1 Citizenship and Identity for Hong Kong’s Ethnic Minorities

Hong Kong is a predominantly ethnic Chinese society. But from the beginning of the British colonial period (1842–1997), Indians were brought in to further the aims of the colonial administration (Law and Lee 2013). Later, more South and Southeast Asians such as Nepalese and Filipino migrated to Hong Kong for various reasons. These ethnic minorities accounted for around 5.4% of the population in 2011 (Census and Statistics Department 2012). Their citizenship status in this global city has long been a complicated issue. When China and Britain negotiated Hong Kong political future in the 1980s, there were two dynamics relating to the citizenship of Hong Kongers. On the Chinese side, there was no question that those of Chinese ethnicity would simply assume Chinese citizenship after Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997 as a special administrative region under the “one country, two systems” principleFootnote 1 (White 1987). Yet little consideration was given to ethnic minorities by China. On the British side, there was a reluctance to assume any responsibility for their non-Chinese subjects, especially in terms of granting the right of abode in Britain. The citizenship issue finally was glossed over, and the category of Hong Kong permanent resident (HKPR) was created as part of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution after 1997. HKPR status allowed ethnic minorities to continue their lives in Hong Kong, but they were left to negotiate their national citizenship with their respective countries of origin even though many of them were locally born. This status problematized the issue of citizenship and national identity of Hong Kong ethnic minorities. The transfer of sovereignty in 1997 also forced the ethnic minorities to negotiate their relationship with China, the new master of Hong Kong.

The key issue of this chapter is how a sample of young Hong Kong Filipinos constructs their citizenship identities with Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Mainland China under the complicated institutional context of citizenship. It also explores the factors such as citizenship laws which may influence their citizenship identities. Given the growing number of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, it is important to understand more deeply how they feel as minority residents in a Chinese-dominant society. While there have been some studies related to identities of ethnic minorities (Gu and Patkin 2013; Gu 2015; O’Connor 2010; Plüss 2006), these have not previously been linked directly to citizenship or national identity. Therefore, this chapter will provide insights into how Hong Kong minorities view the political communities with which they have connections.

2 Citizenship Status of Hong Kong Ethnic Minorities

In recent years, there has been a growing body of research indicating the influence of institutional contexts on the social and political attitudes of ethnic minorities (Busetti et al. 2013; Giugni and Passy 2004; Hero and Tolbert 2004; Roland 2004; Tolbert and Hero 2001; Weldon 2006). These institutional contexts include government policies, social norms, and the rules and laws governing the acquisition of citizenship (Weldon 2006). Despite its significance, this institutional perspective has received little attention in the research on Hong Kong ethnic minorities.

Citizenship is a membership of a political community (i.e., nation-state, autonomous region) which carries a set of rights and duties and is usually an ascribed status acquired at birth (Pierson 2011). The legal institutions governing the citizenship status of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong are complex. Ethnic minorities residing in Hong Kong prior to 1981 were regarded as British subjects, as were Chinese residents. Under the British Nationality Act in 1981, British subjects residing in overseas territories reverted either to national citizenship status or British Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTC) without the right of abode in Britain (Dummett 2006; Juss 1993). At the time of Hong Kong’s return to China, most of Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities were classified as BDTC, and neither Britain nor China wished to grant them full citizenship. White (1987), for example, referred to the effective “racial barrier” (p.502) posed by the Chinese Nationality Law, and Nicol (1993) referred to the racial turn in British immigration policy in the 1970s. The outcome of this impasse was a series of temporary solutions on the part of the British (e.g., the invention of a new nationality status referred to as British Nationals (Overseas) (BN(O)) and on the part of the Chinese, the incorporation of Hong Kong Permanent Resident Status in the Basic Law (Chan 2008). Neither BN(O) nor HKPR status represents a national citizenship status. Rather, each represents a deliberate rejection of such a status on the part of both the British and Chinese governments. It is because BN(O) is only a passport license which does not grant right of abode and citizenship rights of Britain to the holders. While the HKPR grants right of abode for foreign nationals in Hong Kong, it does not provide access to Chinese citizenship.

After Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997, the citizenship status of Hong Kong ethnic minorities remains complicated. Many of them retain the national citizenship of their countries of origin. Some may have qualified for British citizenship under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Dummett 2006) or the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill 2009, both of which attempted to address the potential statelessness of many Hong Kong ethnic minorities (Avebury 2009). Some have successfully naturalized as Chinese citizens. However, the Chinese Nationality Law follows the right of blood (jus sanguine) tradition which makes ethnic minorities, whose parents or grandparents are usually not Chinese citizens, very difficult to naturalize except they possess “other legitimate reasons” determined by the Immigration Department with no objective criteria (Tsoi 2012). As one Hong Kong born Pakistani businessperson found out, neither his birth in Hong Kong nor his HKPR status entitled him “to gain Chinese nationality or a local passport even though his family came to the city nearly a century ago” (Cheung 2012). As shown in this case, the most critical consequence of failing to gain Chinese citizenship is losing the right to apply for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport, which can only be issued to HKPRs with Chinese citizenship. Some ethnic minorities argue that this made them feel excluded and has weakened their sense of belonging to Hong Kong (Cheung 2012, 2016; Tsoi 2012). Although the national citizenship of Hong Kong ethnic minorities is diverse, most of them remain as HKPRs, which allows them to enjoy almost the same social and political rights with ethnic Chinese residents such as welfare, education, and voting rights. The only exceptions are assuming key public offices such as Chief Executive and Principal Officials.Footnote 2

3 Citizenship Identities of Hong Kong Ethnic Minorities

Citizenship status is after all a legal status which does not necessarily link to the identity of a person with his or her political community(s), although it may bear some influence (Karlsen and Nazroo 2013). Identity is a set of meanings that define who we are in society. People usually have multiple identities as they belong to different social groups (Burke and Stets 2009; Tajfel 1981). Different from a legal citizenship status which is exogenous to a person and in many cases acquired involuntarily at birth (Pierson 2011), identity is often referred to as endogenous (Green 2011). It is an individual response to institutional and social contexts (i.e., laws, social norms) and may either ameliorate or exacerbate the effects of such contexts (Weldon 2006). In traditional debates within sociology, identity is also conceived as the “agency” of people while social contexts represent the “structures” they cannot evade (Karlsen and Nazroo 2002). How ethnic minorities negotiate and express their citizenship identities within such structures is the issue which this chapter seeks to address.

Studies on citizenship or national identity in Hong Kong focus on the contestation of Hong Kong local and Chinese national identity of the ethnic Chinese residents and rarely touch on ethnic minorities (Brewer 1999; C. K. Chan 2014; Ma and Fung 2007; So 2016; Yew and Kwong 2014). They found that most Hong Kong ethnic Chinese hold dual identities of Hong Kong and China (Brewer 1999; Chan 2014). But the strength of Chinese identity has weakened substantially in recent years, particularly among the youth (Yew and Kwong 2014). Scholars attributed this to growing social inequalities, influx of Mainland tourists and immigrants (So 2016), and enhanced Beijing’s intervention in Hong Kong affairs (Yew and Kwong 2014). The anti-China sentiment was intensified further by Beijing’s decision to rule out democratic reform in 2014, triggering the Umbrella MovementFootnote 3 in the same year (Ortmann 2015).

Research on Hong Kong ethnic minorities also seldom addresses citizenship identity directly. Some, however, do explore their sense of belonging to the community. A focus group study conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission (2012) found that most South Asian participants saw Hong Kong as home. Similarly, a survey of South Asians conducted by the Government of the HKSAR (2015) found that over half of the respondents had a strong sense of belonging to Hong Kong, particularly the teenagers.

