Hongkongers living in mainland China still feel like second class citizens despite new policies

Norton Tseung Yik-wong was exasperated as he read through the new policies rolled out by Beijing that were supposed to make life in mainland China easier for people like him.

Tseung, 29, a Hongkonger and father of a toddler, has lived in Beijing for the past seven years working for a venture capital company. While the promise of a free public education for his daughter and a streamlined system for entering and leaving mainland China were appealing, Tseung was disappointed that insurance plans offered to non-mainlanders did not include private hospitals and that non-mainlanders were restricted from buying real estate.

“I don’t want privileges, only the same treatment as mainlanders,” said Tseung.

The recent suite of policies announced last month to address dozens of issues affecting Hong Kong residents working in Chinese cities to provide them with the same privileges as their mainland counterparts appears to have fallen short.

Despite articles in state media that quote young people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan praising the policies Tseung, and other Hongkongers living in the mainland told the Post they still feel like second-class citizens.

“I spent three months but still could not register a company in Xinjiang as a Hongkonger while it took only three weeks for one of my mainland relatives,” said Adam Wong Hung-for, 33, who runs two companies in Beijing.

Tomy Chan Joon-sheng, a Hong Kong businessman who founded the Beijing-based bicycle accessory start-up Bikiros, said he and his fellow colleagues were treated like outsiders.