This thesis focuses on a newly arrived ethnic minority group, Nepalese Gurkha, in Kam Tin, Hong Kong’s New Territories. They construct their own “Second Nepal” community in a Tang lineage dominated territory in the post-colonial context. This community has been marginalized and trapped by the specific context of post-colonial Hong Kong under a new discourse of re-nationalization. The Nepalese perceive themselves as inferior citizens because of the increasing notion of Chineseness. Economically, the Nepalese are highly concentrated in lower status jobs due to their lack of language skills and networks as well as the change in economic structure. Socially, the Nepalese receive little sympathy from the local Chinese. In the educational system, the Nepalese students also from the victims of...[ Read more ]

This thesis focuses on a newly arrived ethnic minority group, Nepalese Gurkha, in Kam Tin, Hong Kong’s New Territories. They construct their own “Second Nepal” community in a Tang lineage dominated territory in the post-colonial context. This community has been marginalized and trapped by the specific context of post-colonial Hong Kong under a new discourse of re-nationalization. The Nepalese perceive themselves as inferior citizens because of the increasing notion of Chineseness. Economically, the Nepalese are highly concentrated in lower status jobs due to their lack of language skills and networks as well as the change in economic structure. Socially, the Nepalese receive little sympathy from the local Chinese. In the educational system, the Nepalese students also from the victims of late education policy, with the increasing use of Cantonese as medium of instruction. Hence, this thesis aims to grasp the emotions and attachments of my informants caused by their marginal position.

In Kam Tin, my Nepalese informants have developed various strategies in response to the difficulties and discrimination in Hong Kong and organize a community. They celebrate their festivals in Kam Tin so as extend their network and strengthen their solidarity. They manipulate the factions of the Tang lineage in local election for their own advantages. Some of them convert to Christianity and they adopted new vocabularies and cosmological views to adapt to the local environment. They also maintain their transnational kinship networks through printed and electronic media and develop a specific interpretation of Nepal to subvert their marginal position and justify their migration decision to Hong Kong.

By examining the Nepalese’ responses to their marginal position, I argue that the experience of migration results in the making of Nepalese identity in Hong Kong