Work, Identity and Change? Post/Colonial Encounters in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper explores the shifting, multiple modalities of Britishness, colonialism and whiteness in a changing social landscape. Set in postcolonial Hong Kong, it draws on research with white British expatriates to explore the ways in which identities and relations are changing since the handover from British to Chinese rule. For many British expatriates, the decision to migrate was a career and lifestyle choice, motivated by a desire to progress within their lives. However, once there, Hong Kong offers a new racial context in which identities are to be performed, meaning that the negotiation of new lives is not a simple or abstract transnational transposition. In addition, the dynamic social and political context of Hong Kong is mediated through expatriate contexts in diverse and complex ways. Colonialism can be seen to persist in many of these contexts, suggesting that postcolonial ways of being a British expatriate in Hong Kong are still very much in process.

Keywords:

• Hong Kong
• Postcolonial
• Expatriate
• Britishness
• Whiteness

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to all the participants of the ‘Post/Colonial Encounters Workshop’ at the University of Sussex, 27–28 September 2007. In particular I would like to thank Anne-Meike Fechter, Katie Walsh and the anonymous JEMS reviewer for their insightful and supportive advice with this paper. I also thank the University of Southampton for funding, and Caroline Knowles for discussions at an early stage of the research.

Notes

1. The term ‘expatriate’ is broad and somewhat contested, as Fechter and Walsh point out in their introduction to this special issue. It is usually used by (white) Westerners who have lived abroad for various lengths of time. In Hong Kong many British people refer to themselves, and other white migrants, as expatriates, and for this reason I adopt the term here.

2. It is often the case that expatriates use slang terms not always clear to others outside the circle. The ‘old guard’ refers to veteran expatriates who have spent their whole careers in Hong Kong.

3. ‘Green’ is another term used by expatriates to describe someone fresh to the colony.

4. Cantonese term meaning ‘white devil’, also adopted by expatriates to describe themselves.