MUSLIMS IN HONG KONG

Transcription

1 MUSLIMS IN HONG KONG Daily Interactions between Muslims and non-muslim Majority Members Xinyao Wan ANR: Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sjaak Kroon Second reader: Dr. Jan Jaap de Ruiter Master thesis Management of Cultural Diversity Tilburg University, School of Humanities Department of Culture Studies Tilburg, July 2016

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3 Preface After years of studying, one year premaster and one year master program of Management of Cultural Diversity, my study life in Tilburg University is coming to an end. In the past two years, I met diverse people and learnt a lot from them. This thesis is a product of my thesis research on Hong Kong Muslims. I encountered both difficulties and challenges during the research process, but I also gained happiness and fun from it. I would like to take this chance to show my gratitude to the people who have helped me through the process. First, I would like to thank my supervisors Prof. Dr. Sjaak Kroon and Dr. Jan Jaap de Ruiter. Their support and advice motivated me through the whole research. Their professional knowledge and critical feedback strongly helped me conduct my research and write my thesis. Second, I want to thank my friend in Hong Kong who has helped me contact Muslim organizations and find interview respondents. Also, I want to thank all my research respondents for their trust and sharing daily experiences with me. Their narrations and stories enriched my thesis. Without their participation I would not have been able to finalize my research and thesis. Lastly, I give thanks to my friends and family for their always being by my side, encouraging and supporting me. I wish you a pleasant and inspiring reading. Xinyao Wan Tilburg, July

4 Abstract This research focuses on Muslims living in Hong Kong to see how their everyday life is and how they feel living there as Muslims among a non-muslim majority. Through their everyday life and interactions with Chinese non-muslims, the research tries to gain an understanding of the Muslims perceptions of daily life in Hong Kong. The city has a population that consists by majority of ethnic Chinese. As a religious diverse city, there are adherents of various religions, among which about 0.3 million Muslims. The city is reported to enjoy a harmonious and peaceful atmosphere where various religious groups coexist with each other. There are no severe conflicts between different groups. Still, there are voices about discrimination and prejudice towards Muslims in Hong Kong as well. The research aims at finding out how Muslims perceive their life in Hong Kong through their daily interactions with Chinese majority members. The research will be carried out applying an ethnographic approach, mainly by conducting online interviews with Muslims living in Hong Kong. Keywords: Hong Kong, Muslims, religious minority, diversity, daily life, daily interactions, superdiversity. 3

5 Table of Contents Preface. 2 Abstract...3 Table of Contents Introduction Management of cultural diversity Problem statement Theoretical Background Superdiversity Intergroup relations Daily lie and interactions The role of religion in daily life and interactions Methodology Research design Sample strategy Data collection Data analysis Research quality indicators Context Hong Kong: a diverse city Muslims in Hong Kong Results Daily interactions with Chinese non-muslims Interactions experienced negatively 30 4

6 5.3 Interactions experienced positively Perceptions of problems in interactions Perceptions of Chinese non-muslims Perceptions of difference Conclusion and Discussion Conclusion Discussion Superdiverse characteristics Relations with the Chinese majorities Importance of interactions for relations Islamic beliefs in interactions Conclusion from a management of cultural diversity perspective Recommendations Suggestions for further research Recommendations for policy making Limitations.49 References.51 Appendix 1 56 Appendix 2 59 Appendix

7 1. Introduction This research deals with Muslims interactions with Chinese non-muslims in Hong Kong. It explores how Muslims interact with the majority group members in their everyday life. The first chapter gives an introduction of the research. The first section locates the thesis in the diversity management perspective. The second section starts with recently focused issues about Muslims and Islam, and then leads to a debate about religious group relations in Hong Kong. At the end of the chapter, the research question is stated. The second chapter presents the theoretical framework that is needed for gaining more insight about some topics relevant to this research. The third chapter elaborates the methodology used in this research. The forth chapter gives detailed information about Hong Kong as the context. Subsequently, the research results are presented in Chapter 5. Eventually, Chapter 6 gives a conclusion of the results, which are further discussed and linked to the theories. Limitations of this research and recommendations for future research are also discussed in Chapter Management of cultural diversity With the process of globalization, people, goods, information and capital move from one corner of the world to another. In other words, people have increasing chances of being confronted with different kinds of people, languages, religions, ideas and influences from other parts of the world. The emergence of cultural diversity is a common and unescapable trend in large cities. The need for management of cultural diversity is therefore nowadays more likely than ever before. This thesis is consequently framed in a management of cultural diversity perspective, and takes Hong Kong as a context for conducting a study in this field. The management of cultural diversity at an urban level is normally inseparable from its diversity policies. The Hong Kong government is inclined to maintain Hong Kong s diversity and regards diversity as a prominent feature of the city. An important government policy which has shaped Hong Kong s religious diversity is that no one religious group is favored by the government. All religious beliefs and practices are tolerated and accepted. Hong Kong citizens have freedom of religious belief and freedom to participate in religious activities in public. The policies allow religious organizations to play their parts in social services such as establishing schools and 6

