Excerpts from the cultural identity narratives and follow-up interviews of a group of ethnic Chinese majors in English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, identifying recurrent issues and metaphors.

IN HONG KONG, how have recent politicalevents such as the Handover (change of sovereigntyfrom Britain to China) in 1997 impactedon young people's sense of self? What culturalgroups do they now identify with and why? Whatself-labels do they prefer? This article reports ona qualitative, sociocultural investigation thattook place at the Chinese University of HongKong, a bilingual English/Chinese institution.Hong Kong have had a significant impact onshaping and sometimes changing students' culturalidentities. The Handover, in particular,caused them to reflect on and even questiontheir place in the world. Just before the changeof sovereignty, many applied for passportswhose nature sometimes brought them intoconflict with their parents and grandparents.