What contributes to ethnic minorities’ identification with Hong Kong? The cases of South Asian and Filipino youth

ABSTRACT

The context of Hong Kong has not always been favourable for the integration of ethnic minorities, who face various difficulties in education, employment, and daily life. Research, however, has shown that many minorities, particularly the youth, have developed a fair sense of belonging to the city. To explore this puzzle, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 South Asian and Filipino youth and identified four main factors that may be associated with their local identification. They are (1) experiencing less discrimination, (2) achieving a higher level of sociocultural adaptation, (3) having an inclusive conception of Hong Kong identity, and (4) claiming to have received more social benefits. The findings suggest that the context of Hong Kong is not entirely detrimental for ethnic minorities to develop a local identification. Ethnic minorities themselves are also active agents in the construction of identity. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic minorities
• Hong Kong identity
• local identification
• youth
• discrimination
• sociocultural adaptation
• identity markers

Acknowledgments

We thank the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback to improve the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Census and Statistics Department, Thematic Report: Ethnic Minorities, 21.

2. Ibid., 7.

3. Leung, The 2013 Policy Address, 45.

4. Arat et al., “A Systematic Review”; Cheung and Chou, “Child Poverty Among Hong Kong Ethnic Minorities”; and Crabtree and Wong, ‘“Ah Cha”!’.

5. Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong Poverty Situation, 43.

6. Gu and Patkin, “Heritage and Identity”; Lock and Detaramani, “Being Indian”; and Plüss, ‘Becoming Different While Becoming the Same.’

7. The term ‘identification’ is used interchangeably with ‘identity’ in this article.

8. See note 5.

9. Burke and Stets, Identity Theory, 3; and Vignoles, Schwartz, and Luyckx, ‘Introduction,’ 3.

10. Hammack, “Theoretical Foundations of Identity,” 11.

11. Vignoles, Schwartz, and Luyckx, “Introduction,” 3.

12. McCrone and Bechhofer, “National Identity,” 1245–46.

13. Law, “Decolonisation Deferred,” 22.

14. Chan, “China as ‘Other’”; and Law, “Decolonisation Deferred.”

15. Chan, “China as ‘Other’”; Fung and Chan, “Postcolonial Hong Kong Identity”; Ma and Fung, “Negotiating Local and National Identifications”; Mathews, “Hèunggóngyàhn”; and Yew and Kwong, ‘Hong Kong Identity.’

16. Mathews, “Hèunggóngyàhn.”

17. Fung and Chan, “Postcolonial Hong Kong Identity,” 14–15.

18. See note 1.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Law and Lee, “Socio-Political Embeddings of South Asian.”

22. Gube, “Classroom, Identity and Diversity.”

23. Dummett, “United Kingdom.”

24. Arat et al., “A Systematic Review.”

25. Crabtree and Wong, “‘Ah Cha’!”.

26. Cheung and Chou, “Child Poverty.”

27. See note 25.

28. Chee, “Opportunities, Challenges, and Traditions”; Tsung and Gao, “What Accounts for the Underachievement.”

29. Bhowmik, Kennedy, and Hue, “Education for All.”

30. Gu, “A Complex Interplay”; Gu and Patkin, “Heritage and Identity”; and Gu, Mak, and Qu, “Ethnic Minority Students.”

31. Plüss, “Becoming Different.”

32. Only Hong Kong permanent residents with Chinese citizenship can apply for HKSAR passport.

33. Ku, Chan and Sandhu, A Research Report.

34. See note 5.

35. Equal Opportunities Commission, Study on Racial Encounters.

36. Equal Opportunities Commission, Study on Discrimination, 5.

37. Fleischmann and Phalet, “Identity Conflict or Compatibility”; Maxwell, “Muslims, South Asians”; and Nandi and Platt, “Patterns of Minority and Majority.”

38. Maxwell, “Muslims, South Asians.”

39. Fleischmann and Phalet, “Identity Conflict or Compatibility”; Karlsen and Nazroo, “Influences on Forms”; Maxwell, “Muslims, South Asians”; and Maxwell, “Caribbean and South Asian.”

40. Fleischmann and Phalet, “Identity Conflict or Compatibility.”

41. Ibid.

42. Stepick, Stepick, and Vanderkooy, “Becoming American.”

43. Maxwell, “Caribbean and South Asian.”

44. O’Connor, “Accepting Prejudice and Valuing Freedom.”

45. Searle and Ward, “The Prediction of Psychological”; Tonsing, “Predictors of Psychological Adaptation”; Ward and Kennedy, “The Measurement of Sociocultural Adaptation.”

