Having fled the Hong Kong universities they had thought were a ticket to success, Chinese students sit in hostels and noodle shops in the neighboring city of Shenzhen wondering how they are to complete their studies.
With campuses turned into blazing battlegrounds, courses canceled and anti-China sentiment growing more virulent, Chinese students are getting out of Hong Kong with little idea if they would ever go back.
“It’s really just not safe any more and I don’t see it getting any better,” said one 20-something student.
Photo: AP
Fears intensified this week because of a widely circulated video of a Chinese student being beaten by protesters at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Anger boiled over following the death of a local student who fell from a car park as police used tear gas against protesters.
“The discrimination towards mainlanders is growing worse,” said 22-year-old Frank, a postgraduate student who had just left the university for Shenzhen. “They’re so prejudiced towards us mainlanders and that’s not going to change, so why go back?”
Before anti-government protests erupted in Hong Kong more than five months ago, there were about 12,000 students among more than 1 million Chinese living in Hong Kong, according to official figures.
The pace of departures accelerated this week as intensifying violence turned campuses into nightmarish scenes of blazing Molotov cocktails and swirling tear gas.
Dozens of Chinese students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong were so fearful they called police and fled by police boat from a dock near the Sha Tin campus on Wednesday to avoid having to use roads blockaded by black clad protesters.
Support groups in Shenzhen and Hong Kong-based associations with mainland ties have rushed to help.
The Shenzhen Youth Community, operated by the Communist Youth League, said it was flooded with calls after offering free temporary hostel accommodation for students fleeing Hong Kong.
Peking University HSBC EMBA’s student association said it would host some students from Hong Kong so that they could continue studies near a Shenzhen university campus with up to seven days of accommodation for free.
Within hours of the offer, it had received more than 300 requests, according to a staffer running the hotline side.
Victor Mou, 35, chairman of the Hong Kong Nanjing Youth Association, said the group had already helped about 100 students get to Shenzhen.
Some students hoped they would not be away for long.
“If the government can control the situation I’ll go back to Hong Kong next week,” said Shuai, a 22-year-old post-graduate student from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, squatting on the steps of a hostel in Shenzhen.
Good academic reputations, greater freedom and the possibility of gaining a foothold overseas were all reasons for Chinese students to study in Hong Kong.
With three universities ranked in the top Top 100 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, it has the same number as mainland China.
However, some classes are now being canceled or being switched to online learning.
“If the whole semester is canceled they have no reason to go back to Hong Kong,” said one Chinese woman, who works in public relations in Hong Kong and had volunteered to help the fleeing students, as she shepherded three nervous-looking girls to dinner in Shenzhen.
Not all are giving up.
“As long as I stay home during clashes and don’t violate laws and protest-taboos ... I will be safe,” said Jane Chen, a student studying at City University. “I am convinced that the spirit of Hong Kong will soon recover.”
Even if all classes resume, another factor driving students away is growing anti-China sentiment in Hong Kong, generated by fears of Beijing’s tightening grip.
Those fears have fueled the protests and a groundswell of popular anger.
In everyday life, some Chinese complain of discrimination. They stand out because of their accents or inability to speak Cantonese.
A professor in charge of a post-graduate program at Hong Kong Baptist University said he expected applications to drop by a quarter — though with 1,000 Chinese applications for 100 spaces it would not mean they go unfilled.
“The masked, black-clad students have really damaged the reputations of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the University of Hong Kong,” China’s nationalist Global Times said.
“Mainland students will surely think twice before applying for colleges and universities in Hong Kong,” it said.
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