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Gen Z mainlanders build community for compatriots in Hong Kong

Go down an unassuming stairway on D'Aguilar Street in Lan Kwai Fong and you will be greeted by a pair of  heavy Chinese-style doors.

Further deep underground, you will face a wall of graffiti with the name of the bar, Bamboo. The owner of this Chinese style bar is Ran Guangwu, 25,  a micro-influencer on the mainland's internet. He started the bar with a group of young mainlanders and most of their customers are also from the mainland.

The graffiti wall at Bamboo.

"We host different themed events almost every weekend," Ran said. "People come here to relax, It’s like visiting a friend’s house."

According to government statistics, the number of mainland students applying for Hong Kong degrees has risen from a maximum of 20% to 40% over one year, and newly enrolled students from mainland China account for 41% of total enrollment universities in Hong Kong in 2023. Meanwhile, a set of key performance indicators shows at least 35, 000 mainland Chinese have entered Hong Kong under the government run talent import scheme since 2023. They can stay in the city for at least 12 months. 

Ran Guangwu hopes his bar can offer a home away from home for young mainlanders.

Ran shares his idea of Bamboo and he hopes people in this community can have a sense of belonging.

Ma Xiaoshuai, 20, a mainland student from The City University of Hong Kong, is a client at Bamboo. “Most bars in Hong Kong are either too fancy or too wild, but this one is just right—very down-to-earth,” he said.

He has made new friends there who share his background.

“We just met, but it feels like we’ve been brothers for over ten years,” Ma (right) says, hugging his new friend Gu Zhuohang (left) on the shoulder.

Shi Zhengqi , 20, grew up in Fujian and moved to Hong Kong with his parents in recent years to restart his high school life. “We’ll be playing lots of table games here that you’d only find on the mainland, such as  Miss Card and King’s Game,” he said.

Shi said the life pace in Hong Kong is very different  from that of mainland China.  “Bamboo helps to bridge the gap between people, allowing more newcomers to find a sense of belonging in Hong Kong,” he added.

Shi Zhenqi (fourth from the left) works as a veteran patron, and helps to organise a home party.

Bamboo also offers a taste of the mainland, such as cocktails made from Chinese wine.

“Bars in Hong Kong do  not usually offer  Chinese wine, because it is too strong and herbal, ” said Felix Man, 29, a bartender at  Bamboo’s bartender, “but I hope I can get more people to try our traditional liquor by mixing it up with tea.” 

Felix Man tries white wine, Fen wine, Shaoxing wine, yellow wine in bartending.

“I’m from Chengdu, ” said Ma Xiaoshuai, “the cocktails here taste so familiar that it makes me feel like back home.”

Most of the s employees at Bamboo are from mainland China.

"Working here doesn't come with many rules and tasks; it's more like you're just helping out at friends’ house," said Zou Zejun, 22, who just finished his four-year undergraduate studies in the U.S. and moved to Hong Kong this year for master degrees at City University of Hong Kong. 

"When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I didn't know anyone. Instead of staying alone in my rented apartment after class, I'd rather come to Bamboo and hang out with people."

Zou is working his first shift in bamboo today.

"Bamboo feels more like a home than my rented apartment," he added.

Currently, about 60% of the customers are from mainland China, but the clients have expanded to a broader range of people.

“At the beginning, we made the mainland specialty our signature, but we have  attracted more and more locals and even foreigners,” Ran said,“ so I thought, we should have a bigger vision.”

“No matter where we come from, we are all in Hong Kong, we are all Hong Kong people,”Ran said.

Another popular gathering place for young mainlanders is the Hong Kong New Life language corner on Times Square in Causeway Bay. It is a free speaking exchange venue operated by several young mainlanders to help newcomers from the mainland better acclimate with surroundings in Hong Kong.

Participants can speak English, French or Japanese, and at the same time help foreigners or locals practice their Mandarin.

People chat in different languages at the language corner in Causeway Bay.

Chen Jing, who graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University last July, is one of the core team members.

“We hold two speaking exchange activities every week, and participants don’t need to sign up in advance. They can come and go as they please,” said Chen “There are no teachers or students here, no textbooks or lesson materials, and everyone comes together as equals.”

Chen promotes the language corner on mainland social media, such as Xiaohongshu. She answers inquiries, and organises the weekly on-site activities.

Daisy Gao (second from the left) and Sylvia Zhao (third from the left) learn how to speak Cantonese through listening to a local participant.

“This is my first time participating in a language corner event,” said Daisy Gao, a postgraduate student from Jiangsu who studied applied linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. “Since everyone here doesn’t know each other, it actually makes me feel more comfortable and bold in expressing myself.” 

Gao initially came to accompany a classmate but ended up being interested. “Everyone is very active and enthusiastic, and the conversations don’t feel awkward at all.” 

Sylvia Zhao, a 22-year-old graduate student studying economics at the University of Hong Kong also likes the experience. 

“I previously studied at Nankai University and just came to Hong Kong to continue my studies, and I want to improve my spoken English and learn Cantonese here,” she said.

Zhao found it  difficult to communicate with friends at school because everyone has different schedules, so it’s hard to build stable connections. “I really want to find a community, and if fate allows, maybe I’ll make new friends,” Zhao added.

Hong Kong New Life is running for a second year. With the government's talent acquisition plan for Hong Kong, an increasing number of mainland people have been participating in the events. 

“I joined last November, and back then, an event had only about 20 to 30 participants. Now, we usually have around 60 people, with the maximum reaching about 80 at times,” said Chen. 

Chen became a core member because she wanted to help students who have just arrived in Hong Kong.

“When I first came to Hong Kong, I felt very out of place, struggling with different eating habits and occasional feelings of loneliness,” said Chen. “Doing this feels like helping the version of myself from the past.”

Jennifer Ren, a fourth-year student at Hong Kong Metropolitan University from Shandong, was a participant and is now a voluntary helper there.

“It’s impossible to get well acquainted with Hong Kong if you can’t drop out of the comfort circle to get in touch with other locals,” Ren (right) says, while she’s talking with Chen.

"I come to help whenever I have time, usually about once a week," she said. "For me, this isn't work, but more of a way to relax." 

"Now, the Hong Kong New Life organisation feels like half of my home,.It has given me a sense of belonging in Hong Kong," said Ren.

However, building a stable and meaningful community for young Mainlanders in Hong Kong is never easy.

“You can’t always keep certain types of people away from events—sometimes it’s scammers, or people with strong political opinions who try to push negative agendas on others,” Ren said. She added that it was likely to cause a loss of members and trust in the community.

Not everyone can fully put their guard down and embrace the platform offered by Hong Kong New Life. “A lot of people who just arrived in Hong Kong wonder why someone in a new city would help them out so warmly and for free, especially when scams happen everyday,” she said.

Having similar experience in the past, Chen understood it’s hard for newcomers to step outside their comfort zone and really explore an unfamiliar city. "I hope to become a bridge between Hong Kong society and young Mainlanders, connecting them and helping them find their place here.”









《The Young Reporter》

The Young Reporter (TYR) started as a newspaper in 1969. Today, it is published across multiple media platforms and updated constantly to bring the latest news and analyses to its readers.

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