Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Hong Kong | 7,184,000 in mid-2013[1] |
Canada | 500,000[2] |
China | 472,900[3] |
United States | 219,231 |
United Kingdom | 96,445 |
Australia | 86,886 |
Macau | 19,355[4] |
Netherlands | 9,935 |
Languages | |
Cantonese (native language), English | |
Religion | |
Non-religious with Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and other faiths | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Cantonese people, Macanese people, Hakka people |
Hong Kong people | |||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 香港人 | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Transcriptions | |
---|---|
Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Xiānggǎng rén |
Hakka | |
Romanization | hiong1 gong3 ngin2 |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Hèunggóng Yàhn |
Jyutping | Hoeng1gong2 jan4 |
Hong Kong people (Chinese: 香港人), also known as Hong Kongers or Hong Kongese, are people who originate from or live in Hong Kong. Besides their use to refer to Hong Kong residents, these terms may also be used more loosely to refer to those who may not be residents, but have lived in the city for an extensive period of time or have a strong cultural connection with Hong Kong. The terms have no legal definition by the Hong Kong Government; more precise terms such as Hong Kong Permanent Resident (Chinese: 香港永久性居民; Cantonese Yale: Hèunggóng Wínggáusing Gēuimàhn) and Hong Kong Resident (香港居民; Hèunggóng Gēuimàhn) are used in legal contexts. However, the words "Hongkonger" and "Hong Kongese" were officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in March 2014.
Hong Kong people do not comprise one particular ethnicity, and people that live in Hong Kong are independent of Chinese citizenship and residency status. The majority of Hong Kongers are of Chinese descent and are ethnic Chinese (with most having ancestral roots in the province of Guangdong); however there are also Hong Kongers of, for example, Indian, Filipino, Nepalese, Indonesian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, and British descent. Expatriates from many other countries live and work in the city.
During the years leading up to the 1997 handover of sovereignty from Britain to China, many residents left Hong Kong and settled in other parts of the world. As a result, there are groups of Hong Kongers that hold immigrant status in other countries. Some who emigrated during that period have since returned to Hong Kong. Due to China's "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong is a highly autonomous region and operates largely independently of China, having its own passport, currency, flag, and official languages (Cantonese and English instead of Mandarin). Furthermore, due to increasing social and political tensions between Hong Kong and Mainland China and desinicisation in the territory, a recent poll found that an estimated of less than 20% of Hong Kong citizens currently identify themselves solely as Chinese, 38% identify themselves solely as a Hong Konger, and the largest group (43%) identify as a Hong Kong Chinese.