8 hospitals. Such kind of policies contribute the diversity management, which helps to provide social stability in Hong Kong. From a top- down diversity management perspective, policies are made to solve problems and to prevent potential ones. However, this research on diversity management focuses on a day-to-day situation, i.e. the daily experiences of individuals from a religious minority group in Hong Kong. 1.2 Problem statement Recent news and incidents such as the attack in Paris, have made Islam and Muslims a hot issue, especially in western countries. Hong Kong as a highly diverse city has always enjoyed a relatively harmonious atmosphere among various religious groups. But small frictions between people of different background may not be avoided during everyday encounters and interactions, and Muslims may feel they are discriminated by non-muslims. It might even be that recent western terrorist Muslim attacks lead to more tension, also in Hong Kong. Therefore, it is interesting to see how Muslims perceive their daily life in such a city and how they feel about their daily interactions. Because of globalization, there is the trend of superdiversity going on throughout the whole world. Hong Kong with its highly diverse characteristic incorporates this trend as well. Even though a large majority of its population is ethnic Chinese, superdiversity as a concept is considered in research as applicable to Hong Kong as well (Pérez-Milans, 2013). From several studies, it turns out that Hong Kong, being a religiously diverse city, enjoys harmony and peace among its different religious groups. Bouma and Singleton (2004) made a comparative analysis between the Australian city of Melbourne and the Chinese city of Hong Kong. They showed that both cities share similar factors namely a history of managing religious diversity, demography, religious institutions and an urban context. Those factors, they state, contribute to the successful management of religious diversity. Hong Kong still enjoys a religious free atmosphere. More than ten religious groups coexist in Hong Kong and Muslims are among the six main religious groups in the city, the others being Buddhists, Taoists, Confucianists, Protestants and Catholics (Hong Kong Yearbook, 2014). Muslims in Hong Kong generally have two origins. There are Muslims who originated from Mainland China. Those Muslims are called Hui Muslims. The other Muslims mainly came from Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines that were at the time deployed by 7

9 the British government when Hong Kong was a British crown colony from (Ho, 2013). So according to their different origins, Muslims in Hong Kong are ethnically diverse. O Connor (2010a) strikingly found out that, unlike the studies mentioned above, there are discriminations towards those Muslims who are from Indonesia and the Philippines and those who have a darker skin than local Hong Kong Chinese. These Muslims feel they are discriminated because they feel people look at them in a different way and talk about them with their mouths covered. O Connor (2010a) mentioned that most of these Muslims allegedly accept these discriminations and that there are few big conflicts between them and Chinese non-muslims. Therefore O Connor (2010a) concluded that the discrimination is due to ethnic differences instead of religion. Plüss (2006) argues that adopting characteristics from non-muslim Chinese residents in Hong Kong supports Muslims to establish multi-ethnic Islamic practices. These practices make the differences between Muslims and majority members more salient. Through a research consisting of three projects, namely on elderly homes, on education and on mosque building, Ho (2001) points out that ethnic Muslim minorities are facing difficulties in the post-colonial era because the relatively privileged affirmative policies to them under the British government disappeared after the resumption of sovereignty of the Chinese government in It shows, from the studies mentioned, that on the one hand religious groups seem to enjoy a free and harmonious atmosphere in Hong Kong. These studies look at the general relationship between religious groups. On the other hand, however, there are also studies, which point out that Muslims in Hong Kong are also facing discrimination. From previous studies, it can be concluded that there is a mix of negative and positive opinions on the religious group relations in Hong Kong. This research aims to see Muslims perceived life experience in such a superdiverse city and how they feel living in Hong Kong being a Muslim. The research subjects involved would be the people living in Hong Kong who claim themselves to be Muslims. As indicated above, in everyday life and interactions, people may still have prejudices and stereotypes against Muslims. Still, living in Hong Kong with a majority Chinese population, Muslims cannot avoid interactions with majority group members. The process of everyday interactions and Muslims perceptions of these interactions are important parts of Muslims daily life in Hong Kong. This research focuses on the interactions taking place in two fields of daily life, which are the subjects work domain and private domain. Interactions in the work domain refer to conversations, working and doing things together 8

