One-Way Permit System

Yingyin Zeng 

Cause and Effect Essay

October 20, 2025 

One-Way Permit System 

    In many traditional Chinese families, parents may choose to leave their hometown to earn money to support their families due to poverty. They are taking the risk of rarely or never seeing their families again. This situation was more common in the past when Mainland Chinese people went to Hong Kong to work. Before 1960, there was no free travel between Hong Kong and mainland China because Hong Kong was a British colony. Mainland Chinese who arrived in Hong Kong without legal permission were treated as illegal immigrants. However, Hong Kong's One-Way Permit system, approved by the Chinese government, has reunited many mixed families in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The One-Way Permit allows mainland Chinese residents to settle in Hong Kong but requires them to cancel their household registration in mainland China. They can only apply for the Mainland Travel Permit for visiting or traveling. The One-Way Permit system also affected my whole family. My grandfather had lived in Hong Kong alone for many years. Since this new system allowed my grandparents and my family to be reunited, our lives have been profoundly affected in different ways.   

    One of the effects after the One-Way Permit System was launched was the reunion of my grandparents and my family. To apply for the permit, my grandmother had to quit and leave the place where she grew up and lived for a long time. It was difficult, especially because she was a traditional woman. The thought of reuniting with her own family made her take that step bravely. My grandmother came to Hong Kong first to reunite with my grandfather, and she had been waiting for this day for a long time since my grandfather had moved there many years ago. When the One-Way Permit system was launched, he applied and brought my grandmother to Hong Kong immediately. Although the entire process was difficult, the final reunion was worth it. Later, after my father came to Hong Kong to work for many years, my mother brought me there to settle down. During my childhood, I rarely saw my father after he moved to Hong Kong and worked. My memory of my father in my childhood was vague. Once my mother applied for a one-way permit and brought me to Hong Kong, my impression of him became more specific. Likewise, my grandmother and my mother had to give up their lives in the Mainland, including leaving all their friends and other relatives.   

    The One-Way Permit System also affected me a lot because of the difficulty of adapting to the different Chinese characters and the city's density. Although there is only a river between Hong Kong and the Mainland, everything in Hong Kong is quite different because of British colonial rule. The traditional characters put me under some pressure. When I was in mainland China, I wrote in simplified Chinese and spoke in Mandarin in school. Unlike the Mainland, people in Hong Kong use traditional Chinese characters for writing, and people speak a mixture of Cantonese and English on the streets. In addition to the language, what is even more difficult to adapt to is Hong Kong's limited land and large population. Since houses in Hong Kong are small and rent is extremely expensive, my parents and I had to live in the same public housing estate with my grandparents. When we walked down the street, took the subway, or the bus, we always bumped into strangers.   

    However, after moving to Hong Kong, our quality of life has been improved a lot. Hong Kong's economic environment and education system made my family better. My parents both found jobs in Hong Kong that were much better than what they had on the Mainland. Although prices are a bit high, salaries in Hong Kong are about four times higher than in Mainland China. We could buy things we had never seen and food we had never eaten before. Because of the improvement in our family's financial situation, my family no longer lives in poverty as previously. The educational system in Hong Kong is also different from the Mainland; it is more comprehensive and focuses more on English. Mainland China focuses more on academic performance, while Hong Kong offers extracurricular activities besides academic studies. Mainland also does not focus much on teaching English, unlike Hong Kong, where children start learning English in kindergarten. I was already nine years old when I continued school in Hong Kong, and it was difficult for me to catch up. However, as time went by, I was able to blend into the learning environment in Hong Kong.   

    The One-Way System has deeply affected my family's lives in many ways. Our successful reunion, efforts to adapt, and enhancement in knowledge are a result of the One-Way Permit System. It was a great gratitude to this system. Although the entire process was difficult, all this effort was worth it. Many people who work far away from their homes cannot reunite with their families, especially for the Chinese. However, the One-Way System affected many mixed Chinese-Hong Kong families, enabling them to reunite and improve their lives.