Sharp Edges, Fuzzy Categories and Transborder Networks: Managing and Housing New Arrivals in Hong Kong
Author(s)
Smart, Alan
Abstract
The sharp edges of inclusion or exclusion from citizenship are in contrast with the complex webs of transnational networks and interactions. The return of colonial Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty posed great challenges for citizenship categories. The definition of the right of abode in the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s constitution, resulted in very large numbers of people who could claim this right, as many as 1.67 million. These numbers reflect the complex history of social relationships across the Hong Kong/ China border. Despite high levels of socio-economic integration, the border still sharply restricts movement from China to Hong Kong, and this combination of integration and separation generates a complex dynamic, reflected in part in the right of abode controversy. The Hong Kong administration has overturned a court ruling in order to preserve restrictions on migration into Hong Kong by those accorded the right of abode, setting off intense public debate. Those mainlanders who do manage to enter Hong Kong face a variety of challenges, the most crucial of which is obtaining affordable accommodation in a city with among the highest housing costs in the world. New arrivals are excluded from eligibility for public housing, which accounts for over half of Hong Kong’s housing stock, while private housing is among the world’s most expensive.
