Hong Kong Government Plans Further Revisions to Remove Colonial Terminology from Laws

According to the Central News Agency, Hong Kong authorities are continuing to review colonial-era terminology remaining in local laws, including changing "Mainland" to "Inner Land" (in Chinese) and "Mainland of China" to "Chinese Mainland" in English. According to a report by Ming Pao, the Department of Justice recently notified the Legislative Council that it would submit a third batch of miscellaneous amendments to statutes, which includes the aforementioned changes, with a goal to complete them by June 30 next year. Reports indicate that the Legislative Council passed similar amendments in 2024 and 2025. This third batch involves 120 ordinances and subsidiary legislation across various departments, with over 30 related to maritime affairs. Colonial terms to be revised include "Her Majesty" or "Governor," which will all be changed to "Chief Executive." The English translation of "Mainland of China" will be changed from "Mainland of China" to "Chinese Mainland" to align with official Chinese translations. Furthermore, the term "sovereignty handover" in legal texts will be changed to "the People's Republic of China... resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong." The Hong Kong government stated that this change "accurately reflects the content announced in the Joint Declaration."