Blurring Boundaries? Immigration and Exogamous Marriages in Hong Kong

This article uses micro-data from the Hong Kong census since 1991 to report trends in the integration of Chinese residents who were born either in Colonial Hong Kong or in Mainland China. We focus on marital exogamy by nativity for women aged 25-34. From 1991 to 2011, we found an increasing likelihood for Hong Kong native men and Mainland women to be married to one another. This increase reflects cross-border marriages. Such exogamous marriages were associated with a lower degree of educational homogamy, since Hong Kong-born men tend to be more educated than their Mainland spouses. They are also older than their immigrant wives. Implications for social distance between natives and immigrants in this context of exogamous marriages are discussed.