From Liang Qichao to Hong Kong Tycoons: A Century of Self-Deception in the Greater China Illusion

As the Qing dynasty lay dying, Guangdong intellectuals Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei were desperate to preserve the empire. They invented the concept of "Zhonghua Minzu" (Chinese nation), forcibly incorporating Manchuria, Tibet, and Xinjiang to keep a legitimacy-deprived empire alive. This so-called national narrative was essentially colonial packaging.

A century later, I encountered a Hong Kong tycoon who seemed like a living fossil. He had never been to Manchuria, Tibet, or Xinjiang, yet insisted these territories must be controlled by the Communist Party. He cursed the Party as evil while claiming "we must rely on it to preserve our territory." This logic perfectly mirrors Liang Qichao's Qing preservationism: when an empire crumbles, find a harsher ruler to stabilize the colonies.

This tycoon also declared that China would inevitably surpass America within fifty years. Hearing this, I recalled Hu Zhengzhi's prediction: "America will inevitably decline within fifty years. Such people, such behavior, can never be great." Yet America not only survived but buried the Soviet Union. Today's "Greater China enthusiasts" repeat this delusion with updated rhetoric.

Why do they think this way? Because their wealth has never been self-made—it comes from external forces.

During the Cold War, America supported Taiwan and Hong Kong, enabling their rise;

After reform and opening, America supported mainland China, bringing them a second wave of prosperity.

They mistake this external windfall for an iron law of "China's inevitable rise." When circumstances change and their businesses suffer massive losses, they can only self-hypnotize with ideology: the future will be better, America will decline, China will soar. Ironically, while claiming "China will inevitably take off in fifty years," when asked about recent investments, they admit to putting money in Singapore. This disconnect between words and actions reveals the fundamental hypocrisy of "Greater China enthusiasts."

This psychology is not new. Liang Qichao's generation manufactured "Zhonghua Minzu" to preserve the Qing; today's Hong Kong tycoons prefer continued dependence on the Communist Party for unification. For a century, the illusion has changed names, but the logic remains unchanged.

So-called "Greater China" is merely a colonial hallucination. It explains neither past decline nor ensures future prosperity. The only thing it explains is how a group of elites, beneficiaries of external forces, continuously fabricate self-deceptive stories to mask their own powerlessness.