Political Reasons for Hong Kong Mass Movement to Canada - Case Study Example

14th April Introduction Mass movement to Canada emerged due to political or historical, economic, educational and social factors. In reference to the historical factors, this paper aims at discussing the implication of British and Chinese government who at one time ruled Hong Kong. The immigrants wanted to move to Canada to avoid political violence that emerged during the demonstrations in Hong Kong as the citizens resisted the harsh ruling. The paper will look at the emergence of Asian financial crisis that resulted to poor performance of the Hong Kong economy. This resulted to loss of jobs. Thus, the immigrants were in need of job opportunities in Canada to increase their incomes. The demand for quality education was another notable issue that made the Hong Kong to migrate to Canada. While the late 19th century immigrants came in the nation building era, and possessed little, Majority of the Hong Kong immigrants came as laborers and farm workers and their labour power was a vital source permitting the termination of vast, labor intensive, construction projects in addition to the exploitation of Canada abundant minerals as well as agricultural resources (Akenson 378). Political reasons for Hong Kong mass movement to Canada Hong Kong became the British colony after being ruled by China for quite a number of years. As the result of its strict political policies in 1860, British acquired Kowloon Peninsula, an area that forms the southern part of the territory of Hong Kong. This was later followed by leasing of the New Territories to the Britain by the Chinese government. Around 1996, when the lease was close to expiring, there was an arrangement to transfer power back to the Chinese, an aspect that created uncertainty for Hong Kong future. The negotiations that took place between Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping resulted to the formation of Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 (Ronald and Xiaohu 24). of Sino-British Joint Declaration indicated that Hong Kong was now a special administrative region under the rule of China after 1997, an arrangement that China referred to as “One country, two systems” (Wong 27). However, it is worth to note that the political transition that took place in the country was not smooth. For example, the Sino-British Joint Declaration did not provide adequate details on the rules and structure of the Hong Kong government. Chinese and British governments were differing on the issues covered in the declaration. Similarly, there was a dispute between the Hong Kong residents and the Chinese government officials on the level of democracy that should be allowed in the country. Economic reasons for the Hong Kong movement to Canada Hong Kong economy was poorly performing as compared to Canada. After the mass migration to other countries due to political instability in Hong Kong, the British government sent Chris Patten, the last governor in 1992. Chris introduced policies that ensured higher degree of democratization, strategies that were met by strong resistance from Chinese officials who viewed it as a way of undermining their authority. This was followed by reverting of Hong Kong to Chinese rule under Tung Chee-hwa. In turn, the Asian financial crisis occurred immediately (in 1997) making Hong Kong’s economy to suffer tremendously for quite a long time (Champion 16). Even though Hong Kong had quite a number of educated young people, the poor Chinese leadership and lack of proper economic policies resulted to a poor performing economy resulting to limited job opportunities. In turn, young and middle aged individuals migrated to Canada to seek for jobs thus increasing their incomes. Another related issue was the high cost of housing. As the result of lack of inadequate financial resources, majority of Hong Kong residents could not afford good houses in the country. Canada had a well-managed economy that provided proper houses, thus making the country attractive for the Hong Kong citizens. The immigration generated a class-oriented movement since it favored the rich. Individuals with low income were not only face difficulties travelling to Canada, but they could also not have the ability to get good housing in Canada. Canada migration laws Canada became attractive destination due to its non-restrictive migration laws. For example, in 1985, Canada changed its policies thus resulting to admitting business immigrants through the expansion of Business Immigration Programme. Even though the political handover was a crucial driving force of emigration to Canada, immigration policies of the destination countries were also vital elements in reaching at the migration decision. For example, the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act of 1981, denied the right to make Hong Kong residents as British citizens. Even though this rule was tried to be rectified by the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act of 1990, that provided its nationality to over 50,000 Hong Kong residents, China refused to recognize their British citizenship making the applications to be few. This policy entailed admitting the investors, entrepreneurs, and self-employed individuals. Despite the strict migration regulations that emerged in Canada afterwards, the country remained viable avenue for the Hong Kong middle class individuals (Avery 46). The brain drain phenomenon was evident due to the large number of skilled professionals and businessmen who left Hong Kong to Canada. One aspect about the power handover was that even though it seemed to affect everyone, the economic class immigrants were more affected as compared to the family class. This was based on the fact that during the Canada post-1997, rapid decline in immigration of the family class was not observed. Social factors resulting to mass movement to Canada Canada is the home to global leading research institutions. The public funded provincial education system provided ample development opportunities not only for the local residents but also for the immigrants. According to Henry Yu, a history professor at the University of British Columbia, "The Hong Kong immigrants were really a new kind of Canadian, they were educated, spoke English and middle class or wealthy. They werent going to start out as pizza delivery men and working in Chinese laundries “(The Vancouver Sun). The well renowned research universities made the Hong Kong immigrants to access quality education in the areas of arts, and trade apprenticeship among others. Some of the renown institutions that provided good learning opportunities for the immigrants included University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, York University, and Queens University. One of the universities that immigrants were enrolled in large numbers was the University of British Columbia. Competition existed between Canadians and Hong Kong immigrants making the Canadians to complain that the immigrants were too competitive. The immigrants created revenue for Canadian government since they had to pay for the services that were offered making the gross domestic product of Canada to increase. As part of her studies in the field of museum studies, my aunt went to Canada from Hong Kong in order to undertake her studies in Master of Museum Studies (MMSt) in the University of Toronto. The second factor that made citizens of Hong Kong to move to Canada was the wrong perception of their country and the believe that Canada would provide a long lasting solution to their demand for education (Liu, Wang and Chang 31). The middle class individuals did not want their children to be exploited and thus they opted to migrate to Canada to look for job or get better education instead of working in Hong Kong industries (Butenhoff 23). Other immigrants believed that education from abroad was the best and the local education that was offered was not worthy to them making them to move in large numbers. This was based on the fact that significant number of residents was not educated and they were working as laborers in the industries making the few educated to move to Canada (Liu, Wang and Chang 40). Others believed that Canada was a country that had been industrialized early and thus had the potential to offer jobs that were well paid and working fewer hours and in good working conditions.    