Nepalis in Hong Kong

More than 80% of Nepalese are working in elementary occupation.[6]

The Nepalese in Hong Kong mainly live in Yau Tsim Mong area (33.2% of Hong Kong's Nepali population, and 2.4% of the district's population being Nepali) and Yuen Long area (33.9%; 0.8%).[6] As Kowloon Park was a main military camp for the brigade from Nepal, as well as Shek Kong in Yuen Long, they chose to live nearby after they left the camp. Some of them live in Wan Chai where they first arrived; in fact their communities spread out to more districts nowadays.

Nepalese mainly live in tenement houses. As they would prefer staying together, they would divide a flat into rooms. They rarely choose public housing, as they would be dispersed to different districts. Another reason is the time of public housing application is too long, even they can succeed, and they would be arranged to remote areas. Thus, public housing is not their preference for housing.

The Nepalese speak different languages of their own ethnicities, which are divided by different lineages; they learn their own languages before they speak Nepali. Apart from their national languages, they speak English and Cantonese less fluently. Although the elder generation was born in Hong Kong, their proficiency in Cantonese remains poor. Some would attribute the problem to the prohibition of learning or communicating with locals in the military camp. Restriction of learning Cantonese was a measure of the British to stabilize the military force.

In Hong Kong, there was few newspapers in the Nepali language. Everest Media Limited has published Everest Weekly since May 1, 2000, Sunrise Group published Sunrise Weekly from 2005 and Great Perfect Limited published Ethnic Voice Weekly (bilingual) since 1 May 2011. It carries both Hong Kong and Nepal news. It focuses local Nepalese activities. But now Sunrise Weekly & Ethnic Voice already stopped to publish where Everest publishing irregularly.

In the school year of 2009/10, the Hong Kong Government has selected 17 primary schools and 9 secondary schools located in different main areas of Hong Kong that are designated for receiving intensive on-site support to enhance the learning and teaching of non-Chinese students.[7] However, most Nepalese parents encounter difficulties in applying for school places since they cannot get access to official information .[8] Instead, Nepalese parents often search for information within their own community.

As there is no special arrangement for Nepalese students in the school allocation system, their choice is limited to those mentioned schools for non-Chinese students. The mother tongue teaching policy for native-level Cantonese speakers was implemented in 1998. At that time, the policy dramatically reduced the number of English medium of instruction (EMI) secondary school.[9] The rest of the EMI schools are either highly competitive or relatively expensive. Thus, those schools that are lower level are often the choices left for Nepalese children. Other than studying in Hong Kong, some Nepalese parents would send their children to receive cheaper education in Nepal until university graduation.

After Nepalese students graduate from secondary school, choices of enrolling in local tertiary education are limited, since most of the tertiary institutions and programs require passing Advance level (matriculation) or Advance Supplementary (AS) Chinese Language and Culture examination. The Chinese Language in General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations (GCSE) that they mainly take is always not accepted, as the examination does not meet the basic standards of those tertiary institutions.[10] It is extremely hard for Nepalese to enroll in local tertiary education.

Although the Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau has designed special teaching material for ethnic minorities for the last 10 years, students still find it difficult to learn Chinese. As this is a second language to them, students would have poorer engagement and achievements in learning .[11] Meanwhile, the Education Bureau does not seem to have modified the teaching materials according to their learning abilities and needs, the materials adopted are often lack of experts’ support and teachers’ trainings .[12]

Nepalese students can enjoy similar welfare with locals. They can apply for financial assistance in education like School Textbook Assistance and Student Travel Subsidy Schemes, though the relevant information may not be sufficient to all Nepalese. In terms of language education, there are no special Chinese language classes provided by the school unless they fail in the exams. Instead, some NGOs organize Chinese language and adaptation classes to assist them[13] while the Home Affairs Department offers short-term tutorials to them. Hong Kong Integrated Nepalese Society Limited, a non-profit charitable organization which was known by HINS operated Home Affairs Department's Nepalese Community Support Team project from 2006 to 2016. Under this project HINS provide Cantonese tutorial classes for Nepalese primary level students. Even though after 2016 HINS has no more project but still this organization helping Nepalese community through various classes and training which help Nepalese to integration into local community. ( www.hinslimited.org )

