Universities see exodus of mainland students

A “sense of hopelessness” and panic spread among them as they suffer random abuse, bullying and attacks.

The situation took a turn for the worse after a 23-year-old mainland student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was hounded and beaten up by a group of masked radicals on Nov 6.

The outbreak of violence at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Tuesday night convinced many mainland students it was time to leave.

People and organizations have arranged for buses to move students out of harm’s way. Free accommodation has been provided in neighboring Shenzhen. Messages of emergency contacts started to spread on messaging apps.

A CUHK graduate, surnamed Sun, told China Daily on Wednesday he was appalled by what happened to mainland students. Sun said he cannot sit on his hands after receiving messages from mainland CUHK students seeking help in his WeChat group of alumni.

He forwarded the information to the Communist Youth League of China in Shenzhen. It immediately helped arrange free accommodation at some youth hostels.

The Hong Kong Police Force, under request, helped send mainland students to a city center to have access to public transport.

Samantha, a police officer for over 20 years, has also been coordinating volunteers to drive students to safe locations.

They are all Hong Kong residents, Samantha said of the over 100 mainland students she had helped. “They are here to study, not to be bullied.”

Alice Lu, a postgraduate student at Hong Kong Baptist University, said she wanted to leave as soon as possible. “I feel like living in a war zone. I’m very tired. It’s not the Hong Kong that has been called the ‘Pearl of the Orient’…What upsets me most is that this was inflicted on innocent people.”

Celina Sang, a 19-year-old freshman at the City University of Hong Kong, left the city after rumors circulated that rioters had entered university dormitories with a list of names of mainland students.

A CUHK professor told China Daily the rioters had sprinkled gasoline on all entrances of the campus to stop police from entering. They have also stolen and driven vans and school buses to the campus to transport goods and resources, some were apparently excited and said it was a “modern war”, according to the professor.

After talking to some of the masked protesters, he concluded that some of them were not students at the university.

“It’s getting worse,” the professor said. He noted that with major roads blocked and subways vandalized, it’s difficult to communicate with the outside, while food in stores was almost sold out.

Having lived in Hong Kong before 1997, the professor said he was “very saddened and upset” to see what had happened to Hong Kong. “It’s beyond belief that the younger generation has such a deep hatred of the motherland,” he said.

He strongly criticized the city’s professionals, including legal experts and professors, for tolerating or even advocating violence in an already-divided city.