With China's new leadership announced, Hong Kong residents are wondering about their future.
Beijing has so far maintained a stance of 'one country, two systems,' but there are concerns aspects of Hong Kong culture are slowly being pushed aside.
Residents rallied against mainland education reforms earlier this year, but another contentious issue is language.
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Hong Kong is a Cantonese-speaking region, but Mandarin is slowly gaining ground.
This year for the first time, Mandarin overtook English as the second most spoken language.
Like most of the 7 million people living in Hong Kong, the Au family speaks Cantonese but with the growing influence of mainland China, Mr Au and his wife are making sure their kids Christy and Leo grow up speaking fluent Mandarin.
“This is better for their future. We live in China, so I think it's good for them to learn Mandarin from a young age. Sometimes my kids will tell me 'dad you're saying this wrong!' In the end they're teaching me,” said Mr Au.
Christy and Leo go to Precious Blood Primary School in Hong Kong's Happy Valley – a school with a key focus on Mandarin.
Principal Alice Cheng says parents increasingly prioritise good Mandarin education.
“Cantonese and Mandarin are quite different. If we want them to write fluently. I think Mandarin is the way. China is very important in the world. It's good and important for our school to teach them using Mandarin,” said Ms Cheng.
She says students start learning younger and speak at a higher standard than ten years ago.
Principal Cheng believes students take pride in speaking Mandarin and identify more closely with mainland China than older generations.
However, mainland influence isn't always embraced when it comes to the classroom; in September residents took to the streets, rallying against so-called 'patriotism classes'.
Although the compulsory curriculum was subsequently dumped, mainland business has been embraced, and in a competitive job market, fluent Mandarin is vital.
Professor Chin Wan says while there's no explicit pressure for schools to teach Mandarin, the government strongly encourages it. He believes Cantonese is an older, purer form of Chinese, and crucial for preserving the country's literature.
The Professor is concerned that Mandarin is being taught in its place. “For example, if you want to learn classical English literature, the poetry of Chaucer, drama of Shakespeare, we have to speak a kind of old English to know the rhythm. To know older Chinese literature we have to speak an older Chinese version like Cantonese,” Chin Wan said.
He accepts Mandarin is important for business, but he doesn't believe it should dominate schools or universities – something he fears is already happening.
“People will eventually be forced to speak Mandarin in schools and official environments of Hong Kong, just like in Taiwan and other parts of China, because the Chinese government in the north wants to wipe out southern dialects, because that's a threat to them – it makes people harder to control,” says Chin Wan.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, remains relatively autonomous and retains its own culture. There is however, a growing recognition of the importance of Mandarin. Today almost half the local population speaks Mandarin, whereas ten years ago, only 30 percent did.
It's not only locals improving their Mandarin. The 'New Concept Mandarin' language school caters especially to expats, and teaches only Mandarin.
Managing Director Xianling Fu says the few foreigners who do study Cantonese, do so more as a hobby.
“In Hong Kong you actually do not have to rely on Cantonese to communicate, almost everyone speaks English. But even local people realise the importance of Mandarin. It's not like before 1997, now people see Hong Kong as part of China, whether you agree or not, whether you admit it or not. In fact it is part of China,” said Mr Fu.
Australian expatriate and former student, Valdis Dunis, says learning Mandarin is simply more practical. “Foreigners coming here nowadays? Most would just learn Mandarin. You get a much bigger sweep, you get all of China. If you learn Cantonese you get Hong Kong and Guandong.”
Current student, Australian Adam Smyth agrees. “It makes strategic sense, it makes good business sense. It's not the fact that Chinese business don't know English, because they do - their English is fantastic. Really it's about us catching up.”
"Learning to speak Mandarin is a lot more comfortable than learning to speak Cantonese, which is really difficult", he said.
