Focus

More HK students enter mainland for further study

By Du Juan and Tan Zongyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-29 07:51

A group of 206 Hong Kong students arrived in Beijing on July 24 for a four-day visit organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations that is aimed at letting them explore Chinese culture.

Last month, another 100 Hong Kong students enjoyed a seven-day visit to Beijing that took them to top universities, art galleries, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. They even got to learn a little Chinese kungfu.

With more exchanges between Hong Kong students and their counterparts on the Chinese mainland, the number of Hong Kong students who end up choosing to take their degrees on the mainland, especially at top universities, has been increasing in recent years.

In 2009, there were more than 200 students from Hong Kong in Beijing - about 10 percent of all overseas students. Among them, about 150 were pursuing postgraduate degrees, said Xie Peihong who is working with the Office of Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan Affairs, Peking University.

Lin Jianhua, vice president of Peking University, said the institution only had nine students from HK in 2001 but in 2007, there were 185.

"The number is increasing rapidly," said Lin.

Hong Wensheng, a 30-year-old student, is enjoying his third year of studying at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.

Having graduated from Victoria University in Australia with his bachelor's and Hull University in Britain with his master's degrees in computer science, Hong decided to come to the mainland to take an additional degree - in Chinese medicine.

"I have a strong interest in Chinese medicine," said Hong. "I have heard about traditional Chinese medicine for a long time, but there are not too many opportunities to get more detailed knowledge about it if I don't actually come here and study."

Another big reason why Hong chose to study in Beijing is that the degree he working toward is acknowledged by the Hong Kong government.

"More and more friends came to the mainland to pursue higher education because more degrees issued by mainland universities are acknowledged by the Hong Kong government and employers than before," said Hong.

"We can find a job back in Hong Kong after we graduate. Moreover, the cost of living is much lower in Beijing than that in Hong Kong."

Hong told METRO he is planning to build his career related to Chinese medicine in Britain or Hong Kong or on the mainland after he graduates in 2012.

Marie Tam, a 27-year-old Hong Kong student who got her bachelor's degree in philosophy from Hong Kong University in 2005, decided to come to Beijing in 2008, not for the Olympic Games, but for entry to a business journalism master's program at Tsinghua University.

"Even my former employer was happy about my application," she said. "For most people in Hong Kong, to study in one of China's best universities in the capital is a unique and glorious experience."

For Tam, "going north" was not a difficult decision to make, considering that China's economy was so attractive to outsiders. Besides, she simply wanted to improve her "awful" mandarin and her limited knowledge of the China market.

Influenced by her hard-working classmates from the mainland, she graduated this year with a good academic performance. She said China's booming economy has created more opportunities on the mainland than there are in Hong Kong.

Once again, she made a decision to continue her romance with Beijing by working for a local strategic communications company.

"I want to get more experiences in working in Chinese companies, set up my own networks, and keep good relations with people in the same industry here," she said.