On March 12, 2013, the Hong Kong English newspaper South China Morning Post posted the following question on “Today’s Poll” on its website: “Given the option, would Hong Kongers vote to return to being a British overseas territory?” By March 16, several thousand people had voted. The results showed that 91 percent voted yes. Since Saturday March 16, that vote has been the most popular topic on the newspaper’s website. It has generated heated discussions and many commentaries in other social media websites as well.
Some readers’ feedback was that they did not like the poll. Some thought the poll was biased, as the majority of the newspaper’s readers are the 600,000 Hong Kong residents who hold passports issued by Western countries or they are foreigners who live in Hong Kong. Some commented that the results will shock the government of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Beijing.
The South China Morning Post has over 100,000 readers each week. It just introduced the new edition at the end of August 2012.
Source: BBC Chinese, March 16, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/03/130316_scmp_poll.shtml