Growing number of Hong Kong’s ethnic minority residents visit Shenzhen, beyond

On a day trip to Shenzhen with three friends, Pakistani-Hongkonger Riaz Ahmed Gujjar had a hair transplant treatment, dined at a halal restaurant and ordered two custom-made suits. The 65-year-old businessman said Shenzhen’s proximity to Hong Kong, bargain prices and quality service had him going there on day trips nearly every week with family and friends. “I used to travel to the mainland only for business, but now I head across the border for dining and shopping too,” he said. Gujjar paid 1,350 yuan (US$184) for each suit from a tailor at a shopping centre next to the Luohu border. A made-to-measure suit would cost at least HK$3,000 in Hong Kong. Gujjar, a Muslim, said Shenzhen offered more halal food choices, too. Lunch for four at a Xinjiang restaurant, with six dishes including mutton and naan, cost about 330 yuan – half the price in Hong Kong. He decided to have a hair transplant at a private centre in Shenzhen at a friend’s recommendation, for a relatively low price of about 24,000 yuan. He had to undergo several treatments, and his visit there on Sunday last week was his fourth. A growing number of Hong Kong residents from ethnic minority communities have been flocking across the border for leisure, spending on shopping, meals and sightseeing. The momentum picked up after Beijing introduced a new multi-entry mainland travel permit in July last year for permanent residents with foreign passports. The five-year permit has made cross-border trips more convenient. Some have also begun venturing beyond Shenzhen to other mainland cities, and community leaders said they expected the trend to continue growing. “The new travel permit, accessibility, easy e-payment and the removal of language barriers with the help of translation apps have led more residents of ethnic minorities to head across the border,” said Kowloon City district councillor Rizwan Ullah, who is of Pakistani origin. Hong Kong was home to nearly 620,000 residents from ethnic minority groups in 2021, accounting for 8.4 per cent of the population. Most were Filipinos and Indonesians, many of whom were working as domestic helpers, and Indians, Nepalis and Pakistanis. Hong Kong-born Pakistani Mohammad Hafiz, 42, travelled four times to Shenzhen over the past two months, undergoing a comprehensive health screening at a private hospital in the city. He paid 8,000 yuan for blood tests, checks of his liver and kidney functions, food allergies, CAT scans, endoscopies and others. He said it would have cost much more in Hong Kong, on top of the long wait at the city’s public hospitals. Hafiz, an English language teacher at a primary school, said he used to be sceptical about going to the mainland for such services, but was encouraged after his sister went earlier. His Shenzhen visits also included shopping and eating out, and he said there was a wider choice of halal food than in Hong Kong. Hafiz said he was planning to take his wife and three daughters to Shenzhen, and also explore other mainland cities. “The younger generations of ethnic minority residents speak Cantonese better and are more familiar with Chinese culture,” he said. “Such trips offer a gateway to a bigger world.” The new travel permit introduced by Beijing allows non-Chinese nationals with permanent residency in Hong Kong and Macau to enter the mainland multiple times for up to 90 days each time, to visit relatives or for investment, tourism, business, seminars and exchanges. They can also go through the border checkpoints faster, using self-service clearance kiosks once they have their fingerprints taken at the port of entry. Previously, they had to use the manual channels and fill entry cards on every visit. Mohammad Ilyas, a former president of the Pakistan Association of Hong Kong, said the number of ethnic minority residents heading across the border had surged since the new permit was introduced. “Substantial improvements have been made on the mainland in security, environment and services compared with decades ago,” he said. Nepali Aruna Gurung, a Yau Tsim Mong district councillor, is ramping up efforts to help ethnic minority residents apply for the travel permit at her office. She said many were choosing to travel on their own, whereas in the past they only signed up for mainland sightseeing tours run by travel agencies. Also popular now were trips organised by residents themselves or NGOs to Shenzhen and cities such as Beijing, Guilin, Xiamen and Sanya, she added. Baljinder Singh, co-founder of NGO the Racial Integration Education and Welfare Association, said he began going to Shenzhen at least fortnightly since obtaining his new travel permit in August last year. Previously, he went there only every few months. The Indian-Hongkonger, 48, said crossing the border now took only a few minutes, unlike the half-hour process in the past. He had haircuts and shopped for clothes along Dongmen Pedestrian Street. He also went to a Shenzhen dentist for cleaning and filling. Singh said he had helped elderly residents from ethnic minority communities to apply for the new permit and was planning a group trip for 40 to 50 of them to Guangzhou and Dongguan after Lunar New Year. “Many of them have lived in Hong Kong for decades but have never been to the mainland,” he said.

Growing number of Hong Kong’s ethnic minority residents visit Shenzhen, beyond

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Multiple-entry permit and easy checkpoint clearance draw more to the mainland to shop, eat and explore

Multiple-entry permit and easy checkpoint clearance draw more to the mainland to shop, eat and explore