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Are you ever accepted as a local in Hong Kong?

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  1. #41

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    Quote Originally Posted by SpeakCantonese:
    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'?
    Totally agree with you.

    It's not a big deal whether locals here accept you as one of their own or not. Why would you care so much about it in the first place?

  2. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyhook:
    This is the million dollar question.

    How long do you have to live in Hong Kong, to be accepted/treated as a local on the same footing as everybody else ?
    Even if you can speak the lingua franca etc

    After spending close to 50% of my life in Hong Kong, you never really feel accepted as a local, although family did thanks to being married to a local, but elsewhere just another SaiYan.

    I find this strange compared to back home, where you just naturally assume that everyone is local ie is a citizen of the nation, first off.
    This is really interesting and it really depends on who is the judge and how you (or someone else) define a "local".

    Obviously in a country like Australia where there are lots of migrants it becomes easier for people to accept that someone who is non-Caucasian could be born and bred there or live there long time but that's not always the view of everyone.

    I'm ethnically HK Chinese but left with family many years ago. In most big cities in Australia I'd feel very comfortable and not feel that people are treating me like a foreigner. But having said that I've also had random people shout at me to "go back where you came from" (I was just driving down the street minding my own business) or well-meaningly ask me when "I'd return to my home country" after I tell them my family's from HK. And this is just an hour or two from metro Sydney/Melbourne and I have an Aussie accent.

    Funnily on the odd visits back to HK few would realise I'm not exactly "local". Except for once when I stopped to double-check where I was going and got scolded to go back to the Mainland and to stop getting in people's way. Haha.
    Skyhook likes this.

  3. #43

    It is the way things have been in HK for a long time and the way things will always be, alas. Most people in HK see westerners and assume we are here short term because, to be fair, the vast majority of us are. That said, it is rather perplexing that there is a discrepancy between how we accept ethic Chinese in our societies as locals and they rarely do the same with us. I guess it doesn’t matter how long we live here, we’ll always be gweilo. Urgh.

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  4. #44

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    Those who are mixed always say they are never accepted even after growing up here and speaking / reading / writing Chinese. No way would any foreigner ever be accepted as local!


  5. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by jaykay:
    Those who are mixed always say they are never accepted even after growing up here and speaking / reading / writing Chinese. No way would any foreigner ever be accepted as local!
    My friend's family has been here for 200 years, but due to his mixed heritage which includes Chinese people still don't think he's local.

  6. #46

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    To answer op's question- no, as this is a homogenous society and any preconceived notions of assimilation prior to my arrival on this land were quashed in no time. That's one of the reasons I don't learn/ want to learn Cantonese even though I had bought 'learn Cantonese' book before coming here and even started learning it.

    In hindsight, while growing up in NZ, I felt very kiwi and equally importantly was accepted by locals as one to a great extent.

    Being a local isn't limited to knowing the local lingua franca or having a particular accent or even gobbling local cuisines, it is much more than that. There isn't anyone to blame here, unfortunately, it's just how thinks are these days around the world.

    Last edited by Jaz Paul; 11-04-2018 at 03:07 PM.
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  7. #47

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    This is a strange question. My wife and I go to our local restaurant for yam char four or five times a week. All the staff know what kind of tea we drink, and that we like chilli sauce with our dim sum, so they just bring it without asking. I engage in banter with the cashiers every time when I come to pay.

    All my neighbours know me by name and are very friendly. The check-out girls in my local supermarket know me too. I've lived in the same village outside Fanling for ten years, and I'm allowed to vote. Yes I do feel like a local, but I am a gweilo. Should that be a problem?

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  8. #48

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    The think is....I don't feel LOCAL anywhere.I have just been in and out for so long that I am a local to my wife and kid and that's about it...and frankly I couldn't care less about race, nationality etc. I try to raise my kid this way. In my view it's healthier and it avoids you a lot of issues.

    Natfixit likes this.

  9. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyhook:
    This is the million dollar question.

    How long do you have to live in Hong Kong, to be accepted/treated as a local on the same footing as everybody else ?
    Even if you can speak the lingua franca etc

    After spending close to 50% of my life in Hong Kong, you never really feel accepted as a local, although family did thanks to being married to a local, but elsewhere just another SaiYan.

    I find this strange compared to back home, where you just naturally assume that everyone is local ie is a citizen of the nation, first off.
    No offense or challenge intended but in some places like the USA, certain physical minorities are never treated as "local" because of their accent, physical appearances etc and gets constantly asked "where are you from". Similar to a "foreigner" whose skin tones are different than the average Chinese I suppose. LOL even unintentionally like in Canada when I took a drive with my then girlfriend during university days to touristy areas and a German Canadian guy with his German Canadian accent asked "where are you guys from" assuming we are tourists instead of "locals". Not angry about it but it's tough overcoming some sort of biological nature to our way of distinguishing local vs foreign.
    Even me physically appearing Chinese, I was never considered a Chinese when I lived in the mainland.

    For me I treat someone as a local when they convince me they're not going to ditch town at the first sign of trouble lol a banana like me have quite a few foreigner friends and I categorise them to one's who have been here for a long time but still yearn to leave (not a local) and those who might have been here a short time but fell in love with the city and grew roots (physical like buying property but also intangible like you can tell they love HK and being "sent home" is something they dread), what I consider local. But that's impossible to judge when I meet someone and all I can go on is their physical appearance. Sometimes I can't control my "oh!" when I meet a Caucasian who tells me they have been living in HK longer than me but I hope they realise my surprise is a pleasant one as in OH good someone loves HK unlike even Chinese locals who keeps moaning how they hate it blah blah blah but never seem to find their way to the airport =P
    Skyhook likes this.

  10. #50

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jaz Paul:
    To answer op's question- no, as this is a homogenous society and any preconceived notions of assimilation prior to my arrival on this land were quashed in no time. That's one of the reasons I don't learn/ want to learn Cantonese even though I had bought 'learn Cantonese' book before coming here and even started learning it.

    In hindsight, while growing up in NZ, I felt very kiwi and equally importantly was accepted by locals as one to a great extent.

    Being a local isn't limited to knowing the local lingua franca or having a particular accent or even gobbling local cuisines, it is much more than that. There isn't anyone to blame here, unfortunately, it's just how thinks are these days around the world.
    Ye when the society is so much more homogenous, then it almost becomes automatic for people to assume someone is not a local HKer when they see a Caucasian face.

    I'm not sure the proportion of expats in HK who would be able to speak fluent Cantonese (or be wanting to achieve some level of fluency) and came to HK wanting to live the rest of their lives here. It's a bit of a two-way street and you can't blame the locals if expats/migrants don't put in the effort.

    Funny you mention NZ. Think someone just said the place is racist as... 'New Zealand is racist as f***' - Taika Waititi | Newshub
    And it's not long ago when people like Winston Peters were scapegoating Asian migrants....We're barely over that and now it's the Muslims...

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