10 in the work place. Interactions in the private domain include those interactions and communications outside the work place. Interactions in the private domain are not necessarily only in private spaces like home but also can be in public space such as in the neighborhoods or in a grocery shop. Therefore, and based on the considerations expressed above, the main research question of this study is formulated as follows: How do Muslims interact with non-muslim majority group members in their everyday life in Hong Kong? Sub-questions are formulated as follows: How do Muslims interact with majority group members in the work domain? How do Muslims interact with majority group members in the private domain? How do Muslims evaluate these interactions? How do Muslims perceive problems (that might happen) in these interactions? 9

11 2. Theoretical Background This chapter discusses some theoretical concepts that are relevant for this research. The theoretical framework helps to guide the research while keeping the research question in mind. Firstly, the concept of superdiversity is introduced and the aspects in understanding superdiversity are discussed. The next section gives an overview of two kinds of intergroup relations followed by a discussion about factors that may influence intergroup relations. Thirdly, the concepts of daily life and interactions are explained with emphasize the importance of daily interactions for social relations. The last section explores the way religion influences people s daily interactions. 2.1 Superdiversity Because of globalization, societies are undergoing big changes. These changes bring people new ways to look at diversity. Developments in science and technology provide possibilities for greater mobility of persons and goods. In other words, people have a greater chance to move from one country to other countries for various reasons including study, business, and work. The concept of superdiversity was introduced by Vertovec (2007) to describe the situation in London. The immigration to Britain over the past ten years or so brought diversity in terms of a multiplication of variables. Such variables include differential immigration statuses and their entitlements, experiences, gender, age, ethnicity, language, culture, religion. According to Vertovec (2007) the interplay of all those factors can be described by the notion of superdiversity, i.e. the diversification of diversity. Net inflows is one of the dimensions that characterize the emergence of superdiversity (Vertovec, 2007). Many reasons such as high economic performance and high democracy may attract large net inflows of immigrant to a certain city. Immigrants may come from various countries. The multiplicity of immigrants countries of origins is one of the most noteworthy features of superdiversity (Vertovec, 2007). Immigrants, from countries all over the world, from areas poor to rich, leave their homeland to their new destinations. Cities like London and Melbourne have people living there from more than 100 countries (Vertovec, 2007; Davern, Warr, Higgs, Dickinson & Phillimore, 2015). Superdiversity does not only exist in terms of different ethnic backgrounds and countries of origin. However, the diversity of countries of origin brings more forms of diversity. Linguistic diversity is one of the forms that derive from the different countries 10

12 of origin. Pérez-Milans (2013) conducted a study on the linguistic practices in Madrid and Hong Kong. In his research, he regards Hong Kong as a superdiverse context for linguistic practices. Religious diversity is another form deriving from diversity in countries of origin. Adherents of various religions coexist with each other and there is no particular religious groups that is dominant in a superdiverse society. Complexity is another important characteristics of superdiversity. Meissner (2015) mentions that superdiversity can be understood in three ways: as a scientific concept, as a set of interrelated variables and as a social context where multiple variables interrelate and play out in the process of social change. Complexity, as an integral aspect of superdiversity, creates space to identify patterns of difference not only linked to origin. Language, religion, gender, education and occupation, all these elements come together and intersect with each other. Complexity focuses on social patterns where multiple axes of differentiation result in positively or negatively perceived social relations (Meissner, 2015). A superdiverse situation is characterized by encounter of various persons and groups. Instead of concentrating on ethnic or religious groups living as compact communities in particular areas, superdiversity is associated with population fragmentation (Davern et al., 2015). People mix across cultural differences. The event of cultural mix is appraised when people are willing to be part of it. Wessendorf (2013) refers to this as an ethos of mixing. He elaborated on this by describing how different groups participate in one way or another in the public realm, and how this participation inescapability leads to meeting with the other cultures in society. A very important result of Wessendorf's (2013) research is the assertion that ethos of mixing lies in how people perceive their social surroundings in terms of the way they live with their diverse fellow residents. People do not need to be friends with their neighbours; simply recognizing them is enough to create the necessary connection with the diverse people with whom they share the space (Wessendorf, 2013). Further, it is important to understand superdiversity at an individual level. Siebers (2014) argues that superdiversity enables individual identity formation, in the sense that ethnic background serves as input to profile individual identity. Describing a research done in a Dutch university in which a student with Moroccan background, described her class as a very mixed one, Siebers (2014) shows how individuals could emancipate themselves from closed group characterization to 11

