Mainland Student in Hong Kong

By now, it's been 13 years since Hong Kong was handed over to China. Since 2002, Hong Kong universities began to recruit students in mainland China.

Since then, there have been more and more mainland students rushing to Hong Kong to pursue undergraduate or postgraduate studies. According to the statistics of Hong Kong's government, there are more than 25,000 mainland students studying or working in Hong Kong in 2008, and getting a satisfying job and remaining in Hong Kong after graduation is the aim of the majority of mainland students.However, relative to the large amount of mainland graduates, the actual employment rate of mainland graduates in Hong Kong is small, less than 18%, which accounts for less than 7% of the overall number of talented migrants. As the minority in Hong Kong, they have to face many more challenges such as study pressure, a language barrier, and lack of support, unlike local students in order to manage their lives and studies, and realize their Hong Kong dreams. What are the difficulties that mainland students come across?How can they deal with them and become successful students to finally achieve their goals in Hong Kong? This article reveals three different stories of successful mainland students in Hong Kong. Their stories may not be as incredible as many more well known people’s stories’ but are also intriguing, touching and inspiring.

Turning Obstacles to Opportunities - Zhang Yu’s story “If you treat every challenge as opportunity, you will never be afraid whatever difficulties you come across. ” His name is Zhang Yu, a mainland graduate from City University of Hong Kong from the class of 2008.Despite the financial tsunami, he has become a successful equity trader working in Central with a satisfying salary at a time when unemployment has risen dramatically. He has fulfilled the Hong Kong dream that nearly every mainland student strives for. What is the secret that he possesses to achieve success? Is he particularly strong? Is he particularly intelligent? The answer is: not much more so than the average student. What he does possess is a belief that pushes him to overcome obstacles and pursue his objectives.

An Important Decision in His Life Zhang was born in Shenzhen, which is north of Hong Kong and influenced by it in many aspects. He was diligent student who always excelled in his studies. He studied in Zhong Shan University, one of the top ten universities in China. It was a turning point when City University of Hong Kong came to Zhong Shan University for freshman recruitment in 2003.

At the time, Hong Kong universities were still a new concept in mainland China – very few students paid attention to the opportunity.It seemed stupid to give up a prestigious university degree to study in an unfamiliar university, but Zhang took the risk regardless of others’ warnings simply because he was curious about Hong Kong ever since he was very young. He had no idea whether his decision was sensible or not, however, the boldness of his action has changed his entire life. Becoming a Minority Zhang was admitted as a freshman to City University of Hong Kong in September 2003, majoring in Social and Public Administration. Because of his remarkable score in Zhong Shan University, he was awarded a full scholarship to the university.

Luckily, unlike other mainland students who have a language barrier, he was a native speaker of Cantonese. However, his enthusiasm soon turned to depression when he discovered that he was exposed to a totally new world although the people living there looked like him, and even spoke the same language as him. There was a great deal of unexpected challenges and differences overwhelming him – he became a minority. Planning for Future Most Hong Kong students had clear goals and were chasing them with detailed plans everyday.Compared to goal-oriented Hong Kong students, Zhang was ashamed to notice that he did not have any plans for his future, and had not even thought about his career. From his birth to university, he never had to worry about what he should do – all he had done was what his parents and teachers told him to.

But since he arrived in Hong Kong, they were not monitoring his life any more like they were in mainland – he was lost in the beginning. So, inspired by local students, he began to plan his life and discover his potential step by step.He was keen to participate in every meaningful extracurricular activity in order to broaden his horizons, such as sport clubs and joining the photography union. Zhang won the gold award for his outstanding performance in volunteer activities. From these meaningful activities, what he gained was not just a prize, nor more knowledge about Hong Kong, but a realization that he had a knack for analyzing and researching.

As a result, his future prospects became more explicit. Stereotypes There is an interesting phenomenon that deserves everyone’s attention – that mainland students seem to be separated from local students.Most mainland students have their own world – they sit together in class, do assignments together, and stick together outside of class. This creates an invisible gap between mainland students and local students. Generally speaking, local students are more socially active than mainland students, while mainland students emphasize more on their academics – they seek to digest all the material from their textbooks and get high grades. Naturally, many mainland students hold the bias that Hong Kong students do not work hard enough on their studies, they just play around.

