7 ms·

The Hong Kong migrants fleeing to start new lives in the UK

37 points by undefined1 6y ago

kepler1 6y ago
Sounds really appealing. Going from a warm tropical climate with affordable food, good transport, relatively good social services to somewhere cold, wet, lower standard of living, and in economic turmoil.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- db48x 6y ago
  Yea, that warm tropical climate really cancels out the tyranny.
  - kepler1 6y ago
    Tyranny in whose opinion? Seems something like 7M don't think so, or not enough to take anyone up on the offer.
- cltsang 6y ago
  Hong Kong is the antonym of affordable.
  - kepler1 6y ago
    Housing-wise yes, agreed. But London is hardly affordable either.
    - tshanmu 6y ago
      UK is much bigger/different/more affordable than London. Tfa article talks about a family moving to York.
- RavlaAlvar 6y ago
  Food is actually cheaper in UK It’s subjective but I personally find UK’s cold wet weather much more tolerable than HK’s moist and hot summers and winters actually feel colder in HK. HK’s public medical system is no better than the NHS. As for standard of living , you are joking, right?
  - kepler1 6y ago
    I will say standard of living is a bit subjective. But my personal opinion is that having lived in the UK, I never saw a people living so poorly, yet thinking they're rich.
    - RavlaAlvar 6y ago
      > I never saw a people living so poorly, yet thinking they're rich. This quote is definitely better for describing people in HK who live in their 30m^2 apartment that cost USD$700000 than those in UK.
  - mytailorisrich 6y ago
    In terms of affordability, I've found this comparison: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Hong+Kong https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_resu... It would probably be fairer to compare Hongkong with London because the UK is obviously a large country (compared to HK, essentially a single city). The UK has some nice places but also many ghastly ones (it has both the wealthiest and most deprived areas in Western Europe). London is different from the rest of the country in about all aspects.
gedy 6y ago
Does anyone have insight into those leaving Hong Kong for Taiwan? Seems a good relocation aside from the sabre rattling from China.
- jchonphoenix 6y ago
  Extremely rare. Taiwan and Hong Kong are very different places beyond both being ethnically Chinese. Singapore is the preferred alternative given cultural and business similarities.
  - wahern 6y ago
    According to this 2020 poll significantly more (4x) people reported interest in moving to Taiwan than Singapore: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/08/hong-kong-exile-taiwan-first-choice/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/08/hong-kong-exile-taiwan-... Do you have any numbers regarding actual emigration numbers? I can't seem to find anything recent. In terms of political and cultural history Singapore is much more like Hong Kong. But it's 2020, not 1990; times have changed. I'd like to see real numbers.
    - cltsang 6y ago
      Great info in the article. I wonder if there's data segmented by age group. As a Hongkonger myself, I'd say culturally we are more like Taiwan than Singapore. We don't really see culture influences from Singapore here. I'm not sure if they export any at all. In contrast, we enjoy Taiwan pop songs, TV shows, and movies a lot. And Hong Kong-Taipei has long been one of the world's busiest plane routes[0]. Taiwan's economy is growing, but Singapore definitely benefits most from Hong Kong's downfall. MNCs have already started migrating Asia HQ to Singapore. So I suspect ambitious young professionals, who wish to stay in Asia, will follow the flow of capital and opportunities to Singapore, whereas others will choose Taiwan. [0] https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3422162 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3422162
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  Taiwan, the Republic of China beaten by the communists on the mainland, does not make it easy for people from Hongkong (a territory claimed by the Republic of China and arguably under repression by communist forces) to relocate, quite the opposite, that's why the numbers are small. Make that what you will.
app4soft 6y ago
Politics migration started in 2020: Hong Kong > UK Belarus > Lithuania[0] [0] https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1206694/lithuania-readies-for-potential-refugees-from-belarus https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1206694/lithuania-r...
simonblack 6y ago
I wonder how long it will be before the signs on rentals will be saying things like 'No chinks' Like on the signs shown below from the past, and some more recent ones saying "No Poles": Britain is quite small, so if a good proportion of those Hong Kong people who are eligible for resettlement in Britain take up the offer, that sudden influx of work-seekers will swamp the jobs available. https://miro.medium.com/max/633/1*nzLs1GoUFhR05vBwI3bwdQ.png https://miro.medium.com/max/633/1*nzLs1GoUFhR05vBwI3bwdQ.png https://keepcalms.com/p/no-irish-no-blacks-no-romanians/ https://keepcalms.com/p/no-irish-no-blacks-no-romanians/ https://images.ctfassets.net/pjshm78m9jt4/403874_9/545657cf7ea884a6fe94eccdcbbb1a74/importedImage403874_9?fm=webp&fit=fill&w=585&h=329&q=80 https://images.ctfassets.net/pjshm78m9jt4/403874_9/545657cf7...
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  You can also interpret this move as wanting to encourage immigration because of labour shortages (post covid, that is). Between covid and Brexit the UK's population has taken a serious dive and it won't be easy anymore for EU citizens to move to the UK (There are already shortages because of that). But we also need to see how many people actually take up this offer...

