To better understand the Nepalese, who have put down roots here in Hong Kong, we might start with a mostly forgotten name - Gurkha. Gurkhas were professional soldiers hired from Nepal before the handover. When Gurkha soldiers were serving in Hong Kong, their families could come for a reunion for a length of three years, after which they had to return home. Hong Kong government later granted the right of abode to children born to Gukhas in Hong Kong before 1984. The second generation of Nepalese returned to live in the city in their 20s and 30s. Yet, pass the golden period for language-learning up, most Nepalese do not communicate well in Cantonese, so they often have a quiet and withdrawn image. Indeed, hoping to build their own community as well as improve communication and understanding with the Hong Kong society, many Nepalese in Hong Kong have worked tirelessly to establish their own online radio channel and Nepalese newspapers.
How do you preserve your own culture when you are in a foreign country? Many of the second generation Nepalese go dancing in country parks, wearing their national costumes, whereas some songwriters find inspirations in their lives in Hong Kong to write children songs to teach Nepalese children their mother tongue. Dev teaches in a primary school, in which over half of the students are Nepalese. The school has arranged for Dev to teach them their own mother tongue. He has discovered that many students are facing problems in recognizing their identity. Are they Hong Kongers? Or are they Nepalese? Having grown up here, Salina speaks fluent Cantonese. After school she does henna hand paintings for others. When she makes an appointment with a Chinese customer, she always asks if she minds that she is Nepalese. But now Salina could tell people confidently that she is a Hong Kong Nepalese.
About 6,000 local ethnic minorities are from German-speaking countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Daniela and Robin from Germany have chosen to live here, in a small and cramped place like Hong Kong, exactly because of its size and the convenience it affords. They both have been working hard to learn Chinese in order to communicate with the locals. Through a common language, they hope to become genuine Hong Kong residents. Though Pietro (from Switzerland) and Henry and Wilhelm(from Austria) do not speak Chinese, they decided to live in Hong Kong most of all because they really love this cosmopolitan city’s energy and concentrated accessibility, to which no other city comes close. A few enthusiastic German speaking ladies have devoted to publish “in HK”, a German-language magazine. It is all about what it is like to live in Hong Kong, even if you speak only German, you can still have a glimpse at the local customs, traditions, food, shopping, transport, and everyday life.
Indians were one of the earliest arrivals among the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. They came in the 19th century, and those living here now are the third or fourth generation immigrants. Vivek was born here. He comes from a typical family with three generations of Hong Kong Indians. By blood he is 100% Indian. However, he feels that his thinking, behaviour and habits make him at least 50% a typical local guy. When Vivek’s parents decided to send him to a local Chinese school, his Indian family members didn’t quite understand. Yet, Vivek took the chance, and become a truly local person. His fluency in Cantonese, optimism and sense of humour have even made him a stand-up comedian on stage. Vivek was diagnosed with lymphoma. After his recovery, he arranges school tours to share his experience of overcoming adversity. As one of us, he has been doing his part for our home, Hong Kong, with his eloquence and experience.
In 2014, there are around 13,000 Koreans living in Hong Kong. Many of them have come here at the turn of the century. John Jun came in 2003 when SARS hit Hong Kong, but he decided to stay to ride out the storm with Hong Kongers. In 2013, he set up the Korean baseball team K9, to familiarize local people with the game. Baseball is popular in Korea probably because of the team spirit it requires, which is perfectly in line with Koreans’ national character. Korean men often impress people by their conventional mind, but some traditional views may have been gradually changing among the Koreans living here. Take for example Hwang Seon Chel who came to Hong Kong in 1999. He shares his wife’s duty in taking care of their children. What hasn’t changed is his commitment and seriousness at work. Every weekend, John and Hwang practise on the baseball field, just like what they did for thirty years at home. Thirty years later, the baseball dream is continued on foreign soil.
Hong Kongers’ shallow knowledge of Africa could be found hilarious or even ridiculous. “Africa is a country” - This is what local people have told Peter from Ghana. Peter teaches djembe drumming in Hong Kong and he believes music is universal - it breaks language and colour barriers. His happy-go-lucky has helped him to make many local friends. But the hectic pace of life here sometimes takes his breath away. Cally from Nigeria has been here for 21 years. He said Chinese and Africans may be different in their colour, but they have quite a few cultural similarities, such as the importance placed on one’s family Stephen came here to play football. Although he once played for a local football team, the difference in language and culture has prevented him from making local friends. The monthly meeting with his fellow countrymen from Cameroon is the only occasion when he feels at home.
