ethnic indians in hong kong

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Constructing Globalized Ethnicity

Migrants from India in Hong Kong

Caroline PlüssThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

abstract: This article explores the relationship between theethnic identities of migrants from India in Hong Kong andtheir attempts to attain economic and social goals. It arguesthat Indians did not just adopt the characteristics of theBritish and Chinese majorities who controlled important

access to resources. Rather, Indians sought to negotiate theirpositions in networks with majorities through constructingethnic identities as cultural capital combining characteristicsrooted in several regions. This allowed them to advertiseknowledge, skills and connections that other members of Hong Kong society did not necessarily share. Constructionsof transregional identities are examined with the examples of Parsis, Jain diamond merchants and Sikh policemen. Distin-guishing between essential and relational conceptualizationsof ethnic identities yields four different scenarios of how

ethnic identities were constructed in the context of globaliz-ation, taking into account power relations between majoritiesand minorities. They are: high essential–high relational; highessential–medium relational; high essential–low relational;and medium essential–medium relational formulations.

keywords: cultural capital ✦ ethnic identity✦ globalization ✦networks ✦ transregionalism

Theoretical Framework

Globalization dissolves geographical boundaries and joins hithertoseparate cultural processes. One fundamental issue that the current debateon globalization raises is how it transforms the ways in which peoplethink of themselves. With globalization, the links between cultures,people, identities and specific places have become fluid, and identity has

International Sociology ✦ June 2005 ✦ Vol 20(2): 201–224SAGE (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi)

DOI: 10.1177/0268580905052369

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characteristics believed to have historically formed ethnic identities, and(2) asserting relational characteristics by constructing identities accordingto the characteristics of the group one wishes to engage with.4 The distinc-

tion between essential and relational elements allows discerning howlocal, transregional, internal and external dimensions interact in identityconstruction. Therefore, these two characteristics provide the contextualcoordinates of ‘situated selves’ (Guarnizo and Smith, 1999: 21). Strongessential elements are likely to indicate a high degree of differentiation,or social closure, of a group towards outsiders. Weak essential elementsoften suggest disengagement from one’s ethnic tradition. Strong relationalelements in identity constructions indicate processes of assimilation to thecharacteristics of another group, whereas weak relational elementssuggest processes of differentiation.

Data Collection

The data for this article were collected between 1999 and 2002. Primarysources were 36 in-depth interviews,5 and newspaper and archiveresearch. Secondary sources consisted of historical reports on Hong Kongand a number of its institutions, in particular the Royal Hong Kong PoliceForce, journal articles on Indians; and accounts of Parsis, Jains and Sikhsin India. The interviews lasted between one and four hours, depending

on the availability of interviewees and the quality of the informationvolunteered. Interviews with 27 interviewees were semi-structured,starting with a number of key questions on the changing identities of Indians in Hong Kong, including self-presentation, relations with Britishand Chinese residents, the strengths and weaknesses of being in HongKong, links with India, membership in associations and social life. Thesequestions served to initiate open-ended discussion, leaving intervieweesfree to formulate their own explanations. The aim was to increase theirwillingness to share information (Robbins et al., 1973). Notes were taken

during the interviews. Four informants from the first round of interviewswere interviewed a second time, and one a third time, to obtain follow-up information. In addition to these 32 interviews, four interviewees wereselected because of their involvement in non-Indian organizations thathad a significant impact upon Indians’ relations with British and Chinesemajorities.6

Many Indians in Hong Kong are transitory residents, and there are onlya few families who have lived in the territory for several generations.Interviewing principal officers of associations that Indians founded in

Hong Kong proved an effective strategy to locate longer-term residentswith a knowledge of the Indian community and its ethnic subgroups.Comparing interviewees’ accounts and evaluating them in relation to

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1987). An interviewee confirmed that Parsis in India have abandonedmany characteristics of their tradition, observing that ‘Parsis did not havemuch of their own culture in India, they adopted a lot of Indian customs

and mixed [their blood] with Indians.’ As an example, she explains that‘there is hardly anything Parsi in the houses of Parsis [in India]’.7

