"This city is dying, you know?" This sentence has become very popular since the TVB programme shown it. Before 1997, there were lots of mainland immigrants, now, there are still lots of mainland immigrants. But the difference is that the past immigrants hate the CCP and wish to integrate into the local culture, while the current immigrants do not integrate into the local culture. I believe that, in 2047, all of the Hong Kong culture will be lost and Hong Kong will be exactly the same as Shenzhen (i.e. Hong Kong will become the "South District" of Shenzhen).
There are lots of "both nots" (neither the father nor the mother are Hongkongers) who give birth to their children to Hong Kong, due to a loophole in the Basic Law. These children will receive education in Hong Kong in the regions near the border. A few years later, these families can use the excuse of "family reunion" to immigrate to Hong Kong. Therefore, the proportion of "new immigrants" are steadily increasing. Combined with the mainland visitors, they like "locusts" which infect the local culture.
In Hong Kong, mainlanders have a reputation of "low quality". It's mainly because they don't have the "manners" here. For example, they publicly shit and piss in shopping malls (check the local newspapers of details), jump over queues in MTR stations (check it yourself on the East Rail Line, especially during these days), and so on. Recently, there was a piece of news about people arguing on an MTR train due to a mainlander eating on the train which is not allowed. This piece of news spread very quickly, and a professor from the Peking University publicly stated that "Hongkongers are dogs" on TV. This, combined with the D&G incident, triggered a historical level of anger.
Back to the locals, in 1997, our first Chief Executive Tung Chee-wah introduced the "85000 policy" which helped many of us to buy a flat (and "negative assets" as well). Nowadays, the housing price has risen to the pre-1997 level but our weak government dare not to do anything to solve the problem directly. You need about $2-3M to get a decent flat in the New Territories, more in Kowloon. From the statistics, the median personal monthly income is only about $11K. How can we afford them? For public housing, it's already too much. How about rental? It costs about $6K a month and only a tiny space.
Assume that our parents have left the "ancestral house" for us (which is my case). Now comes the problem of living. As stated above, the median personal monthly income is only about $11K, which barely increase over time. However, due to the rise of the CNY and property price, the general price index is steadily increasing. Let's take the MTR as an example. In 2007, a policy that allows both increase and decrease of fares was introduce as a condition of the merger but the result is that the fare has increased for the last 2 years, perhaps for this year again as predicted. The food price increases also, because most of the food is imported from the mainland and inflation also exists there. Also, the local market is being monopolised as the rents in malls have increased to a level that only large enterprises can afford. Therefore, it's hardly possible to start a shop in some areas in order to force the prices down.
I believe that, these problems will be solved if we can choose the CE by direct election. This will be the case in 2017 hopefully. However, as the influx of mainlanders continues, they will eventually form the majority of Hong Kong Permanent Residents in the future, which will affect the result of the election.
As a secondary school graduate, I am in the process of university admission. Therefore, I am considering my prospects in addition to my interests. Going overseas is certainly too expensive for me ($20K for a year overseas vs. $20K for 4 years locally), so my only option is to finish my degree(s) here and find a chance to "escape". I'm going to study Computer Science hopefully, perhaps a double-degree with business. Can anyone here share his/her experience of how to leave his/her own country and land a job here? Or do anyone know the details of the pre-1997 mass emigration? I want to copy the method and leave this hell-hole one day.