Ever wondered why Hong Kong means so much in Canada? Why there are 300K Cdns in HK, more than any other frn nationals? Why Canada has the western world's densest popn of HKers? Meet the transnationals: they moved to Canada but never quite left Hong Kong scmp.com/news/china/soc…
Spend time in HK and it dawns on you, slowly. There are a LOT of Canadians there. Far more than Americans. Or Australians. Or Britons. Likely, more than all of them combined, in fact
Of course. HK's govt doesn't like to talk abt this. According to the 2006 HK census there were only 12,000 Canadians in HK. Why? China's nationality law doesn't acknowledge dual citizenship. In China's eyes, nearly all those 300K Cdns in HK are Chinese - even many born in Canada
Nevertheless, the phenomenon of transnationalism explains why the HK protest movement has been such a big thing here in Vancouver (and in Tor). For many, HK and Canada are one weird "home" that is more psychological and emotional than just physical
But why Canada? Why isn't transnationalism big among American HKers? Simple: it's the tax. Because Americans have citizenship-based tax obligations, there simply isn't the same incentive for migrants to return to low-tax Hong Kong. HK-Cdns simply declare tax non-residency here
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