1. Hong Kong People Working on the Mainland: A Force for Integration?
A Preliminary Report by the CCTR-Zhongshan University Research Team
28 April 2010

2. Defining Identity Shift
Several ways to measure “Identity” and “Identity Change:”
we asked people their “identity before moving to ML,” “after moving to ML” and gave choice of:
1. HK,
2. basically HK but also Chinese (HK/CH)
3. Both HK AND Chinese (HK+CH)
4. Basically Chinese but also Hong Kong (CH/HK)
5. Chinese (CH)
But since our focus was “identity change” I made up the following Matrix.

3. Matrix of Identity Change After Moving to Mainland
Starting Point
Finishing Point
Row Total HK
HK/CH CH
CH/HK
Count 6 15 7 8 52
% of Total
2.6%
6.5%
3.0%
3.5%
22.5% 4 24 14 10 5 57
1.7%
10.4%
6.1%
4.3%
2.2%
24.7%
HK + CH 2 1 75 3 82
0.9%
0.4%
32.5%
1.3%
35.5% 18 26
0.0%
7.8%
11.3% 12
5.2%
Column
Total 13 41
106 36 34
231
5.6%
17.7%
45.9%
15.6%
14.7%
100.0%

4. Mode of Adaptation Mode of Adaptation
Based on their current identity and how far they moved, we created four categories of “Adaptation:”
1. assimilators
2. strong integrators
3. weak integrators
4. resisters.
Mode of Adaptation
Total
Assimilator
Strong Integrator
Weak Integrator
Rejector 33 50 89 56
228
14.5%
21.9%
39.0%
24.6%
100.0%

5. Table 1: China’s Rise Makes Most Chinese People Feel Proud
Number
Percent
Strongly agree
112
43.8
Agree
106
41.4
Don’t agree 15
5.9
Disagree
entirely 3
1.2
Total
236
92.2
Missing 20
7.8
256
100.0

6. Feeling Nationalistic?
“Liked living on ML,” p<.00 and strong R=.288.
“Satisfied living on ML” p<.00, R=.214
Identity and patriotism are related
“current identity” and “China’s rise” p<.001, R=-.124.
People who became more Chinese after moving to the ML were more likely to support this idea (p<.001, R=-.063).
Of the 35 people who identify as “Chinese” (only), 18 “agreed” and 16 “strongly agreed” with this statement.

7. How Serious is Corruption on the ML?
Frequency
Percent
Very serious 58
25.1
Serious 77
33.2
Not too serious 37
16.0
Not serious at all 4
1.7
Inconvenient to say 12
5.2
Don’t know 36
15.6
Total responded
224
97.0
missing 7
3.0
Total
231
100.0

8. Its everywhere but they never confront it!
25% see it as “Very Serious,” yet only 11 people reported any experience with it.
over 20% of interviewees selected either “no response” or “inconvenient to say”
of 36 people who “liked living on the ML,” 29 selected “don’t know” when asked about the depth of corruption on the mainland.
Respondents who saw corruption as “extremely serious” were overrepresented among those who did not like living on the ML too much (31% vs. 18.9%).
concerns about corruption correlates negatively with “satisfaction with life since moving to the ML” (p<.01, R=-.041),
But mode of adaptation and this issue are not correlated

9. Support for Human Rights and Individual Freedom
We asked people to compare Human Rights and Individual Freedoms in HK and ML.
20% of our sample see individual rights as the “same” (18%) or “better” (2.2%) on the ML.
Surprisingly, 45.5% believe that individual freedom on the ML is only a “little less” than in Hong Kong
31.3% believe that Hong Kong is much freer.
those who “like to live on the ML” have a less critical view of rights and freedoms on the ML (p<.07, R=-.149), relative to HK.

10. Table 3. Views on Individual Rights and Freedoms in ML and HK, 4 Cities
City
Mean
No. of Respondents
Std. Deviation
Beijing
4.34 29
0.769
Guangdong
4.10 71
0.943
Shanghai
4.05
130
0.719
Hong Kong
4.50 40
0.641
Total
4.16
270
0.792
Higher score means more critical views of the quality of Individual Rights and Freedoms in the ML

11. Human Rights and Individual Freedom: Comparing HK and the Mainland
On “Human Rights and Individual Freedom”, there is no statistical relationship with Mode of Adaptation,
but a significantly smaller number of Assimilators, compared to other categories, felt that Hong Kong was a “much freer society,” with more of them represented in the group that felt that Hong Kong was “somewhat better.”
34% of the sample picked HK was much freer, but only 21% of Assimilators felt that way.

