The Colonial Mentality: A Poison Across Generations. By Johnson Choi on Feb 18 2026 殖民心態：跨代蔓延的毒害. 作者: 蔡永強. 2026年2月18日

It’s a pity that many of the colonized miss the colonial era, even taking the enemy as their father! 可惜不少被殖民者懷念被殖民年代，認賊作父!

The most important lesson my grandfather taught me is that racists come in all forms and colors. I didn’t learn this from a textbook. I learned it by watching two generations of my family navigate the complex world of colonial Hong Kong.

My father and grandfather worked for the biggest British companies. Because they had technical skills and spoke English, their British bosses treated them well. But that privilege gave them a front-row seat to the machinery of empire. In their bosses’ eyes, they saw how most Chinese were treated—with casual, everyday racial prejudice.

But that wasn’t the only thing they saw.

They also witnessed a deeper, more painful kind of betrayal. They saw Chinese men who considered themselves “elites” side with the white colonialists. These men, desperate for approval, would tread on their fellow Chinese—whom they considered inferior and poorly educated—even worse than their “White Masters” did.

That was the contradiction of the colony. The oppressor was obvious. But the collaborator? He looked just like us.

And that is exactly why my grandfather and father built a wall around our hearts. They taught us never to forget our roots. They taught us to serve our country when called upon—not out of blind nationalism, but out of a moral duty to never become them. To me, Henry Fok represents that ideal. He was a man who faced adversity, achieved greatness, and used it to lift up his homeland, not to distance himself from it.

I carried that lesson with me when I left Hong Kong in 1973. I took it to the United States for university. And I thought I had left the colony behind.

But I was wrong.

My first job in Hawaii, I was targeted by a union steward for being Chinese. Then came 2003, and the SARS epidemic. I watched as the world panicked, and I watched as that fear turned into a racial weapon. In Honolulu, they shut down Chinatown. Overnight, Chinese people weren’t just sick; we were the disease. The “Yellow Peril” was back.

And now, in the last 15 years, as China has risen, the volume has been turned up. The United States engages in a constant stream of propaganda and fake news to demonize my motherland. They call us every name they can find.

But here is the painful truth my grandfather prepared me for. Just like in the Hong Kong of his youth, the loudest voices promoting this hate, the people writing the most vicious attacks on China and the Chinese people, are often Chinese themselves. Chinese living in America.

They have become the new “colonial elites.”

They use the language of Western power to tread on the dignity of their own motherland, hoping for acceptance, hoping for a pat on the head from their new masters. They are proof that the colonial mentality is a poison that doesn’t just disappear when the flag changes. It mutates. It finds new hosts.

My grandfather is gone now. But his voice is loud and clear in my ear. He taught me to recognize the uniform of the oppressor. But more importantly, he taught me to recognize the face of the collaborator.

Because sometimes, the most dangerous person to your roots is the one who shares them.

殖民心態：跨代蔓延的毒害. 作者: 蔡永強. 2026年2月18日

可惜不少被殖民者懷念被殖民年代，認賊作父!

我祖父教導我最重要的一課，就是種族主義者有著各種形態與膚色。我並非從課本上學到這點，而是透過觀察家中兩代人在殖民時期的香港這個複雜環境中如何求生，從中體悟出來的。

我的父親和祖父曾為多間最大的英資公司工作。因為他們擁有專業技能且能講英語，所以他們的英國上司待他們不薄。但這種「優待」，恰恰讓他們坐在前排，親眼目睹了帝國的運作機器。從那些上司的眼裡，他們看到了大多數華人是如何被對待的——那種漫不經心、卻又無處不在的日常種族歧視。

但這並非他們所見的唯一景象。

他們還目睹了一種更深層、更痛心的背叛。他們看到一些自詡為「精英」的華人，選擇與白人殖民主義者站在同一陣線。這些人為了渴求得到認可，對待自己的華人同胞——那些他們視為次等、沒有教養的人——的手段，甚至比他們的「白人主子」還要苛刻。

這就是殖民地的矛盾所在。壓迫者是顯而易見的。但那些協作者呢？他們看起來跟我們一模一樣。

正因如此，我的祖父和父親在我們的心外築起了一道圍牆。他們教導我們永不忘本。他們教導我們，當祖國需要時，要挺身而出——這不是出於盲目的民族主義，而是源於一種道德責任：絕不讓自己變成那種人。對我而言，霍英東先生正是體現了這種理想的典範。他面對逆境，成就非凡，並用這些成就來扶持自己的家園，而非藉此與它劃清界線。

1973年, 我帶著這份教誨離開香港，前往美國讀大學。我當時以為，自己已經將殖民地遠遠拋在身後。

但我錯了。

我在夏威夷的第一份兼職工作，就因為我是華人而遭到工會代表的針對。然後是2003年，沙士疫情來襲。我目睹了全世界的恐慌，也看著這種恐懼如何被轉化為一種種族武器。在檀香山，他們關閉了唐人街。一夜之間，華人不再只是生病；我們本身就成了病毒。「黃禍」捲土重來。

而在過去十五年，隨著中國的崛起，這種論調的聲量更是有增無減。美國不斷發動宣傳攻勢和散播假新聞，試圖醜化我的祖國。他們用盡一切能想到的惡名來稱呼我們。

但接下來要說的，是我祖父早已讓我有所準備的痛心真相。就像他年輕時的香港一樣，如今那些宣揚仇恨最賣力的聲音、那些撰寫最惡毒言論攻擊中國和華人的人，往往正是華人自己——那些生活在美國的華人。

他們成為了新時代的「殖民精英」。

他們藉助西方強權的語境，來踐踏自己祖國的尊嚴，只為求得到接納，祈求他們的新主子能摸摸頭、給點讚許。他們證明了，殖民心態這種毒害，並不會隨著旗幟更迭而輕易消失。它會變異，尋找新的宿主。

我的祖父已經不在了。但他的聲音依然清晰響亮地迴盪在我耳邊。他教會我辨認壓迫者的制服。但更重要的是，他教會我認清協作者的嘴臉。

因為，有時候，對你的根源最具威脅的人，正是那些與你同根同源的人。