Introduction

Hong Kong is generally regarded as ‘a city of immigrants’ which suggests that the history of Hong Kong is largely one of migration (e.g., Choi 2001). While this popular discourse highlights the fact that migration is not a new phenomenon in Hong Kong and emphasises the role of migrants in the host society, it bears the risk of oversimplifying the complex processes of resettlement over time and denying the migrants’ subjectivity and the diverse migration experiences of different generations. This complexity is manifest in the need to change what we call migrants, from ‘refugees’, and ‘immigrants’ to ‘new arrivals’ in the government documents and from ‘Ah Chann’ (literally, uneducated people) to ‘Dai Luk Por’ (a derogatory term for mainland women, implying lower status) in the media. The on-going and shifting debates about the role of migrants as economic assets and/or social burdens reflect the fact that ‘migrants’ is a very politically charged term.

This chapter is split into two sections. The first section will locate the mainland Chinese migrants historically. This historical account of migrants does not merely focus on the migrants themselves, but on the political, economic, and social settings all around them. I divide Hong Kong history into five phases since 1945, so I can examine the changing immigration policies, political situations, both in China and Hong Kong and both before and after colonial rule, and from the perspective of the internal and external economic environment. The emphasis will be on changing government policies from that of minimal intervention to that of social capital building and the roles of development agencies and local organisations in mobilising migrants to become involved in community development. I will also trace the development of community participation in Hong Kong and examine how it affects migrants’ adjustments and livelihoods.

As De Haan (1999) suggests, examining migrants’ historical patterns of movement is not enough. We also need to look into their ‘motivations, attitudes and [their] understanding of the structures within which they act’ (p. 12). Migrants have brought along traditions and social values derived from their homeland and adapted themselves to the exigencies of the new environment (Lau 1982).