The Economist - USA (2020-08-01)

34 China The EconomistAugust 1st 2020

2 is $1.2m, according to cbre, a property

firm. Australia is offering five-year visa ex-

tensions to Hong Kongers already in the

country, “with a pathway to permanent res-

idency”. An investment visa is pricier, at

around A$1.5m ($1.1m).

Other avenues are also now available.

Taiwan has opened an office to help Hong

Kongers resettle. Between January and

May, there were 3,352 Hong Kong appli-

cants for permanent residence in Taiwan,

double the figure in the same period for

2019. Cultural similarity and affordability
      make Taiwan a popular choice, says Roy
      Lam, an immigration consultant. A recent
      poll found that Taiwan was the most popu-
      lar destination for 50% of Hong Kongers
      considering emigration.
      The biggest difference is that Britain is
      now offering sanctuary. In 1990 the colo-
      nial master offered just 50,000 families
      British citizenship, and was accused of be-
      trayal for fobbing off the rest (or at least
      those born before the handover) with a
      British National (Overseas) passport. This
      gave Hong Kongers a symbolic connection
      to Britain, visa-free visits for six months,
      and some consular protection outside Chi-
      nese territory, but not much else. Now, it is
      offering all 2.9m people who have bnosta-
      tus the opportunity, with their depen-
      dents, to live and work in Britain, with “a
      path to full British citizenship”. Foreign
      Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain re-
      fuses to “duck our historic responsibil-
      ities”. China threatened to take “corre-
      sponding measures” (which presumably
      does not mean letting in 2.9m Brits).
      Meanwhile, business is booming for
      emigration consultancies. Mr Lam relo-
      cated 250 families in the first half of 2020,
      nearly as many as in the whole of 2019. Har-
      vey Law Group, a law firm, had to double
      the size of its team to meet demand. An-
      drew Lo’s firm, Anlex, normally receives
      ten inquiries a day. Since May, it has had
      200 a day. He has had to deter bankers from
      reinventing themselves as butchers for
      Canada’s rural-immigration programme.
      Hong Kong does not track emigration
      statistics. But there are proxy measures.
      Applications for certificates of no criminal
      conviction, a document required for visa
      applications (as well as adoptions and
      overseas study), leapt 40% between 2018
      and 2019, to more than 33,000. The figure
      had hovered around 21,600 since 2012.
      In 1989 Mr Lo helped people secure es-
      cape routes after the June 4th massacre in
      Beijing sent shudders through Hong Kong.
      “Today, people are more panicked,” he says.
      Then, people wanted an insurance plan;
      now they want to “move immediately”.
      More than a quarter of the Hong Kongers
      who moved to Canada between 1991 and
      1995 later returned to Hong Kong, heart-
      ened by China’s initial light touch. Indeed,
      most of the 300,000 Canadians in the for-

mercolonyareHongKong-born.“Itrea-

suremyCanadiancitizenship,andnotjust

asa potentialwayoutofHongKong,”says

JoyceLau,whowasraisedinCanada.Like

mostforeign-passportholders,shehasno

planstoleavejustyet.Today’swould-be

émigrésmaybedifferent.“IfeellikeI need

tomentallypreparemyselfthatI mightnot

beabletoreturntoHongKong,”says23-

year-oldNicole,whowasdeeplyinvolved

withtheprotests,andwantstoleave.

Somehigh-profilestudentleadershave

alreadygone.OnJuly2ndNathanLawflew

toLondon,fearingforhissafety.Forothers

itismuchlessclear-cut,notleastbecause

thosewhomostwanttoleave—theyoung

protesters—arethemostidealistic about

thefightandtheleastable,financially,to

upsticks.“LeavingHongKongatthistime

ofdesperationjustfeelswrong,”saysNi-

cole.“Ifeellikea deserter.”

So,justasinthe1990s,bynecessityor

choice,thereisa thirdcategoryforHong

Kongers:stayingputandmakingthebest

ofit.Thecityhasalwaysrisenfromthe

ashes,sayoptimists,and perhapsitcan

again.Manyarewaitingtoseejusthowbad

it gets.CurtisLaw,a 28-year-oldjournalist,

isrenewinghisbnopassport,justincase.

“Perhapsitwillbeusefulinthefuture,”he

says.But“withouta lotofsavings”,moving

toBritainisstill“alastresort”. 7

I

n many ways, Gao Moumou was lucky.

She had a good job as a product director

in Beijing for Dangdang, an e-commerce

firm, which allowed her to save enough

money for her gender-reassignment sur-

gery. Her office gave her time off to recover,

but on September 6th, 2018, less than three

months after her surgery, Dangdang fired

Ms Gao, citing her “continuous absentee-

ism”. Ms Gao thinks the real reason was

transphobia. In January this year a court in

Beijing surprised many by agreeing with

her. It ordered Dangdang to reinstate Ms

Gao’s contract and pay her overdue wages.

The news circulated online in July, and

generated 380m views on Weibo, a micro-

blog. Ms Gao is the first transgender person

to win a job-discrimination case in China.

Gay and transgender people are not pro-

tected from discrimination in Chinese em-

ployment law, but sex discrimination is il-

legal. People who have legally changed

their gender can bring a claim on that basis.

The burden of evidence is high. Ms Gao had

a “smoking-gun” proof of discrimination,

says Darius Longarino of Yale Law School.

Dangdang referred to her as “Mr” in a ter-

mination letter and called her “mentally

ill”. The company said that other colleagues

were uncomfortable working with her. But

because she had legally changed her gen-

der to female, Dangdang was obliged to

treat her the same as other female col-

leagues, the court said.

It was not just the verdict that was sur-

prising. The court also called for “toler-

ance” and said society must “respect and

protect the personality, dignity and legiti-

mate rights of transgender people”. An on-

line poll of 330,000 people found that 81%

viewed the court’s decision positively. But

that is “not what most people in China

think”, says Alex, who works for an lgbtor-

ganisation in Beijing. Chinese society is

conservative when it comes to gender

roles. Homosexuality was officially classi-

fied as a mental illness until 2001, and

“transsexualism” still is.

Though there are still few legal protec-

tions, being gay is now much more accept-

ed in Chinese cities. But being trans is still

difficult, not least because of the many re-

quirements for changing your legal gender,

one of which is undergoing full reassign-

ment surgery. That can cost 100,000 yuan

($14,200). A person must also notify—and

effectively seek permission from—their

family, as well as be over the age of 20, un-

married, and heterosexual according to

their self-identified gender. A recent sur-

vey found that only 15% of people who said

they were transgender had undergone re-

assignment surgery, the most common ob-

stacle being cost.

Official media rarely discuss transgen-

der issues, though they did report on a re-

cent blogpost by J.K. Rowling, author of the

Harry Potter books. The blog was criticised

by many trans activists (and applauded by

many feminists) in the West. It was good

for transgender people in China, says Alex,

the lgbtworker. “No matter if it’s positive

or negative, it helps us to be seen.” 7

A trans woman wins a controversial

discrimination case

Transgender justice

Evolving rights