Helen Siu of Yale University kicks off new WEAI series with a talk on "Hong Kong’s Sinking and Shrinking Middle Class in a Rising Asia"

Having grown up in Hong Kong and professionally matured in the United States, Yale University Professor of Anthropology Helen Siu sees herself comfortably situated “at the margins,” a condition that similarly reflects Hong Kong in relation to Chinese society.

On October 28, Siu kicked-off “Hong Kong: Social Transformations,” a new Brown Bag Lecture Series from the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, with a presentation on “Hong Kong’s Sinking and Shrinking Middle Class in a Rising Asia.”

According to Siu, the “One Country, Two Systems” formula might not have worked as well as economists and journalists would like to think. Using a Powerpoint to show numerous social and political upheavals during the post-1997 decade, she asked the audience to look deeper into the structural tensions and complex emotions involving different classes of Hong Kongers.

She borrows the concept of an M-shape society from scholars in Japan, in which one finds a growing gap between the poor and rich with the middle class sinking and shrinking. She argues that Hong Kong’s middle class has been hit hard in recent years by structural transformations triggered by globalization and a rising China. Becoming less competitive, residents in the middle of the labor hierarchy are facing unemployment, negative asset problems, and bankruptcy. Ownership of real estate property, a symbol of middle class security, has become increasingly unattainable. She cites the example of a luxury apartment recently sold in Hong Kong’s mid-levels for US$10,000 per square foot. It has sparked public anxiety over the massive influx of easy money from the new rich in China.

Siu differentiates Hong Kong’s middle class into three categories whose livelihoods are intertwined but who are uncomfortable with one another’s social and political positioning. First, the group at the high end represents “the power of Central” in global finance and professions. They aspire to brand Hong Kong as “Asia’s world city.” Those politically progressive urge the government to accelerate democratic reforms, to be aggressive in cleaning up the environment, and to appreciate the collective memories of post-war generations of Hong Kongers. Their cosmopolitan orientations run up against former “leftist” groups who promote patriotism and seek closer institutional ties with China. After 1997, these well-organized and well financed pro-China groups are a force to be reckoned with in Hong Kong’s new political landscape.

The third group who aspires to better economic life in Hong Kong comprises the “new immigrants.” A majority of them are mainland spouses and children of Hong Kong men. Mostly working families with dependent young children and few skills, they are seen as societal burden by the already insecure middle class Hong Kongers. Siu details statistics that project a rather uncertain future for Hong Kong. Its population is ageing. It lags behind other world cities in education. Its present immigrant mix may not be competitive in a fast moving, knowledge based economy in future. Siu suggested that Hong Kong’s “footprint” can be enhanced by making Hong Kong’s borders soft while vigilantly maintaining the integrity of its institutions such as the rule of law, freedom of information, professional and civic priorities. Maximum circulation of a diverse and multi-cultural population will help replenish an energized and competitive middle class.

 

Ryan McElveen