In order to enter British networks, a number of Parsis started empha-sizing the similarities between their traditions and the characteristics of the British, and differentiating themselves from other Indians, stressingthat they were ‘culturally closer to Europe’.8 Parsis learnt English andpromoted European culture, especially music.9 In 1884, a young femalemember of the Anglicized Parsi elite confirmed a highly relational identityconstruction, explaining that ‘not conforming to the rules of Englishsociety . . . means the same as being illiterate and barbaric’ (Anon., 1884:12; quoted in Shroff, n.d: 4). These Parsis were classic ethnic identity entre-preneurs, asserting high essential–high relational identities by promotinga construction of ethnicity linked to European culture. Portuguese peoplein India promptly classified Parsis as ‘Persians generated from Europe’or as ‘individuals of the white and Arian race’ (Fernandes, n.d.: 1–2).British education and economic cooperation, especially through the EastIndia Company, promoted many Parsis to become a prosperous elite. Anumber of them built dockyards and ships. They were the first ‘Indians’trading with China in the mid-18th century and one of the main groups

participating in the opium trade (Dastoor, 1999: 69–70), in which someethnic minorities in India, including Sephardic Jews, became specialized.

The colonial administration in Hong Kong described Parsis as ‘verycommercial and useful, . . . [because they were] long since activelyengaged in the trade with China’.10 This appraisal provided a solid basisfrom which to negotiate positions in networks with the British. Theexample of how the authorities dealt with the request of three unidenti-fied Parsi merchants to continue selling imported saltpetre to China showsthe economic power these traders held. The authorities responded that

they wished to ‘meet the views of merchants so respectable and so wellintroduced [by Mr J. J. MacKenzie, chairman of the Hong Kong Chamberof Commerce]’.11 The best-known traders in 19th-century Hong Kongwere Hirjibhoy Rustomjee, Pestonji Cawasji, Framjee Jamsetjee, DorabjeeNaorjee and Cowasjee Framjee (Bard, 1993: 86–7), but the size of the Parsicommunity during that time is unknown (Incorporated Trustees of theZoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao, 2002: 8).

Significant about these traders’ identities was that they did not Angli-cize their names, but promoted Parsi tradition as cultural capital that

denoted trading skills with co-religionists in India as well as in China(both countries were key participants in the opium trade). Parsi philan-thropy, for example, supported these traders’ networks in China and, in


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comparison with the British traders, their popularity among Chinese indi-viduals. Dastoor claims that Parsis had established a reputation amongChinese merchants for being more philanthropic and less ‘commandeer-

ing’ than the British (Dastoor, 1999: 70). The knowledge, skills, resourcesand obligations enshrined in Parsi trading networks hence providedcharacteristics that the British did not fully possess but valued, and inorder to access them, the British colonial administration and the Britishtraders were willing to share some of their own resources with the Parsis. Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy’s relations with the British empire are an example. Hewas not based in Hong Kong, where he owned a dockyard, but in thenearby southern Chinese city of Canton (Reid, 1982: 17). Having beeninstrumental in helping the British firm Jardine, Matheson and Co. to build its large stake in trade with the Far East, he received numeroushonours from Britain, including a knighthood in 1842 (Vaid, 1972: 12), anda directorship in the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation(Mama, 1992: 12).

Philanthropic projects of Parsi merchants in Hong Kong brought themfurther recognition by its British administration. Since arriving in Indiain the eighth century as a minority in search of acceptance, Parsi identityconstruction strongly emphasized philanthropy (Taraporevala, 2000: 15).In Hong Kong, an endowment by Hormusjee Mody that led to theopening of the University of Hong Kong in 1911 was rewarded with a

knighthood from Britain in 1910 (White, 1995: 29). Philanthropy dimin-ished some of the earlier racial prejudices the British held against theParsis. Evidence for these can be found in the Anglo-Chinese Calendar of 1832, which classified Parsis as ‘Asiatic British Subjects’ (Smith, 1995: 390),and in an account of Hong Kong’s early colonial days, expounding thatthe colonial administration admitted Parsis only as long as they knew‘their place, . . . which fork was which . . . [and were] admissibly rich’(Welsh, 1997: 380). In contrast to prominent traders, Parsis employed byBritish firms in Hong Kong de-emphasized essential identities, under-