As the GCSE Examination in Chinese is not broadly accepted in Hong Kong society for its perceived low standard,[10] the Nepalese graduates are often not qualified for jobs like civil servant jobs or disciplined services. The requirements on the Chinese certificates and proficiency of written Chinese are often significant barriers for them, even though some of them could speak and listen to Cantonese very well. On the other hand, those academic qualifications granted in Nepal are also not accepted by employers. Thus, with no guarantee and support on their academic qualifications, they can hardly enter any professions.

In January 2009, a homeless Nepalese (named Limbu Dil Bahadur) was shot dead by a policeman.[14] The policeman arrived to deal with a nuisance complaint about the man, who had been sleeping rough on a hillside in To Kwa Wan. Claiming that he was attacked, the policeman fired two shots and the Nepalese was dead. After that some media conjectured that the incident was caused by language problem. However, two days later, the media found that the Nepalese was born in Hong Kong and he could speak Cantonese. Mainstream media based on the 2-3 minute video clip[15] and reported this news to a discussion about "illegal snake being damaging to social security" and claimed that they were in Hong Kong to "seek cash". Other newspapers even had a headline "courageous police officer shot dead a hillside villain". Nevertheless, some media such as Ming Pao and Economic Daily quoted from a hiker who said that he never perceived the homeless dangerous to others. Subsequently, the courts ruled that the man was lawfully killed.

The mainstream media tend to stereotype the Nepalese in Hong Kong as "lazy vagrants."[16] The media tend to depict the negative side of them,[17] with relatively fewer reports on their contributions to Hong Kong society.[18]

There were no local policies protecting the rights for Nepalese until 2008. In July 2008, an anti-discrimination law The Race Discrimination Ordinance (RDO) was enacted and it has come to operation since 10 July 2009.[19] From the RDO, " it is unlawful to discriminate, harass or vilify a person on the ground of his/her race". Yet there has been a number of criticisms on the ordinance, for instance, only the part ‘Discrimination and Harassment in Employment Field’ has been implemented so far.[20] Also, the direct involvement of ethnic minorities in legislation was relatively low,[21] due to insufficient promotion of the Bill during its consultation period.

Though they are always not recognized as "Hong Kongers", the Nepalese are still eager to contribute to Hong Kong society.[22] In fact they would like to be hired as police officers or firefighters, though their not understanding the local language may, justifiably, limit their opportunities. (On the other hand, those who have proficiency in languages such as Nepali in addition to Chinese and English will be prioritised for recruitment by the police.[23]) Nepalese are relatively organized compared to other minority groups in Hong Kong. Gurkha Security Services Limited launched various kinds of talks and workshops on workers’ policies. Besides, the Nepalese in Hong Kong did have several times of demonstrations due to different kinds of issues, for example the demand of democracy in their country,[24] and demand an apology for the fatal shooting by a police officer of a Nepalese man, as mentioned above.[25]

• Census and Statistics Department, Thematic Report- Ethnic Minorities. (2001)
• Frost, Stephen. Building Hong Kong: Nepalese Labour in Construction Sector, Journal of Contemporary Asia;2004; Academic Research Library
• Lao, Christy Ying.& Krashen, Stephen. (1999)Implementation of Mother-Tongue Teaching in Hong Kong Secondary Schools, Some Recent Reports, Discover, Oct
• Loper, Kelley. (2001)Cultivating a Multicultural Society and Combating Racial Discrimination in Hong Kong
• Loper, Kelly. (2004) Race and Equality: A study of Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong's Education System, Centre for Comparartive and Public law and Unison Hong Kong-for ethnic Equality
• McInerney, Dennis M. (2010) The Role of Sociocultural Factors in Shaping Student Engagement in Hong Kong: An ethnic minority perspective, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Institute of Education
• Sautman, Barry. (2006) Hong Kong as a semi-ethnocracy: "Race", migration and citizenship in a globalised region, ‘Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong’, London: Routledge, p. 122
• 少數族裔關注組， 「對少數族裔兒童教育情況的意見及建議」，2006年1月。
• Thapa, Chura Bahadur (2017). Understanding Secondary School Nepali Students' Identities and Investment in Learning English and Chinese (Cantonese) in Hong Kong (PhD Dissertation). The University of Hong Kong.
• Thapa, Chura Bahadur (2018).Ethnicity, language-in-education policy and linguistic discrimination: perspectives of Nepali students in Hong Kong. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development,Volume 39, 2018 - Issue 4, Pages 329-340 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01434632.2017.1389947)
• Thapa, Chura Bahadur (2019). Nepali students' identities and investments in learning English and Chinese (Cantonese) in Hong Kong: An ethnography inquiry. In Gube Jan and Gao Fang (Eds.), Education, Ethnicity and Equity in the Multilingual Asian Context. Pages 33-49. Springer.

