Like Tree43Likes

Are you ever accepted as a local in Hong Kong?

Closed Thread
Page 4 of 5 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
  1. #31

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    HK
    Posts
    14,624

    since the other thread is back - The day you make it in the triads (as a leader) - you will be considered a local. Your nickname will be Big Nose.End of.

    shri and hullexile like this.

  2. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by si0001:
    The first question is, what is a local?
    Local is when you go out in your community and you run into all kinds of people you know and greet everyone by their first name.
    SpeakCantonese likes this.

  3. #33

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,965
    Quote Originally Posted by civil_servant:
    Local is when you go out in your community and you run into all kinds of people you know and greet everyone by their first name.
    I can happily say I was a "local" in discovery bay when I first moved to HK in the early 90s.
    civil_servant likes this.

  4. #34

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    猴山
    Posts
    23,652
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyhook:
    My main point is, how long do you have to live in Hong Kong to be eventually accepted as local?
    It really is just probability at play.

    The overwhelming majority (99+%)of expats from developed countries are transient and will leave Hong Kong. Much faster to assume you are transient than assume your permanent and be wrong 99+% of the time.
    chingleutsch likes this.

  5. #35

    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Tuen Mun
    Posts
    2,074

    I don't think any of us who are non-ethnic Chinese will ever be considered as locals at first sight (although I've had a few grannies come up to me at bus stops and ask for directions in Canto - I assume their eyesight is poor).

    But once people get over the shock of learning that I speak human language (Canto, natch), then I'm accepted as local by them.

    AbhiM likes this.

  6. #36

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    HK
    Posts
    14,624

    When they will call you: White Devil John or White Bitch Jane

    https://www.boston.com/culture/books...natown-kingpin


  7. #37

    Among the Chinese in HK, locals in the 1950s mean the Chinese with a paternal ancestor living in HK before the three parts of HK came under British rule. Most Chinese were not considered locals at that time under that definition.



    Able to read the language is a main factor.


    Almost all ads on the walls in MTR stations are in Cantonese or tradtional Chinese chracters. The
    commerical sectors of Hong Kong, large companies or small noodles or fish ball stalls, just focus on the larger group of customers able to read Chinese or understand Cantonese.

    I am usually regarded as the same as them when I goto Mainland China speaking Mandarin, or speaking Cantonese to a native Cantonese speaking Mainlander. Staff are unable to spot a difference when I can read simplified Chinese menus and speak the correct Mandarin tone of the dishes I want to order. Similarly, a korean, japanese or vietnamese with the same Chinese language skills can also be regarded as a Chinese in China.

    Quote Originally Posted by chingleutsch:
    I don't think any of us who are non-ethnic Chinese will ever be considered as locals at first sight (although I've had a few grannies come up to me at bus stops and ask for directions in Canto - I assume their eyesight is poor).

    But once people get over the shock of learning that I speak human language (Canto, natch), then I'm accepted as local by them.
    Last edited by lighthse003; 10-04-2018 at 04:50 PM.

  8. #38

    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Tuen Mun
    Posts
    2,074
    Quote Originally Posted by lighthse003:
    Able to read the language is a main factor.
    Where does that leave all the HK born people from poor/ isolated/ fisher families who grew up before compulsory education was introduced in the mid 1960s who didn't have the chance to go to school, or could maybe only attend for 2 years before heading out to work?

    I'm a lot more literate in Chinese (about P5 or P6 standard) than many of the elderly local people I come across at work.
    MerMer likes this.

  9. #39

    I know what you mean. I have older relatives that are illiterate.

    The ads in MTR stations require reading Chinese characters.

    The common definitions of the word locals in the HK Chinese community have changed over time.

    Know what are Western Fried Rice, Singaporean Fried noodles, Nai Yau Dor, Ho Lap Hak, Tung Fan.... If customers have to ask what are those in restaurants, they are not considered locals by the staff in a cha chan teng cafe. Things or cultures that are more common in HK and Macau than other Chinese speaking areas.

    Last edited by lighthse003; 10-04-2018 at 07:29 PM.

  10. #40

    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    New Territories West
    Posts
    1,359
    Quote Originally Posted by chingleutsch:
    But once people get over the shock of learning that I speak human language (Canto, natch), then I'm accepted as local by them.
    Does it bother you?

    I get treated as a local by my local friends and colleagues, people who know me, but as an expat. by people who don't...it doesn't bother me, I know I look different, I don't expect everyone to try to find ways to discover my background before addressing me...just ask, no problem.

    I find it ridiculous that people take offence at being asked 'where are you from'?
    chingleutsch likes this.