46. Agirdag, van Houtte, and van Avermaet, “Ethnic School Context.”

47. Diehl, Fischer-Neumann, and Mühlau, “Between Ethnic Options.”

48. Siroky and Mahmudlu, “E Pluribus Unum?”

49. Diehl, Fischer-Neumann, and Mühlau, “Between Ethnic Options”; and Schulz and Leszczensky, “Native Friends.”

50. Diehl, Fischer-Neumann, and Mühlau, “Between Ethnic Options”; and Hochman and Davidov, “Relations between Second-Language Proficiency.”

51. Hochman and Davidov, “Relations between Second-Language Proficiency.”

52. See note 47.

53. Ibid.

54. Maxwell and Bleich, “What Makes Muslims,” 155.

55. Karlsen and Nazroo, “Influences on Forms,” 773; Maxwell, “Muslims, South Asians,” 737; and Nandi and Platt, “Patterns of Minority and Majority,” 2630.

56. Maxwell and Bleich, “What Makes Muslims,” 171.

57. Maliepaard and Verkyuten, “National Disidentification,” 87.

58. Vignoles, Schwartz, and Luyckx, “Introduction.”

59. McCrone and Bechhofer, Understanding National Identity, 530.

60. Kiely et al., “The Markers and Rules,” 36.

61. Ibid., 35.

62. Hopkins, “Young Muslim Men.”

63. Leddy-Owen, “‘It’s True, I’m English…”

64. Ibid.

65. Barreto, “Constructing Identities”; and Wang, ‘The Waning Effect.”

66. Mathews, Ma, and Lui, Hong Kong, China.

67. Ibid., 161.

68. Ibid.

69. Maxwell, “Evaluating Migrant Integration”; and Maxwell, “Trust in Government.”

70. See note 44.

71. Berg, Qualitative Research Methods; and Bryman, Social Research Methods.

72. Census and Statistics Department, 2016 Population By-Census, 2.

73. Deitch et al., “Subtle Yet Significant,” 1302.

74. See Karlsen and Nazroo, “Influences on Forms”; and Maxwell, “Caribbean and South Asian.”

75. ‘Punchai’ is a common Cantonese slang term for Filipino boys.

76. The ‘Umbrella Movement,’ or ‘Occupy Central,’ is a large-scale pro-democracy protest in 2014 which occupied major roads of the city centre for 79 days.

77. The Basic Law is the constitutional instrument or ‘mini-constitution’ of the Hong Kong SAR which sets out the rights that Hong Kong residents enjoy.

78. Mass Transit Railway.

79. ‘One Country, Two Systems’ is the guiding principle of the Chinese government to handle the Hong Kong question under which Hong Kong would become a special administrative region with a high degree of autonomy after 1997.

80. Article 5 of the Basic Law states that Hong Kong’s ‘previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years’ since 1997.

81. Equal Opportunities Commission, Study on Racial Encounters; Equal Opportunities Commission, Study on Discrimination; and Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong Poverty Situation.

82. Equal Opportunities Commission, Study on Racial Encounters; and Equal Opportunities Commission, Study on Discrimination.

83. Deitch et al., “Subtle Yet Significant.”

84. Chan et al., “Making Sense,” 53.

85. Maxwell and Bleich, “What Makes Muslims.”

86. Chan, “China as ‘Other’”; Fung, “Postcolonial Hong Kong Identity”; Fung and Chan, “Post-Handover Identity”; Ma and Fung, “Negotiating Local and National Identifications”; and Yew and Kwong, “Hong Kong identity on the Rise.”

87. Maxwell and Bleich, “What Makes Muslims,” 159.

88. Chan et al., “Making Sense,” 47; and Erni and Leung, Understanding South Asian, 105–12.

89. Chan et al., “Making Sense,” 54.

90. Gu and Patkin, “Heritage and Identity.”

91. Erni and Leung. Understanding South Asian, 112.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong under a General Research Fund project, “‘Neither Immigrants nor Citizens’: Constructing Citizenship Values in a Transnational Context for Hong Kong’s Ethnic Minority Students?” [Project Number: 18402514].

Notes on contributors

Hoi-Yu Ng

Hoi-Yu Ng is a lecturer at the Department of Social Sciences, Education University of Hong Kong. His research interests include comparative politics (Hong Kong and Singapore) and citizenship education.

Kerry J. Kennedy

Kerry J. Kennedy is Advisor (Academic Development) and a senior research fellow at the Education University of Hong Kong and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg. His research interests include curriculum policy and theory and citizenship education.

Ming-Tak Hue

Ming-Tak Hue is currently the Professor and Head of the Department of Special Education and Counselling, Education University of Hong Kong. His research interests include school guidance and discipline, cultural influence on pastoral care, ethnic minority education, and behaviour management.