Lam explains that, after the experience of Hong Kong's return to China, "In Hong Kong, people started to rethink what had happened, especially those of the cultural elite. It's an interesting question: did the political system cause the people's lack of interest in their own self-determination, or did the lack of interest cause of the gradual disappearance of their rights?"
牛棚書院院長梁文道認為，歷經回歸以來的風風雨雨；「香港，特別是文化界，興起了許多的檢討：究竟是制度造成社會參與意願薄弱？