Hong Kong's language policy is encoded in Article 9 of its Basic Law, which states English and a non-fixed ‘Chinese’ as the region's official languages. Inventing a valid definition for the word ‘Chinese’ is tricky in the Hong Kong context. Does it refer to Cantonese, Putonghua, written Chinese, or what? Using critical discursive methods, this study explores how Hong Kong's Basic Law is deficient in adequate handling Hong Kong's intricate sociolinguistic situation and presents some instillation as to how this might be repaired.