The Taoist Association Yuen Yuen Institute No.3 Secondary School believes that, a thorough understanding of Chinese culture helps minority students to attain a good command of Chinese. The school has held Chinese classes based on everyday life and organized Chinese-culture-themed exhibition stalls. Furthermore, the school has organized local cultural tour for its local Chinese students, with Minhas, a Pakistani, as the guide. Minhas introduces them to the daily life of the minority community, especially their Islamic culture and faith. Pakistani students Kainaat and Nayab cherish every chance they have, from schooling to taking part in extra-curricular activities. They feel that they have a safer and more comfortable environment in Hong Kong. And as females, Hong Kong has given them more freedom and better opportunities in receiving education.
Hong Kongers’ love for Thai food has encouraged many Thai chefs to work here. Being born by Chinese and Thai parents, Ah B was raised in Hong Kong. He recently started a Thai restaurant here, and claims himself as a “Thai-speaking Hong Konger” Meow, who also runs a Thai restaurant, does not make Hong Kong home to her. Instead, this city is always just a workplace. She plans to send her twin sons back to Thailand for military service to learn about the Thai culture. Language and culture has been many Thais’ biggest hurdle of facing integrating into Hong Kong. Bungon is very well-connected with Thais in Hong Kong. She has helped them to organize unions and activities to enhance their knowledge of Hong Kong, and to have a better life here. When you savour the delicious Thai dishes, will you take one more step to approach the Thais and help them to integrate into our society?
Miss Watanabe fell in love with Hong Kong when she came Japan for a holiday at sixteen. She later returned and determined to become a Hong Konger. This year she was given her longing Hong Kong identity card, but she has decided to return home to be with her lonely mother. Before leaving Hong Kong, she has started to miss salted fish and shrimp paste, whereas worrying not being used to the rigorous Japanese lifestyle. Eighteen years ago, Miss Yvrika followed her Hong Kong husband back to his home town. After the birth of their child, the couple exchanged their roles - Yvrika works while her husband stays home to take care of the child’s education. Someone who grew up in a male dominated society like Japan would never have dreamed of such a change. But in a flexible society like Hong Kong, this is really happening to her.
Ethnic minorities find it formidable to find their feet in the society as they always have to work twice as hard as the locals. It may make things easier if they have company in their drudgery. In Hong Kong, there are two locals who have witnessed the growth of an Indian youngster and have become his guardian angels on this journey. KO Wing-chi, a.k.a. KJ, is an Indian boy who was born in Hong Kong. He is 16 and now studying in secondary four. KJ is a committee member of the student association as well as the president of the “Virtue” Society. He is also a sunshine boy who excels at the popular beat box and he always performs outside on behalf of his school. JIM Siu-bo is an 18-year-old secondary six student who was born in Hong Kong, and he is also a member of the Beat Box Club. Three years ago, the two with such disparate backgrounds came across each other because of beat box, and they had eventually become best friends forever. They two learn from each other and take care of each other. It is hard for us to imagine that sharing feelings to each other is what these two robust boys do most. Although the two study in different grades, they are inseparable like cheek by jowl both inside and outside school. JIM Siu-bo is KO Wing-chi’s first teacher in beat box, and they do everything from playing basketball to skateboarding together. It is an antithesis of the idea that true friendship can never be realised between ethnic minority students and local students since integration among them is difficult. Besides KJ’s peers, WONG Kin-ho, the teacher responsible for counselling ethnic minorities at school, also has great impact on him. The teacher-student bond between the two has now grown into something like a father-son one. Mr. WONG is more than a Chinese language teacher but a mentor that beacons KJ’s life. Two Hong Kong people not only have greatly influenced KO Wing-chi, they have also become his witnesses and guardian angels on his way towards anoth
There is a Japanese proverb that means “any place you are used to living in is called ‘paradise’”. The following two Japanese came to Hong Kong to make their home here. One of them has been around for four years, the other forty odd years. They have both found their “paradise” here. Now in his seventies, Issei Shinagawa has lived in Hong Kong for forty odd years. Three years ago, he retired and found that what he knew about Hong Kong had grown more than what he knew about Japan, so he decided to stay. He moved to Peng Chau, an outlying island, for farming, beginning a life of semi-seclusion. Because of his character, Shinagawa accepts anything that comes along with ease; this can be reflected on his farming lot. Shinagawa follows the principles of “natural farming”, which means that after he has prepared the soil, he will let the crops grow on their own, and what he does is only irrigating them and “chatting” with them, and he eats whatever he harvests. A few years ago, some birds dropped on his agricultural lot a few mulberry seeds, and now the seeds have grown into two big trees, almost without being noticed. Shinagawa, who acts on impulse often, started to research into the mulberry tree and its leaves. Recently, he has even started to make cookies out of these materials and treated his friends to them. To Shinagawa, life is like coming across the birds, the seeds and the farming lot by chance. It was employment that took him to Hong Kong, where he has made his home and grown up. It has been a long and busy process. Before Naoko came to Hong Kong, she had never imagined herself to have a painting career, let alone a career to paint on themes about the streets of Hong Kong! Naoko grew up in Tokyo and studied art in university. After graduation, however, her first job was working as a clerk in a corporation. Ten years ago, she married a Hongkonger and moved here. In the beginning, she had problem adapting to the life in Hong Kong, and she also had prob