The literature also highlighted a range of factors influencing the ethnic and community identity of minorities. Through interviewing some South Asian students, Gu and Patkin (2013) found that the lack of Chinese proficiency and racial discrimination may have distanced them from the mainstream culture and enhanced their heritage identity. Gu’s (2015) study of Pakistani schoolgirls found that racial prejudice helped enhance their Muslim identity which differentiated them from the local Chinese. Based on interviews with Muslim youth, however, O’Connor (2010) argued that the negative influence of racism was partly mitigated by the “freedom, safety and religious tolerance” (p. 535) of Hong Kong. Plüss (2006) found, somewhat ironically, that when Muslims adopted elements of local culture, they had their religious identity enhanced and their distance with the mainstream society widened because it helped create a pan-ethnic Islamic community. Although these studies have provided valuable insights into the study of citizenship identity of ethnic minorities, they lean more toward ethnic and cultural identities instead of identities with political communities. Thus, this chapter will examine how four young Filipinos construct their identities with three political communities they have relationship with – Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Mainland China.

4 Research Method

The study reported in this chapter used in-depth interviews as the research method. Qualitative interview is suitable because it emphasizes the participants’ perspectives and focuses on how people interpret the social world (Berg 2009; Merriam 2002). This allows us to probe deeply how the participants negotiated their citizenship identity. The data of this chapter was drawn from a larger study on Hong Kong ethnic minority youth. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. The criteria for selecting the samples were that all participants must be ethnic minority Hong Kong residents between the ages of 16 and 24. Through personal networks, snowballing, and organizations serving ethnic minority, 21 participants from 5 minority groups were interviewed in 2015 and 2016.

This chapter reports the stories of four young Filipinos from the sample. All are HKPR and Filipino citizens. Their backgrounds are shown in Table 1. Although most Filipinos in Hong Kong are domestic helpers without right of abode (Gube 2015), there are around 15,000 Filipino permanent residents in Hong Kong, and many of them are working in the entertainment industry as musicians. Some also work in the service industry as executives and architects (Gube 2015). It is also reported that there are around 2500 Filipino students studying in local primary and secondary schools (Gube 2015

Table 1 Profiles of the participants
Full size table

). The reason for focusing on a single ethnic group was that it helps us to observe the distinctive characteristics of a specific ethnic group, as there has been a tendency for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong to be grouped together and regarded as a single ethnic category.

Most interviews were conducted in cafés, university campuses, or the participants’ schools. To enhance the consistency of the questions asked, an interview guide was designed to facilitate the interview. The first section of the guide addressed the personal background of the participants such as place of birth and citizenship status. The second section addressed their citizenship identities. The last section touched on the factors which may have shaped their identity. All interviews lasted for around 50 minutes and were tape-recorded.

Regarding data analysis, there is no one standard way to analyze qualitative biographical interviews (Cole and Knowles 2001; Merrill and West 2009). However, a typical procedure involves steps such as transcribing, reading, summarizing, coding, and comparing the interviews (Plummer 2001; Merrill and West 2009). We started data analysis with transcribing the interviews verbatim. The transcripts were then read and reread by the authors, who then made notes of the main ideas of each interview. After that, the authors produced for each interview a summary consisting of a detailed list of main points. Based on the framework set in the interview guide, the main points were then grouped into different categories and themes such as Hong Kong identity, home country identity, and perception of China. Lastly, original texts of the transcripts corresponding to the categories were extracted and sorted so that relevant quotes can be selected to support the presentation of the results.

5 Results

This section portrays the way four Filipino youth responded to issues concerning their citizenship identities. It examines how they constructed their identities with Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Mainland China and what they felt have shaped their identity construction.

5.1 Aaron

Aaron is a 19-year-old Filipino. He is a locally born HKPR but retains his Filipino citizenship. He is a first-year student at a local university majoring in Business. His parents moved from the Philippines to Hong Kong for work. His father works for a travel agency, and his mother works in a nongovernmental organization (NGO). He has an older sister who is also working in Hong Kong. His family is Catholic and lives in private housing. Aaron has spent his whole life in Hong Kong except spending 2 years in the Philippines when he was a little boy.

