Mainland students in HK

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Mainland students in HK

• Prejudice Museum Piece
• by Jessica Yeung

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How different are they to them ?Mainland
x Hong Kongstudents
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Quotes from the random publicnote these do not
represent nor reflect the HongKong public's view
... just individuals

• Audrey, 14-believes Mainland Chinese are very
  dirty. They
• spit on the floor.
• http//so.hrichina.org/iso/article.adp?article_id
  607subcategory_id10
• Sally, felt that Mainland Chinese talk more
  about 'racial discrimination' problems, probably
  because many of them behave in an anti-social
  manner.
• http//so.hrichina.org/iso/article.adp?article_id
  607subcategory_id10
• Not only so, a quite decent portion of the local
  HongKong have some sort of prejudice or
  stereotype of how Mainlanders are. Spitting is a
  very common stereotype, and that they are either
  farmers that are skinny, dirty, and poor, or
  super rich, that love to show off by wearing tons
  of gold and jewellery on them. Often too, they
  are thought of to be unhygienic and very
  old-fashioned, not at all modernized.

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So how are the students actually doing now in HK?

• (on avg.) 23 of Mainland born students or with
  Mainland parent(s) are better at math than Hong
  Kong local students
• (on avg.) 12 of Mainland born students or with
  Mainland parent(s) are better in Chinese language
  subjects than Hong Kong local students
• 1999-The first group of mainland students (that
  came to study under the Mainland Students
  Scholarship Shcme sponsored by HongKong Jockey
  Club) were admitted in Hong Kong Universities and
  were outstanding
• 150 Mainland students were admitted to 8
  instituitions in Hong Kong (e.g. HKU, Chinese
  University of HK, Polytechnic U., City U.,)
• 1/3 of the group that came to study in 1999 were
  accepted in major companies and many continued to
  study abroad in prestigious schools

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YAY! Way to go Mainlanders!
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B u t wait!
Let's rewind,
backtracK....
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Falling back on history...Were there even any
mainland students in Hong Kong? Were mainlanders
even allowed to just settle down in Hong Kong
whenever they wanted and send their kids to
school here?

• ... no , no, no, and NO
• YOU SEE
• (1980 agreement between Hong Kong and China
  provisioned 150 mandatory deportations per year)
• Hong Kong was extremely attractive to
  Mainlanders, its average US 22,000 per capita
  income is one of the many reasons it made
  Mainlanders dream to be in HK
• Out of self preservation though, the HKSAR were
  unwilling to accommodate with a horde of
  Mainlanders in Hong Kong, and Beijing was also
  unwilling to spoil Hong Kong's prosperity by
  flooding it with what they called, 'unskilled
  workers'
• BUT
• Around 1996- 80 Mainland petitioners sued the
  Hong Kong Immigration Department for refusing to
  allow them permission to stay in Hong Kong, they
  argued that despite they were not born in Hong
  Kong, they had parent(s) that were born in Hong
  Kong and thus they were qualified for residence
  according the Hong Kong Basic Law provisions.
• ROA-Right of Adobe Article 24... ROA in a place
  is the fundamental right w/o which the full array
  of fundamental rights available in that place
  can't be accessed. This is because the ROA in a
  place is the right in the eyes of its law to call
  that place home coming in going out at will
  staying as long as you like
• The petitioners argued with the above and the
  case bounced around in the HK court system for
  two years... before finally,(late 1998) it
  reached the Court of Final Appeal (CFA)

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(continued..)

• ...and the Court of Final Appeal ruled in favor
  of the 80 petitioners, and they were allowed to
  stay! (January 1999)
• The HKSAR though, could not accept that decision
  to be, as the leaders thought that this would
  signal more Mainlanders to seek for residence in
  HK...so led by our Chief Executive, Mr. Tung
  Chee-Hwa, a petition was field with authorities
  in Beijing to review the case.
• By the time though that the Court of Final Appeal
  had made its decision for the petitioners to stay
  though, HK public sentiment was already against
  Mainland immigrants.
• It was shown through HKSAR public campaigns...
  there were class-based stereotypes, but not
  explicitly stated. Also, it argued that because
  Mainlanders had lived in a communism all through
  their lives, they were devoid of sophistication
  and of work ethic. Mainlanders were also
  described as crude, rude, lazy, stupid, slow, and
  that they would 'drain the territory of
  finances'.
• HKSAR first said that 1.67 million Mainlanders
  would be eligible to petition and most likely
  even end up earning HK residence, but
• In reversal, the CFA final ruling trimmed the
  number down to just 200,000 people to be eligible
• SO THEN FINALLY, IN THE END, AT LAST
• Mainlanders now though, can only become a HK
  resident if they have a parent who was born in
  Hong Kong
• So anyways, there couldn't have been many
  Mainlanders in Hong Kong before, so how could
  they even think of trying to get into a local
  school?!
• Well, those Mainlanders that ARE lucky enough to
  become a HK resident could not work in HK even if
  they were graduates up until March 2001

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Leaping back to the presentbelow is a phone
interview conducted with two local schools
discussing Mainland students at their school,
please be patient and listen carefully. Both
interviews together are approximately 7-8 minutes
in lengthPLEASE LISTEN ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE
TIME! Enjoy )
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This is the end of my presentation...
So THANK YOU!

• But not- the end of prejudice.. prejudice against
  mainlanders.. even mainland students... and
  whatever there is out there either.
• There's still lots going on..

There's still lots going on..