Hong Kong people , also known as
Hongkongers,
Hong Kongese,
Hong Kongers, or
Hongkongese, are people who are from
Hong Kong or live in Hong Kong and consider Hong Kong to be their hometown. Besides being used to refer to a Hong Kong resident, these terms might also be used more loosely to refer to someone who may not have legal residence status in Hong Kong, but has spent an extensive period of time in the city or has a strong cultural connection with Hong Kong. These terms have no legal definition by the
Hong Kong Government; more precise terms such as
Hong Kong Permanent Resident and
Hong Kong Resident are used in legal contexts. However, the terms
Hongkongers and
Hong Kongese were officially added to the
Oxford English Dictionary in March 2014.
Terms like "Hong Kong people" do not make reference to the ethnicity of a person, and are also independent of
Chinese citizenship or residency status. Over 90% of Hong Kongers are of
Chinese descent or considered themselves as ethnic Chinese (and most have ancestral roots in the province of
Guangdong), but there are also HongKongers of, e.g.,
Indian,
Filipino,
Nepalese,
Indonesian,
Pakistani,
Vietnamese or
British descent, and expatriates from many other countries live and work in the city.