‘Diaspora at home’: class and politics in the navigation of Hong Kong students in Mainland China’s Universities

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on ‘diaspora at home’, a concept that encapsulates the unique dynamics between Hong Kong and mainland China, as an analytical tool to explore the cross-border experiences of 23 Hong Kong students at 11 universities in mainland China. It empirically ascertains how the made and imposed claims and identifications of these Hong Kong students resulted in inclusion and exclusion as their interactions with their mainland peers and institutions deepened. Specifically, it highlights how their ‘diaspora at home’ status offered exclusive access to privileged higher education opportunities, preferential treatments and opportunities for upward social mobility. Meanwhile, such a status also resulted in an overwhelming sense of political liability as they unwittingly became ‘political tokens’ and suspected political subjects amid the increasingly tense political atmosphere between mainland China and Hong Kong. This paper pinpoints the relevance of class and politics in understanding how diasporic groups engage with higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Diaspora at home
• China
• Hong Kong
• class
• politics
• higher education

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Reza Gholami, Andreas Kotsakis and anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The author is grateful for the generous sharing of the participants in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Keele University Research Strategy Fund (2017-18).

Notes on contributors

Cora Lingling Xu

Cora Lingling Xu (PhD, Cambridge, FHEA) is Lecturer in Education at Keele University, UK. She is an editorial board member of British Journal of Sociology of Education. In 2017, Cora founded the Network for Research into Chinese Education Mobilities. Cora has published in international peer-reviewed journals, including British Journal of Sociology of Education, The Sociological Review, International Studies in Sociology of Education, European Educational Research Journal and Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. Her research interests include diaspora, ethnicity, Bourdieu’s theory of practice, education mobilities and inequalities, temporalities and China studies. She can be reached at [email protected], and via Twitter CoraLinglingXu.