In this study, the first hypothesis indicated that post-handover mainland students who were motivated to study in the SARs relocated out of choice due to a perception of superior western educational incentives and viewed SAR universities as a geographically close alternative to directly going to a western country but with, similarities in language and culture, and lower cost.
The results show that this statement is mostly true. However, the analysis differentiates certain types of students in each territory by showing different cultural identities or identity shifts and levels of social distance. It also confirms that the mainland students in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are by no means a uniform group. The local structural circumstances differ insofar as these three territories instinctively attract different types of students.
The second hypothesis that, “the mainland students used the SARs as
'stepping stones' to the rest of the world while staying in a culturally familiar Chinese territory and maintaining their Chinese identity” is also true
provided that the students adapted to the new society, through language acquisition and expanding social networks. For this reason, analyzing adaptation of each group was crucial to show what characteristics would affect students' adaptability.
Secondly, in using Sussman's CIM and the Social Distance model for language learners provided by Schumann, Postiglione and Lee, we are able to identify students' characteristics and factors in the host society that aid adaptability or increase social distance. (Appendix 4) The findings
demonstrated the type of students Hong Kong attracts and how their experience with the schools and people changed their perceptions of the destination. It also identified the mainland students in Macau and the mainland-born local students as two distinct groups with very different circumstances and processes of acculturation. The students in Taiwan were found to have an entirely different set of interests and motivators than the students in the SARs, as they were not attracted by English-medium
programs, or an international environment, but rather the alternative Chinese cultural environment that Taiwan offers.
In these three regions, each group of mainland students experienced different levels of adaptability and degrees of social distance with the populations.
The students with the highest amounts of adaptability were the most satisfied.
Levels of perceived social distance were high on a group level when the mainland student community were disengaged from the local community.
The greater social distance of the mainland Chinese with the locals resulted in lower adaptability and less opportunity to take part in processes of
localization such as learning Cantonese or English and making local friends.
The adaptation matrix (Figure 2) shows individual and structural factors that affect individuals' adaptations. The information from the interviews and examples from supporting research suggest that the element that is gauging the relationship between adaptability, satisfaction and social distance on an individual level was the perception of the education system and society prior
to migration. Curiosity about the host territory and desires to pursue a higher level of academia outside mainland China were also positive forces at play.
The adaptability process chart (Appendix 3) illustrates this process of
adaptation and change of attitudes and perceptions which lead to either high adaptability and low social distance, or low adaptability and high social distance.
On a structural level, the government policies of the Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as well as the recruitment methods of institutions of higher
education dictated the forces of educational incentives and restrictions.
Differences in the three societies from one another and from mainland China complicated the analysis of this study greatly, as it could be sometimes difficult to tell which factors were mutually exclusive from social structures, and which were caused by them. In summary, there appears to be several sociopolitical characteristics of each territory that shaped the students'
experiences. Researchers that conducted their own studies on social distance concurred that social context is a contributing factor along with individual ones.
Hong Kong is a highly competitive environment that has the most to offer within the greater China region in higher education. English-medium programs on the undergraduate and post-graduate level, combined with an international atmosphere offers a good alternative to studying in a western country at a more affordable price and in a convenient location. The
education curricula are generally career-oriented, and Hong Kong government policy allows students to remain in the territory to seek employment. Sociopolitical attitudes toward mainland China, and the
dominance of the Cantonese language in Hong Kong make for more hurdles
to overcome for mainland students in Hong Kong and maintains wider social distance with the local population, making it particularly challenging for less adaptive students. However, students who choose Hong Kong have the greatest potential for adapting to the local culture, learning Cantonese and English and using their experience in Hong Kong as a springboard to foreign countries. Therefore, Hong Kong is the most challenging yet potentially has the most to offer academically.
Macau's education industry is still relatively small, though developing quickly, with one comprehensive university that plans to more than double its student body and increase its campus size by twenty times in the next one to two years. Mainland Chinese students already play a paramount role in Macau's education industry and will continue to be the largest demographic that it attracts. Macau offers mainland Chinese students English-medium courses but also a means of escaping mainland China's “gaokao” college exam. Although the atmosphere is less international than Hong Kong's, it has several similar characteristics as Hong Kong in terms of local culture, Cantonese language, and European heritage. Attitudes of the local
community and students are generally accommodating toward mainlanders and they are more willing to use Mandarin than those in Hong Kong, and therefore mainland students are generally on good terms with their Macau classmates. However, the proportion of mainland students in Macau is quite high and the cohesiveness of their community combined with their
proximity to Zhuhai does not give most students the feeling of being outside of China. The size/proportion, enclosure, cohesion and residential conditions were the main criteria that explained the relatively high social distance
between the mainland students in Macau and the local community.
