Conclusion
To conclude, there are many factors affecting our interviewees to accept or deny their Chiu Chow identity. Generally speaking, our interviewees in this research, especially the younger generation, has a really weak Chiu Chow identity acceptance. In addition, they are also very inactive in participating in Chiu Chow activities. Some have even not participated in any Chiu Chow activities before. In terms of the sustainability issue of Chiuchownese, some individuals have quite an pessimistic attitude and feels quite challenging to pass on Chiuchownese and Chiu Chow cultures to future generations. However, interestingly, in an organisational perspective, Chiu Chow organisations hold a comparatively optimistic perspective regarding sustainability. In addition, we can also see from our research that Chiu Chow organisations have put a lot of efforts in trying to strengthen younger generation’s Chiu Chow identity.
For opinions of our own group, we believe that Chiuchownese (the language) is part of the culture and we think it is important to raise awareness towards linguistic diversity for cultural preservation. Language education is undeniably essential for sustainability. From our interviews with Chiu Chow organisations, they focus on promoting cultural events but neglect the diminishing use of language. We believe that more resources on promotion of Chiuchownese are needed from organisations. However, just efforts from Chiu Chow organisations are not enough, we need strong support from society, not just only from language education, but in all aspects promote the use of Chiuchownese. Though in reality, we must admit that it is hard for us to have strong support received since the fact is Chiuchownese is regarded as minority language in Hong Kong community.
