Listening to Children: Voices of Newly Arrived Immigrants From the Chinese Mainland to Hong Kong

Surveys conducted by the government and independent research teams indicate that immigrants from the Chinese mainland face a number of challenges (Chan, Ip, & Yuen, 1996; Chan, Yuen, Lau, Wu, & Ip, 2003). These include (a) securing age-appropriate school placements; (b) adjusting to a new educational system and curriculum; (c) adapting to a new school and social environment; (d) confronting segregation, prejudice, and marginalization; and (e) adjusting to changes in family ecologies (Rao & Yuen, 2001). Each of these challenges is discussed in greater depth in the following sections.