Hongkonger here: Although Cantonese is pretty alive and well in Hong Kong, it’s pretty clear that the Government is being pressured by the mainland to promote Mandarin. It is commonly taught in schools and the Government promotes “trilingualism and biliteracy”. Cantonese and Mandarin are both written in the same script (Hanzi), and the third language/second script is English. It’s pretty clear that not all three languages get equal treatment though. English is not that heavily emphasized but most schoolchildren will learn it anyway because they want to watch American movies and enjoy American meme culture (this is not a joke). Parents also want their children to be trilingual and biliterate for economic reasons. Hong Kong is a city that revolves around money and it’s very common for business to be conducted internationally in English. That doesn’t mean that Mandarin is doing well in HK though. Hongkongers have a very negative perception of mainlanders for being “uneducated” and Mandarin is associated with mainlanders. I can’t describe it as “racism” since everyone involved is the same race, but Hongkongers think mainlanders spit in the street, smoke in lavatories and don’t know how to sort recycling from rubbish. Doesn’t help that most of these stereotypes are to some extent, true.

all of this, 100%>