immigrants have had to face. How they have adjusted and how the local population have reacted to them create social tensions with particular historical significance in the 1980s and probably beyond. A few case histories will illustrate the events leading to emigration, what it takes to adapt to the pace of life in Hong Kong, and how the immigrants' personal dilemmas complicate the rich human texture beneath the glittering veneer of the urban society.
The return of the successful emigrant
Liang Daxin returned to his native market town from Hong Kong in the spring of 1982. For two weeks, his family, cousins, neighbours, and schoolmates crowded his father's house, commenting with envy on his leather jacket, his hair-style, and the gifts he brought back. He recounted the adventures of his sojourn in Hong Kong and showed his classmates the identification card that had given him a special status. His parents and neighbours started to mention the serious matter of his reaching 29 years, and hinted at marriage arrangements. He also had long discussions with his schoolmates from the commune high school concerning joint-ventures. Several friends had been raising quails for sale in the county capital, but needed a motor-tricycle to expand the marketing networks. They felt that Liang might be able to get a cheap one from Hong Kong. They also had plans for a bakery. Liang could provide machinery and management skills that he supposedly had learned from “capitalist" Hong Kong. For his contributions, Liang would get a share of the bakery's profits. Such networking strategies would give them a competitive edge over small-scale enterprises that had been mushrooming all over the rural landscape in response to the government's efforts to relax its hold on the economy. Liang's position in Hong Kong makes him an asset for his friends who desperately seek connections to the world outside China.
Three years before, Liang applied for official permission to emigrate to Macao where he had a sister. After long bureaucratic delays, his relatives in Hong Kong paid a handsome sum to a gang that ferried illegal aliens and transported him to Hong Kong instead. After the organizers abandoned the shipload of illegal aliens on the shores of Aberdeen, he went through the terrifying days of
immigrants have had to face. How they have adjusted and how the local population have reacted to them create social tensions with particular historical significance in the 1980s and probably be- yond. A few case histories will illustrate the events leading to emigration, what it takes to adapt to the pace of life in Hong Kong, and how the immigrants' personal dilemmas complicate the rich human texture beneath the glittering veneer of the urban society.
The return of the successful emigrant
Liang Daxin" returned to his native market town from Hong Kong in the spring of 1982. For two weeks, his family, cousins, neighbours, and schoolmates crowded his father's house, com- menting with envy on his leather jacket, his hair-style, and the gifts he brought back. He recounted the adventures of his sojourn in Hong Kong and showed his classmates the identification card that had given him a special status. His parents and neighbours started to mention the serious matter of his reaching 29 years, and hinted at marriage arrangements. He also had long discussions with his schoolmates from the commune high school concerning joint-ventures. Several friends had been raising quails for sale in the county capital, but needed a motor-tricycle to expand the mar- keting networks. They felt that Liang might be able to get a cheap one from Hong Kong. They also had plans for a bakery. Liang could provide machinery and management skills that he suppos- edly had learned from “capitalist" Hong Kong. For his contribu- tions, Liang would get a share of the bakery's profits. Such networking strategies would give them a competitive edge over small-scale enterprises that had been mushrooming all over the rural landscape in response to the government's efforts to relax its hold on the economy. Liang's position in Hong Kong makes him an asset for his friends who desperately seek connections to the world outside China.
Three years before, Liang applied for official permission to em- igrate to Macao where he had a sister. After long bureaucratic delays, his relatives in Hong Kong paid a handsome sum to a gang that ferried illegal aliens and transported him to Hong Kong in- stead. After the organizers abandoned the shipload of illegal aliens on the shores of Aberdeen, he went through the terrifying days of
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