Two logics of Chinese transnationalism: the case of gangpiao and Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Chinese migrations and the development of overseas Chinese communities have aroused scholarly concerns over the past two decades. Their scale, scope and varied features stun and perplex many scholars. Among the linguistic terms about contemporary Chinese transnationalism, the term piao (drifting) rises to prominence and characterizes the new logics of migration. This article is a case study of the educated mainland Chinese youth in Hong Kong, locally coined as ‘gangpiao’ (Hong Kong Drifters). I argue that there are two contradictory logics inherent to this form of sino-centric transnationalism. It testifies to the production of neo-liberal subjectivity, practices, and desires in compliance with China’s authoritarian capitalism, on the one hand, and critical internationalism in defiance of the state power, on the other. The former is a disengaged form of cosmopolitanism while the latter serves as an alternative but risky way of political engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• Hong Kong
• transnationalism
• cosmopolitanism
• neoliberalism
• state power

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Iam-chong Ip is Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University. He has been working on a research project about youth, political participation, and information technologies in Hong Kong over the past few years. His recent publication includes Hong Kong's New Politics of Identity: Longing for the Local in the Shadow of Hong Kong (Routledge, 2020).

Notes

1 The term ‘United Front’ refers to organizing non-communist groups and individuals into a coalition or a platform under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

2 I do not provide further details of DX’s business because they are identifiable information.

3 ‘Pro-establishment’ is a label for a broad political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the Beijing government and the Hong Kong SAR government. They are portrayed as ‘loyalists’ rivaled by the pro-democracy camp in election and the Legislative Council.

4 Umbrella Movement is a series of protests and occupation that emerged in 2014. It was caused by the decision of the Beijing government to prescribe a selective pre-screening of candidates for the election of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive from 2017 onwards.

5 It refers to one of the latest waves of nationalistic activism. This term, originating from a popular literature website, has been used to name those who flooded social media platforms to protest against the allegedly supporters of Taiwanese independence in 2016. They express their stance and emotions with provocative Internet memes, cartoons, screenshots, and matching words, rather than angry statements (Fang and Repnikova 2017).

Additional information

Funding

The work is supported by the Early Career Scheme sponsored by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project no.: 23600616) and the Faculty Research Grant sponsored by the Lingnan University (2018, no. 101877).