13 incorporate elements that leads to a new individualized self-perception. In a superdiverse situation, individuals are not regarded as representations of a particular group and culture. The concept of superdiversity makes it possible to incorporate various elements from other cultures rather than sticking to a stereotyped ethnic or group identity. 2.2 Intergroup relations As mentioned above, superdiversity means that individuals and groups can adopt ideas and values coming from groups other than their own. Influences from others by ways or interaction, communication and through the media are inevitable in a superdiverse environment. They may influence how the immigrants live and how the local citizens respond to such immigrants. Intergroup relations can be understood as the way how one group influences the other group, at the same time, being influenced by the other one. Individuals belong to various groups. The relationship among groups can be presented in different ways. Hornsey and Hogg (2000) illustrate two ways of (positive) relations between minority and majority groups, labeling these as integration and assimilation. Both minority and majority groups try to interact with each other, which means that the minority group assimilate to the majority group within a certain context in order to reduce or even eliminate differences (Schalk-Soekar & Van de Vijver, 2008). Studies done in Dutch society showed that majority members expect minority members to follow the majority norms and values, and to abandon their own traditions (Arends-Tóth & Van de Vijver, 2003). The majority group may feel less threatened by minority groups when majority group members perceive the others as similar to them. People are usually more comfortable with and will be positively disposed toward people whom they perceived to be more similar to themselves (Byrne, 1971). The more minority members assimilate, the more similar they may get to the majority members. The other positive way to keep positive and harmonious relations is that minority group members are motivated to maintain their cultural differences while at the same time wanting to incorporate into the life of the host society (Nagel & Staeheli, 2008). Minority members prefer integration while the majority members prefer assimilation. The explanation to this may be that integration is more beneficial to the minority groups because they can retain their own cultural traits and traditions while adapting to the host society. 12

14 However, it is not always the case that intergroup relations are kept in positive ways. When minority group members reject the majority culture and maintain their own culture, the intergroup relations are presented in negative ways such as segregation and exclusion. In the case of segregation, the minority group members wish to avoid interactions with the others (Berry, 1997). When intergroup interactions are less, there seems to be a lack of strong intergroup contact. Minority group members are less excluded when they have more contact with majority members (Schalk-Soekar & Van de Vijver, 2008). Besides the amount of intergroup contact and interactions, sometimes the fit between the minority group and the majority group is not achieved in segregation and exclusion situations (Berry, 1997). It is necessary to make a distinction between self-segregation and enforced exclusion. Crozier and Davies (2008) did a study on South Asian students feelings about school experience in Britain. The South Asian students were perceived by their white peers and teachers as not mixing with the white majority and excluding themselves. However, according to what Crozier and Davies (2008) found out was that the minority students were pushed to the margin because of the majority s misconceptions on them. In a context where emphasis is on conformity instead of sharing differences, minority members have little choice but to stick to their own group. As a result, minority members are segregated or excluded from the majority. There are some factors related to the concept of intergroup relations. Intergroup boundaries may be one factor that would influence intergroup relations. Boundaries are built to differentiate and exclude the others. The effects of boundaries have been discussed in recent studies. When boundaries are perceived as stable and hard to blur, individuals tend to stay within their own group (Verkuyten & Reijerse, 2008). Siebers (2014) mentioned that ethnic markers like language, religious practices and specific dress might serve as a basis for ethnic boundaries, and some social discourses from mass media might accentuate the boundaries, however, ethnic boundaries can be deconstructed by the concept of superdiversity. Boundaries are constructed as a result of perceived threat. Threat can be seen as an important factor that has an effect on intergroup relations. Among groups, there is a need for positive intergroup distinctiveness (Hornsey & Hogg, 2000). There are aggressive strategies such as prejudice and discrimination to maintain this distinctiveness, but also less aggressive ones such as using icons and symbols. If there is the absence of identity threat, distinctiveness can be maintained in more 13

15 benign ways (Hornsey & Hogg, 2000). The majority group may feel threatened by a minority group because of aspects such as an increasing population of the minority group, economical threats and loss of status. Minority members are perceived less threatened when they have more contacts with the majority members (Stephan & Stephan, 2000). Similarity between groups is assumed to be positive for intergroup relations. Many studies have examined the effects of similarity on intergroup relations. For example, Roccas and Schwartz s (1993) research dealing with over one hundred students from high school shows that higher similarity increases outgroup favoritism when the outgroup members are perceived similar on dimensions that are not relevant for defining the group. They also found out that similarity increases readiness for intergroup contact (Roccas & Schwartz, 1993). Another research done by Hornsey and Hogg (2000) shows that group members tend to have more bias on outgroup members who have more different attitudes and opinions when intergroup boundaries are perceived to be exist. However, both studies have indicated that increasing similarity not only has positive effects but also negative effects (Roccas & Schwartz, 1993; Hornsey & Hogg, 2000). A high level of intergroup similarity would arouse threat to a distinctive group or social identity, so group members have more negative attitudes towards outgroup members (Roccas & Schwartz, 1993). Similarly, Hornsey and Hogg (2000) mention that group members discriminate more against outgroup members who are more similar to them when intergroup boundaries are not perceived to be salient. Intergroup relations can be exemplified in interactions between different group members. For example, positive intergroup relations can be presented in interactions between the group members by indicators such as friendships and partnerships (Bosswick & Heckmann, 2006). Relations between majority and minority group may influence how different group members interact with each other. 2.3 Daily life and interactions Individuals experiences and activities constitute their everyday life. With ongoing changes within society, people experience more and more diversity in their everyday life. Wessendorf (2010) develops the notion of commonplace diversity which means that diversity is experienced as a 14

