Hongkongers (), Hong Kongers, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people are

demonyms A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a Cultural group, group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (Hamlet (place), hamlet, vil ...

that refer to a resident of Hong Kong, although they may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory. The earliest inhabitants of Hong Kong were indigenous villagers such as the Punti and Tanka, who inhabited the area prior to British colonization. Though Hong Kong is home to a number of people of different racial and ethnic origins, the overwhelming majority of Hongkongers are of

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

descent. Many are Yue–speaking

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

people and trace their ancestral home to the adjacent province of

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. The territory is also home to other Han subgroups including the Taishan Yue,

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

, Hoklo, Teochew,

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

, Sichuanese and Shandong people. Meanwhile, non-Han Chinese Hongkongers such as the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Filipinos Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...

Indonesians Indonesians (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''orang Indonesia'') are citizens or people who are identified with the country of Indonesia, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There are more than Ethnic groups in Indonesia, 1,300 ...

, Thais, South Asians and Vietnamese make up six percent of Hong Kong's population.

Terminology

The terms ''Hongkonger'' and ''Hong Kongese'' are used to denote a resident of Hong Kong, including permanent and non-permanent residents. According to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'', the word ''Hongkonger'' first appeared in the English language in an 1870 edition of ''The Daily Independent'', an American-based newspaper. In March 2014, both the terms ''Hongkonger'' and ''Hong Kongese'' were added to the ''Oxford English Dictionary''. In contrast, the ''

Merriam-Webster Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the US English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), a US lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...

'' of

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

adopts the form ''Hong Konger'' instead. The form ''Hong Konger'' also seems to be preferred by governments around the world. In 2008, the U.S. Government Publishing Office decided to include ''Hong Konger'' as a demonym for Hong Kong in its official '' Style Manual''. The

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the British Government that maintains the Company register, register of companies, employs the company registrars and is responsible for Incorporation (business), incorporating all forms of Company, co ...

of the

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

similarly added ''Hong Konger'' to its standard list of nationalities in September 2020. The aforementioned terms all translate to the same term in

, 香港人 (). The direct translation of this is ''Hong Kong person''. During the British colonial era, terms like ''Hong Kong Chinese'' and '' Hong Kong Britons'' were used to distinguish the British and Chinese populations that lived in the city.

Residency status

The term ''Hongkongers'' most often refers to legal residents of Hong Kong, as recognised under

Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). With nine chapters, 160 article ...

. Hong Kong Basic Law gives a precise legal definition of a Hong Kong resident. Under Article 24 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong residents can be further classified as permanent or non-permanent residents. Non-permanent residents are those who have the right to hold a Hong Kong Identity Card, but do not have the right to abode in Hong Kong. Permanent residents are those who have the right to hold a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card as well as the right of abode. The Basic Law allows residents to acquire right of abode by birth in Hong Kong, or in some other ways. For example, residents of China may settle in Hong Kong for family reunification purposes if they obtain a one-way permit (for which there may be a waiting time of several years). As of 2024, the average waiting time for a one-way permit has been reported to range from 3 to 5 years, depending on individual circumstances and quotas set by the Mainland authorities. Formally speaking, the government of Hong Kong does not confer its own citizenship, although the term ''Hong Kong citizen'' is used colloquially to refer to permanent residents of the city. Hong Kong does not require a language or civic test for permanent residency. However, for Chinese nationality applications through naturalisation, basic proficiency in Cantonese and knowledge of local customs may be considered as part of the discretionary process. However, Hong Kong migrants and residents are assumed to understand their obligation under Article 24 of the

to abide by the laws of Hong Kong. As of 2024, discussions have emerged regarding potential amendments to clarify residency status, especially in light of geopolitical shifts and emigration trends. No official changes have been implemented yet, but reviews are ongoing.

Ethnicity and background

According to Hong Kong's 2021 census, 91.6 per cent of its population is Chinese, with 29.9 per cent having been born in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. Historically, much of the Han Chinese trace their ancestral origins from Southern China as Chaoshan, Canton, Taishan,

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

, and

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. For example, in the 1850s–60s as a result of the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

John Thomson 1837–192
Chap on Hong Kong
, Illustrations of China and Its People (London,1873–1874) and in the 1940s prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Thus, immigrants from Guangdong and their descendants have long constituted the majority of the ethnic Chinese residents of Hong Kong, which accounts for the city's broad Cantonese culture. The

Cantonese language Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic languages, Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River ...

, a form of

Yue Chinese Yue () is a branch of the Sinitic languages primarily spoken in Northern and southern China, Southern China, particularly in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (collectively known as Liangguang). The term Cantonese is often used to refer ...

, is the primary language of Hong Kong and that used in the media and education. For that reason, while there are groups with ancestral roots in more distant parts of China, such as

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, as well as members of other Han Chinese subgroups, such as the

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

, and Teochew, residents who are Hong Kong-born and/or raised often assimilate into the mainstream Cantonese identity of Hong Kong and typically adopt Cantonese as their first language. Cantonese continues to remain the dominant language, spoken by 93.7% of the population in 2021. However, Mandarin has become increasingly important in daily life, with more residents speaking it due to growing ties with the Mainland. This change in linguistic trends is shaping the city's cultural future and its role within the greater Chinese-speaking world.

