- Hong Konger's perspective -

 

The prosperous skyscrapers with shiny light decorations seem to be the heaven of freedom to all the outsiders. Yet for Hong Kong locals, they are a high-rise cage which entraps their dreams and possibilities.

 

"If you really live in Hong Kong, you will understand the pressure of being squeezed and crashed by reality, and you are only the follower of your life, not the master of it." [who said this?] In this fantasy city, even people with graduate degrees couldn't really make a difference in their life and career because of the "insane" standard of living.

 

"That's what we call losing at the start line," said Si Chen sarcastically. "It is not the point of welcoming elites or not into this city. Of course we all want the best for Hong Kong, but when people keep crowding into our place, it leaves us no place to develop while we have already been struggling all our lives." Indeed, Hong Kong is a highly competitive city and suffocates people with compelling pressure.

 

Despite the stereotype of manners and cultural differences between mainland Chinese and Hong Kongers, it's the imbalance and attitude that caused the tension. "Locals can hardly live peacefully without worries about housing and jobs. Look! Mainlanders could easily spend HK$5 million for housing just to get a better chance for their kids entering a kindergarten. That's just squeezing our resources under this imbalanced condition."

 

From the perspective of Hong Kongers, their anger seems reasonable as they encounter tremendous stress and pressure in their daily life while there are hundreds and thousands of people rushing into this city. In this ridiculous city, it is already impossible for them to fight for their future in their own place based on their effort, "You can't control it and you can't escape it," said Si.

 

For Hong Kongers, living in this stressful situation day by day, is unimaginable when we put ourselves in their shoes. "We do accept mainland students but they are just different from us, from living to working or even language. There are barriers for us to communicate. Most importantly, the situation is just unfair for us." Without any protection from the government, the imbalance even gets worse and further destroys the feeling of accommodating and understanding.

 

"I think if the government could revise the regulation to protect, or just give a little preference for locals, we won't have that anger or rejection." Living in this unescapable cage, all they wish for is peace and ease to walk through and continue their lives without continuously burning down their hope.

 

 

- A Hong Kong voyager's perspective -

 

Tunnels with yellowish light, buildings covering the skyline of the city and the racing crowd from day to night are the lively symbols of this fantasy city - Hong Kong - where most people cherish a dream for their future.

 

There are a large number of people from all over the world who want to squeeze into this busy city every year, including those from neighboring regions of mainland China and Macao, who dream about the freedom and creativity of this city, but never foresee complications caused by "cultural differences".

 

"Yet it is a good experience this year," said Elsa [she prefers not to give her surname], a master student in Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). Elsa was a communication student from Fudan University, one of the top universities in China. With all her efforts and resources, she made at HKBU and looked forward to all the freedoms and diversities. "People here aren't as I expected them to be," she said, exhaling a deep breath after the tough year.

 

From the perspective of mainland students, Hong Kong should be a place with diversities and acceptance for educated people, especially if they are within the same country. They never thought of the problem of "cultural differences". Yet this acceptance doesn't apply to them in general - the complications between Hong Kong and mainland China caused negative feelings between Hong Kong citizens and dream chasers from the mainland. "They don't generally accept us as part of their own because we are from mainland China!".

 

For mainland students, the main reason that they want to crowd into this fantasy city is because they are aware of the restrictions in the mainland, while Hong Kong is a transition place for them to seek more freedom. There is an immigration rule that for any individual who works and lives in Hong Kong for seven years, they could be granted a permanent resident identity. For those educated dream chasers, even though these seven years might be a tough torture, it is still worth it for the pay off. "It's laughable when people tease you because of their limited perspective. Just like they will tease us because we don't know the unwritten rule of not using coins in common places but in most mainland cities, we hardly bring any cash because all we use is mobile payment, even for grocery shopping in a marketplace."

 

From the perspective of Hong Kongers, welcoming more mainland students means that their welfares are being shared instead of increasing the productivity of this city - this is one of the main reasons for the dispute. "No matter how hard we tried to fight for respect, they teased us and attributed all the wrong doings caused by cultural differences as the mainlanders' fault," she continued.

 

"Sometimes you are just discriminated against because you speak Mandarin or use Alipay, but when you speak English or use Apple Pay, it is totally another case. It is funny that we both are Chinese but because of minor cultural "Chinese" differences, we are being excluded," Elsa satirized with a helpless face.

 

Indeed, the complications between Hong Kongers and mainland students become more dramatic due to the political relationship and media amplification, which have caused the pain and wounded cultural bonds of both places.

 

"Though is it tougher than I thought, I hope this situation can be resolved with my persistence, that's the insightful thought of the Hong Kong voyager," Elsa said with determination.