences the feeling,
thinking, remembering, behaving and overall meaningfulness of
life experiences (Wang & Brockmeier, 2002). Studies have shown
how this knowledge existentially influences an individual's iden-
titarian perceptions of self, others, and living environment (Fivush
& Haden, 2003; Howe, 2011; Kroger, 2007; McLean & Syed, 2015;
McLean, 2015; Quas & Fivush, 2009; Reese, Yan, Jack, & Hayne,
2010; Wang, 2001). Thus, Ingrao (2009) argues that ‘weapons of
mass instruction’ are used by authorities to promote a certain
version of historical truth and instil a certain collective identity in
young peoples' minds.
Other sub-themes related to the motivation to visit include the
need to find one's roots, pressure from parents, or the desire to
introduce Hong Kong to foreign friends:

This time I am here to trace back my roots [HK8].

I learnt my root of Hong Kong and Mainland China from the
museum of history [HK1].

[…] my mother also planned some visit to the museum for me
[HK2].

I had friends visiting from Europe and brought them to the History
Museum and other sites such as the Big Buddha [HK13].
The compulsory visitations during school years appears to be
closely related to a second major theme arising: perceived simi-
larities between Hong Kong and Mainland China. This includes
cultural, historical, and business-oriented sub-themes. Cultural
similarities mentioned most often revolve around spiritual and
family traditions, for example:

[Before] Hong Kong and Mainland China share a lot of common-
alities in terms of language, [pause], food, festivals, [pause] dialects
and [like] history which is even shown in the museum. In our
history lessons, we study Chinese History. For example, we have
Confucian influence [smile]. Sometimes common views on things
like ‘the old Chinese prefer building that blends with the natural
environment are common between both settings’. [After] oh, like
culture and beliefs on ‘Feng Shui’ are similar [HK1].

[Before] Hong Kong and Mainland have the same New Year with
family celebrations, lai see gift and also same Mid-Autumn with
traditional Lantern and moon cake. [After] Yes. I think most of our
(Hong Kong and Mainland) traditional cultures are the same such
as the belief … like the opera for the God, and some activities for
example lion dance, Bun Mountain in festivals or important events
[HK9].
One interesting example of historical similarities depicted
below brings together the ‘chosen glory’ (the continuity of Hong
Kong as part of China) and the ‘chosen drama’ (the invasion by
Japan) previously discussed in this paper. Volkan (1997) would
argue this is a technique used by authorities in order to achieve
identitarian cohesion. In fact, the Japanese invasion is one of the
historical similarities often mentioned. For example:

[Before] Their thoughts are the same. They are both traditional.
Some of their cultures are common. An example is the Chinese New
Year. [After] There is similar history, for example, both invaded by
Japan in the past. Similar culture and traditions, for example Chi-
nese New Year, opera, style of houses and tombs [HK12].
Business-oriented similarities usually touch upon the prefer-
ence for low prices and entrepreneurial background, for example:
296 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301

[Before] They both like cheap prices. For instance, when someone
buys a pair of shoes, this is worth buying if it is cheap. [After] Both
have a long history of entrepreneurship [HK5].
However, the respondents have not only mentioned similarities
between Hong Kong and Mainland China. Another major theme
arising is that of differences between them, with two main sub-
themes: attitudinal and behavioural differences, and political
differences.
Attitudinal and behavioural differences tend to draw upon a
perceived feeling of superiority of Hong Kong residents based upon
matters of politeness and civility usually linked to their Western
influence. On a closer look, arguments such as those presented
below reveal deeply perceived identitarian differences which have
been argued to be the roots of recent pro-democracy protests, with
Mainland Chinese usually calling Hong Kong residents ‘British
dogs’, and Hong Kong residents calling the Mainlanders ‘locusts’
(Kuo, 2014; Minter, 2014).

[Before] Mmmm [pause] I think, their difference lies in Hong Kong
having a Western influence and, because of this difference, Hong
Kong residents can distinguish themselves. For example, when
waiting for transport, we are patient. [Smile] I think Mainland is
not completely ‘civilized’. [After] Aside that we are the same, all
Chinese, the exhibits are clear [HK11].

