This paper examines, from both linguistic and social perspectives, the role of Hong Kong Cantonese as an identifi -cation symbol for the Hong Kong SAR residents, particularly the ethnic Chinese people. Hong Kong, as a world city, has 89.1% of its population speaking Hong Kong Cantonese, which is very widely used as a communication instrument for daily life. This remains unchanged, despite the impacts from English and Putonghua because of historical and political reasons. The paper has found four reasons for the role of identifi cation: (1) The high linguistic conformality resulting in communal solidarity, (2) its interaction with the Mainland, (3) adaptation of English sounds and syllables, (4) continuity of using words and pronunciation of ancient Chinese language.