The films A Better Tomorrow (1986) is a wonderful piece of Hong Kong cinema. Not only enjoyable to watch, this film is characterized by the underlying implications regarding Hong Kong historical and cultural identity. As discussed in class one of the most defining moments in Hong Kong history was the 1980 Sino-British Joint Declaration that promised to return Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997. Having been apart of British rule for 137 years there arises anxiety over the concept of Hong Kong’s identity within the imagined community of China. They belong to China but due to their different historical and cultural background there is an impending sense of otherness. The film A Better Tomorrow (1986), which only came out 6 years after the 1980 Sino-British Joint Declaration, encaptures this fear of identity and the uncertainty of Hong Kong’s future through the journey of Ho. Becoming a metaphor for Hong Kong, we see through Ho the difficulty of simply erasing the past while trying to belong. Kit, who can be seen as China, resents his brother as a traitor. This alienation mirrors the fear of Hong Kong as not properly belonging and thus being shunned and prosecuted by China. The films conclusion in which Ho kills Shing and reconciles with Kit seems to be the hope for a better tomorrow in which Ho or Hong Kong comes to terms with its otherness while simultaneously being able to find acceptance from their family. Ho doesn’t fully turn over a new leaf as he kills the man who betrayed him but by killing him does manage to leave behind some of the ties to that old life. Likewise by giving the gun to Ho to kill Shing, Kit acknowledges Ho’s attempt to leave behind part of his previous life and shows acceptance of Ho’s otherness.