Perception of Hong Kong Identity

Aaron identifies more with Hong Kong than with the Philippines because he was born and raised in Hong Kong. He said:

I think I grew up here and this is where I spent all of my life to be honest, and all the values, all the Hong Kong culture are still in me so I guess Hong Kong…and the Philippines I wouldn’t say I live there, I [am] not very familiar with the history of the Philippines.

He also does not see big difference between him and the local Chinese except language and skin color. Instead, he thinks he shares many similarities with local Chinese in terms of values and behaviors. For example, he has already adapted to the hardworking and career-oriented culture of Hong Kong. He also learnt the Hong Kong etiquettes such as giving seats to the elderly, lining up, and being quiet in public areas. He and his family also like going to local Chinese restaurants.

Moreover, he said Hong Kong is a very good place to live and is one of the greatest cities in the world that makes him proud of. He said:

We don’t have the best government as it is argued. But if you compare to anywhere else in the world, and even with the transportation, the cleanliness, and even the culture of people, that’s what makes me proud to be a Hong Konger.

Aaron’s Hong Kong identity is also demonstrated in his passion to learn the Chinese language and to follow local current issues. He saw the latter as his responsibility as a Hong Konger.

Aaron’s strong Hong Kong identity is situated in a context where he faces relatively little racial discrimination. “It’s not very severe I would say. Sometimes you get the dirty looks but…to me it’s very rare.” Since the school he attended was mainly for non-Chinese students, his school life was very multicultural, and he did not experience any discrimination.

Despite his strong Hong Kong identity, he may not stay in Hong Kong in the long term though he wants to develop his career here. What concerns him most is the political environment such as the lack of democracy and growing interference from Mainland China.

Perception of Filipino Identity

Although Aaron has a strong Hong Kong identity, he still identifies moderately with the Philippines. For example, he prefers people calling him Hong Kong Filipino instead of purely Hong Konger. Together with his parents, he also visits relatives in the Philippines every Christmas. In recent years, he even started visiting friends in the Philippines on his own because he has made new Filipino friends through an exchange program of a church youth group and AIESEC, a NGO providing leadership training to young people. To him the Philippines is a good place to visit because people are nice and easy to connect with. He may consider moving to the Philippines after graduation because there might be more business opportunities in the future.

Nevertheless, he thinks that the living conditions of the Philippines are not very good, and living there would be difficult. “Traffic situation, especially in Manila, the capital city, is very severe. I think sometime there is also an issue with safety, the crime rate is quite different from here (Hong Kong). Public transportation isn’t as developed as it is here.” He also pays little attention to the current affairs of the Philippines, despite the strong interest of his parents.

Perception of Mainland China

Although Aaron did not identify himself as Chinese, he viewed Mainland China positively. He visited the Mainland several times for family trips and school study tours. For instance, he spent 3 weeks in Zhuhai, a city in Guangdong Province, to learn Mandarin during secondary school and found that most people he met were friendly. He thinks that the uncivil behaviors of some Mainland tourists in Hong Kong are only isolated cases.

5.2 Eileen

Like Aaron, Eileen was locally born and therefore is a HKPR. But she retains her Filipino citizenship. Eileen is 17 years old and a secondary 6 student at a local secondary school with mainly ethnic Chinese students. Her parents migrated from the Philippines to Hong Kong for career development. Eileen’s father is a musician, and her mother is a housewife and part-time singer. She has two younger sisters, and the whole family is living a public housing estate.

Perception of Hong Kong Identity

Eileen possesses a strong Hong Kong identity. She sees Hong Kong as home as she was born here and everything is here. She wants to continue her study in Hong Kong and work here after graduation. She illustrated:

I had a talk with my Dad last year, he was asking if I want to study in the Philippines and work there. I said everything is fine with me but for me I just really like to stay in Hong Kong because I really love Hong Kong, this is my home I can say. Since this is my home, I really like to work here…. Just really nice I think. Hong Kong is just really nice, I can’t say anything else about it just really really great.

Moreover, Eileen can speak fluent Cantonese (the mainstream local language) and does not see much cultural difference between herself and the local Chinese. For example, she and her parents like local foods such as dim sum and hot pot. Eileen also appreciates the safety of Hong Kong.