16 normal part of social life. Especially living in a superdiverse city, diversity is encountered in various domains of daily life. For example, in the work domain, people may encounter others with different cultural or religious background. Not only colleagues are diverse, people may also have diverse neighbors. People of different background meet at places such as markets, parks, and sports clubs. The time people spend at places outside the work places constitutes their personal or private life. Wessendorf (2010) further points out the importance of daily encounters and interactions. The encounters in daily life may not enhance the mutual understanding of each culture but the absence of these encounters or interactions can enhance prejudice. Other studies also have paid attention to the necessity of neighborhood interaction across differences. Amin (2002) stressed that regular and prosaic interactions with others offer individuals opportunities to break out fixed relations and fixed notions. Regular interactions with people who are different help people get familiar with others and get accustomed to communicating across differences (Wessendorf, 2010). Living with diverse people, positive contacts and interactions between group members and outgroup members enhance intergroup relations (Tausch, Tam, Hewstone, Kenworthy & Cairns, 2007). Peaceful coexistence requires daily interactions in order to establish a basis for dialogue (Sandercock, 2003). From these daily interactions, people may overcome the fear and misunderstanding of the others who are from other group and are perceived as different. Not only the frequency of contacts and interactions, but maybe more important, the quality of the contacts and interactions influences people s attitudes towards each other. If interactions between two individuals from different group are perceived positively, the positive perception may have the tendency to energize the larger outgroup members (Tausch et al., 2007). The positive perceptions of interactions may tend to reduce perceived intergroup threat, which may enhance intergroup relations. Further, a study carried out by Stolle, Soroka and Johnston (2008) confirms the importance of interaction quality. They did a survey among residents living in a diverse neighborhoods. Most of them expressed that positive interactions would increase their trust towards the outgroup members. Moreover, Nezlek and Reis (1999) pointed out that minority members attachment to the host culture is positively related to the quality of their interactions with majority members instead of the numbers of the interactions. To be more specific, the quality of interactions perceived by the minority members relates to their feelings and evaluations about 15

17 the interactions. For example, do they feel understood or valued by the others during the interactions? Therefore, minority members may feel more accepted by the majority and feel more attached to the host culture when the interactions are perceived more positive by the minority members. 2.4 The role of religion in daily life and interactions Beliefs, social organizations, attitudes, feelings, a way of life and rituals form parts of the dimensions of religions, as Markham & Ruparell (2001) point out. In practice, these dimensions are the results of following a certain religion. They interact with each other and contribute to the cohesion of a religious group. The whole way of life may be influenced because of being an adherent of the religion (Markham & Ruparell, 2001). Religion has been playing an important role as a framework for its adherents in dealing with everyday life. Religion provides a framework of general ideas which gives emotional, intellectual and moral experience a meaningful form (Geertz, 1973). As a result, religion may characterize its adherents activities and experiences. How individuals behave and communicate with others is based on their choices regarding their modes of actions. Through their choices on these modes, individuals express their religious beliefs in their everyday interactions with others. As Abu-Nimer (2001) points out that religious beliefs are integral parts of the interactions between individuals. Religion helps to construct an individual s value system and world-view. When an individual internalizes a set of religious values, these beliefs can motivate changes of attitudes and action. Firth (1996) emphasizes the function of religious beliefs. He did a study on religious values supplying people with patterns for conduct in daily life. Again, McMichael (2002) confirms that religious values and beliefs are articulated through people s daily practices and forms of interactions. By exploring the role of Islam in the everyday life of Somali women in Melbourne, he expresses that during the time of sadness, depression, loneliness, and anxiety, women draw upon ideological frameworks of Islam to help them make sense of life (McMichael, 2002, p.187). Further, Firth (1996) articulates that people express their religious belief in modes of actions, but these modes of actions are often in a process of adjustment or adaption according to physical and social needs. Adherents from the same religious group may have different beliefs on a given issue. Religious belief is subjective to an individual s own interpretation and understanding (Firth, 1996). 16

