Adapting Well in the UK, Thank You Very Much

The change of lifestyle is a welcome one for many HKers

Some pro-Beijing media are trying to find the narrative that Hongkongers who migrated to the UK have had a tough time surviving, with a recent survey that revealed 52 percent of the 2,000 BN(O) holders interviewed were unemployed and 47 percent worked in jobs that barely matched their work experience and skills.

But when other Hongkongers there were interviewed, many of them said that while they might be making less money, they are happier with their work-life balance, and their children are enjoying school.

Many were making less money that was exacerbated by inflation. One man named Jeffrey Lau said he and his family had a better lifestyle in Hong Kong as their double income allowed them to go out to eat more, but living in a small northern English town called Dewsbury meant his seven-year-old daughter had a less stressful education and didn't need to commute three hours to and from school.

He said less academic stress meant his daughter learned more in a year in the UK than in Hong Kong. Can you even put a price on that?

Another, 59-year-old Walter Cheung used to work in a high-end hotel in Hong Kong and in the UK was a food packer and then a restaurant waiter.

"I don't care [that it is a step backwards]. In Hong Kong, I would regularly work overtime, with no extra pay," he said. "Here, I'm asked if I want overtime, and I'm paid for it."

Cheung has even improved his health by losing 7kg. 

He was surprised by the survey as Cheung found there were lots of jobs available and the government assisted people to find work.

Meanwhile Paul Leung, a freelance delivery driver who used to have an office job, is adapting to his new life well. He is even making more money than he did in Hong Kong and spend more time with his wife and child.

"I need to look after my family, I need to accept this. It is not like I can starve to death," Leung said. "You have to adapt to people's culture when you go to another country. You also need to accept new things when you leave your own comfort zone."

Well said.

How about celebrating people's achievements instead of trying to find failures? That's the true Lion Rock spirit.

More Babies Born in UK than HK

Fewer people having babies in Hong Kong these days

In another sign that Hongkongers are leaving the city in droves is the birth rate... which has increased in England and Wales. Almost 2,000 babies were born in these two places as opposed to the parents' hometown, due to migration using BNO pathways.

"When the young people left, they also took their fertility to other places," said Paul Yip Siu-fai, a population expert at the University of Hong Kong. "We are very likely to fall into a low-fertility trap and have little chance of escaping it."

The red line shows birth rate, black death rate

Britain's Office for National Statistics revealed the number of newborn babies with at least one parent from Hong Kong rose from 1,568 in 2019, to 1,602 in 2020, 1,665 in 2021 and 1,953 last year.

The figures were for England and Wales, while Scotland and Northern Ireland record their own statistics.

The BNO migration pathway came into effect after the national security law was implemented in 2020. Successful applicants and their dependants can live, work and study in the UK for up to five years, and then are eligible to apply for citizenship. 

Between January 2021 and June this year, 176,407 Hong Kong applications were approved, a 97 percent success rate.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the number of births plunged from 52,900 in 2019 to 43,000 in 2020, 37,000 in 2021, and only 32,500 last year, a decline of almost 40 percent over four years.

Yip urges govt to help families

In addition the total fertility rate, the number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, also fell to 0.8, the lowest in the world. The rate should be 2.1 for a population to replace itself.

Yip says Hong Kong's falling birthrate is due to "a basket of reasons."

He urged the government to give baby bonuses and provide families with more childcare support, and emphasised the need to improve the education system.

This is not news... Yip has been sounding the alarm for years, while Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu says he is looking into it...

Hearing Chris Patten's Thoughts on HK

Patten (left) and Vines have a good chat over dim sum

Green Bean Media was started by former Hong Kong journalists who have migrated to the UK and want to keep reporting on news about their hometown.

They have followed people making the big move to the UK as well as developments in the 47 defendants charged in allegedly subverting the state for organising primaries, and Cantonese food.

Their latest video has garnered a lot of attention because it's an interview with Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong. One might assume members of Green Bean Media were terrified of interviewing him themselves so they rounded up fellow exile journalist Steve Vines to do it.

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoA8iMymy8c&t=561s

And they aptly arranged to have the video interview in a cha chaan teng in London. The small cafe pulled out all the stops, giving "Fat Pang" the opportunity to eat some HK-style food, including his favourite egg tarts.