taking significant name changes. Answering the question of why anumber of English names appeared in the membership registry of theHong Kong Parsee Cricket Club at the turn of the 20th century, such asMaster or Cooper, a member of the community explains that ‘they werenot English, but Parsees working for English firms, so they took the nameof the firm as their own name’ (Hall, 2000: 148). Constructing identitieswith lower essential but higher relational elements reflects the fact thatwhen these Parsis negotiated their positions in British networks, theypossessed fewer of the characteristics the British lacked but valued.

Nevertheless, their employment was accompanied by a degree of hybridization on the British side. Payment offices in Hong Kong werecalled ‘shroff offices’, after the Parsi name Shroff.12

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Comparing the merchants with the employees in British firms suggeststhat the main factor accounting for the degree to which Parsis advocatedessential identity elements to negotiate their positions in networks with

the British was the amount of transregional expertise the Parsis possessed.Such expertise consisted of the knowledge, skills and resources enshrinedin their diasporic networks, such as contacts in India that were crucial forpurchasing and shipping opium, their philanthropy, or the links theyfostered through their early entry into trade with China. Parsis for whomtransregional expertise was unimportant for their economic pursuits hadless bargaining power in relation to the colonial power. Therefore, theyplaced less emphasis on their distinctiveness and assimilated morestrongly the characteristics of the British.

Constructing high essential and high relational identities reinforcedprocesses of social closure when Parsis dealt with other communities inHong Kong, such as its Chinese residents, or other groups of migrantsfrom India. Parsi traders remained distant from these two groups,especially on a cultural level. They constructed stringent religious bordersaround their community, keeping non-Zoroastrians outside the confinesof their religious life, the pivotal point of Parsi collective existence.13

During the extended time that Parsis resided in India, the borders of theircommunity were less thoroughly upheld. Their religious rituals adoptedelements from Hinduism, and vice versa (Fernandes, n.d.: 3).

High Essential–Medium Relational Identities:20th-Century Parsis

Throughout the 20th century, Parsis gradually, but not unequivocally,started to redefine essential components of their identities in order to fulfiltheir social aspirations. The connections in their identities between ethnic-ity and economic aspiration/specialization declined for several reasons.First, Parsis’ commercial links with India became less important. The

opium trade decreased from the early 20th century onwards and Parsisin Hong Kong started importing and exporting goods from, and to, avariety of places. In the 1920s, for example, a number of them were manu-facturing embroidered goods in Canton, exporting the goods to multiplelocations.14 Second, Parsi economic activities in Hong Kong became lessdependent on negotiations of positions in networks with the British. Theeconomic trajectory of the Ruttonjee family is an example. One of theprivileges Parsis enjoyed in the empire was the award of liquor licences by the British.15 Hormusjee Ruttonjee obtained an import licence for wine

and liquor in 1887, with which he set up his business in Hong Kong (Pavri,1974: 1). By the early 20th century, however, he became more interestedin investing in property in Hong Kong. This provided him with an


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economic base in the territory that was less dependent upon approval bythe colonial administration. Third, given their prosperity, Parsis felt littleneed to construct ethnic entrepreneurial identities in relation to Chinese

residents in Hong Kong, who did not have much political power. Theyregarded their Chinese associates as ‘middle-men’,16 which suggests thatParsis felt they were superior. A Parsi trader who migrated with his familyfrom Shanghai to Hong Kong in 194917 points towards the social distance between the two groups, confirming that Chinese regarded Parsis as‘[business] associates, and as rivals’ (South China Morning Post, 26February 2002). Fourth, there was little genealogical and economic conti-nuity between the 19th-century Parsi merchants in Hong Kong and theirco-religionists in the territory in the 20th century. By the early 20th century,most members of the former group, who were linked to the opium trade,had either returned to India, or were no longer alive. Their 20th-centuryco-religionists were engaged in a wider variety of economic pursuits inwhich they no longer occupied a specialized niche. They therefore putless emphasis on constructing ethnic entrepreneurial identities.

