Hong Kong life hard for mainland Chinese families - but so is going home
Mainlanders may decide to tough it out in city even if they get the right to return
Big city life has been nothing but tough for Yu Ailin since she and her children arrived from the mainland five years ago.
Struggling to raise her daughters in a tiny flat that costs her a big chunk of the money she earns at a cha chaan teng, Yu is exactly the kind of person who might be expected to welcome the chance to return home under a proposal being considered by Beijing.
But, she says, the pull to stay outweighs the push to go.
"If it's just me, I'll go back. But the children have already adapted to life here," said the 42-year-old, originally from Changsha , Hunan province.
Like other mainlanders who arrived on a one-way permit - granted to people reuniting with relatives in Hong Kong - Yu and her daughters had to surrender their hukou, or household registration, back home. But the State Council is considering a bill that would allow the restoration of residence rights.
"When I visit the mainland and see the big and beautiful houses, I get sad and desperately want to move back," she said. The family pays HK$3,200 per month for a 100 sq ft flat in Sham Shui Po, in which the bathroom doubles as the kitchen. "The environment is terrible," Yu said.