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LettersWhat Hongkongers planning to move to the West may be unaware of

  • Readers discuss the drawbacks of life outside Hong Kong, wealth and housing inequality, and the cancellation of the DSE Chinese oral exam

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People wave goodbye to their families and friends at the departure gate of Hong Kong airport on October 3. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Letters

A recent headline in a Hong Kong newspaper read, “A third of Hong Kong emigrants in the UK found jobs”. That sounds great, but the corollary is two-thirds of Hong Kong emigrants in the UK are still without jobs.

Hong Kong is going through a time when many assume life is better elsewhere. My family left Hong Kong for Australia in the 1990s, so I want to share a few realities of living abroad that some may be unaware of, not to persuade but to encourage you to think critically.
First, you will be an outsider. Forget hate crime – it’s the more subtle, everyday situations of discomfort you will feel more. It’s when people you barely know randomly ask for your Chinese name, then butcher it. It’s the pressure to smile at jokes you don’t really get. It’s your kids being made fun of for bringing rice to school. That there is mostly no malice intended doesn’t make it easier.
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Also, if your kids move to the West while they are still preteens, they are likely to go through a phase of wanting to be a “Westerner”. Be prepared for them asking you to stay in the car when picking them up, not just because being picked up by parents is uncool but also because they think your Asian accent is uncool.

Safety also needs to be considered. My relatives in Hong Kong are surprised when I tell them that, in Sydney, we are instructed to sit near other passengers and near the guards’ compartment when travelling past 9:30pm. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is surprised that, in Hong Kong, tipsy women travel alone past midnight and nobody bats an eyelid.

04:03

‘Nothing is scarier than staying’: Hong Kong family uproots as fear looms over city’s future

‘Nothing is scarier than staying’: Hong Kong family uproots as fear looms over city’s future
We’re also spoiled by how little we have to commute in Hong Kong. I know an expat who tried repatriating to London, only to relocate to Hong Kong again. Living in zone 1 in London was not a fiscally responsible option, and she could not adjust to waking up at 5:30am for the commute, especially during winter.
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