Good relations with the British colonial elite, educational attainmentsand English-language skills helped Parsis to enter various professions inHong Kong, including teaching, medicine and engineering.18 Since thesecond half of the 20th century, the British administration in Hong Konghad become more inclusive of the characteristics of ethnically different

groups, increasing their influence in its bodies. Indicating their relativelysecure economic positions, there appear to have been no further attemptsto Anglicize Parsi surnames in the latter part of the 20th century. Parsiswith Indian names, such as Pavri or Parekh, kept them.19 Nevertheless,the first names in long-established Hong Kong Parsi families oftenremained Anglicized, such as those of Morris and Austin Ruttonjee.20

Engaging in networks with different segments of Hong Kong’s populationmeant that relational elements in Parsi identities sometimes came to bein conflict. Dhun Ruttonjee’s loyalty to what he perceived to be the

benefits of Hong Kong, rather than of Britain, led to the termination of his appointment in the Legislative Council, where he served from 1953 to1968 (Pavri, 1974: 3). He criticized Governor David Trench for not provid-ing Hong Kong with strong enough leadership.21

Such economic and social changes led Parsis to redefine essential andrelational components in their identities. They generalized the former byemphasizing the fact that integrity and reliability are their historicalcharacteristics.22 Asserting pride in cultural heritage linked Parsis in HongKong more closely with their co-religionists in India. Typically, a member

of the community today declares that ‘Parsis are first Indians’.23

A Hinduinterviewee confirms this identity change, explaining that while Parsis inthe past ‘saw themselves as British, they now see themselves as Indians’.24


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These newer identity constructions intertwined transnational identifi-cation with the emphasis on maintaining family values and religion.25

One difficulty with asserting such values was in dealing with the

problem of exogamy, namely with the question of whether non-Parsispouses, or children of non-Parsi fathers, should be admitted into religiousactivities. Differing views among community members on whether or notrace and religion are inseparable are a historical characteristic of Zoroas-trians (Writer, 1994). Whereas some of their diasporic communitiesengaged in back-and-forth movements about accepting conversions(Writer, 1994: 124–6), 20th-century Parsis in Hong Kong did not acceptthem: non-Zoroastrians remain excluded from Parsi religious activities,including the funerals of spouses.26 However, non-Zoroastrian familymembers were included in the social activities of the community. Such anindividual, for example, confirms that Parsis are her closest friends in theterritory.27 Although Parsis in Hong Kong are concerned about the recentand rapid fall in the number of Zoroastrians worldwide through exogamy,their spatial proximity to the large Zoroastrian community in Mumbai(Bombay), consisting of 76,000 individuals in 2000 (Taraporevala, 2000: 9),as well as the limitations in the degree to which they could integrate them-selves into the Chinese population of Hong Kong, kept the number of exogamous marriages relatively low. The size of the community in theterritory is small, consisting of 80–90 individuals in 1952 (Ingrame, 1952:

248) and of 194 individuals in 2002 (Incorporated Trustees of the Zoroas-trian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao, 2002: 13). Never-theless, a recent estimate of out-marriages is only 5–7 percent.28

Despite their relatively high degree of prosperity and generous phil-anthropy, acceptance of Parsis by Britain and China remained limited. Forexample, neither nation was prepared to give nationality to Indians inHong Kong when it returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 (Das, 1990).29

Such non-acceptance explains why Parsis established stronger links withthe larger Indian community in Hong Kong, and possibly also why they

took greater pride in their group activities. In the words of one intervie-wee, ‘one cannot be Chinese, an ethnic minority needs to stick togetherto survive’.30 Since the second half of the 20th century, Parsis have becomeincreasingly involved in Hong Kong Indian associations, such as the IndiaClub, the Indian Businessmen Association, the Council of Hong KongIndian Associations and the Hong Kong Indian Women’s Club.31 Inter-viewees outline the importance of their group activities to generate a senseof belonging, which they achieve through sharing meals, a sense of humour and language; or, in the view of a non-Zoroastrian spouse of a

Parsi, through ‘having a good time’.32

Similar to processes of ethnicidentity constructions observed among American Indians, 20th-centuryParsi ethnicity began to serve gradually as cultural capital within the


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Parsis’ own community, giving ‘meaningful cultural depth to individualand family life’ (Kurien, 1998: 61).

