It is notable that very few seem to have taken this path.
Yet many seem to be protesting, despite it really looking like they have hardly any chance of their protests getting anything they want.
There must be more to the story that I'm not seeing...
Yet many seem to be protesting, despite it really looking like they have hardly any chance of their protests getting anything they want.
There must be more to the story that I'm not seeing...
The professional class in Hong Kong is steadily dwindling with families going where they can or methodically planning to. Canada is most desired, then the UK, and Australia.
It takes time to find employment, a place to live, and schooling for your kids.
But the biggest factor is Covid. Politics aside, Hong Kong has been a great place to ride out the pandemic while the UK handled it abysmally. After the Delta variant and Covid as a whole subsides expect emigration to pick up.
Curiously the job market in Hong Kong is booming and I've seen an uptick in western expats arriving, so there's an appeal if you stay apolitical. Which is easy enough when it's not your home getting wiped out.
Hong Kong culture is in no small part traditional Chinese culture, which existed in that area for many years. The other part is the British cultural influence. Unfortunately, HK’s “parent entity” prior to British rule technically no longer exists; there is now a new communist country to the north. Becoming absorbed by it entails giving up valuable parts of HK’s unique culture (which includes freedom of speech); assimilating in the UK would mean giving up other parts of it. It is only natural to want neither of these outcomes.
Also there’s the no-small-matter of how they get to the UK in the middle of a pandemic with restricted flights and transit visas.