Hong Kong Canadians


Hong Kong Canadians are Canadians who were born in Hong Kong, hold permanent residency in Hong Kong, or may trace their ancestry back to the city. In Canada, the majority of Hong Kong Canadians reside in the metropolitan areas of Toronto and Vancouver. Many Hong Kong Canadians continue to maintain their status as a Hong Kong residents.
Most Hong Kong-born Canadians are ethnic Chinese, though some choose to eschew their "Chinese" identity due to a variety of reasons. Hong Kongers often trace their ancestry to Chinese under different Cantonese, Hakka, Hoklo and Toisan cultural groups.
The largest wave of immigration to Canada from Hong Kong occurred during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as a result of the uncertainties concerning the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997. In the decades that followed the handover of Hong Kong, a number of Hong Kong Canadians have moved back to the city. As of 2014, Hong Kong has the highest concentration of Canadian citizens in Asia, with approximately 300,000 Canadian citizens of all ethnic backgrounds living in the city.

History

Most Hong Kong Canadians are immigrants and their descendants who have settled in Canada since the late 1970s. However, earlier immigrants could be traced back to the early 19th Century when Hong Kong became a British crown colony, when a number of Hongkongers migrated to North America, including Canada. In addition, a minority of Hongkongers also migrated to Canada during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed, with the then British territory becoming a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. Many people in Hong Kong therefore feared for losing their freedom and prosperity under the impending Chinese rule. Their fear and worries were proved to be correct by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Crackdown, which in turn sparked off a large emigration wave to the Anglophone world between 1980s to early 2000s. One of the most popular destinations chosen by Hong Kong emigrants of the time was Canada, where thousands of Hongkongers settled in Greater Toronto and Metro Vancouver. The immigration of Hongkongers to Canada peaked in 1994, with 44,271 Hong Kongers migrating to the country in that year alone.

21st century

The early 21st century, however, saw a "reverse migration" of Hongkongers, with a number of Hongkongers who migrated to Canada prior to the handover returning to the city during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many of those who returned to the city did so for financial opportunities. The resulting "reverse migration" saw the number of Hong Kong-born Canadians drop from 1996 and 2011.
However the trend reversed again during the 2010s, with the number of Hong Kong-born Canadians living in Canada increasing between 2011 and 2016 Canadian census. Hong Kong-born Canadians who moved back to Canada in the 2010s cited several reasons for returning to Canada, which include a variety of personal reasons, as well as political reasons relating to the Hong Kong-Mainland China conflict. The increase in the number of returning Hong Kong-Canadians has also been attributed to those who are returning to retire in Canada, after they moved back to Hong Kong for employment in the late 1990s. In addition to returning Hong Kong-born Canadians, 2016 also saw a spike in the number of new Hong Kong migrants who became permanent residents in Canada.

Demographics

According to the Canadian Consulate General in Hong Kong, there are 500,000 people of Hong Kong descent in Canada. The 2016 Canadian census reported that only 215,775 Canadians residing in Canada were born in Hong Kong. The number of Hong Kong-born Canadians living in Canada peaked in 1996, with 241,095 Hong Kong-born Canadians reported in that year's census. Between 1996 and 2011, the number of Hong Kong-born Canadians dropped as many Hong Kong-Canadians chose to return to Hong Kong during the 2000s. From 2011 to 2016, the number of Hong Kong-born Canadians residing in Canada increased again.
In 2006, among the 790,035 speakers of any of the varieties of Chinese, 300,590 were speakers of Cantonese. According to 2001 statistics, 44% of the Cantonese speakers were born in Hong Kong, 27% were born in Guangdong, the Chinese province where most Hongkongers have their ancestral roots, and 18% were Canadian-born. Among the Cantonese speakers who were born in Guangdong, a large percentage are Hong Kong immigrants.
This community, along with the Canadians living in Hong Kong, plays a dynamic role in building vibrant bilateral relations between Canada and Hong Kong.

Canadians expatriates in Hong Kong

Hong Kong boasts the second-largest community of Canadians living abroad, second only to Canadians residing in the United States. There are approximately 300,000 Canadians living in Hong Kong in 2011. A number of these Canadian expatriates originated from the Hong Kongers who migrated to Canada prior to the handover of the city. A number of Hong Kongers eventually returned to the city after acquiring Canadian citizenship.
A 2011 report from the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, found that the majority of Canadians living in Hong Kong have only resided in Canada for four or five years. However,
seven in 10 Canadians living in Hong Kong have family living in Canada; with more than 60 per cent of Canadians living in the city stating they have plans to return to Canada at some point in the future. The same study also found that 46 per cent of Canadians living in Hong Kong considered Canada their home "sometimes" or "all the time," while 37 per cent of Hong Kong-born Canadians stated they would "never" consider Canada home.
Canada's presence in Hong Kong is also reflected by the presence of Hong Kong-Canadian associations, such as the Chinese Canadian Association, established in 1989 and the Canadian University Association, which now acts as an umbrella group for some twenty Canadian university alumni associations active in Hong Kong today.