Culture of Hong Kong Culture of Hong Kong The culture of Hong Kong, or Hongkongese culture, can best be described as a foundation that began with Lingnan's Cantonese culture (which is distinct to begin with) and, to a much lesser extent, non-Cantonese branches of Han Chinese cultures. It later became influenced by British culture due to British colonialism, resulting in a culture characterized by both Cantonese-ness and British-ness (Jyutping: Jyut jing wui zeoi; Traditional Chinese: 粵英薈萃). Moreover, Hong Kong also has indigenous people, whose cultures have been absorbed into modern day Hong Kong culture. As a result, after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty to
Culture of Hong Kong surveys. The traditional Cantonese religiosity, including Mahayana Buddhism, was generally discouraged during the British rule over Hong Kong, which favored Christianity. With the end of British rule and the handover of the sovereignty of the city-state to China, there has been a renewal of Buddhist and folk religions. The art of "asking the dead" (Jyutping: Man mai; Traditional Chinese: 問米) has long been a tradition in Hong Kong. It is often common for living people to want to ask dead people about their lives in the underworld. In these rituals, people bring paper-made garments, paper-made money, and paper-made food to