ABSTRACT
A conclusion to this volume is hardly appropriate as migration from Hong Kong is a fast-changing phenomenon. By the time this assessment appears in print, many of the conditions may have changed, rendering any conclusion obsolete. Over the last five years, we have seen dramatic shifts. From an area of major public and official concern between 1988 and 1990, migration has, by 1993, become virtually a non-event as far as public opinion and policy are concerned. Paradoxically, the information provided in these chapters has clearly shown that the numbers of people leaving Hong Kong up to 1992 did not decrease: in fact, more people left in 1992 than at any other time during the recent past. It has been the perception of the migration that has changed, and emigration has been overtaken in the public eye by the Patten proposals for electoral change.