18 Because individuals have various interpretations of religious belief, their own interpretations would influence, for example, how they deal with social relations. McMichael (2002) illustrates people s diverse interpretations of religious faith by giving an example of Muslim women s diverse way of wearing their headscarves (some women even do not wear a headscarf). Although religion plays a vital role in shaping people s modes of thinking and action, religion beliefs give leeway to diverse interpretations. Different interpretations allows people to adjust their actions according to the context. Therefore, it may be assumed that individuals have to follow one way of life according to the framework provided by the religion. Erni and Leung (2014) give another illustration of Islam as a religion providing Muslims the framework of life. Islamic beliefs function as guiding principles in Muslims life, and maintaining the Islamic beliefs has been forming the backbone of the life of many south Asians in Hong Kong. This is especially true for Muslims who are diasporic and being separated from home (Erni & Leung, 2014). These Muslims are in need of relying more on religion for spiritual support and compensation. According to Erni and Leung (2014), the importance of Quranic teaching is to help believers to cope with problems in daily life. During their research, they found that, recently, an increasing number of Indonesian maids in Hong Kong may arise their conflicts with their employers. Some maids may feel hurt being ordered to remove the veil or to cook pork. When these maids have their Quranic lessons, they are advised to follow their bosses orders but they are assured that Allah would understand. Muslims should regard those sufferings and difficulties as challenges in life that strengthen one s faith (Erni & Leung, 2014). To summarize, superdiversity describes the situation where diversity is no longer only in terms of countries of origin. Superdiversity means the interplay of multiple variables. A city manifests its characteristics of suerduversity with mixed individuals and groups living side by side. Relationship between different groups can be influenced by man factors especially interactions of different group members. Individuals religious belief have effects on their way of thinking and doing things, which further influence individuals interactions. These concepts together have provided a theoretical framework for this research about Muslims interactions with Chinese non- Muslims. 17

19 3. Methodology The methods used in the research are presented in this chapter. There are 5 sections. The first section deal with the research design. The second section tells about the sampling strategy. Section 3 and 4 are about data collection and analysis. The last section pays attention to the research quality indicators. 3.1 Research design The research was carried out with a qualitative research strategy. This strategy suits the research question because the answers to the research question lie in a deeper understanding of everyday life of Muslims in Hong Kong. Inductive reasoning was mainly applied in the research. A picture of Muslims daily life was drawn from the pieces of description of realities collected from each interviewed Muslim. This is in line with a qualitative approach. Through interviews the researcher gets fragments of specific stories about Muslims daily interactions with the majorities, based on which a picture of a Muslim s daily life can be drawn. This also matches the aim of the research which is to gain an understanding of the everyday life experience of being a Muslim in Hong Kong. The research design was based on qualitative research in which interviews were conducted. There was not much known to the researcher about the daily interactions between Muslims and non- Muslim majority members in Hong Kong before the research, so the researcher sought to understand things occurring in such situations. The research was not only about descriptions of Muslims interactions with majority group members in Hong Kong but also about the underlying meanings behind those interactions. The research was cross-sectional. The interviews were carried out over two months, so the data are gathered at one point of time. The research was interested in the Muslims feelings and experiences at this one point of time, instead of the changing experiences of Muslims over time. 3.2 Sample strategy The research used purposive sampling. First, due to time and cost limitations, the research was less concerned about the generalizability but more concerned about understanding the respondents perceptions of their daily interactions. Second, it was necessary to obtain information from the specific target group under investigation. The main research question was about Muslims 18

20 interactions with majority members in everyday life, so the target group was adult Muslims living in Hong Kong with different origins. The age of the respondents were from 22 to 60. In order to reduce bias that may be produced by a specific selection of respondents, the Muslim respondents selected for the research were balanced in ethnic background and gender. Part of the Muslims who were interviewed were contacted through one of the biggest Muslim communities in Hong Kong the Chinese Muslim Culture and Fraternal Association. The rest of the respondents were reached through a student and his professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong who has many personal contacts with Muslims. 3.3 Data collection The data for the research was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Secondary data came from previous studies and documents on Hong Kong, Muslims, and relevant topics. This preliminary information provided the researcher with a general idea of the situation and relevant theories. The method of primary data collection was conducting interviews and dairies studies. The term dairy is used in the sense of a narrative reporting of past events (Czarniawska, 2007). Before the conduction of interviews, all the respondents were requested to keep a diary about their daily interactions during a whole week (from Monday to Sunday) in order to provide basic information about their interactions with majority members. The diaries were in the format of questionnaires. Respondents firstly filled out their demographic information including country of origin, age, gender and years in Hong Kong. And then respondents kept records of their interactions with majority members by answering the same questions in the diary on a weekly basis. The content of the diaries can be found in the appendix. Wessendorf (2010; 2013) conducted a study on daily life in the London community of Hackney by administering interviews with local residents. This research adopted the strategies applied by Wessendorf. The major difference between both approaches is that in the present study interviews were administered via Skype. With two of the respondents due to their limit of time, interviews were conducted via . Interviews through Skype and may be less intimate by nature. However, through the contacts and interviews that have been established it turned out that respondents were quite interested in the research and have provided quite detailed and meaningful stories about their life experience in Hong Kong. 19

