Hong Kong Sees a Second Wave of Emigration

(Hong Kong) – While many mainland Chinese see Hong Kong as an attractive place to move their families, the number of people leaving the former British colony for greener grass – and bluer skies – has increased in recent years.

Data from Hong Kong's Security Bureau shows some 3,900 people emigrated in the first half of this year. Though this is still far fewer than the tens of thousands of people who left every year before Britain returned the city to China in 1997 – some 60,000 a year were leaving in the early 1990s – it is nonetheless indicative of a new trend.