[almost_usual]

Well 156 years of ruling a place will change its culture. That is a long time, PRC won’t have ruled Hong Kong for that long until 2153 if you begin at 1997.

Unless newborns start living into their 130s no one alive today will witness it.

You can’t “fast-forward” and erase 156 years in a few decades.

[mytailorisrich]

Portugal ruled Macao for 400 years (interestingly Macao does not seem to face any unrest, btw). The British were in India for close to 400 years as well.

This is not evidence of anything and I think this is quite irrelevant here.

The main issue is not the length of the British "occupation", it is the Chinese political division that has existed since the Civil War. Many in HK (like in Taiwan) fled the communists and the others moved there during "old China" times. The issue is opposition to communist forces.