Focus
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Shehzhen City |
Background
With the increasing socio-economic ties between the Mainland and Hong Kong, there is an observable trend of more Hong Kong people living and working on the Mainland. According to a number of surveys previously conducted in Hong Kong, Shenzhen is the most preferred place for residence and working by Hong Kong people on the Mainland. To have a better understanding of the latest situation of Hong Kong people taking up residence in Shenzhen, and their socio-economic ties with Hong Kong, the Planning Department and the Shenzhen Municipal Statistics Bureau (SZMSB) jointly commissioned the ‘Survey on Hong Kong People Living in Shenzhen’ in 2008.
This was the first joint effort of the two authorities. The fieldwork was mainly co-ordinated by the SZMSB in Shenzhen, and completed in September 2008. A total of 4 200 households with member(s) being Hong Kong people [1] (a total of 6 900 Hong Kong people) were successfully enumerated. The survey report was released in August 2009.
Living in Shenzhen
According to the survey, there were a total of 40 731 households in Shenzhen comprising Hong Kong people who had taken up residence in Shenzhen (a total of 61 865 people). The majority (80%) of them were concentrated in Futian, Lo Wu and Longgang districts.
Among them, 65.8% were male and 34.2% female, with respective median ages at 43 and 35. There were significant differences in terms of the characteristics between male and female. For example, most of the males (59.2%) were born in Hong Kong, whereas the majority of the females (69.1%) were born on the Mainland. The proportion of employed males (70.8%), on the other hand, was nearly 1.5 times more than that of the females (27.2%).
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80% of Hong Kong people having taken up residence in Shenzhen
concentrated in Futian, Lo Wu and Longgang districts. |
Economic activity
In terms of the status of economic activity (for those aged 15 and over), employed persons represented 57.2% (28 061 persons) whereas retirees accounted for 22% (10 801 people). A significant proportion of the employed people (66.6%; 18 700 people) still took Hong Kong as the main place of work (i.e. the Hong Kong group) while only 29.2% (8 186 people) worked in Shenzhen (i.e. the Shenzhen group). There were, however, differences between these two groups in terms of their occupation, industry sector and educational attainment. While the Shenzhen group was mainly managers and administrators (37.6%; 3 081 people) and service workers and shop sales workers (15.7%; 1 289 people); the Hong Kong group was mainly service workers and shop sales workers (20.2%; 3 773 people) as well as plant and machine operators and assemblers (20%; 3 736 people). On the level of education, 38.6% (3 156 persons) of the Shenzhen group had attained tertiary education or above, as compared to only 16.2% (3 037 people) of the Hong Kong group with such a level of education attainment. It is, however, interesting to note that the median salary of the Hong Kong group (RMB 10 198) was slightly higher than that of the Shenzhen group (RMB 9 154).
Reasons for taking up residence in Shenzhen
It is noted that of the more than half (18 976) of those Hong Kong people having taken up residence in Shenzhen who were married, their spouse was a Mainland resident at the time of marriage. The popularity of cross-boundary marriages among such Hong Kong people aside, this phenomenon also appears to be consistent with the most commonly cited reason for taking up residence in Shenzhen, i.e. ‘reunion with parents/spouse/children’ (70.1%). Other than this, ‘lower cost of living’ (25.1%) and ‘place of work or study in Shenzhen’ (25.1%) were also the common reasons for residing in Shenzhen.
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Reunion with family members was the most commonly cited reason
for taking up residence in Shenzhen.
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Socio-economic ties with Hong Kong
In respect of the socio-economic ties with Hong Kong, slightly more than half (33 118) of such Hong Kong people did not have a usual home base in Hong Kong. Yet, they do visit Hong Kong frequently. Up to 94% of them had visited Hong Kong during the past six months, and more than half of them even returned to Hong Kong at least once a week, mainly to visit relatives and friends (56.3%) and work in Hong Kong (32.8%). Despite such a high frequency of visiting Hong Kong, the survey’s findings suggested that these people did not rely much on Hong Kong’s health care services or its sports and recreational facilities. Some 60% and 80% of them had never utilised Hong Kong’s health care services and its sports and recreational facilities respectively during the past six months.
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Over half of the Hong Kong people having taken up residence in Shenzhen visited Hong Kong
at least once a week, mainly for visiting relatives and friends and working in Hong Kong.
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Education
Among those Hong Kong people having taken up residence in Shenzhen who were students (10 106 people), 40.7% were receiving education in Hong Kong and 59.1% on the Mainland. At the time of survey, more than half (5 421) of the prospective students or students currently not studying in Hong Kong (10 368) intended to return to Hong Kong for their education in the future.
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More than 40% of the Hong Kong people residing in Shenzhen
were students receiving education in Hong Kong. |
Conclusion
With the continuous development of the Mainland economy, the rapid expansion of the cross-boundary transport network and the further implementation of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, there will be greater interaction between the people of the two sides. The trend of Hong Kong people taking up residence in Shenzhen will also continue. It is worthwhile for the relevant authorities both in Hong Kong and Shenzhen to pay greater attention to the implications of such a trend and the issues that may emerge, such as the demand for cross-boundary infrastructure, housing, school places, public services, and to review relevant policies as appropriate.
(Full report is available at the Planning Department web site at http//www.pland.gov.hk)
[1] For the purpose of the Survey, ‘Hong Kong people’ is defined as persons holding Hong Kong Identity Cards, or other travel documents issued by the Government of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region such as Re-entry Permits, Document of Identity and Passports. For ‘Hong Kong people having taken up residence in Shenzhen’, this refers to those
Hong Kong people who had resided in Shenzhen for 3 months or more during the 6-month period before enumeration. |