37 points by undefined1 6y ago

Sounds really appealing. Going from a warm tropical climate with affordable food, good transport, relatively good social services to somewhere cold, wet, lower standard of living, and in economic turmoil.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
db48x 6y ago
Yea, that warm tropical climate really cancels out the tyranny.
- kepler1 6y ago
  Tyranny in whose opinion? Seems something like 7M don't think so, or not enough to take anyone up on the offer.
cltsang 6y ago
Hong Kong is the antonym of affordable.
- kepler1 6y ago
  Housing-wise yes, agreed. But London is hardly affordable either.
  - tshanmu 6y ago
    UK is much bigger/different/more affordable than London. Tfa article talks about a family moving to York.
RavlaAlvar 6y ago
Food is actually cheaper in UK It’s subjective but I personally find UK’s cold wet weather much more tolerable than HK’s moist and hot summers and winters actually feel colder in HK. HK’s public medical system is no better than the NHS. As for standard of living , you are joking, right?
- kepler1 6y ago
  I will say standard of living is a bit subjective. But my personal opinion is that having lived in the UK, I never saw a people living so poorly, yet thinking they're rich.
  - RavlaAlvar 6y ago
    > I never saw a people living so poorly, yet thinking they're rich. This quote is definitely better for describing people in HK who live in their 30m^2 apartment that cost USD$700000 than those in UK.
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  In terms of affordability, I've found this comparison: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Hong+Kong https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_resu... It would probably be fairer to compare Hongkong with London because the UK is obviously a large country (compared to HK, essentially a single city). The UK has some nice places but also many ghastly ones (it has both the wealthiest and most deprived areas in Western Europe). London is different from the rest of the country in about all aspects.

gedy 6y ago

Does anyone have insight into those leaving Hong Kong for Taiwan? Seems a good relocation aside from the sabre rattling from China.

jchonphoenix 6y ago
Extremely rare. Taiwan and Hong Kong are very different places beyond both being ethnically Chinese. Singapore is the preferred alternative given cultural and business similarities.
- wahern 6y ago
  According to this 2020 poll significantly more (4x) people reported interest in moving to Taiwan than Singapore: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/08/hong-kong-exile-taiwan-first-choice/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/08/hong-kong-exile-taiwan-... Do you have any numbers regarding actual emigration numbers? I can't seem to find anything recent. In terms of political and cultural history Singapore is much more like Hong Kong. But it's 2020, not 1990; times have changed. I'd like to see real numbers.
  - cltsang 6y ago
    Great info in the article. I wonder if there's data segmented by age group. As a Hongkonger myself, I'd say culturally we are more like Taiwan than Singapore. We don't really see culture influences from Singapore here. I'm not sure if they export any at all. In contrast, we enjoy Taiwan pop songs, TV shows, and movies a lot. And Hong Kong-Taipei has long been one of the world's busiest plane routes[0]. Taiwan's economy is growing, but Singapore definitely benefits most from Hong Kong's downfall. MNCs have already started migrating Asia HQ to Singapore. So I suspect ambitious young professionals, who wish to stay in Asia, will follow the flow of capital and opportunities to Singapore, whereas others will choose Taiwan. [0] https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3422162 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3422162
mytailorisrich 6y ago
Taiwan, the Republic of China beaten by the communists on the mainland, does not make it easy for people from Hongkong (a territory claimed by the Republic of China and arguably under repression by communist forces) to relocate, quite the opposite, that's why the numbers are small. Make that what you will.

app4soft 6y ago

Politics migration started in 2020: Hong Kong > UK Belarus > Lithuania[0] [0] https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1206694/lithuania-readies-for-potential-refugees-from-belarus https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1206694/lithuania-r...

simonblack 6y ago

I wonder how long it will be before the signs on rentals will be saying things like 'No chinks' Like on the signs shown below from the past, and some more recent ones saying "No Poles": Britain is quite small, so if a good proportion of those Hong Kong people who are eligible for resettlement in Britain take up the offer, that sudden influx of work-seekers will swamp the jobs available. https://miro.medium.com/max/633/1*nzLs1GoUFhR05vBwI3bwdQ.png https://miro.medium.com/max/633/1*nzLs1GoUFhR05vBwI3bwdQ.png https://keepcalms.com/p/no-irish-no-blacks-no-romanians/ https://keepcalms.com/p/no-irish-no-blacks-no-romanians/ https://images.ctfassets.net/pjshm78m9jt4/403874_9/545657cf7ea884a6fe94eccdcbbb1a74/importedImage403874_9?fm=webp&fit=fill&w=585&h=329&q=80 https://images.ctfassets.net/pjshm78m9jt4/403874_9/545657cf7...

mytailorisrich 6y ago
You can also interpret this move as wanting to encourage immigration because of labour shortages (post covid, that is). Between covid and Brexit the UK's population has taken a serious dive and it won't be easy anymore for EU citizens to move to the UK (There are already shortages because of that). But we also need to see how many people actually take up this offer...