Canada attractiveness for immigrants As the political uncertainties in Hong Kong continued in 1990s, majority of the residents chose to move to Canada due to the various opportunities that Canada provided as compared to other destinations. As compared to US where fixed quotas deterred the immigrants to enter the country, Hong Kongers were free to settle in Canada since the latter offered a point system that allowed immigrants to arrive as long as they had desirable factors including graduate degrees, extensive training, financially able to initiate new businesses and language ability (Anderson 156). From 1991 to 1996, more than 30,000 people immigrated annually to Canada, with most of them settling in Vancouver and Toronto. This was based on the well-established Chinese communities in these two regions who were ready to welcome the immigrants from Hong Kong. Another notable aspect that made Toronto the best place to settle for the immigrants is that it is the set for the stock exchange and a financial center. In this way, the business communities noted an opportunity that they would utilize to expand their investment portfolio. As a well-established city with proper governance system in place, Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities globally (Bassler 37). In this way, the immigrants did not experience any kind on discrimination from the local residents thus making the city to be more populous thus attracting more people in the towns. Ontario is not only an economic hub, but it is also known for the natural diversity. These included vast forests, Great Lakes and beautiful provincial parks. The natural diversity is complemented by cultural diversity that immerged from the high level of immigration in addition to the society that embraced tolerance and multiculturalism (Davis 45). Significant section of the Hong Kong immigrants were holding diversified skills in addition to the education qualification. Ontario cities on the other hand attracted artists, entertainers and other intellectuals from Hong Kong and other parts of the world (Champion 16). As a result, the region produced wealth homegrown talents that made the place more comfortable and attractive for the immigrants. With a high foreign-born population, Toronto provides a taste of the world where majority of residents would like to visit or settler down. Improved standard of living especially in Ontario made Canada to be an attractive destination for Hong Kongers. On average people residing in Ontario earn the highest incomes in Canada. Even though some of the costs of living are high, the region offers mandatory minimum wage of more than $10 made the residents to have the ability to access basic needs (Dreisziger 67). Similarly, Ottawa and Toronto provided perennial favorites as the world’s most livable towns. As compared to other towns, the cities have high level of safety and cleanliness making them top destination for immigrants. As far as residential housing is concerned, major cities in Canada offered expensive housing markets. For example, a house in the city of Ottawa is above $366,000 while in Toronto it stood at more than $567,000. However, the higher incomes earned by the local residents and the immigrants offset the higher costs of housing. Another major aspect that made Canada to be attractive to the immigrants was the availability of employment opportunities. For example, Ontario which is the economic heart of Canada has various types of industries. The solid manufacturing base in the province and information economy made it an important destination for the Hong Kong immigrants especially the one who were graduates. On the other hand, Ottawa is the seat of the Canadian government. With most of the federal ministries being located in the province, the region attracts businesses as well as global organizations (Avery and Bruno 134). The auto industry, which is the major international manufacturing sector in Ontario, provided a significant source of employment. The new plants and technologies that the Canadian authority established in 1990s also provided employment opportunities for the Hong Kong immigrants. The long established mining sector in Canada that included nickel and iron made the country to be attractive for Hong Kong immigrants. As the result of expansive investments and improved gross domestic product in Canada, the local as well as immigrants enjoyed increased income and wealth. The immigrants who could not afford houses in Hong Kong could now comfortably settle in Canada. Immigration decisive factor Given the fact that immigrant came to Canada for economic, political and educational opportunities, I think the decisive factor since not all of the immigrants came to Canada was economic opportunities. Without improved Hong Kong economy, it was not possible to improve education or even attain political stability. Conclusion Mass movement of Hong Kong citizens to Canada was due to various reasons. Apart from the political reasons such as the British Joint Declaration, the transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China, the immigration was triggered by poor economic performance in Hong Kong. Canada offered suitable climate for investors an aspect that was achieved by initiating flexible migration laws. The most important factor that I think made Hong Kongers to move to Canada was to seek for employment. Political instability in Hong Kong rendered the economy to be unstable thus creating limited employment opportunities. Despite the high population in Canada, the country expansive investments and stable economy made the immigrants to get jobs. As a result, their disposable income increased resulting to a higher purchasing power. It is worth to note that as the result of improving economy of Hong Kong, Hong Kongers are recently been noted to be leaving Canada. Professor Henry notes states that "Its not even a debate anymore. The days of Hongcouver are history. People are embracing Asia now." According to the Canadian immigration statistics, more than 65,000 Hong Kong residents have left Canada by 2011. The reverse migration is also due to improved quality of life in Hong Kong and to join family and friends. Works Cited Akenson, D. The Historiography of English-Speaking Canada and the Concept of Diaspora: A Sceptical Appreciation. Canadian Historical Review 76, no.3 (1995): 377-409. 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Lexington Books. Hong Kong, 2004. Print. Read More