Therefore, mainland students who study in Macau may find it slightly more difficult to adapt to the local community or less of a need to adapt.
During this study, we were able to identify a new demographic of students in Macau who were born and raised in mainland China but acquired Macau permanent residence, and studied in Macau as “local students”. These students were found to have considerably different incentives, future plans, and living conditions than the other mainland students, and adapted to a much greater extent to the local society. The two mainland-born local students both expressed higher levels of satisfaction than the others, and generally showed signs of higher adaptability and lower social distance from the locals and society in Macau. Such students are rapidly growing in
number, although it would be a monumental task on the census level to measure just how many of them are enrolled in Macau's educational institutions as they are registered as “local students”. Often times, such information is not publicly available. However, this newly immigrated demographic will be a significant force for social transformation in Macau society, and shape the future definition of the population of Macau.
Taiwan has already come a long way from allowing mainland students to freely enroll in its universities since 2011. Officials at NCCU made clear that they expected increasing numbers of mainland applicants in years to come. However, Taiwan has a strikingly different appeal than the SARs in that mainland students are entirely prohibited from seeking employment and remaining in Taiwan following graduation. There are other restrictions such as lack of medical coverage and scholarship opportunities. Despite such restrictions and Taiwan's complicated geopolitical relationship with
mainland China, Taiwanese universities are quickly attracting students by
capitalizing on local nature/scenery, soft power via dominant media, and offering an alternative cultural environment that has academic programs that are perceived to be of higher quality than most mainland schools.
The mainland students interviewed in Taiwan showed they were quite satisfied with their experiences in the school and in the social environment.
Although most of the students had aspirations to travel abroad in the future, they did not choose to seek out international, English-medium programs such as those in the SARs or overseas. They claimed they chose Taiwan because of its proximity, low cost, quality of programs, cultural and natural environment, and suitable entry requirements. Several of the students noted that they made their destination choices based on their major and the
perception that Taiwan and NCCU were good places to study their
respective subjects. Based on comments students made and lack of career-based incentives, it is evident that one element of Taiwan's appeal is its alternative Chinese society. Some of the students who chose majors that were more oriented toward Taiwan did so because of differences from the PRC. The students with the highest adaptability in Hong Kong also noted that Hong Kong was appealing for similar reasons. However, students in Macau did not appear to choose Macau for these reasons and did not adapt to the society as a result of high social distance and cohesiveness of the mainland student community. For mainland Chinese students in Macau, geographic and social linkages to mainland China and other mainland students respectively are too strong to gain any benefit of Macau's alternative Chinese society.
Possibly due to the curricula being in Chinese, and not having any English requirements, the students in Taiwan had the least difficulty adapting to their
new environment out of the three groups. Other research in Hong Kong by Pong and Tsang (2009) supports this finding by showing that mainland immigrant students in Hong Kong adapt much better in Chinese-medium schools than English ones. Lack of language difference also leads to better social networks with local students. As language acquisition is not part of their adaptation process, it eliminates a crucial barrier which could lead to what Brown (1980) called “culture shock” that their counterparts in Hong Kong experienced. However, it significantly limits their contact with English-speaking foreigners, which results in most students having no foreign friends. Another difference detected in the Taiwan group was a greater degree of familiarity with Taiwan prior to arrival due to Taiwanese media influence in China. Familiarity was a major force which reduced perceived social distance. This manifested in comments on Taiwanese students' accents and ways of talking which were received positively by the mainland students and in some cases even emulated. This was a huge
contrast from the Macau group in which students had little impression of Macau society at all before arrival, and ultimately experienced the highest social distance and least adaptability; none of the students overcame the language barrier and mostly interacted with locals in Mandarin.
It is true to say that all the students in the study chose the SARs or Taiwanese universities as an alternative to directly going to a western
country due to closer proximity to their hometowns, similarities in language and culture, and lower cost. The post-handover mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong have chosen their respective university and relocated out of choice due to a perception of superior western educational incentives.
Most mainland students currently studying in the SARs appear to be from
relatively wealthy families and are particularly high achieving, and highly motivated students in the case of Hong Kong due to high competition in universities and in the local job market.
It is more difficult to apply this definition to the mainland students in Macau as many of the students were not as high-performing as the students in Hong Kong and appeared to have low prospects of adaptation or future
employment in Macau. The mainland students in Macau do choose their school as an alternative to a western country, but even more so as an alternative to Hong Kong itself, although Hong Kong offers many of the same incentives, but its universities are harder to enroll and more
competitive. It is fair to say mainland students in Macau are to be defined as somewhere in between students studying in mainland China and Hong Kong.