High Essential–Low Relational Identities: Jain Diamond Traders

Jains, adherents of Jainism, a religion with ascetic origins (Folkert, 1993:90), settled in Hong Kong from the 1950s. Compared to the Sindhis, who became the largest groups of Indians in Hong Kong towards the end of the 20th century,33 the Jains had a high degree of economic homogeneity.This makes them a particularly interesting example in terms of investi-gating constructions of cultural capital in modern-day Hong Kong. In the

1950s, there were only three interrelated Jain families in Hong Kongwhose members traced their ancestry to Palinpur, a small town in theState of Gujarat, India.34 Palinpuri Jains restarted the diamond trade inIndia at the turn of the 20th century (Westwood, 2000: 75), and maintainedtheir stronghold in it when the trade expanded in the late 1980s.35 Indiangovernment controls, however, motivated a number of diamond traders,including Jains from various places in Gujarat, or from neighbouringRajasthan, to set up offices outside India, while the stones were cut andpolished in India. In Hong Kong, the number of Jains increased rapidlyfrom the late 1980s.36 Today, there are approximately 500 Jains in theterritory.37 They own an estimated 60–70 percent of the India-baseddiamond firms in Hong Kong.38 Except for Chinese office staff, employeesin these firms are usually relatives from the same native place.39 Thediamond merchants form the large majority of the Jain community inHong Kong, in which trade is dominant.

Weber stressed the value Jainism places on honesty and the prohibitionof deceit in business life (Weber, 1962: 200). Jain interviewees readily assertthat trust and honour are key characteristics of their identities. Forexample, they emphasize that their religious attitudes provide them with

‘high moral values and with discipline’,40 that their success in diamondtrading is ‘built on their trustworthiness in business’,41 or that their business conduct is honest because otherwise the reputation of theirfamilies would be tarnished.42 A study of Jain diamond traders gives anexample of this latter point, quoting a merchant who explained that:

Among Jains, you know which family you are dealing with and if a traderdoesn’t pay then you can contact his father or his uncle, and he does not wantthat to happen. (Westwood, 2000: 85)

Family networks within and between diamond firms, as well as thedegree of trust enshrined in them, are crucial to sustain the creditworthi-ness of a diamond trader. Relatives take on the role of guarantors for one


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another, back each other with credit, or lend diamonds to cater to fluctu-ating market demands. Diamond wholesaling is a business based oncredit and trust, whereby a trader, backed by guarantors, takes on a credit

to buy diamonds. He then must sell the stones within a given time periodto return the money.43 Trust among traders, therefore, is crucial to riskmanagement in the diamond trade (Westwood, 2000: 75–6). An inter-viewee explains the relations between blood relations and businessalliances, emphasizing ‘ the closer [they are], the better’.44 However, thesetraders like to keep these alliances secret in order to preventing rival firmsfrom undercutting one another’s prices, or from outmanoeuvring thepolicies of competitors.45

In Jain constructions of ethnic identity, emphasis on religious ideals, business conduct and family links are thus closely interrelated. Forexample, an interviewee with Palinpuri ancestry proudly explains thatthe record of Jains with banks in Hong Kong is ‘very good’ because therewere few debts the Jains could not pay back in time. He volunteered thatinterrelated Jains in Hong Kong have taken on debts lasting for 30–40years in order to maintain the good reputations of their co-religionistswith the banks.46 However, pressure among Jain diamond traders to avoidtarnishing the reputation of their guarantors and to pay their debts can be considerable (White, 1995: 159). The fluctuations in the price of diamonds in the last 20 years, however, have motivated some change in

these highly essential identities. Although Jains believe that declaring bankruptcy is still ‘shameful’,47 doing so and starting up a new businessdoes not necessarily prevent other diamond traders from working withthe newly established business.48

