Public opinion polls and covert colonialism in British Hong Kong

This article examines colonial statecraft and state–society relations in a pivotal period for Hong Kong. Using historical methods and archival evidence, it overcomes the limitations in existing research, which is often theoretically driven and reliant on published sources. The article reveals that the Hong Kong masses were made structurally invisible by the Movement of Opinion Direction (MOOD), a polling exercise introduced by the reformist colonial state. The public were unaware that their views were disseminated to policymakers and that they affected policy formulation: this was covert colonialism. The article investigates confidential MOOD reports generated by the Home Affairs Department from 1975 to 1980, demonstrating why and how the colonial administration constructed public opinion. By disclosing what these secret files reveal about changing public attitudes towards the colonial government, the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the article also provides new insights into public receptions of the state’s reforms and potential threats to the colonial regime in the 1970s