Like Aaron, Eileen’s strong Hong Kong identity was nurtured in an environment with minimal discrimination. Eileen seldom encountered discrimination in daily life. She said, “I really like Hong Kong people as well because, compared to me as a Filipino in Hong Kong, they are also friendly and understanding.” As a student, she does not feel she has been discriminated against at school. She did experience some prejudices in primary school because she did not speak Cantonese well. But since then she has tried her best to learn how to communicate and socialize with local students, and now she has lots of Chinese friends, even more than Filipino friends. Her teachers are also very helpful and supportive. Some even spend extra time on helping non-Chinese-speaking students to learn the Chinese language.

Perception of Filipino Identity

Eileen’s Filipino identity is relatively weak. She cannot speak Tagalog (national language of the Philippines) well because English is the major language of her family. She seldom watches the news of the Philippines although her parents like doing so. She only visits relatives in the Philippines every 2 years, less frequently than Aaron. On general impression, Eileen thinks that Hong Kong is a much better place than the Philippines. She said:

If I can compare Philippines and Hong Kong, obviously Hong Kong is much much better than Philippines because of the law and everything…. For example, here in Hong Kong is less crowded, I mean traffic, but in Philippines though, because there is only one road, it’s like only one way, so usually it causes a lot of traffic and all that.

Yet for her, the Philippines also has its merits because the people are very friendly. Regarding citizenship, she does not mind giving up her Filipino citizenship in exchange for a HKSAR passport because she really loves Hong Kong. She explains, “I think because it (a HKSAR passport) makes me feel more like…my identity as a Hong Konger here. And I think having a Hong Kong passport would be really good.”

Perception of Mainland China

Eileen does not have a strong feeling toward China and that feeling is mixed. She has never been to the Mainland, so all her knowledge about China is from the media. She was upset and angered by the media reports of the uncivil attitude and behaviors of the Mainlanders in Hong Kong. But she also thinks that not all Mainlanders are behaving like this. When asked if there is any national (patriotic) education in her school, she said students are asked to sing the national anthem from time to time, and she thinks it is enjoyable. But there is no strong patriotic feeling attached to it. She said, “It is just enjoyable. I mean it’s nothing I will think of, it is just that I see this and I feel it.”

5.3 Kathy

Like the previous two participants, Kathy was born and raised in Hong Kong and is a Filipino citizen. She is currently a third-year student at a local university majoring in English. Her parents migrated to Hong Kong for work more than 20 years ago. Her father is working in the construction industry, and her mother is a housewife. She has a younger brother, and her whole family is now living in a private rental apartment.

Perception of Hong Kong Identity

Different from Aaron and Eileen, Kathy does not have a strong Hong Kong identity although she has recently begun to regard Hong Kong as her home. In fact, her citizenship identity is a bit ambivalent and fluid, and she does not identify strongly with any nation or culture. She described:

I don’t really find culturally what my identity is…. They asked me do you really feel you have a sense of your own country, I’m like…I don’t know…because I don’t really identify strong with either Hong Kong or the Philippines in that point…. Even though I am purely Filipino but I am not really a Filipino in that ways.

Regarding Hong Kong, she feels that she cannot fully connect with Hong Kong culturally mainly because she finds it difficult to speak Cantonese well. English is the language she speaks with her family, and the schools she attended are either for non-Chinese or without much interaction between Chinese and non-Chinese students. She also found she was being judged negatively by local Chinese when she speaks nonstandard Cantonese. She said:

If I tried to speak with Chinese people from school, they are like “you sound like a kid.” When you learn Chinese, that’s not very encouraging at all. That’s the reason why it’s hard for us to speak in Chinese because the local Chinese people are judging us.

The language barrier leads her to have very few Chinese friends and makes it difficult for her to participate in civic activities such as elections because most campaign advertisements are in Chinese. Nevertheless, apart from the language issue, she has experienced very little discrimination in daily life. She thinks it is because she looks Chinese. However, she thinks that racial discrimination is still a problem in Hong Kong based on her observation.

