Hongkongers

Hongkongers (Chinese: 香港人), Hong Kongers, Hongkongian, Hong Kongese,[13] Hongkongese,[14] Hong Kong citizens[lower-alpha 2] and Hong Kong people are demonyms that refer to the citizens and nationals of Hong Kong. The terms also typically refer to residents of the territory of Hong Kong, although they may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory.

For the local Cantonese dialect, see Hongkongese.

Hongkongers
香港人
Total population
c. 7.413 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Hong Kong7,413,070[2]
 Mainland China472,900[3]
 United States330,000[4]
 Canada213,855[lower-alpha 1][6]
 United Kingdom145,000[7]
 Taiwan87,719[8]
 Australia86,886[9]
 Macau19,355[10]
 Netherlands18,300[11]
 Japan18,210[12]
Languages
Hong Kong Cantonese (94.6%),
Hong Kong English (53.2%),
Mandarin (48.6%)
Religion
Non-religious with ancestral worship, Christianity, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, minority Islam and other faiths
Related ethnic groups
Cantonese people, Macau people, Hoklos, Hakkas, Teochew people, Shanghainese people, Tankas
Hongkongers
Chinese香港人
Traditional Chinese香港人
Simplified Chinese香港人
Demographics and culture of Hong Kong
Demographics
Culture
Other Hong Kong topics

The earliest inhabitants of Hong Kong are indigenous villagers such as the Punti and Tanka, who have 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 Hong Kongers are of Han Chinese descent. Many are Yue–speaking Cantonese peoples and trace their ancestral home to the adjacent province of Guangdong.

The territory is also home to other Han 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 percent of Hong Kong's population.[16]

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 word Hongkonger first appeared in the English language in an 1870 edition of The Daily Independent, an American-based newspaper.[17] In March 2014, both the terms Hongkonger and Hong Kongese were added to the Oxford English Dictionary.[18][19][20]

In contrast, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of American English adopts the form Hong Konger instead.[21][22] 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.[23][24] The Companies House of the UK government similarly added Hong Konger to its standard list of nationalities in September 2020.[24]

The aforementioned terms all translate to the same term in Cantonese, 香港人 (Cantonese Yale: Hèung Góng Yàhn). 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
Main article: Hong Kong residents

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.[lower-alpha 2] Hong Kong does not require applicants for naturalisation to take a language test to become a permanent resident.[25] 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.

Ethnicity and background
"Hongkonger ethnic group" is manually written in the questionnaire of the 2018 New Zealand census.
Main articles: Demographics of Hong Kong, Languages of Hong Kong, and Religion in Hong Kong
See also: Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, Punti, and Sze Yap people in Hong Kong

According to Hong Kong's 2021 census, 91.6 per cent of its population is ethnically Chinese,[26] with 29.9 per cent having been born in mainland China, Taiwan or Macau.[26] 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 Rebellion[27][28] 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.[29] 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,[30][31][32][33] 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.[34]

Ethnic minorities

In addition to the Han Chinese supermajority,[26] Hong Kong's minority population also comprises many other different ethnic and national groups, with the largest non-Chinese groups being Filipinos (2.7 per cent) and Indonesians (1.9 per cent).[26] 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 Pakistanis, who respectively made up 0.6 per cent, 0.4 per cent, and 0.3 per cent of Hong Kong's population in 2021.[26] Smaller diaspora groups from the Anglosphere include Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders. There are also small pockets of East Asian communities such as the Japanese and Koreans living in Hong Kong. Southeast Asian communities such as the Thais and Vietnamese.[30][35][26] In 2021, 0.8 per cent of Hong Kong's population were White, many (48.9 per cent) of whom resided on Hong Kong Island, where they constitute 2.5 per cent of the population.[26]

Hong Kong population by ancestral origin (1961-1981)
Ancestry 1961 1971 1981
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Hong Kong260,5058.3185,6994.7124,2792.5
Guangzhou and Macau1,521,71548.62,072,08352.62,455,74949.2
Sze Yap573,85518.3684,77417.4814,30916.3
Chaozhou257,3198.2391,4549.9566,04411.4
Other parts of Guangdong244,2377.8250,2156.4470,2889.4
Fujian, Taiwan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang178,6265.7235,8726.0351,4547.0
Other parts of China43,6441.448,9211.2103,5312.1
Foreigners49,7471.667,6121.7100,9062.0
Total3,129,6483,936,6304,986,560

Languages
Proportion of Population (5+) Able to Speak Selected Languages[36]
2006[36] 2011[36] 2016[36] 2021[26]
 %  %  %  %
Cantonese 96.5 95.8 94.6 93.7
English 44.7 46.1 53.2 58.7
Mandarin 40.2 47.8 48.6 54.2
Hakka 4.7 4.7 4.2 3.6
Hokkien 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.1
Tagalog 1.4 1.7 2.7 2.8
Chiu Chow 3.9 3.8 3.4 2.8
Bahasa Indonesia 1.7 2.4 2.7 2.5
Japanese 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1
Shanghainese 1.2 1.1 1.1 0.8