It is significant that Jains in Hong Kong established a structure tosustain their ethnic identities when they became more diversified as totheir places of origin. When the first diamond traders settled in HongKong in the 1950s, they did not have a temple. These Palinpuri Jainsvisited the Sikh temple, and then the Hindu temple.49 Family and business

links closely connected them to the same place in India, and they prac-tised Jainism in a similar way to how it is practised among Jain communi-ties in India, that is, with open boundaries towards polytheistic religions(Banks, 1992: 223; Laidlaw, 1995: 95). However, from the late 1980s, thePalinpuri Jains in Hong Kong were joined by a larger number of co-religionists with other places of origin in India. It was 15 members of thislatter group who founded the Jain temple, the Shree Hong Kong JainSangh, in 1996.50 The temple was established not only at a time when thecommunity grew, or when finances became available, but far more signifi-

cantly by Jains who did not share regions of origin. Being frequented daily by around 100 community members,51 the temple reaffirms closely inter-twined relations between religion, family and economic pursuits. An


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administrator of the temple explains that when there was no temple inHong Kong, parents did not wish to come to visit family members doing business in Hong Kong. He adds that since the temple opened, relatives

visit Hong Kong, and explains that the display of family backing in thetemple is important to assure a good reputation among traders, whom hesees as ‘very competitive’.52

Eating habits indicate, to some degree, how Jains have modified theirreligious identities to adapt to Hong Kong surroundings. Jainism asks itspractitioners to be vegetarians, not to eat eggs and to refrain from eatingvegetables that grow under the soil. Many Jains in Hong Kong employcooks from India, and some of them do not eat in restaurants at all. Onelong-term Jain resident admits that long residence in the territory led somecommunity members to modify their eating habits, for instance by eatingvegetables that grow under the soil, such as garlic and onions, wheneating in Chinese vegetarian restaurants.53 More recently settled Jains,however, explain the degree of strictness towards food rather as anessential than a relational identity element. In the opinion of such an inter-viewee, ‘Jains’ attitudes are transmitted by their parents’, with membersof conservative families being strict about keeping dietary restrictions.54

Jains’ relations with Chinese residents in the territory, who form asubstantial number of their clients, are distant. Marriages are usuallyarranged by parents in India, and they may or may not serve as business

alliances.55 Yet they are nearly exclusively among Jains, often amongfamilies with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.56 Business relationswith Chinese clients, in the eyes of a community member who had beenin the territory for a long time, and who speaks Cantonese, are ‘all right’.He emphasizes that socially, Jains do not interact with Chinese residents.57

A more recent settler confirms this, explaining, albeit paradoxically, thatfor Jains ‘business is business and family is family’.58

Being able to protect their economic niche and prosperity allows Jainsto be critical and outspoken when they perceive that they are discrimi-

nated against by Chinese residents. For example, they emphasize that‘Jains in Hong Kong have more connections with their co-religionists inIndia than other Jain communities in the world [have]’,59 that ‘Hong Kongpeople still have some way to go to become world-class citizens’,60 that‘Jains are treated better in the US’,61 or that Chinese residents are resent-ful of their economic pursuits.62 They stress the need for their owncommunity life to redress social isolation. A young mother recounts:

My children are international, but there is no international identity [amongChinese residents]. They do not read Chinese, they do not look Chinese, the

Chinese do not accept them, they are a generation of being neither here northere [in India] . . . [going to the Jain temple] gives them a sense of belongingto their own culture, it is a nice feeling to know one belongs . . . to have a sense


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of belonging in front of discrimination. Here [in the temple] there is communityand a support system.63

Community activities provided a context for validating Jain distinc-

tiveness, which due to racial and cultural differences does not find muchacceptance from Chinese residents. Asserting distinction, on the one hand,supports the Jains’ economic position in the territory but it also accentu-ates their social isolation in relation to the Chinese residents.

