Well it changed the last 7 years. When I arrived, they didnt care and I was surprised they vehemently told me "we're Chinese through and through we just dont like the communists", fast forward 7 years, I m married to a local etc, she's religiously renewing her British National Overseas passport, like most people who are eligible, talk now of the "mainlanders" as the problem more than the communists, and 2 years ago the British flag was flying higher than the red flag...
As a french it annoys me you can imagine so Im not neutral on the subject, but I d say this Britsh link expanded. China managed to make the HK people regress by their mismanagement of the Taiwan murder issue (which turned into insane anti extraditions protests - how the hell did they screw up that much) and I lost many friends and colleagues to the anglosphere (many moved to Canada and US, some UK but life isnt as good there). I hear them say it was better with the UK, forgetting a bit their grandma sleeping on the streets of Sham Shui Po during the worst of the colonial era... but it was probably also the communists' fault if so many left Canton at that time.
Could also be me integrating deeper and seeing the issue as it always was, so take my comment with a grain of salt :D
Oh and linguistically, they're surprisingly less fluent than Singapore weirdly, and there are large pockets of HK where it's impossible to use English (usually poorer parts or more mainland populated) so it's very much a political link, not a love or influence of English as a language itself, unlike Latin in France where random grassroot people would fight against grammar reform to keep the Latin influence even if it's irrational, confusing or hard to write.
As a french it annoys me you can imagine so Im not neutral on the subject, but I d say this Britsh link expanded. China managed to make the HK people regress by their mismanagement of the Taiwan murder issue (which turned into insane anti extraditions protests - how the hell did they screw up that much) and I lost many friends and colleagues to the anglosphere (many moved to Canada and US, some UK but life isnt as good there). I hear them say it was better with the UK, forgetting a bit their grandma sleeping on the streets of Sham Shui Po during the worst of the colonial era... but it was probably also the communists' fault if so many left Canton at that time.
Could also be me integrating deeper and seeing the issue as it always was, so take my comment with a grain of salt :D
Oh and linguistically, they're surprisingly less fluent than Singapore weirdly, and there are large pockets of HK where it's impossible to use English (usually poorer parts or more mainland populated) so it's very much a political link, not a love or influence of English as a language itself, unlike Latin in France where random grassroot people would fight against grammar reform to keep the Latin influence even if it's irrational, confusing or hard to write.