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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Institute Inc.
The Background To Campaigning
Among the many activities characterizing life in modern world cities are those events connected to elections for public office. Increasingly common as political reforms worldwide result in the direct election of governments and officials, these events and the activities associated with them add considerable color and excitement to urban daily life. Elections in Asian contexts are no exceptions. The Presidential Elections in Taiwan and the Legislative Council elections in the Hong Kong SAR (1) (and related events such as the July 1, 2003 and 2004 marches in Hong Kong) have focused attention on democracy, elections and electoral issues in Chinese societies. In both Taiwan and Hong Kong, an increasingly sophisticated electorate has emerged, one well acquainted with democratic issues and demanding full participation in government. Both electorates recognize the great importance of elections and have become enthusiastic participants in political campaigning.
In Hong Kong, two decades of political reform have created increased opportunities for political participation, with the political system having moved from one marked by colonial cooption and appointment (King 1975) and limited opportunities for participation in formal politics (DeGolyer and Scott 1996: 74) to one characterized by a heightened sense of citizenship. While previous discussions of the democracy movement (2) often assumed Hong Kong residents to be apathetic (see, for example, Miners 1991), recent elections and studies of community participation have effectively refuted such characterizations (Scott 2001). A prominent feature of this expanding democratic process is the heightened significance of the election campaign, deemed a necessary activity for any serious candidate and marked by campaigning strategies, content, and presentation styles increasingly varied and sophisticated. Even officials still selected by limited franchise have come to realize the need to present themselves for citizen scrutiny, if not approval, and participate in some form of electioneering. The growing importance of the election campaign, and citizen participation in it, illustrate the increasing maturity of the electorate, and modern campaigns in Hong Kong resemble those in Taiwan and in other contexts, both Asian and western, with longer histories of citizen participation (see for example, Holbrook 1996; Rigger 1999; Sabato 1985; Thurber and Nelson 1995).
An excellent example of election campaigning in Hong Kong is the elections for the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council of Hong Kong (which will from this point be referred to as LegCo) is the legislature of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong (Articles 66-79 of the Basic Law). LegCo was established in 1842, with the duties of advising the governor "... to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the colony ..." (Endacott 1964: 22), but it was only in 1985 that membership moved from governor-appointed to a limited number of elected representatives, when 24 of the 57 seats were elected from functional (those representing economic and professional sectors) and geographical constituencies (Miners 1986: 124). With the composition of the Council moving to a fully elected 60 in 2003, the LegCo elections have become extremely important, with the Hong Kong Government and all political parties (3) actively promoting formal campaigning.
Since the early 1980s, the Boundaries and Election Commission of the Hong Kong government has worked to familiarize citizens with the meaning and purpose of elections, educate them on voting regulations and how to vote, encourage them to develop a critical perspective when evaluating candidates, and finally, through all these processes, encourage them to register as electors and then to get out and vote. The District Board elections in September and March of 1982 marked the first popular election in Hong Kong (Scott 1985), and since then, political associations and individual candidates have further elaborated the conduct of elections and campaigns. Elections have played a part in the accelerated development of Hong Kong's overall political structure, for many political parties were formed or reorganized in the 1990s with the aim of contesting elections more effectively (Lo 1997).
As elsewhere, the election campaign is now an integral part of Hong Kong's political landscape and a regularly occurring feature of urban life. Mounting a successful campaign requires a significant outlay of time and money, careful and sophisticated planning and a vision that can be translated into effective campaign literature. As Ma and Choy (2003) have observed, "Electioneering involves strategic acts by political actors as a means towards maximizing their chances and gains in the electoral contest ..." (2003: 348). The overriding concerns are to conduct campaigns to win the support of voters in their constituency. To do this effectively, candidates must determine the style and content of campaign literature, make hard decisions about what will be most effective in promoting a vote-getting image, carefully plan campaigning techniques for maximum benefit, and do all this within the expenditure and other limits. (4) In short, they must be sensitive to the requirements of campaigning in contexts both urban and Chinese, for campaign practices and styles are determined by such physical and social settings.