Hong Kong locals queue up everywhere. We have a specific smoking
area in the public and it isn't allowed for eating in the MTR [HK3].

Mainlanders in Hong Kong are mostly impolite and don't care
about others' feelings [HK6].
Political differences usually mentioned refer to basic freedoms
such as the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, or fairness
which the Hong Kong Millennials are worried about losing as the
Central Government of China increase their influence into the in-
ternal affairs of Hong Kong. For example:

[Before] Hong Kong people have the guts to fight for freedom. But
Mainland people are controlled and cannot talk … the limitation is
the Central Government. Even though they have expertise, the
government control is such that rules and regulations are not fair.
[After] There is a political system which allows more freedoms,
such as freedom of speech, in Hong Kong. I am scared to lose these
freedoms in the future [HK14].

Hong Kong (I think) has more freedom in protest, speech, using
social media … much better than China. Mainland China is not like
this. And I am scared this will be happen in Hong Kong in the future
[HK13].
This sub-theme of political differences remains constant
throughout both interviewing sessions, and the roots of this
growing discontent with the current state of affairs are clearly
explained by Anson Chan - the former Chief Secretary of Hong Kong
- in an interview for the Institute of Politics at Harvard University:
‘What sets Hong Kong apart from any other Chinese city is the fact
that we have the rule of law, we have an independent judiciary, we
enjoy rights and freedoms. Particularly important: freedom of
expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of
the press, academic freedom.’ (The Institute of Politics at Harvard
University, 2016).
This sub-theme of political differences comes to reconfirm the
relevance of three out of the five identitarian differences between
Hong Kong locals and Mainland Chinese identified by Lau and Kuan
(1988, cited in Vickers, 2003, p. 61) in present-day Hong Kong.
These confirmed differences are: ‘There is in Hong Kong more social
and interpersonal trust, personal freedom, civil liberty and social
and political tolerance’, ‘‘There is more tolerance of social conflict,
less fatalism and less egalitarianism’, and ‘Hong Kongers expect fair
treatment from government and are less frightened by it’. The other
two differences identified in Lau and Kuan's study e ‘Economics are
distinguished from politics and are accepted as being non-
egalitarian, the capitalist system being fully endorsed’ and ‘Law is
respected and distinguished from politics’ e do not seem to be
confirmed by the current research, but may eventually be
confirmed by studies focused on financial and fiscal matters.
Some of the respondents went further in mentioning that such
socio-political differences and the affluence of visitors from the
Mainland are discouraging some of their friends from visiting the
History Museum, which is another theme arising from the in-
terviews. For example:

Many of my local friends do not want to visit the museum because
there are too many Mainland Chinese visitors. Just too many!
[HK7].

Friends of mine went before, but refuse to go anymore. They say the
history in the museum does not represent them and that it is
developed for Mainlanders. After this visit, I agree with them.
[HK10].
One theme which remains constant in both the pre- and post-
interview is that of a torn place identity, more precisely the
perception of Hong Kong and Mainland China as two distinct en-
tities. All 15 respondents made this clear distinction and, in some
form or another, declared themselves as belonging to Hong Kong.
For example:

[Before] I think I belong to Hong Kong, not Mainland. [After] I see
myself as Hongkongese, even if historically we are Chinese [HK10].

[Before] I perceive that I belong to Hong Kong. [After] Still I believe
I belong to Hong Kong. I think when I was in secondary school I
already knew the history behind but this visit may add on some
more information, some more detail and then put a lot of figures
and demonstrations [HK4].

I am a local, I belong to Hong Kong [HK15].

