Return Migration and Identity: A Global Phenomenon, A Hong Kong Case

The global trend for immigrants to return home has unique relevance for Hong Kong. This work of cross-cultural psychology explores many personal stories of return migration. The author captures in dozens of interviews the anxieties, anticipations, hardships and flexible world perspectives of migrants and their families as well as friends and co-workers. 

The book examines cultural identity shifts and population flows during a critical juncture in Hong Kong history between the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and the early years of Hong Kong’s new status as a special administrative region after 1997. Nearly a million residents of Hong Kong migrated to North America, Europe and Australia in the 1990s. These interviews and analyses help illustrate individual choices and identity profiles during this period of unusual cultural flexibility and behavioral adjustment. 

Table of Contents

ntroduction.  “Anna” migrates and returns home 

Chapter 1. A short history of two hundred years of Hong Kong migration and identity 

Chapter 2.  Sojourner adjustment and adaptation to new cultures: Art, literature, and the social science perspective on identity 

Chapter 3.  Returning home: Cultural transitions and the identity model 

Chapter 4.  Results from the Hong Kong Remigration Project: Departing, adjusting, returning 

Chapter 5.  Additive identity 

Chapter 6.  Subtractive identity 

Chapter 7.  Global and affirmative identities 

Chapter 8.  Remigrants and family life 

Chapter 9.  Remigrants and professional life 

Chapter 10.  Confucius and Socrates: Ancient philosophies, migration, and cultural identity 

Chapter 11.  The new Hong Kong boomerang 

Appendix A.  Hong Kong Remigration Project questionnaire and psychological scales 

Appendix B.  Methods, sample, and qualitative analysis 

Appendix C.  Quantitative analysis 

Appendix D.  Demographic characteristics of research participants