Hong Kong Youth’s Cultural Mixing Attitudes, Experiences, and Identity: Evidence from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Hong Kong students are increasingly learning and living in mainland China, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). In the context of cross-border higher education, exposure to new cultural environments and experiences presents huge opportunities for students’ identity transformation. This research aims to examine how cultural mixing experiences affect the identities of Hong Kong youth learning in Mainland China universities. This study is guided by three fundamental research questions: (1) What is the current status of the cultural identity of Hong Kong youth who study in mainland cities at GBA? (2) What is the psychological mechanism of Hong Kong youth’s cultural mixing attitude? (3) Is there any relationship between cultural mixing attitude, cultural mixing experiences, and the identities of HK students studying at GBA?

This quantitative study, conducted with 139 Hong Kong undergraduate students in mainland universities, yielded several noteworthy findings. First, the cultural identity of these students is shifting, with “Hongkonger in China” and “Chinese” becoming dominant identities. Second, cultural mixing attitudes, encompassing cultural openness, awareness of cultural diversity, and social support and acceptance, significantly influence the intensity of Hong Kong students’ cultural mixing experiences. Finally, social support and acceptance fully mediate the relationship between cultural mixing experiences and the identity of “my cultural identity is Chinese”, emphasizing the relational dimension of identity formation. The results contribute to the theoretical framework of cultural mixing, by demonstrating how social and psychological factors interact to shape identity. Policymakers and educators can consider these insights to promote cultural integration and cohesion, ensuring that Hong Kong students feel both accepted and connected in the inevitable cultural mixing with the Mainland.