Hong Kong drifter
Hong Kong drifters (Chinese: 港漂; pinyin: gǎng piào; Jyutping: gong2 piu1) are young, educated people who left mainland China to move to Hong Kong in search of a job and a place to live. They may experience difficulty assimilating into the culture of Hong Kong, which can vary from that of mainland China. The term Hong Kong drifter was first used in China by people in Internet chat rooms. The state may be a temporary one, depending upon a person's ability to adjust to the cultural and language differences.[1]
Contents
Background
With the aim of attracting talented people from mainland China and the rest of the world to settle and work in Hong Kong, the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) set up admissions criteria under which applicants could be admitted to residence in Hong Kong without the prior offer of local employment required for a normal working visa.[2]
Immigrant incentive programs
University students
Not only the economic prosperity that attracts the mainlanders to move southern, the international higher education system in Hong Kong also attracts them. Universities in Hong Kong act as a major bridge between Hong Kong and the Mainland. In 1998, the Hong Kong Jockey Club funded dozens of graduating mainland students study in Hong Kong.[citation needed] In 2003, the Chinese Ministry of Education first allowed Hong Kong universities to recruit mainland students.[1] In 2012, of the 10,770 non-local students at the city's eight government-funded universities, more than 80% of them were from the mainland.[1]
Scholarship is one of the ways to attract talented students from China to study in Hong Kong. Universities in Hong Kong offer considerable scholarships and rewards to the outstanding students from the mainland, the funding goes up to $9 million per year. Elites who are qualified to receive the academic scholarships from the school can take up to $0.64 million in four years. This has become one of the major reasons why mainland students, especially the middle class, would like to study here in Hong Kong.[3]
In 2001, 4 years after the handover of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong SAR Government allows mainland fresh graduates to stay and work in the HKSAR. Therefore, studying in Hong Kong is all the rage in recent 10 year. Recently, after the result of college entrance examinations has been released, there has been a keen competition of top scorer between Hong Kong and Mainland’s University. This phenomenon is constantly covered by both China and Hong Kong media in the news report.[citation needed]
According to official statistics, there are only about 1000 mainland students studying in Hong Kong’s University in 2001. However, until 2007, there are more than 6000 mainland students admitted to Hong Kong’s university every year. Together with the postgraduate program, there will be more than 10000 mainland students studying in Hong Kong’s University. Until 2007, there are over 23000 students in Hong Kong who came from Mainland China. On the other hand, there are about 20000 experts came from Mainland China through different scheme such as Quality Migrant Admission Scheme. Up to now, there are approximately 40000 mainland university’s student and experts living in Hong Kong.[citation needed]
Those Post-80s youngsters who came to Hong Kong to study are the top scorers in Mainland China. However, not all of them are able to find a job after they graduated. They are caught in a dilemma whether to go back to Mainland or stay.[4]
Professional and skilled workers
Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates
Since 2001, the Hong Kong government has made special provision in its immigration ordinance, granting one year extensions to mainland students after graduation, with the expressed purpose of attracting new talent to the cities. Once mainland students graduate from Hong Kong universities, they have a full year to find jobs in the SAR. Hong Kong has also simplified the application process for working visas for mainland graduates.[5]
Under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG), non-local graduates refer to persons from outside the ((Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)) (HKSAR) who have obtained a degree or higher qualification in a full-time and locally accredited programme in Hong Kong. Hong Kong universities make use of this scheme to attract mainland students to stay after graduation.[6]
Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals
In July 2003, the Hong Kong government implemented the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals. The scheme’s assessment criteria are in line with those under the General Employment Policy (GEP). The objective of the Scheme is to attract qualified Mainland talents and professionals to work in Hong Kong in order to meet local manpower needs and enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness in the globalised market. As at the end of 2012, 57 126 Mainland talents and professionals were admitted under the scheme.[7][8]
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme
In February 2006, the Hong Kong government announced the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme. It aims to attract talented people from mainland China and the rest of the world to settle and work in Hong Kong, hence, Hong Kong’s economic competitiveness in the global market can be enhanced.[9] The scheme set up admissions criteria under which applicants could be admitted to residence in Hong Kong without the prior offer of local employment required for a normal working visa. As at the end of 2012, a total of 2 392 applicants were allocated quotas.[8]
Challenges
Cosmopolitan city
One of the many concerns raised about Hong Kong drifter is being seen as an unrefined, unsophisticated person in the cosmopolitan city. They may be seen to have inferior clothes or style, lack of knowledge about technology, had a poor upbringing and unsophisticated manners. They may also be assumed to be members of the Communist Party of China.[1]
Regarding the demographics of university students, Zhang Bingjie, a journalist student at Shue Yan University in Hong Kong said:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Most mainland students who attend Hong Kong universities are from major cities and well-to-do families. These stereotypes might apply to migrant workers that you see in Chengdu, or tourists in Hong Kong, but not to us. We are not your average mainlander. China is a big country, you can't make sweeping generalisations like that... (Offended by the stereotype against poorer people,) I know my family members have flaws but I still wouldn't want others to point fingers at them, you know what I mean?[1]
Language
Hong Kong drifters who come to Hong Kong for higher education and speak broken Cantonese or don't speak Cantonese often feel isolated when they cannot communicate well with Hong Kong students and society. This can result in a small social circle with non-local classmates and makes it difficult to integrate into Hong Kong’s mainstream. Due to cultural and institutional differences, social friction has been increasing over the past few years.[10]
The news article The Inbetweeners describes the language challenge:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Many think twice about using broken Cantonese when ordering food at restaurants, but also hesitate to use Putonghua (also called Mandarin), to avoid being seen as yet another uncultured tourist. English is often a safe compromise.[1]
— Dickson Lee and Edward Wong
Job and resource opportunities
Recently, netizens have been advertising in newspapers about opposing "Hong Kong drifters" from occupying resources of universities in Hong Kong. It also accused the graduated mainland students are stealing job opportunities from locals, harming their interest. Some locals even request for a reduction in mainland students’ admission so as to protect local’s further studies and employment.[citation needed]
However, some see the Hong Kong drifters as high quality labour force which bring positive competitiveness and maintain the development of Hong Kong economy.[citation needed]
Overcharging mainland students
Some netizens followed "anti-double-not" campaign’s movement earlier in 2013, by establishing a Facebook page titled "Against overcharging Mainland Hong Kong university students". It is a public fundraising advertisement to force universities to stop overcharging mainland students, tightening the field students work in Hong Kong regulations and provide more places for local students. There are undergraduates from Hong Kong’s universities think local universities are getting 'mainlandisation'. On the contrary, Hong Kong drifters defend that they may be venting anger on them simply because they cannot get a place in college.[citation needed]
Not only the overcharging issue aroused the anger of the local students, there is another Facebook page that also surged the tension between local students and the drifters. The Facebook page named "Anti-mainlandization of Hong Kong University" (反對本港大學濫收大陸學生) was launched due to the increasing proportion of mainland students being admitted to local universities.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1][dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/immigration.pdf
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lui Dai Lok - 港漂十味. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Co, Ltd pp.72-74
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