On the other hand, Hong Kong students think that mainland students are boring because they do not enjoy life but devote themselves to study – earning the title, ‘bookworm’. Evidence of this emerged when Zhang arrived at City University; all of his seniors warned him to ‘Never do projects with local students, or else you will get a low grade in the classes’. He followed this golden rule rigidly. However, only until he did a group project with local students, did Zhang find out that these stereotypes were ridiculous.

In the course, Hong Kong Public Administration, he was the only mainland student.He had no choice but to cooperate with local students in an important class project which accounted for 50% of the final grade. Unlike the mainland students who would have group meetings frequently once they started their group projects, locals would often have a difficult time setting a schedule for meetings. In the beginning, Zhang was worried that his group mates would not take the project seriously, and would only finish it to just barely meet the criteria, or put the entire workload on him. To his surprise, compared with mainland students' tendency to waste time during meetings, their group always worked with great efficiency.

He found out that local students offered much more creative ideas with which they can innovate when combining it with what they learned from class, and apply them practically while mainland students would focus more on theories and instructions from teachers. With their team effort, their project got an A, which turned out to be the best in the class. From this unforgettable experience, he realized that although Hong Kong students looked like did not devote themselves to studies, they actually practiced excellent time management.Looking back at his remarkable university life in Hong Kong, Zhang felt very grateful for the problems he faced for they have improved him in many aspects.

He learned that all the challenges he faced in Hong Kong were not impossible to solve as long as he was willing to integrate with other cultures, and get ready to view the obstacles as opportunities. From Student to Professional --- Sun Yuting’s story Compared to various minor problems that Zhang faced in school, Sun Yuting’s job- hunting difficulties are much more crucial and challenging – her road to success was much tougher.Dressed in a professional suit with elegant makeup, walking through the crowds in Central, and sitting in the office of the International Finance Centre, Sun Yuting (Sunnie), is the standard office lady with a high education, adorable talent and an enviable job. Sunnie is my senior who remarkably graduated from City University of Hong Kong in 2008 with two master degrees – Electronic Engineering and Engineering Management. She is currently a marketing development manager at her company. With two brilliant master degrees, it seems reasonable for her to deserve such great success.

However, the process of finding a job was not smooth as she expected. “It was like a war, I fought a war every day searching for job information, sending application letter and doing interviews. At the same time, I must also consider my graduate paper and problems of extending my Hong Kong visa,” the 24-year-old professional said with a bitter smile. “Gu Jun Fen Zhan (Fighting the War Alone)” In her final year at the university, every local was incredibly busy with his or her final year project and graduate papers in order to graduate smoothly, but Sunnie could not devote herself 100% to her studies.Because she was only holding a student visa at the time, she was not allowed to stay in Hong Kong for more than 3 months after graduation. That meant if she wanted to live in Hong Kong, she would have to find a job before she graduated.

Compared with local students who did not need to immediately worry about their careers because of family support, she was under much pressure and had to fight the ‘war’ in both studying and job hunting on her own. While others ere taking advantage of their last chance to enjoy the university life — dating after class, clubbing until 3am, and travelling through mainland China, her life was more consumed by her career path.She was exhausted from having to rush to companies for interviews right after class, studying until 3am, staying in the library and consulting with her professor for the final year’s project during holidays. A Beginner Although her academic performance was outstanding, she was lacking in practical work experience which is what companies focus most on.Because she is not a permanent Hong Kong resident, she is not allowed to take the internships that she wants unless the university assigns her one.

Compared to local students with rich internship experience, she lost out on that crucial advantage during the job hunt. “I was ashamed when the interviewers asked about our working experience. The locals responded with amazing resumes but I said nothing. When asked I responded 'I am sure that I can learn quickly and try my best once I have this chance,'” she said of the experience.She really made the most out of that chance upon getting an offer.

She did her work with curiosity and determination, with an anatomist’s keenness to discover everything that she is not familiar with. Compared with the more arrogant university graduates, she is the most modest staff I have ever seen,” her superior said of her. “If you chase your goal with determination and persistence, then nothing is unachievable. Now, I really feel a sense of belonging in Hong Kong. ” Sitting in her comfortable office, watching at the beautiful sunset, Sunnie looks forward to her brilliant future in Hong Kong.