Although she cannot fully integrate into Hong Kong, she still sees Hong Kong as her home mainly because she was born and grew up here. She also feels proud of Hong Kongers when they fought for their rights during the Umbrella Movement. “I’m proud of it especially how the locals recently standing up for what they believe in….and shows that how loyal they are to Hong Kong…just amazing.” Despite that, she might consider moving to a Western country if Hong Kong becomes more like Mainland China and loses its freedom. She said:

I heard about the political situation in China, I mean I don’t really want to live under that kind of ruling. If I remember correctly what it’s like…. Hong Kong is going back to China one day (in 2047).Footnote 4 That means all the laws here will be changed. So, I don’t think I can live like that. Because right now Hong Kong is, compared to other places in China, I think it is free.

Perception of Filipino Identity

Kathy only identifies weakly with the Philippines. She said, “my friends ask me how about Philippines but I wouldn’t imagine myself thinking about Philippines as a place permanently I want to live.” Kathy only maintains a weak connection with the Philippines. For example, her parents have never taught her Tagalog or any Filipino customs and values except religion (Catholicism). She also never shows interest in learning them. Moreover, she only went to the Philippines once to visit her relatives, and she found it difficult to communicate with them because of her poor Tagalog. In addition, she found that the Philippines is a dangerous place. “Even Hong Kong you can walk around at night until mid-night. But in the Philippines, it says all the shops close at 7, there is no street lights, so it’s very, very dark and very dangerous.” She also shows little interest in what happens in the Philippines. “When I hear all these major issues like when my friends talking Philippines political stuff. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Perception of Mainland China

Kathy has never been to Mainland China and only has little knowledge about China. But she holds a negative impression of China because of what she heard from her friends. She said, “I keep on hearing stories from my other friends about their visiting China….particularly some bad stuff about China so that’s why I am like so skeptical.” Her bad impression is also influenced by the media. She described:

I hear all these big issues like last year Occupy Central (Umbrella Movement), now Lee BoFootnote 5 about his abduction or something…. You know what China is like and you start to think …you start to question what is actually really happening. You hear country like Communist Party (Communist China) and they abduct people for no reasons…. It’s confusing for me.

5.4 Charlotte

Charlotte is currently 23 and working for a public relations company. She was also born and raised in Hong Kong and is a Filipino citizen. Her father migrated to Hong Kong as a musician, and her mother is a daughter of a Filipino foreign domestic helper and currently a restaurant manager. She has four siblings and her whole family is living in a private rental apartment. Unlike the other participants, she studied in the Philippines from primary 5 to secondary 3 because her parents wanted her to keep her Filipino identity and learn the Filipino language.

Perception of Hong Kong Identity

Like Kathy, Charlotte’s citizenship identity is ambivalent and mixed. She thinks that her identity is in between the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Western culture. She described:

At heart, I am a Filipino, but I feel like a Westernized Filipino. Growing up in Hong Kong makes for a very convoluted identity. So, I am no specific country. Have you heard of the term “third culture kid”?…. I am a third culture kid…. A third culture kid is someone who was born in a different country and raised in a different culture from the home country or even the parents’ culture.

Regarding Hong Kong, she holds a kind of love-hate attitude. On the one hand, she holds a negative impression of Hong Kong because of the racial discrimination and culture difference she faced. She said, “when I was growing up it was quite hard, because I dealt with a lot of indirect racism, like wouldn’t sit next to me on the bus…. assumed I am the [domestic] helper but I am not the helper.” The situation only improved gradually when her Cantonese has improved. But she still feels that she would be judged by her skin color in daily life. On cultural difference, her Western working style is very different from local Chinese. She thinks that the local workers are not encouraged to think independently, and she disagrees with the mentality that you cannot leave the office earlier than your boss.

