ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two groups of gangpiao and beipiao, who crossed the Hong Kong (HK)–China border. It provides preliminary findings of the drifting experiences of Beijingers in HK and Hong Kongers in Beijing. The chapter examines the contrasting treatments that the two groups received in the two cities. It examines how informants perceive and survive their migration experiences. The chapter explains that Hong Kongers generally enjoyed their perceived superiority and cultural adventures in Beijing, while mainland drifters survived different challenges with a more sophisticated vision of self-development or an eventual determination to integrate and settle down. The proliferation of the gangpiao phenomenon began in 1998 when Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, for the first time, announced that the HK government wanted to reserve 150 places for outstanding Chinese students from the mainland to study in HK. On the contrary, gangpiao in general have felt the great distance between them and local people.
