And here again, come the misinformed people putting words into an article they didn’t read to justify their misinformed viewpoints. I will add this as a Hongkonger—
Everything in the article is more or less true. Before the handover of Hong Kong to China, Hong Kong’s minority of Europeans were much more active and prevalent (because they had a disproportionate amount of political power and controlled a lot of the wealth). After the handover, this special status went away and naturally, the Chinese majority took over the Government. Through the decades, Chinese investment and the power of the Chinese economy have wrestled away economic hegemony from Western companies, although American and European money still holds a lot of power in Hong Kong. Infamously, after US President Donald Trump put HK Chief Executive Carrie Lam on the sanctions list, the banks closed her accounts and she was forced to receive her salary in cash.
Nonetheless, the white minority in Hong Kong were still active from a cultural and economic standpoint, but they are leaving. These are the reasons—
- Hong Kong is autocracising. The exercise of Government power is becoming more and more arbitrary, no longer constrained by a rigid set of guarantees and restrictions. People (not limited to just Westerners) are no longer confident that the Government of tomorrow won’t decide to strip away the freedoms they’ve enjoyed, arrest them for their political views, or seize control of their businesses. China is imposing its political ideals on Hong Kong, and China’s system only works if you have complete trust that the Government has your best interests at heart. Hongkongers, both Chinese and otherwise, especially those educated in the West or in Hong Kong’s Western-style universities, tend to follow the Western liberal tradition of not trusting the Government. Hence, they feel threatened when the Government starts stripping away the elements of the liberal democracy they expected, and they don’t feel safe in Hong Kong.
- Yes, people see things like the Chinese national being played on TV four times daily and new laws being passed making it illegal to criticise the Chinese flag or whatever and they think “This is bullshit, why does the Government care about that?” And yes, people do think that even if you can criticise the Government doing things you don’t like, the Government doesn’t care about your criticism in the slightest and there’s nothing you can do about it. They feel neglected and left without a voice. All you can do is complain about it over tea with your friends. People think that if you start a protest or political movement critical of the Government, you will get arrested for some trumped-up reason and the police and bureaucracy will harass you.
- Living in Hong Kong is losing the advantages it once had over other cities. For the educated professional, there’s no reason to stay in Hong Kong instead of chasing higher salaries and lower costs of living in Europe or America. And plus, since that demographic is overwhelmingly liberal, they feel that the way Europe and America are governed is closer to their own political views, and they feel safe in the legal guarantees afforded by those countries’ constitutions. I made a salary of 2,500 USD = 20,000 HKD a month working in IT as an intern in America with no experience. Hong Kong employers baulk at the prospect of paying me 20,000 HKD a month now. Meanwhile, I can easily find a job in now the USA with my qualifications now paying 40,000 HKD/month equivalent. Hence, brain drain. It made no economic sense for me to stay in Hong Kong.
I will, however, give a brief mention of the fact that this article mentions the exodus of white people, but it is important to note that there is also more than ever a growing minority of South Asian people (Indian subcontinent, Indonesia and Malaysia, &c.). I think it is pretty racist to not count those people as contributing to the internationalism of a city. Nonetheless, these people tend to be employed in an exploitative system of domestic labour rather than participating as genuine equals. They do not enjoy the same rights as Chinese Hongkongers or white Hongkongers and labour laws do not afford them nearly the same protections. They form an underclass, something that Hong Kong likes to sweep under the rug. More Hongkongers than will admit are openly racist to them; a slang term for an Indian person is a homophone for “a worse [person]”
Lol you could earn more than 2.5k USD as an IT intern in Shenzhen
I’m sure I could but I would rather eat my own shit than live in Shenzhen.
I would assume that being poorer both limits their voice when raising issues and makes their ability to leave harder. It sounds like the non white minorities are major victims and hit with a double whammy here. I suppose that happens a lot in history but I agree that it should be pointed out here as well.
Most non-white minorities employed in Hong Kong are still paid wages high enough to sustain their families back in their home countries. But there are few legal protections for them. Most labour laws don’t apply to them. Just as an example, the Minimum Wage Ordinance doesn’t apply to domestic workers. They are paid a pittance compared to those who employ them (just a few thousand HKD a month) and cannot survive if they aren’t given the free room and board by those who employ them.