On the other hand, she sees Hong Kong as home and a good living place and is willing to contribute to the society. For example, she participated in the Umbrella Movement because she sees Hong Kong as home. She said:

I joined the Occupy Central because this is my home too. I care about it just as much as you guys, I feel like they shouldn’t look at us as an outsider just because we are different color. This is my home as well.

She also volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club and teaches English for an NGO because she wants to contribute to the society. Moreover, she thinks Hong Kong is a good place to live because it is very efficient and the public services are good. Despite this, she is considering moving to a Western country like Australia or the United States at least temporarily because she is worried about the local political situation and wants to advance her career in an ethnically diverse country where she would not be seen as an outsider.

Perception of Filipino Identity

Charlotte does not identify strongly with the Philippines. Although she spent 5 years there and speaks fluent Tagalog, she thinks she is culturally different from the ordinary Filipinos. She said, “I find it hard to make friends with traditional Filipinos raised in Hong Kong. I feel like we are quite different. I feel like my mindset is more…. I would say Western and their mindset is more Filipino.” In fact, most of her friends are Westerners or Westernized Chinese. When compared with her former classmates in the Philippines, she said she is slightly less family and religiously oriented. Nevertheless, she still maintains certain ties with the Philippines by visiting relatives there once or twice a year. She has not, however, considered moving to the Philippines because all her professional connections are in Hong Kong and the Philippines is not a very safe country.

Perception of Mainland China

Charlotte holds a very negative attitude toward Mainland China. She said:

I am very anti-China. The whole booksellers’ disappearance (see Endnote No.5 for details) is making me super, super nervous. Because if it turns out that it was an order from China then “one country, two systems” is dead. I hate China, very strongly.

When asked about the relationship between the Philippines and China, Charlotte condemned China’s growing influence in the South China Sea and said China must stop trying to take territory that, she argues, is not theirs. Apart from government behaviors, she also thinks that the Mainlanders are very different from Hong Kongers in terms of culture and manners. Nevertheless, she still wants to be a Chinese citizen and get a HKSAR passport because it is much more convenient. She sees it as a necessary evil.

6 Discussion

This chapter explored the citizenship identity of Hong Kong ethnic minorities through an in-depth study of four Hong Kong Filipino youths. Although the findings are not generalizable due to the small sample size, they do raise some theoretical insights for the study of citizenship and national identity of minorities in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

First, the findings show that ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong can share different citizenship identities even though they belong to the same ethnic group. For example, one participant holds a strong Hong Kong identity, a moderate Filipino identity, and a good impression of Mainland China. Another holds a strong Hong Kong identity, a weak Filipino identity, and an ambivalent attitude toward China. The remaining two do not identify strongly with any of the three political communities. These findings bear some similarities to Lock and Detaramani (2006) who found that Indians in Hong Kong can conceive ethnic identities very differently. We extend this argument to citizenship identities.

Second, the findings suggest that ethnic minorities can hold dual citizenship identities with both Hong Kong and their country of origin. For example, a participant simultaneously holds a strong Hong Kong identity and a moderate Filipino identity. The coexistence of two citizenship identities not only lends support to some European studies (Fleischmann and Phalet 2016; Hopkins 2011; Maxwell 2006; Nandi and Platt 2015) which find that national and ethnic identities can coexist for minority citizens but also challenges some local studies (Gu 2015; Gu and Patkin 2013; Plüss 2006) which tend to portray a zero-sum relationship between Hong Kong and heritage identities.

Third, the findings demonstrated that the legal citizenship of ethnic minorities may not necessarily link to their citizenship identity. For example, although all four participants are Filipino citizens, none of them show a very strong Filipino identity. In contrast, not having a Chinese citizenship and a HKSAR passport does not prevent two participants from developing a strong Hong Kong identity, although one of them claims that having a HKSAR passport can further strengthen her Hong Kong identity. A participant even claims that earning Chinese citizenship will not change her anti-China attitude as she treats it only as a means to get a HKSAR passport. This contradicts some media reports saying that failing to get a HKSAR passport has led some ethnic minorities to feel excluded (Cheung 2012, 2016; Tsoi 2012). One possible explanation is the small sample size which prevented us from covering those seeing citizenship as important. Another explanation might be the HKPR status, which many minority residents hold. This status allows them to enjoy almost the same rights with the local Chinese residents, which to some extent mitigates their sense of exclusion.