• Civil Service Bureau, Common Recruitment Examination and Basic Law Test (n.d.)
• Retrieved April 9, 2010, from http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/recruit/cre/949.html
• Education Bureau, Education For Non-Chinese Speaking Children (n.d.) Retrieved April 9, 2010, from. http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_4405/information%20notes-%20ncs_8%20oct%202009%20(for%20uploading).pdf
• Education and Manpower Bureau, Education and Support Service for non-Chinese speaking children(2006) Retrieved April 9, 2010, from http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_4782/ncsc%20leaflet%20-%20(english)16_6_06.pdf
• Equal Opportunities Commission, Race Discrimination Ordinance and I (n.d.) Retrieved April 11, 2010, from http://www.eoc.org.hk/EOC/GraphicsFolder/showcontent.aspx?content=Race%20Discrimination%20Ordinance%20and%20I
• Hong Kong Gurkha (Nepal) associations (2007) Retrieved April 9, 2010 http://www.gurkha.com.hk/index.html
• Hong Kong Police Force, Entry Requirements (n.d.) Retrieved April 9, 2010, from http://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/15_recruit/er.html
• Race Discrimination Ordinace, The Government of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Gazette, Retrieved March 26, 2010, from, http://www.gld.gov.hk/cgi-bin/gld/egazette/gazettefiles.cgi?lang=e&year=2008&month=7&day=18&vol=12&no=29&gn=29&header=1&part=1&df=1&nt=s1&newfile=1&acurrentpage=12&agree=1&gaz_type=ls1
• Simpson, Aislinn:Gurkhas win High Court battle to stay in UK. (2008). Retrieved April 10, 2010, from,
• 「種族歧視立法諮詢 論者稱豁免條款寬鬆」，本地教會，3168期，http://kkp.catholic.org.hk/lo/lo3168.htm
• 龍緯汶︰「香港少數族裔舉行勞工講座」，2009年四月六日。
• http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/lwmlung/article?mid=1322
• 葉蔭聰︰「我今天與尼泊爾朋友一起上街」，2006年4月23日。http://www.inmediahk.net/node/107259

• 2,000 march over fatal police shooting. South China Morning Post March 30, 2009
• Officer describes fatal shooting of Nepali, China Daily (Hong Kong). September 15, 2009
• 「少數族裔不懂中文搵工難 」，《星島日報》，2009年8月12日
• 「探射燈：康文署公園變露天賭場」，《東方日報》，2010年1月25日
• 「膚色異 態度異 少數即弱勢」，《經濟日報》，2009年8月25日
• 「警員何文田開槍案擊斃巴籍漢 」，蘋果動新聞，2009年3月18日 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlErqSFnn7s&feature=player_embedded
• 「尼人被歧視薪低工時長」，《頭條日報》，2009 年10月12日
• 李靜敏︰「南亞移民工人的默默承受 」，《公教報 》，2010年3月7日
• 練乙錚︰「論種族歧視條例的四大爭議」，《信報》，2008年7月10日
• 余鳳明︰「警員學非華裔習俗減誤會」，《星島日報》，2010年2月22日。