Hongkongers

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.[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.

"Hongkonger ethnic group" is manually written in the questionnaire of the 2018 New Zealand census.

According to Hong Kong's 2016 census, 92 per cent of its population is ethnically Chinese,[26] with 32.1 per cent having been born in Mainland China, Taiwan or Macau.[27] 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[28][29] 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.[30] 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,[31][32][33][34] 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.[35]

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: Jyut^{66 zeoi6}; 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.[40]

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.[41]

On 15 October 2019, Norwegian lawmaker Guri Melby announced that she nominated the people of Hong Kong "who risk their lives and security every day to stand up for freedom of speech and basic democracy" for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020.[42] Several months later, on 8 February 2020, eight U.S. lawmakers nominated the pro-democracy movement of Hong Kong to receive the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts to protect Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights, and the rule of law as guaranteed in the Sino-British Declaration and Hong Kong’s Basic Law.[43][44]

However, on 27 August 2020, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi cautioned against awarding the prize to Hong Kong protesters.[45]

Hong Kong diaspora:

Diasporic communities in Hong Kong:

Culture:

Miscellaneous:

• Media related to People of Hong Kong at Wikimedia Commons