Medium Essential–Medium Relational Identities:Sikh Policemen

Sikhs were brought to Hong Kong by the British police and army in the19th century. Sikh soldiers were transitory residents in Hong Kong, giventheir deployment to various destinations, and they had little to do withcivil life in the territory (Weiss, 1991: 427). Motivated by the satisfactionof British military forces in China with Sikh soldiers,64 and the recognitionSikhs obtained from the British in India for protective police work,65 theHong Kong police wished to recruit Sikhs into its services. Previousattempts with building a police force with Chinese constables had failed.One hundred Sikh policemen arrived in Hong Kong in 1867,66 and by1868 the police employed 222 Sikhs.67 The Sikhs readily accepted employ-ment in the Far East, as this provided higher incomes than working inthe Punjab (Tatla, 1999: 44–5). However, a smaller number of these policeconstables wished to return to India, feeling discriminated against by theirBritish employers and Chinese colleagues.68 For example, they wereforbidden from marrying Chinese women, and most of them were notallowed to take their families with them from India to Hong Kong (Weiss,1991: 431). Ease of recruitment and considerable cultural gaps betweenSikh, European and Chinese constables, who are described as having‘despised one another’ (Sinclair, 1994: 30), placed Sikhs in the second half

of the 19th century in a disadvantaged position when negotiating theterms of their employment. This prevented the successful use of theirethnic entrepreneurial identities, despite the fact that Sikhs possessedstrong cultural capital to support their work as protectors. They stressedthat one of the main reasons why Sikhism was founded was to defendHindus from northern Muslim invaders.69 The British administration of Hong Kong, as recorded in the Colonial Office records, did not mentionany links between Sikhism and the ability to perform security work. Itidentified Sikhs with reference to their home province in India, the

Punjab.70 Confusion in the British administration’s correspondence overthe terms Sikhs, Muslims and Indians certainly does not indicate thatSikhs successfully advocated their ethnic entrepreneurial identities. In a


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number of instances, for example, the British mistook ‘Mahomedans’ forSikhs.71

By the end of the 19th century, dissatisfaction with their remuneration,

which was lower than that of European constables, nearly led to a mutinyamong the Indian contingent of the police force (Sinclair, 1994: 35). Inaddition, a number of Sikhs perceived their British employers as inac-cessible, if not incomprehensible, which was possibly also due to theSikhs’ lack of proficiency in English. When three co-religionists wereimprisoned for suspected sedition in Hong Kong in 1945, a number of Sikhs reportedly resolved that ‘the Government had gone mad and thatsteps must be taken to rescue these three prisoners’.72 Dissatisfaction withtheir employment explains why, during the second half of the 20thcentury, an unknown number of Sikhs sought dismissal from the policeforce so that they could take up protection work for other Europeanemployers in the foreign concessions in China.73 In addition to the estab-lished image of Sikhs as being recognizably tall guardians with turbansand beards, the policing skills that these Sikhs acquired from the Britishprovided them with desirable attributes to negotiate entry into employ-ment by German, Russian or French authorities in China. Britain reactedpromptly, albeit unsuccessfully, to this threat to its security, trying torepatriate Sikhs who had left the police force to India.74

The bargaining position of Sikhs in Hong Kong’s police force did not

improve significantly in the 20th century. By that time, the police forceexperienced fewer difficulties with training Chinese constables and afterthe Second World War, the police became increasingly localized. Sikhpolicemen and security personnel are not very popular among Chineseresidents in Hong Kong, who often associate them with the policing of Chinese residents on behalf of the British, and some Chinese residents arein fact quite fearful of them.75 Asserting loyalty to the British, such asemphasizing the Second World War casualties among Sikhs who helpedto defend Hong Kong, had only limited cultural capital because it could

not show that Sikhs were irreplaceable carriers of the networks, skills andknowledge that their employers valued but could not find elsewhere.Disapproval and complaints about unfavourable terms, such as the lackof promotion, continued until the end of the 20th century. The case of Yaqub M. Khan, although he was a Muslim and not a Sikh, is an illus-trative example. Muslims were also recruited into the police force in orderto counterbalance a possible domination of the Sikhs (Weiss, 1991: 430).Khan was promoted to the position of superintendent in 1968, becomingthe highest ranking Indian police officer Hong Kong had ever had.