21 There were ten interviews in total. There were five interviews with Muslims from Chinese origin and five with Southeast Asian origins. Previous studies show that majority members have more negative prejudice on Muslims of Southeast Asian origins, so the researcher was expecting there might be differences among the answers from the different ethnic Muslims. Considering that gender might also influence respondents perceptions, the respondents included both male and female subjects. Lastly, for the purpose of confidentiality, all the respondents names were changed. The respondents who were involved in this research are listed in Table 3.1: Name Gender Age Ethnic origin Years in Hong Kong Adeel male 31 Pakistani 20 Dev male 38 Indian 12 Tina female 25 Indian 25 Moosa male 59 Indian 59 Suti female 31 Indonesian 6 Li male 47 Chinese 47 Luo male 22 Chinese 18 Sun female 48 Chinese 48 Wang female 60 Chinese 40 Wu male 50 Chinese 50 Table 3.1: Overview of respondents and their characteristics The interviews were semi-structured. They were started in a rather unstructured manner for the purpose of establishing rapport (Sekaran & Bougie, 2014) with the respondents. Some preliminary talk was done at beginning on, for example, the purpose of the interviews and the researcher s background. During interviews, the researcher tried to elicit stories and examples about their daily interactions from the respondents. The researcher asked the respondents more specific questions based on their stories in order to get a full understanding of those stories. During the interview the researcher was able to make the respondents sufficiently at ease to let them give truthful information. The structured element of the interview referred to the predetermined information which was needed. The interviewer used a list of predetermined questions. All these questions focused on various relevant and necessary aspects in order to answer the main research 20

22 question. Every respondent was interviewed with almost the same questions. Still some detailed questions based on personal stories and examples were asked to different respondents. 3.4 Data analysis The interview transcripts and diaries were subjected to qualitative data analysis. According to Miles and Huberman (1994), data reduction and data display are two important steps in qualitative data analysis. A useful unit of such analysis is the theme or topic (Sekaran & Bougie, 2014). The data reduction was done through data coding. Based on the diaries and the interview transcripts, the data was coded into seven themes. Each respondent s opinions and ideas corresponding to each theme will be categorized to that theme: Daily interactions in the work domain Daily interactions in the private domain (in free time) General feelings of these interactions, Particular examples (stories) of interactions Perceived problems in interactions, Perceptions of Chinese non-muslims Perceived differences from Chinese non-muslims The method of key incident analysis was used for the stories and examples told by the respondents. Key incident analysis is the approach where the researcher reconstruct the social reality of the respondents (Kroon & Sturm, 2007). Through respondents descriptions of specific interactions that they experienced with majority members, the researcher gained an insight of the Muslim respondents perceptions of these interactions. The examples and stories of interactions were further divided into two categories: interactions experienced positively and interactions experienced negatively. By comparing the examples with each other and relating the examples to the respondents perceptions on other related topics, the research selected some typical examples from both negative and positive categories. These examples were used as representations of Muslims interactions with the Chinese non-muslims. Based on such examples, the researcher generated the major types of negative and positive interactions, and inducted the major reasons for negative and positive feelings. 21

23 3.5 Research quality indicators The reliability of the data was enhanced by using diary documents because the diaries helped the researcher to get preliminary information about the respondents, which helped to gain better understanding of the interview answers from the respondents perspective. Further, the reliability produced by the interviews increased by establishing trust and rapport with the respondents. First, the interviewer stated that the purpose of the interviews was only for her master thesis research and assured the interviewer assured the confidentiality of the respondents. Second, the researcher tried to establish a good relationship by being friendly, sincere and none-evaluative in order to make the respondents feel comfortable with the researcher, because respondents are more prepared to provide accurate information and honest opinions when they experience a high level of trust and rapport with the interviewer (Sekaran & Bougie, 2014). The internal validity was enhanced by the predetermined interview questions and diary documents. The researcher had a clear idea of what kind of information was needed for the research and what was needed to be asked to the respondents. So the researcher was able to find out relevant information which could provide answers to the central research question. The interview questions were formulated based on the research sub-questions in order to get valuable information for the central research question. Further, diaries that were used as supplements to interview data provided a rich source of respondents experiences in daily life (Corti, 1993). Patton (1999) sees triangulation as a method for corroborating research findings and as a test for credibility. In this research, the data triangulation was used to enhance the internal validity. There were different data sources such as the diary, the interviews, the stories, previous studies and relevant documents. The multiple data sources enabled the researcher to examine the consistency of the different data sources, and also provided the researcher knowledge of the Muslims daily interactions and life from various aspects. The research did not emphasize external validity. The research focused on the meanings behind Muslims daily interactions with majority members. The findings about Muslims in Hong Kong might give some indications about Muslims situation as a religious minority group in Hong Kong society. However, these findings were not necessarily used to generalize situations of other Muslim communities around the world. 22

