Hong Kong Outlook

Mainland-Born Displace Country-Bumpkin Image

By VIVIAN CHIU

In 1979 Television Broadcasting Corporaton (TVB) broadcast a drama series that depicted a country boy from the mainland who came to Hong Kong to join his family.

Ah Tsarn (played by Liu Wai-hung) portrayed the country bumpkin. He wore an undershirt and flip-flops on the street. He was uncouth and spoke Cantonese with a heavy provincial accent. The name "Ah Tsarn" caught on in Hong Kong, a joking symbol of all mainlanders who came to Hong Kong at the time.

Few would have thought that almost two decades later, it is the Ah Tsarns who are laughing back at Hong Kongers. Now some mainlanders call people in the SAR (Special Administrative Region) "Kong Tsarn," or Hong Kong country bumpkins.

It's not surprising when one sees the number of mainlanders who now travel the world shopping for brand-name goods and staying at five-star hotels. In Hong Kong, about 90 people born on the mainland have formed a small, elite corps called the Federation of Mainland Professionals, which was founded in April 1997.

The federation consists of professors, lawyers, accountants and bankers who are executives at the Hong Kong offices of international companies such as Schroders, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. They are highly educated, sophisticated and worldly — a far cry from the country-bumpkin image of their mainland predecessors. Membership is granted only to people born in China who have studied overseas before coming to Hong Kong to work. Although English-language skills are not a requirement, almost all of the members speak fluent English.

"We are not country bumpkins," said Qiu Zhizhong, 42, chairman of the federation. "I don't think that should ever be an issue because we are as good as any people from any country."

Born in Shanghai, Qiu was dispatched to the countryside for six years during the Cultural Revolution. It was state policy that all students go through re-education in the countryside and factories, to learn not only from books but from the peasants and workers as well. When Qiu wasn't working, he was studying physics, chemistry and mathematics — subjects he would have taken had he been in school.

In 1978, after the revival of the university entrance-exam system, Qiu entered the University of Railway in Shanghai. A year later he moved to New York. His granduncle paid for his education at New York University, where he majored in computer science. He was graduated summa cum laude in 1985. Though the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offered him a scholarship to complete his doctorate, he turned it down. He chose to develop himself in commerce and earned an MBA from Harvard University. He came to Hong Kong in 1991 and is now the managing director of CrＥit Suisse.

Traveling overseas to London, New York, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai forms a large part of his working life. He lives by himself in a serviced apartment in Admiralty while his wife and 6-year-old daughter stay in Shanghai. In his spare time, he plays golf and is a member of four private recreational clubs.

One day, a friend took him to the Savoy Club in Central (Honkong's business district) and there he met many mainlanders with backgrounds like his. They decided to organize themselves into a group, and so the federation was founded. Members gather at a bar in Central on the last Friday of each month.

These 90 mainlanders realize how lucky they have been. While millions of their compatriots remain mired in poverty, without the necessary connections or rich relatives, they have had the opportunity to study abroad and carve out brilliant futures for themselves.

But while the members no longer live and work on the mainland, they have not necessarily found it easy living in Hong Kong. In the federation, members have found a familiar community.

"The federation gives us a sense of belonging," said federation secretary Nan Wang. "In Hong Kong, local people have their own identity, expatriates have their own identity. But we have roots in China. We spent so many years abroad and we feel that we are not 100 percent mainlanders, so we try to give a sense of identity to our members," Wang said.

Being a successful lawyer in Hong Kong now is the fruit of Wang's labor over the years. Born in Nanjing in 1956, he worked in a chemical fertilizer factory during the Cultural Revolution.

He was chosen from among 600 workers at the factory to study at the prestigious University of International Business and Economics in Beijing where he majored in English literature and economics. "My opportunity to go to university was like winning the lottery," he said.

A diligent student, Wang passed the United Nations exam for interpreters at 24 and got some of his international exposure, a rare opportunity at the time, during training in Geneva.

While the federation members have a decidedly international outlook, they have kept one eye focused on circumstances at home.

"I know there are a lot of intelligent people in China," said member Zhang Hongli, the director of the investment banking at Schroders, "but they don't have our opportunities to be educated and trained overseas. We are a lucky group of people and we should grasp our opportunities to do some good for ourselves and society."

Shukan ST: April 3, 1998

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