Migration is said to be the number one political issue in Europe. It is a divisive issue between EU member states and for the citizens at large. The 2018 United Nations Pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has unexpectedly triggered a new round of protests and discontents within Europe, albeit the need for a global effort to improving cooperation on international migration is larger than ever. Anti-EU populism across the continent looks set to take advantage of the upcoming European Parliament elections to expand its power in the policy-making process not only on migration but also the future direction of European integration. Arguably, the migrant crisis in Europe has threatened the post-war liberal order with a geopolitics of emotions.

This talk first goes over the meanings of ethnic and cultural identity, and then explores ethnic and cultural identity in Hong Kong. Can a South Asian who has grown up in Hong Kong be a Hongkonger?  Can an African asylum seeker be a Hongkonger?  Can a mainland Chinese graduate student at CUHK be a Hongkonger?   Can I be a Hongkonger?  What is a Hongkonger?  On the basis of extensive discussion among all present at the talk, we then analyze how ethnic and cultural identity are increasingly not given but chosen, as choices from a global cultural supermarket.  What, then, does this mean for the future of Hong Kong as a global/Chinese metropolis?