Hong Kong mothers march against mainland babies
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HONG KONG: More than 1000 protesters, including pregnant women, marched in Hong Kong on Sunday opposing the growing number of mainland Chinese women coming to the city to give birth, organisers said.
Women from mainland China are keen to have babies in Hong Kong - a city that has had semi-autonomous status within China since it ceased to be a British colony in 1997 - because it entitles their child to rights of abode and education.
Local expectant mothers, some with children in tow, marched to government headquarters in the southern Chinese city, carrying banners that read: "For Hong Kong's sake, fight for local women's right to give birth here."
"Local mothers are being forced to give birth in the corridors of hospitals because mainland mothers are over-crowding our hospitals," Annie Yam, a mother of two who took part in the march, told AFP.
"I was the only local mother in a 10-person maternity ward when I gave birth six months ago," she said. "The rest were mainland Chinese women."
Mainland mothers reportedly accounted for nearly half of the 88,000 births in the glitzy financial hub in 2010.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong announced a sharply reduced quota for mainland Chinese women allowed to give birth in its public hospitals next year.
Places for non-local women to deliver in public hospitals will be reduced to 3,400 in 2012 subject to the availability of maternity ward beds, health authorities have previously said.
But the protesters doubt the effectiveness of the move.
"The new measures will work only in the short term," spokeswoman of the protest Jocelyn Yiu said. "Mainland mothers have been abusing our emergency room services and the measures will not solve this problem."
"We are taxpayers, why is our resources spent on foreigners?" she added.
The government has come under pressure after doctors made a rare public call for a cap on the number of babies delivered in the city as resources for local mothers are stretched thin.
Earlier on Sunday, hundreds took part in another protest opposed to granting permanent residency to foreign domestic helpers.
Last month, a Hong Kong court ruled that a law banning foreign maids from permanent residency is unconstitutional in a landmark case that many feared could pave the way for a flood of applications.
- AFP/de========
even hong kong cannot tahan already.
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but hong kong is now part of communist china!its not up to that district of china to make legislations.hong kong should have pressed for being a republic back in 1990s before british-china handover.
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At least the Hong Kongers have the balls to hold a march.
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Originally posted by alize:
At least the Hong Kongers have the balls to hold a march.
come on.. hkers everything also march one u dunno meh?? even their maid can march lor.. so what u think....... but they are right......should march against those china pest..... actually the whole world should march against them..... spoilt market everywhere... -
Thought they alrdy dun allow them to give birth in HK?
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Yes to the gutsy HK women!
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May be too many local trash moved to HK.
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hong kong is not even a country. it's part of PRC. Therefore, we can't compare hong kong with us. To them, mainland chinese are not foreigners (referring to someone that's from another country). Most of the native Hong Kong peopel who speak cantonese have roots in the Guang Dong province of China.
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Originally posted by Hitman Factory 1:
but hong kong is now part of communist china!its not up to that district of china to make legislations.hong kong should have pressed for being a republic back in 1990s before british-china handover.
impossible...anyway, they should be glad that there are part of China. Look at the size of Hong Kong, it's not possible for it to compete with China.
I categorize China and china people differently. The country is a nice place but the people......... fill in the blanks
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Originally posted by Bio-Hawk:
May be too many local trash moved to HK.
it seems everybody is trash to you.
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Originally posted by dangerboi:
hong kong is not even a country. it's part of PRC. Therefore, we can't compare hong kong with us. To them, mainland chinese are not foreigners (referring to someone that's from another country). Most of the native Hong Kong peopel who speak cantonese have roots in the Guang Dong province of China.
It's one country, 2 system.They're still practicing British law
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Originally posted by dangerboi:
impossible...anyway, they should be glad that there are part of China. Look at the size of Hong Kong, it's not possible for it to compete with China.
I categorize China and china people differently. The country is a nice place but the people......... fill in the blanks
Same feeling with SG which is a nice place, but the people.....
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Originally posted by dragg:
it seems everybody is trash to you.
From what I read in the forum, aren't PRC's trash?lol
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too bad