Housing and welfare services in Hong Kong for new immigrants from China: Inclusion or exclusion?

Abstract

Hong Kong presents a peculiar case of the strains involved in assimilating immigrants from Mainland China due to (1) its reunification with China in 1997 after 150 years of British colonial rule, and (2) the uneasy relationship between Chinese immigrants and the local host community, despite sharing the same ethnic background. A host of historical, socio-economic and political factors contribute to the exclusion of Mainlanders by the Chinese locals. There appears to be a convergence between local citizens and the state in labeling, stigmatizing and scapegoating the Mainland immigrants. Exclusionary social policies in housing, social security, employment and personal welfare have rendered Chinese immigrants to live in poverty and with little access to opportunity structures.