Religion
Estimated number of adherents in Hong Kong by religion[37][38]
Region2008200920102011201220132016 2021
Buddhists> 1 million> 1 million> 1 million> 1 million> 1 million> 1 million> 1 million > 1 million
Taoists≈ 1 million≈ 1 million≈ 1 million≈ 1 million> 1 million> 1 million> 1 million > 1 million
Protestant320,000320,000480,000480,000480,000≈ 500,000500,000 500,000
Catholics350,000350,000353,000363,000363,000368,000384,000 401,000
Muslims220,000220,000220,000220,000270,000300,000300,000 300,000
Hindu40,00040,00040,00040,00040,00040,000100,000 100,000
Sikhs10,00010,00010,00010,00010,00010,00012,000 12,000

Cultural identity
Further information: Culture of Hong Kong and Opinion polling on Hong Kong identity

Hong Kong culture is primarily a mix of Chinese and Western influences, stemming from Lingnan Cantonese roots and later fusing with British culture due to British colonialism (Jyutping: jyut6 jing1 wui6 seoi6; Traditional Chinese: 粵英薈萃).

From 26 January 1841 to 30 June 1997, Hong Kong was formally a British Dependent Territory.[lower-alpha 3] English was introduced as an official language of Hong Kong during British colonial rule, alongside the indigenous Chinese language, notably Cantonese. 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 still participates in the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. Moreover, Hong Kong also has indigenous people and ethnic minorities from South and Southeast Asia, 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, Hong Kong has continued to develop a unique identity under the rubric of One Country Two Systems.[39]

After the handover of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong surveyed Hong Kong residents about how they defined themselves. 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.[40]

Diaspora
Further information: Hong Kong Australians, Hong Kong Canadians, Hongkongers in the Netherlands, Hong Kong people in Shanghai, Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong Americans, and Emigration from Hong Kong

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 such as Canada, the United Kingdom. and United States. Most Hong Kongers living outside of Greater China form a part of the larger overseas Chinese community. The migration of Hong Kongers 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 following the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests and the United Kingdom's enactment of the BNO visa scheme.

See also

Diasporic communities in Hong Kong

Culture

Notes
  1. The following figure is the number of Hong Kong-born Canadians living in Canada, as reported in the 2021 Canadian Census. However in 2001, it was estimated that there were 616,000 Hong Kong Canadians residing in Canada, Hong Kong, or elsewhere.[5]
  2. Formally, there is no "Hong Kong citizen", with the terminology being used to denote a permanent resident of Hong Kong. Permanent residents of Hong Kong typically hold citizenship from China or from another sovereign state.[15]
  3. From the 19th century to 1983, British Dependent Territories were referred to as Crown Colonies. Several years after the handover of Hong Kong, British Dependent Territories were renamed British Overseas Territories.

References
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  2. "2021 Population Census – Hong Kong Resident Population, Persons Present in Hong Kong at the Reference Moment by Category of Residents and Year". Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  3. "Enhanced Method for Compiling Statistics on Hong Kong Residents Having Resided / Having Stayed Substantially in the Mainland" (PDF). Census and Statistics Department, Government of Hong Kong. March 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  4. "Archived copy". www.ocac.gov.tw. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "僑委會全球資訊網" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2012.
  6. "Immigrant population by selected places of birth, admission category and period of immigration, 2021 Census". Statistics Canada. 26 October 2022. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  7. "Country-of-birth database". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Archived from the original on 25 April 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
  8. "臺灣地區居留外僑統計". 統計資料. 內政部入出國及移民署. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  9. "2016 Census Community Profiles: Australia". www.censusdata.abs.gov.au. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  10. "Population Census – Official statistics". Statistics and Census Service, Government of Macao Special Administrative Region. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  11. "CBS Statline". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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  24. "List of nationalities". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  25. Lai Tung-kwok (22 May 2013). "Application for naturalisation as a Chinese national". Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.; quote: "However, it has to be pointed out that the knowledge of the Chinese language is only one of the factors to be considered. This does not imply that applicants who do not know Chinese will be refused, nor will those who know Chinese necessarily be eligible for naturalisation as Chinese nationals. ... At this stage, we have no plan to institute examinations similar to those used by some foreign countries in handling naturalisation applications."
  26. "2021 Population Census". Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
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  37. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  38. "Religion and Custom" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  39. Lilley, Rozanna. [1998] (1998) Staging Hong Kong: Gender and Performance in Transition. University of Hawaii. ISBN 0-8248-2164-5
  40. "Categorical Ethnic Identity". Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
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