Although some of Mainlanders are rude, others are very nice, very
genuine. However, I love Hong Kong, I belong to Hong Kong [HK7].
A similar identitarian separation between ‘us’ and ‘them’ can
still be found e albeit in different shades and aspects e in the
context and relationships between former East and West Germany
decades after their reunification (Blank, 2003; Brosig-Koch, Hel-
bach, Ockenfels, & Weimann, 2011; Friehe & Mechtel, 2014). An
important contribution to understanding such intra-country ten-
sions comes from political scientist Samuel P. Huntington and his
groundbraking forecasting of future conflicts around the world
entitled ‘The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Or-
der’ (1996). His main hypothesis is that people's cultural identities
rather than political ideologies would be the main source of conflict
in the post-Cold War world, and that questions of ‘who are you?’
would overtake questions of ‘what side are you on?’ (Huntington,
1996). In this line, a fundamental concept which helps explain
the current situation in Hong Kong is Huntington's (1996) ‘torn
country’ which refers to a group which belongs to one country but
feels as if they should belong to a different country. As seen, re-
spondents relate to certain socio-cultural aspects of China such as
the Confucian traditions, but feel a strong adherence to Western
behavioural and political norms and values such as the fight for
basic human freedoms and rights or courteousness among mem-
bers in society. Thus, the Hong Kong Millennials feel neither wholly
Chinese neither completely Westernized and this is presumed to be
the main cause for the ever-rising tension since the handover in
 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
1997. Adding to this is what Huntington (1996) calls the shifting
power of civilizations represented by the slow Western decline and
the emerging order of Eastern World. The fact that the East is
growing and developing, yet more and more Hong Kong Millennials
see their future elsewhere reveals deep fractures of the societal
fabric. As seen, 57 percent of the Hong Kong Millennials are plan-
ning to leave Hong Kong (Cheung, 2016). According to the same
survey, Taiwan, Australia and Canada are their most preferred
destinations for reasons involving democracy, liberty, and lifestyle
(Time Out Hong Kong, 2016). This phenomenon has also been
anticipated by Huntington (1996) who argued that future alliances
or relocations would be based not on ideology, but on perceived
socio-cultural identitarian similarities.
One other concept coined by Huntington (1965) which is useful
in understanding this identitarian separation and tensions in Hong
Kong is ‘political decay’. Refering precisely to Hong Kong, Professor
Sonny Lo from the University of Hong Kong links Huntington's
concept to a gradual regression in democracy which takes the
forms of increased centralization of administrative power by the
local government, increased media censorship and ‘blind patri-
otism’, declining economy and a widening gap between societal
classes (Lo, 2002). In a thorough study on political decay in Hong
Kong, Lo (2002, p. 110) argues that: ‘specifically, political decay in
the HKSAR is characterized by a more personal style of governance;
a chaotic implementation of public policies; an increasingly polit-
icized judiciary whose decisions have been politically challenged by
Beijing and its supporters in Hong Kong; endangered civil liberties
including academic freedom; an amalgamation of political labelling
and mobilization; a failure of political institutions to absorb public
pressure and demands; and a governmental insensitivity to public
opinion’. To these factors of political decay in Hong Kong he adds
the triumph of Chinese traditional values of paternalism, political
obedience and individual subordination the Western values of
accountability, political diversity and individual autonomy in Hong
Kong (Lo, 2002). In this regard, Huntington (1996, p. 238) observes
that ‘China's Confucian heritage, with its emphasis on authority,
order, hierarchy, and the supremacy of the collectivity over the
individual, creates obstacles to democratization’. Lo (2002) shows
how the pro-Beijing authorities in Hong Kong have been demon-
strating hallmarks of Chinese civilization, while their opponents
and critics have been demonstrating hallmarks of Western civili-
zation. And therein lies the present-day ‘clash of civilizations’ in
Hong Kong, as suggested by the answers provided by the re-
spondents in this study. As seen, many of Hong Kong Millennials
interviewed mention elements of Chinese culture such as Confu-
cianism or familial traditions, while strongly identifying them-
selves to Hong Kong as a separate entity and aspiring to Western
values.
Lo (2002, p. 111) employs Huntington's (1991) concept of
‘reverse democratization’ to explain the ongoing process in which
‘the central government, its agenda and supporters in the HKSAR,
and the HKSAR government are determined to restrict the scope of
