Via an assay of arguments for protecting Cantonese against the intrusion of Putonghua in post-1997 Hong Kong, this paper examines tensions in the ideological complex of authenticity and underlines the interest of exploring how spatial and temporal relationships work together to shape graspings of what counts as ‘real’, ‘natural’, and ‘original’. To indue Cantonese with authority, language advocates in Hong Kong draw on contrasting ideologies of authenticity and construct two distinct charter myths for their mother tongue. Invoking vastly different chronotopes, these ideologies are intimately related to how Hongkongers view their place in the Chinese nation and the Communist regime.