Patten's book on HK

Personally doing food interviews, it seems rude to eat while someone is asking me questions, but Patten seems very happy to dig into the dishes even as Vines is asking him something! 

The 29-minute video focuses on Patten's thoughts about Hong Kong in his book called The Hong Kong Diaries, from his personal diaries he kept when he was governor from 1992 to 1997.

In it he says foreign secretary and ambassador to Beijing Percy Cradock believed Patten should not have caused so much trouble trying to fight for democracy for Hong Kong, that he should have just done his five years as governor and then left quietly.

"He wrote the Chinese leaders may be thuggish dictators, but they're men of their word," recalls Patten. "We know that they were thuggish dictators, but one thing we know for certain is that they weren't men of their word."

Patten remembers speaking to British and Hong Kong businessmen who believed the average person was not interested in democracy, only in making money, and yet these elites had foreign passports tucked in their back pockets. 

"It was always interesting when I looked at some of my critics just to think through what they would do if things went wrong," he says.

Cradock believed Chinese would keep their word

He adds some of them have since passed, but did not reveal any of their names in the interview, which he should have done for the record.

Meanwhile Vines shares a conversation he had with a friend back in Hong Kong, as they previously believed through crises like SARS and the economic downturn that the city would bounce back, but this time they didn't have this optimism anymore.

"I think the reason why he and you are more pessimistic now is what the Chinese Communist Party wants is Hong Kong without Hongkongers," Patten says. "Maybe you have a city but you don't have a thriving city, you don't have a city with any heart."

He talks about how young people from Hong Kong come up to him and ask if they should go back and Patten says he has no answer. While he has seen from history authoritarian states have disappeared at the snap of fingers, he doesn't know when that will happen in China. 

Vines mentions the BNO scheme, that has allowed over 140,000 Hongkongers to migrate to the UK with the possibility of settling there permanently.

Patten believes it is successful because people understand the plight of Hongkongers, and that they will be a boon to the UK economy.

Patten in Hong Kong on June 30, 1997 

The former governor cites the example of meeting one man in his late 20s who had just qualified to become a doctor and was on his way to a job interview with the local health authority in Oxford. 

"People from Hong Kong will make this a more successful country," he says. "They will be strong members of civil society."

He adds sardonically that perhaps the UK should thank the Chinese for giving them all these Hongkongers.

Vines' plight is also worth highlighting. He was a well known correspondent in Hong Kong, was the founding editor of the Eastern Express newspaper and Spike magazine, a commentator and interviewer on RTHK and author.

But after the national security law was implemented in July 2020, Vines began feeling the pressure of watching what he was saying and doing, even though he had written a book about the 2019 protests.

While he says in the video he found it unhealthy to be constantly watching his back, Vines did receive calls hinting it would be best if he left Hong Kong.

Within months he sold his food business and his flat in Sai Kung, packed up 34 years' worth of possessions and moved back to the UK in July 2021. 

Vines was well known commentator on RTHK

He is active in the Hong Kong community in the UK and says there isn't a day where he isn't talking to someone from the city or writing about it.

What comes through most in the interview is Patten's genuine love of Hong Kong and its people, and how he has carried the burden of wondering if he had done enough for them since 1997.

Which is why he is constantly advocating and doing whatever he can from his privileged perch, from writing to the Prime Minister about Jimmy Lai, to greeting migrants settling in their new home.

But once the interview is over, that good food can't go to waste, and Patten reaches over to pick up a slice of pork belly with his fingers.

More HKers Leaving Continues for Third Year

Children under 10 have biggest drop, followed by those in 20s

In yet another sign that Hong Kong is seeing more people leave the city, its population has dropped for a third consecutive year, with a net outflow of 60,000 residents to 7.33 million in 2022.

According to official figures released on Thursday, the population dipped 0.9 percent from the year before, and births were a record low to 32,500. About 62,100 deaths were recorded in 2022, outweighing births by 29,600.

Send-offs all too common at the airport everyday

The net outflow of 60,000 residents as reported by the Census and Statistics Department indicates emigration from Hong Kong continues. This compares to 27,300 in 2021, when countries like the United Kingdom and Canada introduced dedicated pathways for Hongkongers.

The Hong Kong government would only say people left Hong Kong for various reasons including work, study and migration.

