DISCOURSE ON MIGRATION AND ETHNIC-IDENTITY - INTERVIEWS WITH PROFESSIONALS IN HONG-KONG

In order to decipher how people construct their ethnic identities and formulate their migration decisions, in-depth interviews with professionals in Hong Kong were conducted in the context of the run-up to the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. Ethnic identity emerges as a social construction based on power and status. It defines a person's access to places and opportunities. While legislation clearly regulates levels of immigration, international migration is also self-regulated by potential migrants in relation to interpretations of their ethnic identities and their perceptions of 'other' places.