political autonomy enjoyed by citizens and groups’. They do so by
introducing certain political changes which downplay and roll back
progressive elements in the British colonial governance while, at
the same time, introducing others meant to instil a pro-Beijing and
pro-China mindset (Lo, 2002). By linking respondents' answers to
relevant literature, the current study concludes that there are ele-
ments indicating the Hong Kong Museum of History as an attempt
of the authorities to achieve this goal. As seen, the museum pro-
vides a narrative capitalizing both on the memories of a collective
national tragedy - the Opium Wars, the Cession of Hong Kong, and
the Japanese Occupation - and on shared cultural elements be-
tween Hong Kong and Mainland China. The two sections which can
be skipped as visitors follow the narrative trajectory are section (2)
297
showing the land of Hong Kong having been inhabited by the
Baiyue people even before it became part of the present-day China,
and section (7) which focuses on the Japanese invasion. The official
interpretation in section (7) adopts the same historiography as the
Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in China by employing the
disputed number of victims promoted by the Beijing authorities e
300,000 e and by not mentioning anything on the fact that it was
actually the Nationalists (the Kuomintang e the historical rivals of
the Chinese Communist Party) who actually fought against the
Japanese. All the other sections of ‘the Hong Kong Story’ focus on
socio-cultural similarities between Hong Kong and Mainland China
presented in a chronological manner whose ‘epilogue’ is the
handover in 1997. Although the Hong Kong government officially
dropped the implementation of the patriotic education following
the 2012 mass protests, these are factors which point to the Hong
Kong Museum of History being used as an educational base for
instilling a common identity and boosting political legitimacy for
the central authorities. The fact that all 15 interviewees identify
socio-cultural similarities between Hong Kong and Mainland China
while clearly distinguishing them as two distinct entities and
perceiving themselves as belonging to Hong Kong can reveal a
partial success of such educational endeavours at the Hong Kong
Museum of History. The Hong Kong Millennials and Mainland
China are, in the words of Anson Chan - the former Chief Secretary
of Hong Kong e ‘uneasy bedfellows’ (The Institute of Politics at
Harvard University, 2016), and further studies are needed to
investigate this complex and multifaceted relationship.
7. Conceptual model
Having critically investigated the three declared objectives and
backed up by thorough relevant literature, the current study pro-
poses the following comprehensive framework for understanding
the visiting experience-narratives-place identity nexus in the
context of history museums.
The model depicts the experiential process of place identity
construction at history museums as taking place within the socio-
cultural and political contextual flux of the respective place the
museum exists in. When visiting a history museum, locals bring
with them their own narratives about the museum and the version
of history depicted there. As seen, all of the respondents mentioned
they had visited the Hong Kong Museum of History at least once
before, as part of compulsory school trips. Some also mentioned
their parents pushed them to visit again. Thus, it is critically
assumed that the version and level of familiarization of each local
visitor with the history museum they are visiting depends upon the
important socializing factors, such as family, school, society, and
government. During the visitation, these personal narratives come
into contact with the official museum master narrative set in place
by those authorities with the interest and power to do so, as dis-
cussed earlier in the paper. Thus, the museum place identity comes
into being as a co-construction between individual and official
narratives. Place identity as a co-construction between museum
authorities and visitors is further reinforced by individuals'
following the official museum narrative trajectory. Depending on
their own narratives of the historical phenomenon being pre-
sented, the decision to accept or reject the master narrative pro-
duced by the museum is in the hands of the visitors. As Hobsbawm
(1972, p. 3) argues, communities are constituted by their past and,
in this regard, ‘to be a member of any human community is to
situate oneself with regard to one‘s (its) past, if only by rejecting it’.
Some perceptions may be changed by accepting the master
narrative. For example, the visitor below mentions general com-
monalities between Hong Kong and Mainland China upon the
arrival to the museum, but tends to emphasize much more precise
298 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
cultural and historical similarities post-visitation. Importantly,
those similarities highlighted post-visitation revolve around as-
pects of the narrative displayed in the museum:

