According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, almost 90,000 people left Hong Kong in the past year, marking an almost 1.2 % decline in its population, and the strongest outflow of people since available numbers were collected in 1961.
The current wave of emigration coincides with the introduction of the National Security Law in Hong Kong by the Chinese Government, and the introduction of the BNO Visa for all eligible BNO passport holders in Hong Kong. It was estimated that up to 5.4 million Visas were available. From what I saw in the news it seems that a lot of people, especially professionals in their late 20s early 30s, plus family with young children were eager to take up the offer to look for new pastures.
To put this in context, BNO, also known as the British National (Overseas) passport was created as a by-product of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. This new category further restricted the rights of Hong Kong people as British overseas subjects to move to the UK, apart from keeping an in-name British status. Since the status is not inheritable, from my point of view, the only purpose was to have the British colony kids in Hong Kong die out a natural death so UK will have no more strings attached to this once British colony.
For me, the irony was that, Hong Kong was once the refuge for people who were looking for a better, safer and freer life. From the late 1940s when people, Chinese and Russians alike, were flooding into Hong Kong after the end of the Civil War in mainland China, the exodus of mainland Chinese into Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution in China, to the exodus of Vietnamese refugees (commonly referred to as the boat people in Hong Kong) at the end of the Vietnam War. Hong Kong, a British colony at that time, was seen as the rightful refuge for these souls who longed for peace and stability.
However, as history moved forward, the status of Hong Kong had changed quite significantly since the 1980s.
The signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration established an irreversible path of Hong Kong returning to China on 1 July 1997. Observing what happened with the two waves of refugee migrants into Hong Kong from the late 40s to the late 60s, a lot of parents, as long as they could afford it, uprooted their families and moved overseas from mid to late 80s. These are wealthy families with brain and money. This brain drain was further triggered and accelerated when the world watched the Tiananmen Square events unfolded. At that time, some of these people who had not made up their mind to leave, joined the lines at the airport for a different life. Some families that cannot afford to uproot themselves, sent their kids to study overseas, so hopefully their kids could stay behind after their studies. It was reported that between just 1990 and 1994, around 243,000 people moved overseas from Hong Kong. The once paradise for refugees, had become the ground of mass exodus.
I am not trying to paint a rosy picture for people who migrated, as a lot of people in Hong Kong would know about the social issues created by these waves of emigration, particularly the well documented ‘Astronaut Families’ that eventually paid the price and broke apart. However, longing for a stable, peaceful and free life as a reward of hard work was what was these families looking for. There is no right or wrong, but a desire they perceived as better.
The respite of returning migrants after 1998, when it seemed things were ok and the Chinese Government seemed to be upholding her side of the bargain produced years of prosperity to Hong Kong once again. Families who were still families came back and rebuild, migrant kids who longed for a better career with better pay came back, the society was vibrant and new once again. This Tidal-Return Movement gave Hong Kong what it needed – brain power and money.
However, events in the last few years in Hong Kong had greatly destabilised the society. I was not there to observe, so I cannot really comment too much on it, but the eventual implementation of the National Security Law over the existing Basic Law drafted and implemented by the Sino-British Joint Declaration sounded alarm bells across the globe and a number of countries responded. As eyes looked towards the ex-colonial ruler UK, they announced the unprecedented BNO Visa scheme, allowing BNO users to apply for a special category of Visa that will allow them to live and work in the UK, with the pathway to full citizenship. This threw a lifeline to a lot of Hong Kong people and families who felt the despair of the changing social and political environment in the territory, and decided to take up the offer. It was estimated that at least 3 million Hong Kong people are eligible for the scheme. Other countries followed, with Canada, Australia and US all offering pathways for eligible Hong Kong people to permanently settle in these countries. At the same time, kids who went back to Hong Kong with their parents or by themselves for ‘root-seeking’ are now taking their own kids back overseas to seek a better future for them. I still remember in two of the documentaries I watched, these kids, who are now parents were saying, ‘who thought that the security my parents (their kids’ grandparents) bought for us will now be the security they secured for my own kids?’ There was a sense of disappointment and hope in just one single line.
In the recent months, as observed from the increasing number of YouTube channels of Hong Kong people who moved overseas (including countries like Japan) providing tips and support services to other Hongkongers planning to follow their footsteps, I started to feel the scale of movement, and began to see that the lights are diming at this once beacon of hope for others. Without a doubt, these ‘refugees’ of our age will light up again in their new homelands but the tipping of scale brought by history to Hong Kong will always be remembered, recorded and retold.