24 4. Context This chapter provides a detailed introduction about Hong Kong as context in which the research is performed. The first part tells about some demographic information of Hong Kong and its long history of diversity and ends with depictions of the city s superdiverse characteristics. The second part presents the situation of Muslims in Hong Kong nowadays and their historical origins. 4.1 Hong Kong: a diverse city Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of China, has a population over 7 million people. Nearly 92 percent of the population are Chinese and the remaining 8 percent are ethnic minorities (Hong Kong Yearbook, 2014). The territory is composed of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon peninsula, the New Territories and other outlying small islands. Much territory of Hong Kong is rural and urban areas are compressed and densely populated. Politically, Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy. The Basic Law enables the residents in Hong Kong to have the freedom of religious belief and freedom to participate in religious activities in public. Religious organizations have the right to run schools, hospitals and other institutions. Religious organizations may also receive financial assistance from the government. Hong Kong has always been an area where diversity is the main characteristic on stage. Before it was set as a commercial port, Hong Kong was only a remote and desolate small village. The local villagers who were in a very small population were self-sufficient and had seldom contact with the world outside. However, after the Opium War (in the 1840s), Hong Kong became a commercial port for Britain to export goods and then became a colony of Britain. Since then, a large number of immigrants came to Hong Kong. These immigrants included people from the Main Land of China mainly and people from European countries and some other parts of the world as well. These people brought their religions and cultures from home to this new place. As a result, the local villagers and the new coming immigrants in Hong Kong needed to accept the resulting cultural and religious mix. Hong Kong, from the beginning, did not actually have a culture of its own. The special culture of today's Hong Kong is a result of the process of religious, ethnic and cultural diversity (Lu, 2001). People in Hong Kong have been used to religious diversity since the old days. At the very beginning of the twentieth century, the numbers of Christians were about 2 percent of the total 23

25 population in Hong Kong; Catholics were about 0.3 percent and Muslims were 0.1 percent. These numbers have increased, especially for the Christians which reached above 9 percent of the total. The adherents to different religions coexist peacefully. As Bouma and Singleton (2004) described, Muslims did not have any mosque in the early years so they prayed in the streets. The Chinese people just did not carry any pork in the streets during these times in order to show their respect to the Muslims. Such harmonious way of coexisting continues till recent days. Leaders from the major religious groups often gather together to have conversations on religious harmony. They set up programs for students and teachers, which aim to help students and teachers become more familiar with religious diversity and more open minded to other religious groups. At the same time, different religious groups cooperate to organize events and activities promoting religious harmony within the local society. Hong Kong s colonial and postcolonial experience makes it a diverse place. O Connor (2010b) has described Hong Kong as a mix of East and West, old and new. Diversity is evident in the fusion of food, fashion, cinema, architecture and language. O Connor (2012, p.5) has described the superdiverse people in a park on Oi Kwan Road in Hong Kong: In the day time, foreign domestic workers meet each other when they bring their children in their care to play in the playground. Occasionally, an elderly Chinese woman hunts through the bins to collect drinks cans for recycling, while a smartly dressed office worker sits on the wall and steals a cigarette break. It is dominated by a mix of adolescents in the evening when skateboarders of all types of ethnicity and age are a common sight. According to O Connor (2012), the park that is only a small area of Hong Kong, is representative of its compressed urban space and culture mix. 4.2 Muslims in Hong Kong Adherents to all the world s major religions can be found in Hong Kong. No certain religion dominates public life. There are around 300,000 Muslims in Hong Kong including 40,000 Chinese, 150,000 Indonesian and 30,000 Pakistanis and others from elsewhere. (Hong Kong Yearbook, 2014). The Muslim community in Hong Kong has a dual origin. The presence of the South Asian Muslims in Hong Kong dates back to the early nineteenth century when the British came. South 24