Leung Yan came to Hong Kong eight years ago to give birth to Kitty in the hope that her daughter would be able to lead a better life. But her decision has come at a high price.
An electrical engineering graduate from Guangdong, the mother of one has opted to work part-time on a supermarket checkout for the past three years so she can travel to Hong Kong to see her only child at least two to three times a year on a tourist visa. Under immigration rules, Leung Yan (not her real name) has no right of abode in the city, while her daughter is a fully fledged Hong Kong resident.
'It is tough for her to wave her mother goodbye. She bursts into tears over and over again for a whole week,' said Kitty's maternal grandfather, Lee Shu-wing.
Kitty, now a second-year primary school pupil, said: 'I just want my mum to be with me, to show me how to do my homework and to play with me. I phone her when I miss her most just before I go to sleep at night. But it doesn't help much.'
The original plan was for Kitty to stay with her parents in Jiangmen , Guangdong province, and return to Hong Kong at an age when she could take care of herself. But that changed after her parents divorced when she was two. Ever since, she has been living with her grandparents, both in their 50s, in Sham Shui Po.
The girl's connection with the city goes back to her great-grandfather, who moved to Hong Kong after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.