This study also highlighted several factors that may influence the citizenship identity of minorities. The first is racial discrimination. The two participants who show a strong Hong Kong identity claimed they experienced little discrimination, while the two showing weaker Hong Kong identity seem to have experienced more discrimination. This result is consistent with many local (Gu 2015; Gu and Patkin 2013) and European studies (Fleischmann and Phalet 2016; Maxwell 2006; Karlsen and Nazroo 2013) which found that discrimination significantly influences minorities’ identification with the host society. The cases also highlighted the special situation facing Hong Kong Filipinos in terms of racism. For example, a participant claimed she was discriminated against because some people misidentified her as a foreign domestic helper, an occupation widely taken up by Filipinos. But another participant attributed her immunity from racism partly to her Chinese-like appearance. That is different from South Asians who usually look less like ethnic Chinese.

Second, the results suggested the importance of cultural compatibility, as highlighted by the literature (Gu 2015; Gu and Patkin 2013; Plüss 2006). The two participants identifying more strongly with Hong Kong tended to acculturate or assimilate more into the mainstream culture. Cultural difference is also cited by two participants as a reason for not identifying strongly with Mainland China and the Philippines.

Third, the findings confirm the importance of inter-ethnic networks (Siroky and Mahmudlu 2016). The two participants who have more friendship with local Chinese tend to have a stronger Hong Kong identity, and the one who is studying in a mainstream school with mainly Chinese students has the strongest Hong Kong identity. A factor related to inter-ethnic networks is language barrier. There are participants claiming that the lack of Cantonese proficiency hinders their interaction with local Chinese and participation in political activities, which hampers the development of Hong Kong identity.

Fifth, the findings highlighted the importance of instrumental considerations in identity construction. The relatively good living environment of Hong Kong such as safety and convenient public transport helped foster a Hong Kong identity, while the relatively poor public order and infrastructure of the Philippines left the participants with a negative impression. This seems to confirm O’Connor (2010)’s study where Hong Kong ethnic minorities appear to tolerate “minor” racism when they can enjoy benefits such as safety and freedom. Another implication is that the Hong Kong identity of ethnic minorities might be weakened if the instrumental benefits diminish.

Regarding China, none of the participants identified themselves as Chinese. Three participants even held varying degrees of antipathy toward the Chinese government or the Mainlanders. Two participants cited the alleged abduction of booksellers by Mainland authorities in 2015 (see Endnote No.5 for details) to highlight the Chinese government’s growing intervention in Hong Kong affairs and its disrespect of human rights. Another participant highlighted the reportedly uncivil behaviors of Mainlanders in Hong Kong. Interestingly, these concerns are also widely shared among local Chinese residents (Chan 2014; Yew and Kwong 2014). This may hint that the recent rise of anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong is potentially a phenomenon which cuts across ethnic groups, though further research is needed to verify that. Lastly, lack of connections with China and cultural differences were also cited as reasons behind their antipathy toward China. This is unsurprising as most ethnic minorities lack close ties with Mainland China.

7 Conclusion

The Filipino youth in this chapter showed that the citizenship status and identity of Hong Kong ethnic minorities can be highly complex. Many are simultaneously Hong Kong permanent residents and citizens of their countries of origin. The story is further complicated by the fact that their legal citizenship is not necessarily linked to their citizenship identity. This means the institutions governing citizenship status are only one of the many factors that influence the citizenship identity of the minorities and may not necessarily play a significant role for everyone. As a semiautonomous region of China, the case of Hong Kong may also inform future studies of minorities’ identities in other autonomous regions where ethnic minorities not only have to negotiate their identities with their host and home countries but also with the subnational unit in which they are living. Lastly, as the participants described in this chapter were still young, their identities may ebb and flow in the future. Future research can investigate how minority youth develop and change their identities over time.