Diverse City
Hong Kong is one of the biggest modern cities in the world, containing 7.5 million people from all different cultures and races. The city is comprised of a variety of global influences, from its ideals to its cross-cultural encounters and fusion of food. This is what has always made Hong Kong a genuinely international metropolis. However, Hong Kong’s space is too small compared to its flow of people, narrow alleys, the subway, streets, and everywhere is crowded. When I am talking about people, I am talking about people from the local, mainland, Japan and Korea, Asians, Europeans, Africans, Americans, Atheists, Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. With a vibrant and unique history of immigration, the diversity of Hong Kong is what I am investigating.
I wish to show the diversity of Hong Kong by filming crowds of people. So I choose to film the MTR stations where usually are fulfilled by people. I choose “Central Station” and “Tsim Sha Tsui Station” and I intentionally choose the rush hours at around 6 p.m. to film more people on the camera. I recorded the people I meet when I was taking MTR. In just several minutes, I meet people of different heights and colors, that is the diversity of this city that I want to show. I use three separate segments in the MTR to illustrate the variety and how different the people I faced are.
Some research is also conducted about the diversity of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a predominantly Chinese city, but at the same time a culturally open society that welcomes foreigners to come and set up roots in Hong Kong. In 2019, Hong Kong’s ethnic minority population was 70% higher than it was a decade ago. Excluding more than 390,000 foreign domestic helpers, there are 260,000 ethnic minorities, accounting for 3.8% of the population, with South Asians such as Nepalese, Pakistanis, and Indians accounting for about 30% of the population. With the support of the government, the unique cultures of ethnic minorities have been accepted and developed in Hong Kong, constituting the multiculturalism of Hong Kong.
As an open and tolerant cosmopolitan city, ethnic minorities enjoy the same rights and protections as Hong Kong residents. Therefore, the different lifestyles of ethnic minorities, such as religion, clothing, food, and festivals, are all protected, and multiculturalism has successfully co-existed in Hong Kong. Take religion as an example, South Asians believe in Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, etc. Their religious places are located in different areas of Hong Kong, such as the Sikh Temple in Wanchai, the Mosque in Kowloon, and the Hindu Temple in Happy Valley, etc., so that South Asians can participate in worship, wedding and funeral ceremonies in Hong Kong according to their beliefs, and their way of life is preserved; non-believing Chinese can also visit religious places to learn about other religious cultures. Moreover, the architecture of these places of worship has its characteristics, and they are integrated into the community, creating a diverse urban landscape in Hong Kong. (Cited by chiculture.org.hk)
However, the presence of a varied population is not a guarantee of a society’s ability to integrate its cultures. Japan’s Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute of Urban Strategies evaluated cities worldwide based on six criteria: economy, r&d, culture, livability, environment, and accessibility. Hong Kong, which is placed No. 9 in the Global Power City Index 2019, has a competitive economic position, but it also highlights its weaknesses in livability and cultural engagement, two areas that make contact with foreigners and social equality as criteria. The phrases “diversity” and “inclusion” are sometimes used interchangeably, yet they have different meanings. Social inclusion is about conscious attempts to accept and integrate such differences to make the mix work for the development of that society. Diversity simply refers to the mix of differences that exist among people in society.
Hong Kong is one of the most multicultural cities in East Asia due to its cosmopolitan nature and dynamic history of immigration. For instance, ethnic diversity is only growing as the yearly population growth rate for non-ethnic Chinese is 5.8% compared to 0.5% for the overall population. However, with one of the worst inequality rates of any city in the world, four patchwork anti-discrimination laws, and inadequate social safeguards, we may be fostering a climate that excludes and marginalizes large swaths of society. The same study discovered that, despite being employed and following welfare reforms, the poverty rate among non-ethnic Chinese has been gradually rising.
References
多元文化 種族融和 | 通識·現代中國 (chiculture.org.hk)
Hong Kong is diverse, but far from inclusive; here’s how we can change that – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (hongkongfp.com)
UID: 3036098455
Name: Zhu Chenrui