Currently, less than 2 000 Bangladeshi natives live in Hong Kong. Some of them arrived in Hong Kong twenty or thirty years back for employment and made their home in Hong Kong, and now they have the right of abode in Hong Kong. Some of them are family or offspring of the aforesaid people, and some have just arrived in Hong Kong waiting to be screened and certified as refugees. They make up only 5% of the Indian population living in Hong Kong; they are viewed as the minority of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Shormi Ahmed, aged 28 this year, came to Hong Kong from Bangladesh with her mother and elder sister in 1999 to join her father and build a new life in Hong Kong; her father had already arrived in Hong Kong in the early 1990’s to operate a business in import and export. In Hong Kong, she went through secondary school without any exposure to the Chinese language; even though she had classmates who were local people, she was still assigned to a class particularly set up for ethnic minorities from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc., so her exposure to the Chinese language and local Chinese people was minimal. After going through twists and turns, Shormi, a fervent lover of the arts, was admitted to the Faculty of Arts of The University of Hong Kong to major in Art and Comparative Literature. From then on, she had more opportunities to get in touch with local young people and their communities, and she was gradually introduced to the literature and artworks from different places around the world and related people; one of them, an alumnus of the Faculty of Arts of HKU like her, she greatly adores: Eileen Chang. Even though Shormi does not write and read Chinese too well, she manages to understand the world of Eileen Chang through English translations. In the works of Eileen Chang, females are destined for a tragic life. The female in those times were manipulated by traditions and a male-centred society; they had no choice over their destiny and the way t
It’s not easy for people in foreign land to adapt to a different culture. Three husbands from the West left home for Hong Kong because of their wives, which sounds as romantic as in love films. After the romance is gone, however, there are a lot of problems to be dealt with in the reality of married life. Is “love” the solution for these three inter-racial marriages? Twenty odd years ago, John, a British native, met Persis in his home country, who was travelling there. They married and moved to Hong Kong, and till now they have been living here together for 25 years. Now John can speak fluent Cantonese, and is teaching Linguistics in a university. John sets high standards for his teaching career because he has a sense of mission for this place. John’s determination to make his home in Hong Kong is obvious enough. Andy comes from a tiny city in Germany. He has been in Hong Kong for two years, and is now working hard on learning Cantonese. In order to speed up Andy’s progress in learning the dialect, his wife Tracy even arranges her parents to hang around so that he has more exposure to the dialect in terms of speaking and listening. To assimilate on foreign soil, one has to embrace the unique local culture, which is of utmost importance. Fortunately, Andy is not alone when adapting to all these new things to him. He has the company of Tracy. Brett comes from Canada. The time he has spent in Hong Kong is comparatively short. He met his wife Saron in Hong Kong, got married, and gave birth to a daughter who is now one year old. Speaking not a word of Cantonese, he did have struggles about adapting to her social circle. After their daughter was born, the couple had different views on how to bring up the kid, as one did it the Western way and the other the traditional Hong Kong way. In the end, it is communication and compromise that won the day. From another point of view, the appearance of Brett has also brought about subtle changes in Saron’s relationship with
By mastering Cantonese since his childhood, WEI Ching-duck, a Nepalese boy, has made his integration into Hong Kong much easier and he has also completed all secondary science programmes with good grades. However, he has not grown complacent. WEI Ching-duck likes to ponder over the logic of life and hence study of Philosophy. He has also joined the debate team in university to enhance his skills in critical thinking and exposition. Moreover, he plans to become a civil servant or a politician in the future with a single motive behind, that is, he wants to encourage more adolescents with ethnic minority backgrounds to strive for better development in Hong Kong through his personal experience. As a Nepalese, WEI Ching-duck knows more about social issues in Hong Kong than many locals, and he is also more outspoken. In addition, he believes the responsibility of helping his fellow ethnic minorities rests on his shoulders, thus he has grown up participating in many voluntary works in assistance of ethnic minorities. Although WEI Ching-duck was not born in Hong