"Non-Chinese speaking students" is a collective term which refers to students of non-Chinese ethnic minorities living in Hong Kong including Nepali, Indian, Pakistan and Nigerian etc. Some of them are born in Hong Kong as their family has been living in Hong Kong for several generations. Some students and their parents are new immigrants to Hong Kong. In general, they take Hong Kong as their home ( 葉一知 , 2013) . Since they grow up in a non-Chinese speaking context, their Chinese proficiency is generally poor when compared to their Chinese peers even they are fluent in both English and Cantonese. Poor Chinese proficiency becomes a barrier to pursue further education and employment in the future (Cheung, 2015) . In addition to the language barriers, non-Chinese speaking students are often being stigmatized and discriminated for the society. Social isolation leads to further marginalization and inequality in different perspectives in terms of medical health services, cultivation of children and youth development, use of sports and Recreation and access to welfare etc ( 王家文 , 2018) .
“香港人”一詞 在中文語境中使用多年，但英語專有名詞 “Hongkonger”則是在2014年才被《牛津英語詞典》正式收錄 (South China Morning Post, 2014)。“香港人”本身並不是法定用語，在政府文件中，通常被稱作“香港居民”。香港居民包括不同類型，例如：i) 非永久香港居民是指持有香港身份證但沒居留權的人士，ii) 香港永久居民是持有香港永久居民身份證及居留權的人士，iii) 大部份港人持有中國護照及香港永久居民身份證，iv) 也有部份港人持有香港永久居民身份證但並非持有中國護照 (HKSAR, 2019) 。
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong Island in 1842, and its sovereignty was handed over from Britain to People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. For more than a hundred years in this British colony, people from mainland China and other parts of the world resided in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong people do not comprise of one particular ethnicity or nationality. After the 1997 handover, the proportion of ethnic Chinese has obviously increased, according to Hong Kong's 2016 census, 92% of its population is ethnically Chinese, with 31% were born in Mainland China, Taiwan or Macau. Among the 0.58 million non-Chinese, the largest ethnic groups in Hong Kong were Filipinos, Indonesians and Whites, constituting 31.5%, 26.2% and 10.0% of the non-Chinese population respectively, other south Asians include Indian, Pakistani, and Nepalese (HKSAR, 2017).
The Chinese term “xianggangren” has been used for years in Chinese contexts, but the English term “Hongkonger” has just recently been officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in March 2014 (South China Morning Post, 2014). The term “Hongkonger” itself has no legal definition by the Hong Kong Government. More precise terms such as Hong Kong Permanent Resident and Hong Kong Resident are used in legal contexts, in which there are different types of Hong Kong residency, such as: i) non-permanent Hong Kong residents who are people holding Hong Kong Identity Cards but they have no right of abode, ii) permanent Hong Kong residents are those holding Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards and having the right of abode, iii) most residents hold permanent Hong Kong Residents Identity Cards and Chinese passports, iv) but there are also permanent Hong Kong residents who do hold Chinese passport (HKSAR, 2019).
More than two decades after the 1997 handover, the subjective ethno-national identity of Hongkongers is still an unsettled issue. A 2017 survey showed that citizens continue to feel the strongest when identified as “Hongkongers”, then followed by a number of ethno-cultural identities, such as Asian, global citizens, Chinese, etc. The feeling of being “citizens of the PRC” is the weakest among all identity options, and this was particularly obvious in the 18-29 age group (HKUPOP, 2017).
Some scholars see that “Chinese” has always been a complex concept. Shen (2007) sees that Chinese nationalism is complicated and diverse, and it is often bottom-up, supported by mainland citizens. Zhao (2006) sees that the term Chinese has denoted multi-ethnicities and multi-nationalities since the Qing dynasty (diversity in unity, “duoyuanyiti).
(2019, 2019-03-01, December 23). 中大外籍學生大嘆學廣東話超難！扣分？求分？傻傻分不清. 香港01.
中大有外籍學生在大學Secrets專頁發文，指「香港人應知道外籍學生在學廣東話的時候，正承受些甚麼」(Hong Kongers have to know how international students are suffering to learn Cantonese)。貼文中附上羅馬拼音的漢字廣東話拼音，其他網民紛紛稱：對外國人而言太難了。 引文
(2016, 2016-07-27, January 01). 難道我們的存在就是個問題？. 明報.
(2015, 2015-03-14, January 01). 少數族裔學中文 多數困苦無出路？. 智經研究中心.
在2014年5月，在香港就讀社工課程的印度裔學生Jeffrey Andrews，到日內瓦出席聯合國經濟、社會及文化權利委員會（Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights）的聽證會，游說委員會關注香港少數族裔的平等教育權利。問題放在國際會議枱上，究竟是甚麼原因？ 引文
Cheung, F. et al. (2015). Academic and career expectations of ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 35(8), 1092–1107.
This study applied the Social-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to illustrate how academic and career expectations of ethnic minority youth are affected by their family background (i.e. parents’ occupations) and school experience (i.e. experience in learning Chinese and other activities). Their efficacy in learning Chinese is crucial to their planning and expectations on education and career. 引文
Hue, M. & Kennedy, K. J. (2013). Building a connected classroom: teachers’ narratives about managing the cultural diversity of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools. Pastoral Care in Education, 31(4), 292–308.
This study interviewed 24 secondary teachers to explore their narratives on how they cater such cultural diversities of students from East Asia and other Asian counties. It suggested further training for teachers should be focusing on flexibility in adapting different teaching strategies, reinforcing harmony and discipline in classroom as well as strengthening collaboration with families. 引文
Law, K. & Lee, K. (2012). The myth of multiculturalism in “Asia”s world city’: Incomprehensive policies for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Journal of Asian Public Policy, 5(1), 117–134.
Although the Hong Kong government tried to build its multi-cultural image to the world, the majority of local Hongkongers do not accept newcomers from South Asian due to a lack of government policy on education of local citizens as well as insufficient resources for ethnic minorities, particularly on their wellbeing and cultural identities. 引文
Law, K. & Lee, K. (2013). Socio-political embeddings of South Asian ethnic minorities’ economic situations in Hong Kong. Journal of Contemporary China, 22(84), 984–1005.
This study provided a theoretical framework to explore the economic profile of South Asian ethnic minorities in Hong Kong in terms of colonization, industrialization and globalization era. Tension between Hong Kong Chines and ethnic minorities alleviated when the colonial government developed education and important policies mainly for Hong Kong Chinese. As a result, ethnic minorities constantly encounter inequality in the labour market, which further resulted in structural inequality. 引文