Ethnic minorities

In addition to the

supermajority, Hong Kong's minority population also comprises many other different ethnic and national groups, with the largest non-Han Chinese groups being the Southeast Asian community which include the

(2.7 per cent),

(1.9 per cent), as well as the Thais and Vietnamese. In 2021, 0.8 per cent of Hong Kong's population were of European ancestry, many (48.9 per cent) of whom resided on

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

, where they constitute 2.5 per cent of the population. There are long-established South Asian communities, which comprise both descendants of 19th and early 20th-century migrants as well as more recent short-term expatriates. There are small pockets of South Asian communities who live in Hong Kong including Indians, Nepalese, and

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

s, who respectively made up 0.6 per cent, 0.4 per cent, and 0.3 per cent of Hong Kong's population in 2021. Smaller diaspora groups from the

Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...

include

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

, Britons,

Canadians Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

, Australians, New Zealanders. There are also small pockets of East Asian communities, such as the Japanese and

Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...

, living in Hong Kong. *Hong Kong includes: Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, Tanka people,

Hakka people The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

*Guangzhou and Macau includes: Humen, Cixi,

Zhongshan Zhongshan ( zh, c=中山 ), alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is n ...

, Hua County,

Wanshan Archipelago The Wanshan Archipelago, formerly known as the Ladrones Islands, is a 104-island archipelago that is a part of Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai, Xiangzhou District in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China. Administration Most of the islands of the arch ...

, Nanhai, Bao'an County, Panyu, Sanshui,

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, Shilong Shunde, Dapeng, Zengcheng, Conghua,

Dongguan Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

, Huiyang *Sze Yap includes:

Kaiping Kaiping (), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized in Cantonese as Hoiping, in local dialect as Hoihen, is a county-level city in Guangdong provinces of China, Province, China. It is located in the western secti ...

, Heshan, Jiangmen, Xinhui, Taishan, Enping *Chaozhou includes:

Shantou Shantou, Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 20 ...

, Chenghai, Chao'an, Chaoyang, Fengshun, Jieyang, Nan'ao District, Nanshan, Puning, Huilai, Raoping *Other places in Guangdong include: Hainan administrative region and other places.

Languages

Religion

Cultural identity

Hong Kong culture is primarily a mix of Chinese and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

influences, stemming from

Lingnan Lingnan (; ) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern China, Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong & Macau and Northern Vietnam. Background The ar ...

roots and later fusing with

British culture The culture of the United Kingdom is influenced by its History of the United Kingdom, combined nations' history, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the individual diverse cultures of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and ...

due to British

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

(). From 26 January 1841 to 30 June 1997, Hong Kong was formally a British crown colony and later a British dependent territory, except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

between 1941 and 1945. English was introduced as an official language of Hong Kong during British colonial rule alongside the indigenous

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

, notably

. While it was an overseas territory, Hong Kong participated in a variety of organisations from the Commonwealth Family network. Hong Kong ended its participation with most Commonwealth Family organisations after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997; although it still participates in the

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is a charitable organization that was established in 1913, and has over 400 member institutions in over 40 countries across the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth.Commonwealth Lawyers Association. Moreover, Hong Kong also has

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

and

ethnic minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

from

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, whose cultures all play integral parts in modern-day Hong Kong culture. As a result, after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Hong Kong has continued to develop a unique identity under the rubric of One Country Two Systems.Lilley, Rozanna. 998(1998) Staging Hong Kong: Gender and Performance in Transition. University of Hawaii. Nonetheless, the historical memories and legacies related to legal frameworks and schooling systems, as well as the privileged status of the English language as a cultural and symbolic capital, complicate Chinese national identity despite the return of sovereignty. After the handover of Hong Kong, the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

surveyed Hong Kong residents about how they defined themselves. The number of Hong Kong residents identifying as "Hong Kongers" slowly increased over the decade of the 2010s, reaching a high watermark during and immediately following the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, with over 55 percent of all respondents identifying as "Hong Konger" in a poll conducted in December 2019, with the most notable spike occurring amongst younger residents. Following the passage of the

2020 Hong Kong National Security Law The Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a national law of China on Hong Kong national security passed in 2020. It is implemented in Hong Kong in accordance w ...

and a subsequent wave of emigrants from Hong Kong, that percentage has declined; in its latest poll published in June 2022, 39.1% of respondents identified as Hong Konger, 31.4% as Hong Konger in China, 17.6% as Chinese, 10.9% as Chinese in Hong Kong, and 42.4% as mixed identity.

Diaspora

Simultaneously, there has been an increase in the number of new immigrants from mainland China, influencing both demographic composition and linguistic trends in the city.

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

holds the largest number of Hong Kong expatriates, though the Hong Kong diaspora can also be found in

and several

English-speaking countries The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Most Hongkongers living outside of

Greater China In ethnogeography, "Greater China" is a loosely-defined term that refers to the region sharing cultural and economic ties with the Chinese people, often used by international enterprises or organisations in unofficial usage. The notion contains ...

form a part of the larger

overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese people are Chinese people, people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 milli ...

community. The migration of Hongkongers to other parts of the world accelerated in the years prior to the territory's transfer to China in 1997, though a significant percentage returned in the years following. A new emigration wave occurred following the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests and the United Kingdom's enactment of the BN(O) visa scheme.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hongkongers Demographics of Hong Kong Ethnic groups in Hong Kong Society of Hong Kong