Integration Based on Socio-economic Status? Everyday Interactions and Boundary (Un)making Between Mainland Skilled Professionals and Locals in Hong Kong

Abstract

Scholars and the Hong Kong government are concerned about the social, economic, and cultural integration of new mainland Chinese immigrants (NMCIs) into local society. Research on NMCIs’ integration difficulties in Hong Kong has largely focused on one-way permit-holder migrants from China — who are less skilled and face discrimination and problems with integration based on differences in human capital — while overlooking other NMCI groups, such as mainland skilled professionals (MSPs) who may have different social integration experiences and receive different treatment from locals. Drawing on interviews with 48 MSPs and local Hong Kongers, this article investigates three questions: (1) What do interactions between MSPs and locals look like in the workplace and other social settings? (2) Are specific stereotypes of the other group changed or reproduced through boundary-making/unmaking processes, and if so, how? (3) What kind of integration are MSPs pursuing, do they face barriers to their integration? If so, how do they react to the barriers? The findings contribute to international migration literature by highlighting that, with the decreasing need for migrants to integrate into the host society, the high socio-economic status of skilled migrants does not weaken their boundaries with locals but instead reinforces them. Socio-economic status, along with language, political/ethnic identity, and cultural differences, thus divides highly skilled migrants from mainland Chinese workers and local Hong Kongers.