"The breakdown of figures is not available. Hong Kong residents travelling abroad are not required to declare to the government their purpose of travel. Therefore, the government does not have direct statistics on emigration of Hong Kong residents," the Census and Statistics Department said.

According to the UK Home Office earlier this month, 144,500 Hongkongers have successfully applied for British National (Overseas) visas to settle in the UK since the scheme's launch in 2021.

Countries like the UK welcome Hongkongers

Canada has seen nearly 17,400 get work permits or extensions since the start of the scheme since February 2021 until October 2022.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has launched a global campaign to attract top talent to Hong Kong, with a special visa for those who earn HK$2.5 million or more annually and graduates from the world's top 100 universities with relevant experience. So far 10,810 applications were received nearly two months after the launch.

It's elitist to think Hong Kong only needs these top tier talent -- it also needs the general workforce too... even if you attract top CEOs and such, who's going to executive their brilliant plans?

Patriotic Astronauts Need Only Apply

People from Hong Kong and Macau can apply for a space job

It's very intriguing that only now is the Chinese government inviting people from Hong Kong and Macau to apply for a position in the national space program -- and yes being a patriot is a requirement.

The job is for a payload expert, a scientist or engineer who manages highly complex or classified onboard equipment and carries out scientific activities, such as astronautical measurements.

A key requirement is to be a "patriot"

Male or female candidates must be between the ages of 30 and 45, be 1.62-1.75 metres tall for men, and 1.6-1.75 metres tall for women. The Hospital Authority will also confirm their physical fitness.

Applicants must have a doctoral degree and at least three years of relevant work experience, such as life sciences, material sciences, physics, chemistry, psychology, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering or astronomy.

But perhaps more importantly, the candidates must be Chinese nationals who are permanent residents, and are patriots -- along with their family members who adhere to the "one country, two systems" policy, as well as uphold state and local constitutions.

When asked what would happen if someone was a British National (Overseas) visa holder would be eligible, Hong Kong's technology minister Sun Dong replied screening would be done according to established procedures, without defining the patriot requirement.

"For applicants who want to give up their foreign identities and participate in the program, I think I will leave it to the vetting committee to handle," Sun said.

Sun isn't sure if BNO holders qualify for the job

Perhaps it was not a question they had anticipated...

Does anyone in Hong Kong and Macau fulfil all those requirements? It's possible but probably very slim pickings. The height requirement alone will eliminate a number of people! 

It's interesting China picked this time to recruit people from Hong Kong and Macau -- why not earlier? This would have been an excellent opportunity to not only discover new talent, but also bring them into the fold and give the next generation a possible path into the space industry.

But maybe better now than never?

Canada Second Most Desirable for Study for Hongkongers

After the UK, Canada more popular for higher education

Canada has beat the United States and Australia to become the second most popular destination for higher education after the United Kingdom.

Previously it was the UK followed by Australia, the US and then Canada.

But after the Canadian government last year announced new ways for Hongkongers to emigrate in Canada, 6,365 Hong Kong residents were granted student visas, just behind the 6,511 student visas issued by Britain.

Hongkongers looking for ways to leave the city

Canada used to be the least popular of the four countries for Hongkongers to study abroad. Only about 2,500 were granted Canadian student visas each year, from 2018 to 2020, making up about one-fifth of the total student visas issued by the four countries.

Australia was popular because geographically it was closer, and the United States for its quality education, but perhaps the racial attacks against Asians and the rise in gun violence may have played a role as well. 

This latest news will be a boon for the Canadian education sector from kindergarten to post secondary, as being a student who graduates in the last three years can be granted permanent residency; they can also gain residency after graduating from post-secondary school in Canada or abroad, and has one year's work experience in Canada.

Interest in these two new pathways grew as a result. Last year, nearly 2,300 Hong Kong residents gained permanent residency, a newly 50 percent increase compared with the pre-pandemic total of just over 1,500 permanent resident landings in 2019.

Growing interest in HKers to come to Canada

In addition, in 2021, 10,143 Hongkongers and those holding BNO passports obtained a Canadian work permit. This compares to only 931 people who got work permits in 2019.

It's good to see the Canadian government stepping up and offering opportunities for young Hongkongers -- and middle-aged ones too -- who need a fresh start and a good education to move ahead in their careers as they settle down in their new home.