12. Here are four tables that show that there is a relationship between the Mode of Adaptation and responses to political factors in the ML.

13. Ability to Become a Service Oriented Government in 3-5 years
Ability to become service-oriented government
Mode of Adaptation
Total
Assimilator
Strong Integrator
Weak Integrator
Rejector
Have
confidence
Count 5 19 3 32
Column %
15.2%
10.0%
21.3%
5.4%
14.0%
% of Total
2.2%
8.3%
1.3%
Have a little
Confidence 14 16 23 12 65
42.4%
32.0%
25.8%
21.4%
28.5%
6.1%
7.0%
10.1%
5.3%
Don’t have
much
No. 8 20 30 26 84
24.2%
40.0%
33.7%
46.4%
36.8%
3.5%
8.8%
13.2%
11.4%
Have no
at all 6 9 17 15 47
18.2%
18.0%
19.1%
26.8%
20.6%
2.6%
3.9%
7.5%
6.6% 33 50 89 56
228
Row %
14.5%
21.9%
39.0%
24.6%
100.0%
Chi-Square = p < 0.09, Pearson’s R = 0.131, p < 0.05

14. Mode of Adaptation and Current Perception of Government Efficiency
Total
Assimilator
Strong Integrator
Weak Integrator
Rejector
ML a little better
than HK
Count 5 2 12
Column %
14.7%
.0%
5.6%
3.6%
4.8%
% of Total
2.2%
.9%
ML and HK
are
the same 8 10 13 36
23.5%
20.0%
14.4%
8.9%
15.7%
3.5%
4.3%
5.7%
HK is a little better
than the ML 24 46 19
102
38.2%
48.0%
51.1%
33.9%
44.3%
10.4%
8.3%
HK is much better 6 14 20 28 68
17.6%
28.0%
22.2%
50.0%
29.6%
2.6%
6.1%
8.7%
12.2%
Don’t Know
No.
5.9%
4.0%
6.7%
5.2% 34 50 90 56
230
Row %
14.8%
21.7%
39.1%
24.3%
100.0%
Pearson Chi-Square, p<.01, Pearson R = .118, p<.07

15. Mode of Adaptation Strongly Agree 15 27 48 36 126 45.5% 54.0% 53.3%
Mode of Adaptation and Views on Severity of Inequality in Mainland
Chi-Square, p<.05; R=-.127, p<.06
How do you respond to the following statement?
“The Wealth Gap in China is growing quickly?”
Mode of Adaptation
Total
Assimilator
Strong
Integrator
Weak
Rejector
Strongly
Agree
No. 15 27 48 36
126
Column %
45.5%
54.0%
53.3%
65.5%
55.3%
% of Total
6.6%
11.8%
21.1%
15.8% 14 22 41 16 93
42.4%
44.0%
45.6%
29.1%
40.8%
6.1%
9.6%
18.0%
7.0%
Don’t Agree
Count 4 1 3 9
12.1%
2.0%
1.1%
5.5%
3.9%
1.8%
.4%
1.3% 33 50 90 55
228
14.5%
21.9%
39.5%
24.1%
100.0%

16. Easier to Affect Government Policy in HK or ML?
Where do you have the biggest Impact on Government Policy?
Mode of Adaptation
Total
Assimilator
Strong Integrator
Weak Integrator
Rejector
Much or a little more influence in the ML
Count 4 5 18
Column %
12.1%
10.0%
5.6%
7.1%
7.9%
% of Total
1.7%
2.2%
Equal influence in ML and HK 6 13 15 52
18.2%
26.0%
16.7%
32.1%
22.7%
2.6%
5.7%
6.6%
A Little More
influence in HK 19 37 8 83
57.6%
38.0%
41.1%
14.3%
36.2%
8.3%
16.2%
3.5%
A Lot More
No. 33 26 76
36.7%
46.4%
33.2%
14.4%
11.4% 50 90 56
229
Row %
21.8%
39.3%
24.5%
100.0%
Chi-Square: p<.001, Pearson R = .131, p<.05

17. Conclusion
Mode of Adaptation or changes in Identity do have an impact on the political views of HK people living on the ML.
Assimilators tend to be more understanding of the political system, see it more positively and be unwilling to see some of its drawbacks, such as the glaring inequality.
People overall willing to talk about many views, except about Corruption