2
HELEN F. SIU
of those interviewed felt that recent immigrants had slowed the planned delivery of government housing services and caused rent increases; 70 percent felt that recent immigrants competed with them for jobs and lowered wages; 70 percent agreed with the impression that the immigrants were the usual offenders in petty crimes, and 50 percent felt that they were responsible for violent crimes in recent years.
Cautioning against blaming the victim, scholars have tried to see if the weight of explanation for such negative public sentiments may be put upon the immigrants themselves." A scholar of social work in Hong Kong, Zhou Yongxin, asserts that among the earlier immigrants, 70 percent had some skills in various trades, many had industrial capital, and only 3.8 percent were of rural origin. However, 85 percent of the recent immigrants are between the ages of 15 and 30, predominantly male. Seventy-nine percent are of rural origin. A lack of data on the bulk of illegal immigrants makes it difficult to have a fair evaluation, but the legally settled ones do not give the impression that they are unattached elements floundering in an alien environment. Their sojourn is supported, however reluctantly, by networks of family and friends at the receiving end. Similar to the wave of youths who illegally migrated to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution, many have come on their own because they are frustrated with the political vicissitudes and the lack of social mobility in China; some are attracted by the modern materialist glamour suddenly exposed to them through the Hong Kong media. However, given their rural origin, recent immigrants may have less capital and fewer skills than the entrepreneurs from Shanghai or the craftsmen from Guangzhou who had migrated in the 1950s to cope with livelihood in urban Hong Kong. Therefore, compared to previous waves of immigrants, their "preparedness" for life in Hong Kong is mixed. The question remains: do they deserve the accusations that the sudden influx of these rural immigrants drastically disturb Hong Kong's social stability and heightens the tensions in an already over-crowded society?
To evaluate these public sentiments, I think it is important to look more closely at the host community itself. It takes two sides to create problems of adjustment. In fact, the immigrants' predica-
2
HELEN F. SIU
of those interviewed felt that recent immigrants had slowed the planned delivery of government housing services and caused rent increases; 70 percent felt that recent immigrants competed with them for jobs and lowered wages; 70 percent agreed with the im- pression that the immigrants were the usual offenders in petty crimes, and 50 percent felt that they were responsible for violent crimes in recent years.
Cautioning against blaming the victim, scholars have tried to see if the weight of explanation for such negative public senti- ments may be put upon the immigrants themselves." A scholar of social work in Hong Kong, Zhou Yongxin, asserts that among the earlier immigrants, 70 percent had some skills in various trades, many had industrial capital, and only 3.8 percent were of rural origin. However, 85 percent of the recent immigrants are between the ages of 15 and 30, predominantly male. Seventy-nine percent are of rural origin. A lack of data on the bulk of illegal immigrants makes it difficult to have a fair evaluation, but the legally settled ones do not give the impression that they are unattached elements floundering in an alien environment. Their sojourn is supported, however reluctantly, by networks of family and friends at the re- ceiving end. Similar to the wave of youths who illegally migrated to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution, many have come on their own because they are frustrated with the political vicissi- tudes and the lack of social mobility in China; some are attracted by the modern materialist glamour suddenly exposed to them through the Hong Kong media. However, given their rural origin, recent immigrants may have less capital and fewer skills than the entrepreneurs from Shanghai or the craftsmen from Guangzhou who had migrated in the 1950s to cope with livelihood in urban Hong Kong. Therefore, compared to previous waves of immi- grants, their "preparedness” for life in Hong Kong is mixed. The question remains: do they deserve the accusations that the sudden influx of these rural immigrants drastically disturb Hong Kong's social stability and heightens the tensions in an already over- crowded society?
To evaluate these public sentiments, I think it is important to look more closely at the host community itself. It takes two sides to create problems of adjustment. In fact, the immigrants' predica-
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.