The 1995 and 2000 LegCo elections represent a distillation of election learning experience, in that both parties and candidates had ample opportunities to analyze previous campaign strategies (for an overview of the 1995 elections, see Kuan et al. 1996) from Hong Kong and elsewhere, and had become more sophisticated in the design and employment of campaign literature and in planning their "meet the voters" activities. This paper first provides a brief overview of classical campaign techniques, turns to the "rituals of politics" and traditional election practices in an urban Chinese setting, and then considers specific activities and the material culture of elections, using the 1995 and 2000 LegCo elections as primary examples. The discussion concludes with a brief comment and a last look at the importance of elections and campaigning for China (the People's Republic of China) as a whole.
"Traditional Electioneering": Meeting the People and Local Knowledge
Aspiring candidates have refined their repertoire of campaigning techniques from the early 1980s, and the District Board Election of March and September of 1982. (5) The campaign techniques adopted for this election were already following what Butler and Ranney (1992: 5-6) have described as "traditional electioneering," a style characterized by public meetings, door to door canvassing, posters, and the use of a variety of written documents. Candidates for this early election proved themselves quite adept at managing such traditional techniques, employing the services of campaign managers and paying special attention to the design, content and placement of their campaign banners, individual flyers and wooden placards. They also conducted community visits, canvassing all the blocks in public housing estates, going from one unit to another introducing themselves and their platforms. In this election, community associations such as Mutual Aid Committees (popularly known as MACs, local-level voluntary associations based on residence), fostered many of the candidates (Scott 1985).
Having thus proved successful, these traditional electioneering techniques were repeated in the LegCo Elections of 1995 and 2000, when candidates again canvassed heavily. They and their supporters conducted house to house visits in private and public housing blocks, usually accompanied by a group of supporters chosen from the party or by MAC officials from the block. They also set up "meet the voters" spots on the pedestrian walkways near shopping centers and housing estates, made telephone phone calls to constituents, and attended public forums. A brief look at a selection of these electioneering techniques of 1995 and 2000 will demonstrate their continued importance in this urban context.
The establishment of "mini campaign stations" to interact with voters has become a practice both popular and expected. To do this successfully, the candidate and party must do their homework and acquire what anthropologists would term local knowledge. Campaigning in an urban space as small as Hong Kong may appear to be an easy task, for there are seemingly few places in such a high-density society which are not thronged with potential voters. However, a careful examination of public space will reveal the better locations for campaign sites that parties wish to occupy. A good site should be convenient, and near a steady flow of foot traffic which is unimpeded by dangerous or distracting features such as traffic lights, busy intersections, or the debris resulting from Hong Kong's pronounced edifice complex. It should not be set too close within an area marked by heavy concentrations of hawkers, market stalls or other commercial activities, for although it is debatable whether such activities attract or deflect attention from campaigning, candidates do not wish to be presented as just another commodity. Good sites should also be of a size sufficient for the tables needed for the campaign materials, and able to accommodate the increasing number of campaign workers. These assistants, both party activists and volunteers, have become an increasingly important component of campaigns, especially for the largest parties (Ma and Choy 2003: 356), and an increasing public presence at election times; by 1991, their numbers had already been estimated in excess of 10,000 (DeGolyer and Scott 1996: 76).
A typical example of a good site may be taken from the LegCo elections of 1995, in the tourist area of Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon, where the Democratic Party had five workers out, working at a table decorated with posters with the party's winged dove within a circle logo, broadcasting a recorded message from the candidate, and greeting passers-by, chatting with them as they distributed party literature. This site was near the intersection of two busy streets, and at a school entrance, so it was a protected space with plenty of foot traffic. For the same election, the Democrats set up another station at the outdoor concourse facing the main entrance to the Kowloon Canton Railway Station in Sha Tin New Town; four lively young women passed out handbills and posters to passersby. This location has always been particularly sought after for all forms of campaigns, advertising as well as political, because of the very heavy traffic engendered by the adjoining terminal for a number of bus and mini-bus routes, coupled with a steady stream of visitors to the adjoining shopping center.
In another example during the LegCo 2000 campaign, on one afternoon at an estate in Tai Po, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) had set up a table, complete with broadcast campaign music and the voice of the party...
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