ABSTRACT
Hong Kong is generally regarded as ‘a city of immigrants’ which suggests that the history of Hong Kong is largely one of migration (e.g., Choi 2001). While this popular discourse highlights the fact that migration is not a new phenomenon in Hong Kong and emphasises the role of migrants in the host society, it bears the risk of oversimplifying the complex processes of resettlement over time and denying the migrants’ subjectivity and the diverse migration experiences of different generations. This complexity is manifest in the need to change what we call migrants, from ‘refugees’, and ‘immigrants’ to ‘new arrivals’ in the government documents and from ‘Ah Chann’ (literally, uneducated people) to ‘Dai Luk Por’ (a derogatory term for mainland women, implying lower status) in the media. The on-going and shifting debates about the role of migrants as economic assets and/or social burdens reflect the fact that ‘migrants’ is a very politically charged term.
