“Extended Connections, Divided Identities”: A Study of Hong Kong People of Chinese Ancestry Having “Ties” with Australia

Abstract

This article profiles and explores the evolving sense of identity of Hong Kong people of Chinese ancestry who have established a range of “ties” with Australia. Through archival, survey, and interview methods, the article highlights the factors which have prompted members of this group to establish “international” ties, and ascertains some of the worries and difficulties, as well as some of the more positive experiences and feelings, they have had about their lives and the lives of their families in their physical and emotional “movement” between three sociocultural environments. The present article, which is based upon the initial findings of a wider and longer-term research endeavor, is only part of the larger ongoing story of this group’s “journeys of adjustment” between differing political systems and multicultural settings.