Kong, he was raised here. With a face similar to that of Chinese, it is hard to tell that he is Nepalese when he walks among his schoolmates and friends. As a music lover, he loves to perform on the street at the waterfront with his old friends. He strums his guitar and sings “Boundlessness” out loud through his amplifier. If he were to metaphorise the song for Hong Kong and ethnic minorities, what would he want to express? Since the debate competition is closing in, the frequent strategic meetings come day after day. As the team captain in the face of challenges from other institutions, WEI Ching-duck believes that guiding his teammates to excellent cooperation and fulfilling his duties mean more than the result of the competition. WEI Ching-duck hopes to boost his self-confidence through the challenges encountered in university, so that he can set an example to other ethnic minorities to climb up the social
In 1980s and 90s, a lot of Thai females moved to Hong Kong as cross-border brides. Here, they ran into problems arising from language barriers and unfamiliarity with the people and the culture here. Problems about communication and adaptation were no new stories for them. Some of these Thai females chose to break through the barriers, some chose to embrace the course of nature. Various stories have grown out of them. It is definitely not easy to adapt to an environment that is totally strange, although a new environment may provide new opportunities. Tse Kwai-fong, a Thai Chinese, launched her new life in Hong Kong in the 1980’s, and since then has grabbed every business opportunity along the ebb and flow of the local economy. When the airport was relocated to Chek Lap Kok in 1998 and when Hong Kong was hard stricken by SARS later on, many people turned pessimistic about the prospects of Kowloon City, and quite a few shops there closed down. In times of adversity, however, Tse Kwai-fong dared to go against all the odds and launched her career in Kowloon City. Another Thai bride May arrived in Hong Kong by marriage at the age of 29. Being a total stranger here, she shared her parents-in-law’s accommodation in a public housing estate. Because of her different background and personal habits, she did not go along with the in-laws. She sulked every day. She even developed a hatred for Hong Kong and the people here. In these adverse circumstances, she was lucky to have the support of a loving husband, on which she struggled to survive. When their second daughter was born, the doctor suspected that she might be blind, which came as a great blow on May and her husband. The whole family even emigrated to Thailand. Later, in order to enable her daughter to receive better medical benefits, the family moved back here. Survivors of so many disasters as they were, the couple did not give up on life. For the sake of their daughter, they coped with life even in a more posi
Some ethnic minorities find it hard to make a living or find a job because of language or cultural barriers. However, there are some of them who are proficient in Chinese but still toil and moil simply because of their skin colour. Diversity and openness are always highlighted in Hong Kong, so that ethnic minorities can play more roles in the society, among which is Maggie with Pakistani descent. Maggie is now an Officer of Correctional Services who serves at the Lo Wu Correctional Institution as an area-in-charge officer. She speaks fluent Cantonese because she was born in Hong Kong. She was abandoned by her parents when she was three months old at an orphanage and was adopted by a Hong Kong family when she was three. She has never come into contact with her biological parents and she knows nothing about Pakistani culture. She had been studying in mainstream schools in Hong Kong since her childhood with no difference between her and other Chinese children besides her appearance. However, she was always regarded as an “alien” and taunted by others because of her skin colour. Maggie cannot bear to think of the past, but her bitter childhood has pushed Maggie further in studies. Eventually, she was admitted into the Chinese University of Hong Kong and returned to her old school and worked as a teacher after graduation. Maggie joined the Correctional Services Department a year ago as a challenge to herself. She has won the trust of ethnic minority inmates because of the Pakistani appearance, but she cannot speak or understand their languages. To better understand her own origin and ethnic history, Maggie is now studying Pakistani and Pakistani culture in hope of helping the Pakistanis in Hong Kong when her studies come to fruition.
Nischaya and Neivda are brother and sister who study in P.2 and P.3 respectively. After they were born in Nepal, their father brought them to Hong Kong. In November last year, the two went back to their hometown in Nepal for the first time. Although the simplicity in their hometown has excited their curiosity, it is still difficult for the two who were raised in Hong Kong to get used to the lifestyle there. Their father wants the two to attain proficiency in Chinese, so that they will not need to make a living through labour-intensive works like him. Learning Chinese is essential in entering into mainstream society, but as a father, he also wants his children to learn in joy without infinite stress and worries over school reports, such affection is replete with both contradictions and love. Swatica, with her outstanding academic results, chooses to learn Chinese for the sake of her future, but she also makes this decision to help translate for her mother who knows almost nothing about the Chinese language. Such a clever and precocious girl she is. These two cases reflect different values. Please listen to the voice of the children.