A Talented Super Student– Chen’s Story He is only a 20-year-old City University sophomore student, but he already received countless scholarships whose total amount is nearly 50,000 Hong Kong Dollars, achieved with marvellous academic performance and remarkable extra-curricular participation. The most impressive part is that he has also been offered three multinational company job invitations despite the financial tsunami. He is City University's most famous mainland student – Chen. It is impossible for you to meet a mainland student who has never heard of him. And when talking about him, everyone shows respect to him and regards him as a figure with exceptional talent.When asked why he is so successful, he replied, “Actually, I am not as great as others think.

I just have my career goal and follow it step by step,” with an embarrassed smile. He said the secret to success is planning, passion, and persistence – he called them ‘3P’ and wrote them down on the desk in his room. “My career goal is to be a general manager in a strong and well-respected multinational logistics company so that I can play a key professional and managerial role in the global industry and contribute to society,” Chen added.In fact, before university, he kept track of the trends in business, and from his observations, made this practical career goal upon his entry to City University. Upon entering university life, he tried his best to seize every opportunity to equip himself with the required knowledge, skills, personal qualities and experience to fulfil his career goal.

Setting up the Cantonese Club, ‘Pretty Unity,’ just two weeks after he came to Hong Kong was the most incredible experience he had. In the mainland student orientation ceremony, every freshman sat quietly and listened to the teachers carefully.To everyone’s surprise, Chen stood up and put forward his radical proposal with confidence: “Hello everyone, I am Chen from Guangzhou. I find that most freshmen have problem with Cantonese.

Therefore, I want to set up a Cantonese club to help everyone learn Cantonese. If you are interested in it, please leave your contact details for me after the ceremony. ” This unexpected behaviour gained applause from everyone in the room. However, most of them thought he was doing this, simply to leave a good impression on the professors.

The students who registered for the Cantonese club soon forgot the whole ordeal. However, Chen took preparing his Cantonese class very seriously; writing a Cantonese text book, inviting his Cantonese classmates to be assistants, consulting the Student Development Service for help, and asking for advice from mainland students were some of the major things he did to get the club started. At the time, there was no such club or community for mainland students to learn Cantonese in City University; Chen had to build everything from the ground up by himself.Every step was tough and complicated for a freshman, but he paid close attention to every detail. “It was not a cinch for me. I should balance my study and club affairs at the same time.

The whole club occupied my leisure time so I had to sacrifice a lot of attractive and interesting activities. It was worth it because my leadership, organizing skills and managerial skills have been fostered by founding this club,” Chen said, pointing to the mountain-high stack of materials in his room that he used to prepare for the club.Finally, the Cantonese club ran successfully, exceeding many people’s expectations. His unique and humorous teaching style was welcomed by his students, and they managed to speak Cantonese more fluently with his help. The ‘Pretty Unity’ gained a high reputation among the City University students very quickly.

With his efforts, the scale of the club expanded from the original 20 people to approximately 200 people in just one semester. Due to great contribution to the aiding of mainland students and the emarkable outcome of the Pretty Unity, he was awarded the City University Leadership Scholarship.His successful experience of organizing the club acted as a torch, in that it paved the way to achieving his goal and encouraged him to develop his character. Today, he is also the chairman of the Logistic and Marketing Committee, organizes international conferences, is a student ambassador, represents the university at various public events and has won many awards in different competitions. Amazingly, he still maintains a great academic standing with a total GPA of 3.

96/4. 3.Although he has received three offers from various companies, which in many peoples' minds is a great achievement, Chen continues to work hard to achieve his goal of becoming a general manager at a logistics company. “I have a long way to go and I will never stop,” he concludes.

Listening to their stories, how do you feel about the mainlanders now? Yes, they are determined. They are tough. They are optimistic. As outsiders, they integrated into a new society with enthusiasm.

As youths, they never stopped chasing their dreams. They used their experiences to exemplify the meaning of: “You become special because you chase your dream. ”