The demographic of mainland-born local students are not to be compared to the other mainland students in Macau, and are in an entirely separate
category of their own. Using their family's wealth more than personal academic credentials to enter a university in Macau and immigrate. These mainland-born local students were sent by their parents to pursue an education and reside in Macau as an alternative to remaining in mainland China, and studying at a university in Macau was a result of that investment.
Despite their educational experiences and perceptions, they appear to be able to adapt far more to Macau society than the other mainland students. As a result, the mainland-born local students are expected to be the demographic that have a lasting effect on Macau's society and education system in the long-term, with their intention to remain in Macau as permanent residents and incorporate Macau into their identity.
The mainland students in Taiwan are undoubtedly high-achieving and
perhaps rather well-off as they need to be self-reliant to pay tuition, medical coverage and living expenses. For reasons mentioned in the analysis, they feel comfortable and welcomed in Taiwan and are highly adaptive overall.
However, the definition of elite, western-educated student cannot be applied to them like their counterparts in Hong Kong. They did not relocate to
Taiwan as an alternative to being overseas or in a more international, English-speaking environment like Hong Kong in which they can use as a
“spring board”. Rather, they chose Taiwan as an alternative cultural and academic environment to change their perspective yet still retain their Chinese identity. Descriptions of the natural, cultural, and mass media environments seem to have been encompassed with their positive
educational experiences. Even though government policy in Taiwan is still restrictive to mainland students, many top-ranking mainland students who do not wish to study in a non-Chinese environment put value on a post-graduate education in Taiwan. With less than three years of experience hosting mainland students, Taiwanese universities still have a huge potential for attracting more mainland students and future policy liberalization,
especially as the domestic student bodies and the whole Taiwanese population continue to contract.
Suggestions
Although this study sheds light on the perceptions, experiences of mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, there are still several other research questions that arise from the findings.
1. The cases of students in Hong Kong excelling in languages such as Ms.
Joyce, Ms. Bai and Ms. Charlene give rise to a question on the role of language ability in adaptability and social distance. Results from this study show that they were the least satisfied with their educational and social experiences in Hong Kong. Aside from their initial perception being
different from the other students, certain applications of the social distance model helped explain the reasoning for this as being part of a greater
acculturation process. However, a more in-depth study can be done by focusing on this factor. This would be useful to social scientists and those studying migration studies, linguistics, psychology, and language education.
2. A series of similar interviews or surveys can be conducted covering a more balanced gender sample of students. In this study, it was most
challenging to gather male participants for the interviews in all the territories, especially in Hong Kong. One possible way to solve this dilemma would be to recruit students on the premise that there are two interviewers, one male and one female of roughly similar ages and backgrounds to have a more gender-neutral impression. In terms of recruiting interviewees in Hong Kong and Macau, it is also highly advised that future researchers seek out
interviewees near the beginning of the semester, rather than the end. These interviews were conducted in December before the winter break, during the
time when most students are either leaving to return to their hometowns early, or are too preoccupied with exams to take part in the study.
Unfortunately, for the same reasons, many of the officials at the universities were unavailable to meet at that time of year, and thus primary information from teachers and staff was therefore quite limited. In the case of Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Macau, the construction of their new campuses complicated the issues and restricted availability of the
administrative staff to meet with the researcher.
3. Further research should be conducted to understand how and why Chinese ethnic minorities are attracted to Hong Kong or foreign countries. A study of this sort could take various forms. Upon seeking out a sample pool of ethnic minority students in either Hong Kong or mainland China, similar in-depth interviews can be conducted to understand if and how education or life in Hong Kong is attractive to them, and how it would affect them in their ethnic minority context. This would not only be applicable to researchers of migration studies and ethnology, but also those studying social reform in China.
4. For future research, researchers may consider comparing students studying in different disciplines, which may reveal different degrees of adaptability based on study fields. For example, perhaps engineering students may not need the language skills required in studying social
sciences or humanities. In addition, students from different home countries may be compared as they will have different degrees of social distance depending on their social and cultural upbringing.
5. To conduct a more complete analysis of this topic, researchers must conduct similar interviews on students that are in mainland China and have not yet embarked on their undergraduate or post-graduate studies in the SARs, Taiwan or even overseas. A series of follow-up interviews could be conducted after they relocate to their school and territory of choice to measure more accurately how their perception, habits, identity, and social networks have changed.
Including the students studying in the SARs and Taiwan, the flight of China's best and brightest may be considered as a double-edged sword for the Chinese government. As the mainland integrates further with the SARs and Taiwan, it is losing many top-ranking students in addition to Chinese
Including the students studying in the SARs and Taiwan, the flight of China's best and brightest may be considered as a double-edged sword for the Chinese government. As the mainland integrates further with the SARs and Taiwan, it is losing many top-ranking students in addition to Chinese