Belongingness of mainland Chinese immigrants' youth in Hong Kong: A case study of mainland Chinese immigrants' youth who graduated from same secondary schools

This study attempts to explore the belongingness of these Mainland immigrant youths after living for more than 7 years. The different definitions of the politics of belonging affected their emotional ties to Hong Kong, which in turn had an impact on their belongingness.

This study revealed that place of birth influenced some immigrant youths in establishing their belongingness. As their identity are inherent, they were reluctant to claim their belonging to Hong Kong, but to the mainland China. At the same time, it also leads to their less attachment to Hong Kong, not the place but the resource, treating Hong Kong as a borrowed place and not thinking of Hong Kong as home. However, some other immigrant youths became attached to Hong Kong after living Hong Kong for 7 years and regarded Hong Kong as their home. Although they were also attached to the mainland as it was the place where they grew up, their emotional ties with Hong Kong had a positive impact on their belongingness. The positive emotional connection to Hong Kong brought them closer to Hong Kong and created place attachment with Hong Kong.