[Before] Their thoughts are the same. They are both traditional.
Some of their cultures are common. An example is the Chinese New
Year. [After] There is similar history, for example both invaded by
Japan in the past. Similar culture and traditions, for example Chi-
nese New Year, opera, style of houses and tombs [HK12].
Other perceptions, such as those distinguishing Hong Kong and
Mainland China as two distinct entities, remain unchanged by the
acceptance of the master narrative. While others, such as the case
below, bluntly reject the official master narrative and act
accordingly:

Friends of mine went before, but refuse to go anymore. They say the
history in the museum does not represent them and that it is
developed for Mainlanders. After this visit, I agree with them.
[HK10].
No matter whether they accept or reject the master narrative, or
whether or not their initial perceptions are changed by it, all visi-
tors follow this master narrative. Through their acceptance, rejec-
tion, or following of the narrative trajectory set in place by the
museum developers and authorities, visitors are partakers in the
process of identity co-construction. This mutually reinforcing pro-
cess of identity shaping between the individual visitors and the
museum reveals and is made possible by an open and fluid system
see (Fig. 6).
Consequently, rather than seeing place identity as singular and
static, the current study proposes it as an ever-changing flux. Its
multiplicity is also argued for, with the present paper suggesting
there are as many place identities as individual visitors. Impor-
tantly, although the study is placed in Hong Kong, the model is not
site or context-specific, but is applicable to any heritage site as long
as the exploration is placed in the appropriate context.
Fig. 6. The visiting experience-narrative-place identity-history museum nexus.
8. Conclusion
The current study draws critical assumptions and insights on
the political implications at history museums especially in places of
contested identity such as Hong Kong. A master narrative trajectory
was confirmed at the Hong Kong Museum of History, which all
visitors tend to follow. This master narrative appears to revolve
around a version of historical truth which aims at educating young
generations into a collective identity between Hong Kong and
Mainland China. Commonalities between the Hong Kong Museum
of History and similar sites in Mainland China (such as the Nanjing
Massacre Memorial Hall) reveals central themes specific to the
Patriotic Education Campaign implemented in Mainland China as a
means of maintaining political legitimacy. The pre- and post-
visitation interviews expose subtle changes in interviewees' iden-
titarian perceptions of Mainland China.
Finally, the study raises a series of implications for relevant
groups. By understanding the highly political aspect of sites of
contested heritage and identity, usually camouflaged in subtle
symbolism and selective narrative, visitors can avoid being
manipulated into believing that the information presented is the
ultimate and undisputed version of truth and can seek alternative
versions of historical truth for a more balanced understanding.
Museum authorities can aim at reducing the levels of interpretation
and/or offer different perspectives on the narrated events. The
Hong Kong and Beijing governments have to take into account the
identitarian needs of societal groups in decision-making activities.
Academia can educate young generations of students towards
freedom of thought and speech, while seeking meaningful contri-
butions by tackling sensitive societal topics.
9. Limitations
Supported by relevant literature in museum narratives, the
current study identified a master narrative at the Hong Kong
Museum of History. However, this aspect of the study can further be
expanded to include repeated participant observations in orga-
nized museum tours aimed at identifying narrative patterns in
 A. Dimache et al. / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 287e301
museum guides' storytelling. Observing school visits can also add
value to the study, considering that literature has labelled history
museums as ‘weapons of mass instruction’, and that school visits to
the Hong Kong Museum of History are compulsory. Critical insight
can also be gained by interviewing and investigating the network of
interests and actions of different stakeholders involved in the
development and management of the museum. Also, a larger
number of observations could have been explored by borrowing
research tools from human geography, for example GPS systems,
which can clearly spot out visitor movements. Another
observation-related challenge was the inability, due to museum
regulations, of video recording the observations. Nevertheless,
photo shooting successfully replaced video recording in supporting
the subsequent analysis and reinforcing the findings of the obser-
vation. Due to ethical issues, photography was only used in stage
one of the observation.
One major challenge in the interviewing process was the diffi-
culty of finding Hong Kong-born-and-raised visitors at the Museum
of History. Most of the visitors encountered were from Mainland
China. The reasons for the reduced numbers of local Hong Kong
visitors represents, in itself, an interesting subject for future
research. The language barrier was irrelevant due to the good En-
glish proficiency of the Hong Kong Millennials. The sensitivity of
the topic was another challenge, especially considering the ongoing
pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong. This challenge was dealt
with by reassuring the interviewee of the highest levels of data
confidentiality.
Acknowledgement
The authors are indebted to Dr. Mimi Li - Associate Professor at
the Hong Kong Polytechnic School of Hotel & Tourism Management
- for her valuable comments on the draft paper as well as her
encouragement to publish this paper.
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