A series of clashes in September over banners calling for Hong Kong’s independence in universities has not only rekindled a debate over the region’s relative rights to free speech and protest freedoms unseen on the mainland, they have also revealed deeper tensions between students from the city and those from the mainland.
The issues are exacerbated by anxieties among Hong Kong’s youth over a perceived loss of job prospects to their mainland peers and the chilling effect the ruling Community Party has on campus discourse.
Student spat
The student spat is one part of broader tensions surrounding Beijing’s relationship with Hong Kong as the city undergoes an increasingly tense 50-year transition to Chinese rule. Beijing created a special status known as “one country, two systems” for Hong Kong following its 1997 handover from Britain to mainland China, giving it wide autonomy and civil liberties.
In the years since then, increasing numbers of mainland students have come to the city to study, laying the groundwork for tensions.
In the last academic year, mainland students made up 76% of international students in public university programmes, according to the government,
The number of Chinese postgraduate students has doubled in the last decade, making them a much more visible presence on campuses.
“Hong Kong students think that mainland students are taking their learning opportunities and degrees from them,” said Chris Chan, an economics student at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Business connections
Many locals like Mr. Chan fear that large companies and banks are more likely to hire mainland Chinese graduates, since Hong Kongers often don’t have as many connections to the mainland-dominated business community.
The failures of the 2014 Occupy Central protests, which demanded Hong Kong’s right to elect its own leader, resulted in further disillusionment among young people.
These divisions are exacerbated by language, with Mandarin dominating in mainland China and Cantonese in Hong Kong. For some Hong Kong youth, simply hearing someone speak Mandarin can be infuriating.