Returning to China: Hong Kongers and Mainlanders Return Home

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At the critical juncture before the British handover of Hong Kong, nearly 800,000 Hongkongers fled. Where did they go and what became of them? Going beyond suppositions and urban myth, for the first time, the full story of the returnees is being told. In her book, Return Migration and Identity: A Global Phenomenon, A Hong Kong Case, Dr. Nan M. Sussman, estimates that nearly 500,000 have returned to Hong Kong since the British turned over their Asian outpost to the People’s Republic of China. Journalists labeled them ‘astronauts,’ but did they crash and burn on their return to Hong Kong?

While immigrants from around the world are going back to their homelands, Hong Kong returnees are unique with a special cultural flexibility rarely found in other groups. Based on far-ranging interviews with returnees of all ages from Australia and Canada, those who have returned and those whose lives they influence can finally understand how the returnees have changed and how they are changing Hong Kong’s dynamic workplace and 21st century society.

Author Bio

Presented By:

Nan Sussman received a PhD. in Social and Cross-cultural Psychology, became a Professional Associate at the East-West Center in Honolulu, and completed her training at the Intercultural Communications Institute in Stanford. She has had a 30-year career in the intercultural field: as a practitioner, educator, and researcher. Her research has been featured in the LA Times, Wall St. Journal, South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), China Daily, Shanghai Daily, and Shenzhen Daily.

As a researcher, she has maintained program of research focusing on the psychological aspects of cultural transitions. She has been awarded two Fulbright Fellowships, conducting research in Japan and Hong Kong. Other research has focused on acculturation and health, and culture and nonverbal behavior. Her recent book, Return Migration and Identity: A Global Phenomenon, A Hong Kong Case, is published by Hong Kong University Press. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Academy for Intercultural Research.

As an educator, she taught at five US and six international universities and is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology, City University of New York, Staten Island and on the doctoral faculty of the CUNY Graduate Center in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She developed overseas study programs in five countries and served as the Director of the Center for International Service. Professor Sussman was active in the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs (NAFSA) and was Vice-chairman of the Board of the College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS).

As a practitioner, she trained Indo-chinese refugees, American executives, Nigerian trainees, American students embarking on study abroad, repatriated JET teachers, World Bank staff, foreign service officers, Chinese technicians and mid-level managers from developing countries. She worked with several NGOs in Washington DC as an intercultural advisor and trainer. She wrote and produced the videotape training series, American Social Behavior: Sources of Cultural Misunderstanding while a Senior Program Coordinator at Meridian International. She served on the Governing Board of SIETAR and won their Outstanding Interculturalist Award. She specializes in preparing people for working globally and for re-entry to their home countries.