Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    MANY mainland parents of children born in Hong Kong are rethinking, if not regretting, that birth decision as their children struggle to adapt to Hong Kong schools and lifestyles, signaling a possible slowing of a trend that has seen scores of mainland parents go to great ends to give birth across the border.

    Since 2000, more than 200,000 children whose parents are both mainlanders have been born in Hong Kong. That growing population of cross-border kids has been at the center of mainland-Hong Kong disputes over the past 13 years, amid overflowing public hospitals and resulting Hong Kong restrictions on expectant mainland mothers. Mainland women now must have an appointment letter showing they can give birth in Hong Kong or else they’ll be refused entry at the border.

    A Hong Kong court sentenced a Dongguan woman to a year in jail last week for making false claims at the border before giving birth in Hong Kong, the Shanghai Daily reported.

    Lately, however, many mainland parents who surmounted all those hurdles to give birth have been making plans to “get their children out of Hong Kong,” local parents have said, and get them Chinese citizenship.

    On websites such as www.szhome.com and www.yanjie.com, popular online forums that give mainlanders tips on how to give birth and live in Hong Kong, more and more parents are now sharing their experiences on how to get their children eligible to study and live on the mainland.

    Due to the mainland’s household registration system, or hukou, and Hong Kong’s citizenship policies, making the switch is not as easy as might be expected.

    “China doesn’t allow dual-citizenship, and Hong Kong citizenship can’t be given up unless your nationality is changed. These two policies make it impossible for our children to get hukou on the mainland,” said Shenzhen housewife Wu Xin, who gave birth to a boy in Hong Kong eight years ago. “If they emigrate to other countries, children may never be able to gain Chinese nationality because of China’s strict immigration policy.”

    Hard times in HK

    In 2001, only about 600 children were born in Hong Kong to mainland parents. The number climbed sharply in 2003, to 29,800. In 2011, before the government issued strict restrictions against pregnant mainland women entering Hong Kong, nearly 35,000 children were born in Hong Kong to mainland parents.

    The flood of cross-border births has fueled several social problems in Hong Kong, such as shortages of school seats and hospital beds, making many native Hong Kong residents angry about a perceived loss of their social welfare.

    Unexpectedly, the situation also has created challenges for many of the children mainland parents thought they were helping. Many problems concerning the education and mental health of cross-border children have arisen in the past 10 years.

    Hong Kong social worker Leung Tsau-sa has frequently traveled between Shenzhen and Hong Kong over the past decade to deal with the psychological problems of cross-border children.

    “Children with two mainland parents are more likely to have psychological problems than those with only a mainland father or mother,” she said.

    The first thing she mentioned was a child’s living situation.

    “While most children in Shenzhen and Hong Kong are still dreaming in bed, these cross-border children have to leave their home to go to school in Hong Kong. When other children are enjoying afterschool activities and games, these children have to spend most of their time traveling across the border,” Leung said. “They don’t have much time for themselves and are always tired. These situations are not good for a child’s health.”

    Many cross-border children are labeled as “disturbers” in Hong Kong, so their school lives are much worse than those of native Hong Kong children.

    “Some of them are blamed and laughed at by their classmates. That also makes their conditions worse,” Leung said.

    Because cross-border children are not able to participate in many afterschool and weekend activities, many of them feel left out of their classmates’ circles.

    “They always feel like they’re not a part of the local student body. That’s why many of these children can’t speak Cantonese after going to Hong Kong kindergartens and schools for six or eight years,” she said. “In my opinion, I think these parents want the best for their children, but the children become victims of their parents’ dreams.”

    Rocky return path

    In 2012, Shenzhen banned public schools from enrolling students with Hong Kong or Macao citizenship, which increased competition for private school spaces for everyone.

    “Only 10 percent of applicants can enter many local private schools, which is tougher than the national college entrance examination,” said Shenzhen woman Li Qinghua. “The only choice left is international schools, but they’re too expensive for normal families.”

    Many parents find it’s no easier to let their children give up their Hong Kong citizenship and become a real mainlander. “That’s impossible, too,” Li said.

    China requires children to give up their Hong Kong citizenship before gaining mainland hukou. But current Hong Kong law says Hong Kong citizenship status can only be changed by getting a different nationality. “The only way is to help the child get another country’s nationality, but China has the most difficult immigration policies,” Li said. “Even Jackie Chan could not help his son change his American nationality to Chinese nationality, after working on it for 10 years, so how could we?”

    Some parents suggested that parents use fake birth certificates to get mainland hukou so their children can have two citizenships.

    “This is not a perfect plan. If my son used the fake mainland identity to study at a mainland school, his past experience would be blank if one day he wanted to study overseas or work with his Hong Kong identity,” Liang said. “We may also be fined for violating the one-child policy for a child who ‘does not exist.’”