Hong Kong drifter

Hong Kong drifters (Chinese: 港漂; pinyin: gǎng piào; Jyutping: gong2 piu1) are young, educated people who left mainland China to move to Hong Kong in search of a job and a place to live. They may experience difficulty assimilating into the culture of Hong Kong, which can vary from that of mainland China. The term Hong Kong drifter was first used in China by people in Internet chat rooms. The state may be a temporary one, depending upon a person's ability to adjust to the cultural and language differences.

With the aim of attracting talented people from mainland China and the rest of the world to settle and work in Hong Kong, the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) set up admissions criteria under which applicants could be admitted to residence in Hong Kong without the prior offer of local employment required for a normal working visa.

Universities in Hong Kong began to enrol students from mainland secondary schools since 1998, aiming to absorb talent from the mainland. However, it had not aroused much attention from the society until the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology recruited three top scorers of the College Entrance Examination in 2005. Since then, a “battle” between the Universities in Hong Kong and the top universities in mainland including Peking University and Tsinghua University has become increasingly fierce. In order to win over the mainland students, Hong Kong universities provide substantial scholarships which could reaches $640,000 HK each student.

On the other hand, there are a variety of reasons that mainland students and their parents choose HK universities. One of the most crucial reasons is that Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city which provides students with international stage and views. Moreover, the tuition fees of universities in Hong Kong is more acceptable compared to that of universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other western countries. Additionally the high scholarships are appealing to the mainland students. Another essential reason that cannot be ignored is that with considerable numbers of preeminent teachers from all around the world, the quality of education is remarkable and the teaching principle is more close to the western countries. In addition, the English teaching environment and the plenty of exchange programs prepare those students who want to take a postgraduate diploma abroad with beneficial experiences, which enable them to adjust to their study more smoothly.

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