Still, there is a vibrant culture. Just walking down the streets of Sham Shui Po you can see them congregating in the streets, around the Western Union office, or Jollibee on their weekly one day off. There are also places like the Chunking Mansion in Tsim Tsa Tsui, which some people have called a “Kowloon Walled City 2.0”, but that is false; it’s a thriving centre of South Asian culture in Hong Kong. There are probably other places too that I just don’t know of.
Those who still desire to move there for work have struggled to find jobs owing to the city’s slow economic recovery and changing language requirements. “Every job I applied for required Mandarin, especially in law,” says a woman who trained as a lawyer in Britain, but moved to the city to work as a financial analyst.
“International City” is just a euphemism for a city where you never have to interact with locals and learn their languages.
Sexpat gets angry that they have to learn the language of thr country they live in. It’s a story as old as imperialism.
Their language is Cantonese…
That is exactly why I used the plural form of the word language. You just have to add an “s” at the end of the word like this: languages.
If the local language is Cantonese, but the government is forcing to use Mandarin in law and other official businesses, to me it sounds the same as forcing Ukrainians to speak Russian (in the old USSR), Catalans to speak Spanish, and French Canadian to speak English. It’s soft cultural assimilation.
I don’t know much about the local language usage in HK, so i could be wrong though.
Are you under the impression that the British-trained woman being quoted is fluent in Cantonese but not Mandarin?
I don’t know, I didn’t read the article. I try to make as little assumptions as I can… It could just add easily be a native that trained in the UK, but then i suppose it would have been mentioned.
Which language do you think the government should use/expect from it’s employes in HK?
Yeah I can tell that you don’t know much about Chinese languages.
The spoken form is different, but the written formal form is mostly the same between Cantonese and Mandarin.
Instead of cultural imperialism of forcing English, this measure is giving power back to the populace.
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The largest and longest lasting protests in history accomplished nothing, because the people they were protesting against couldn’t care less about protests.
Ah yes the protests where they took a break on weekends and only did it when they weren’t at work.
What a liberal imperialist pig. You’re sad your big daddy West didn’t go to war with the big evil seeseepee to protect their colonial capitalist sexpat haven.
Grow up and get a grip.
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With a nice little “we should have dropped bombs on them” cherry on top.
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sigh is this the “Great Replacement Theory” I’ve heard so much about? Replacing foreigners with Guangdong natives?
Western libs will try to project their white supremacy into literally anything.
Ofc the economist is the british billionaire rag. So im guessing some english folks are still sore about their oriental hotspot being taken away from them.
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Yes, the city certainly is for the better now that it is a pawn of the politburo.
Emphatically yes. HK needs socialist reform or it will collapse under the contradictions of capitalism that the British forced upon them for a century.
How dare a Chinese city demonstrate free thought. No wonder your handlers are so desperate for Taipei.
I don’t know what “free thought” you’re referring to but I’m guessing its the sinophobic “all chinese are braiwashed” trope.
Taiwan is legally internationally the province of China. The only desperation is the seperatist DPP party being funded by imperialists as a proxy nation against the CPC. They deserve to be crushed but China is very lenient and caring on their renegade province (Taiwan also suffers from capitalism and bourgeois democracy).
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Previous waves of Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong came mostly from the southern part of the country. They often spoke Cantonese and integrated quickly. But the latest influx comes from all over the mainland, says Eric Fong of the University of Hong Kong. “Integration, if it occurs, may take longer than in the past.” Hong Kongers, protective of their distinct identity, are not always the most welcoming bunch. When a group of mainland children was spotted squatting on a train platform last year (as is customary in parts of China), locals poked fun at them on social media.
Some aspects of culture are really not worth defending. Another big L for the economist.
Hong Kongers, protective of their distinct identity
The distinct identity of having lived on brutal violent British colonial rule? Fuck off, The Economist
Hong Kong is becoming free of the WASP infestation that’s been plaguing it. 👏
Archive link without a paywall: https://archive.is/AIDd0
I hate the Economist even more after reading that nonsense.
Lenin description of The Economist as a “journal that speaks for British millionaires” is still as accurate as the day it was written.
