Hong Kong's kind of stuck in a hard place. On the one hand, a majority of their economy is tied directly to China, from businesses to even their entertainment industry. So then you have people needing to learn Mandarin and businesses catering to Chinese tourists and China in general to make money. Meanwhile, a big portion of Hong Kong people feel their autonomy being threatened, and that the tables are turning where they're not the richer of the two anymore, so they can no longer pressure China with their economic clout. Shenzen has basically left them in the dust over the past few years.
The problem gets exacerbated by an incompetent government who's not only been able to not control house prices, and have allowed an influx of mainland money to drive up real estate prices higher, but now basically bootlick to gain Beijing's favour. Developers and government officials are making money hand over fist, while the average person now loses both economically and culturally.
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