Hong Kongers

Hongkongers (), also known as Hong Kongers, Hong Kongese, Hongkongese, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people, typically refers to residents of the territory of Hong Kong; although may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory.

The earliest inhabitants of Hong Kong are indigenous villagers, who have lived in the area since before British colonization. The majority of Hongkongers today are descended from Han Chinese migrants from mainland China, most of whom are Cantonese and trace their ancestral home to the province of Guangdong. However, the territory also holds other Han Chinese subgroups including the Hakka, Hoklo, Teochew (Chiuchow), Shanghainese, Sichuanese and Taiwanese. Meanwhile, non-Han Chinese Hongkongers such as the British, Filipinos, Indonesians, South Asians and Vietnamese also make up six per cent of Hong Kong's population.

Terminology

The terms ''Hongkonger'' and ''Hong Kongese'' are used to denote a residents of Hong Kong, including permanent and non-permanent residents. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 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'' of American English 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 of the UK government similarly added ''Hong Konger'' to its standard list of nationalities in September 2020.

The aforementioned terms all translate to the same term in Cantonese, 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. 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 have no 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).

Formally speaking, 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 applicants for naturalisation to take a language test to become a permanent resident. However, Hong Kong migrants and residents are assumed to understand their obligation under Article 24 of the Hong Kong Basic Law to abide by the laws of Hong Kong.

Diaspora

Mainland China holds the largest number of Hong Kong expatriates, although the Hong Kong diaspora can also be found in Taiwan and several English-speaking countries. Most Hongkongers living outside of Greater China form a part of the larger overseas Chinese community. The migration of Hongkongers to other parts of the world accelerated in the years prior to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, although a significant percentage returned. Another emigration wave occurred after the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests and the United Kingdom's enactment of the BNO visa scheme.

Ethnicity and background

According to Hong Kong's 2016 census, 92 per cent of its population is ethnically Chinese, with 32.1 per cent having been born in Mainland China, Taiwan or Macau. Historically, many Chinese people have migrated from areas such as Canton to Hong Kong, for example in the 1850s–60s as a result of the Taiping RebellionJohn 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, a form of Yue Chinese, 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 and Shandong, as well as members of other Han Chinese subgroups such as Hakka, Hokkien, 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.

Ethnic minorities

In addition to the Han Chinese majority, Hong Kong's minority population also comprises many other different ethnic and national groups, with the largest non-Chinese groups being Filipinos (1.9 per cent) and Indonesians (also 1.9 per cent). 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. South Asians include Indian, Pakistani, and Nepalese, who respectively made up 0.4 per cent, 0.3 per cent, and 0.2 per cent of Hong Kong's population in 2011. Smaller groups include Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Japanese, Koreans, Russians, Vietnamese and Thais. In 2011, 0.8 per cent of Hong Kong's population were European, many (53.5 per cent) of whom resided on Hong Kong Island, where they constitute 2.3 per cent of the population.

*Hong Kong includes:：Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, Tanka people, Hakka people
*Guangzhou and Macau includes: Humen, Cixi, Zhongshan, Hua County, Wanshan Archipelago