However, he was dismissed from the police in 1978 and then accused theforce of racial discrimination. He explains that:


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This promotion, which should have been the start of something for my familyto be proud of, was the start of a nightmare. Many in the force felt that ourrole in the force was intended as a watchman class. . . . It was the colonial way.By becoming a superintendent I had a position of real authority. A lot of Englishofficers really resented that.76

Very few Sikhs were kept in the police force after the return of HongKong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 (Batra, 1999: 41, 49). Sikhs whostayed in Hong Kong often became security workers or restaurant owners.Limited education and lack of proficiency in English and written Chinesedid not favour their entry into the business world (White, 1995: 91), orthe entry of their children into Hong Kong universities. Although a smallnumber of Sikhs have come to Hong Kong in recent years to set up busi-

nesses, the economic status of the community is generally low. This hasled to exclusion from the richer Indian business communities in HongKong, and to disapproval from the Chinese majority, who are not veryaccepting of poorer ethnic minorities. The approximately 7500 Sikhs whoreside in the territory (Batra, 1999: 42) seek to rearticulate Sikh identity ina way that brings them more acceptance from Chinese residents, andalleviates tensions between the two groups. To achieve this, Sikhs recentlyoutlined characteristics of their religion by stressing elements thatsegments of Hong Kong society currently aspire to. This includes its non-discriminatory nature, especially towards women, and its recommen-dation of Sikhs’ acceptance of ‘all ethical work’.77 However, the likelihoodof Sikhs improving their economic and social positions remains low. Onemajor difficulty is that that the public education system in Hong Kong,which reverted to teaching in Chinese after 1997, puts children of ethnicminorities at a disadvantage, given their difficulty in performing in theChinese language. To improve this situation, the Sikh temple in HongKong, the Khalsa Divan, is offering some educational facilities for Sikhchildren, however without the means of improving their written Chinese-language skills.

Conclusions

This article examines four scenarios for constructing ethnic entrepre-neurial identities. Such scenarios reveal how Indians combined charac-teristics rooted in different cultures and regions while adapting to, anddifferentiating themselves from, British and Chinese residents in HongKong so that they could realize their social and economic aspirations. Thedistinction between relational and essential elements serves to illustrate

power differentials between minorities and majorities in identityconstructions. It also explains how people shape their identities in a trans-regional context, where their interactions do not take place in any one


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place and culture alone but exist between and beyond them. As ethnicidentity entrepreneurs, Indians tactically intersected facets of one culturewith those of another in a globalizing context, through processes that are

neither ‘bipolar’, nor ‘unidirectional’, but ‘multi-polar, with complexflows among the poles’ (Kearney, 1995: 228). This created an ‘ad hoc social-ity’ (Kearney, 1995: 232), a transnational unit of culture (Gilroy, 1993), asemi-autonomous ‘third space’ consisting of ongoing negotiations of positions of majorities and minorities (Lavie and Swedenburg, 1996: 20).The minorities not only negotiated their identities in relation to thechanging characteristics of the British political and Chinese numericalmajorities in Hong Kong, but also used their embeddedness within widerdiasporic communities in order to respond to the challenges they facedin Hong Kong. Their identity constructions, therefore, were simul-taneously linked to several regions, with the migrants making referenceto several regions at the same time while constructing them.

Nineteenth-century Parsi traders combined their own cultural charac-teristics with British ones, which not only supported mutual needs foreconomic collaboration but also connected essential elements in their iden-tities with transregional cultural capital that the majorities did not possess but wanted. This provided the Parsis with some autonomy from the controlof the majorities. Once Parsis held established economic positions in theterritory, which many of them did in the 20th century, they were more

inclined to assert essential identities that supported social aspirations thatfocused on maintaining their own community. In many ways, the trans-regional linkages of Sikh policemen paralleled connections that the Britishalso possessed, and thus did not favour the use by Sikhs of cultural capitalto negotiate their position in networks with the British. The Sikhs could,however, advertise their cultural capital, which had been constructed bymerging skills from their own tradition with those acquired by the British,to enter networks with other ethnic groups that did not have the networksof the Hong Kong police. The recent efforts by Sikhs to construct both

essential and relational identities in order to further their acceptance bythe Chinese majority have not been successful. These identities lack uniquecharacteristics that the majority does not possess, and are thereforeunlikely to serve as independent factors to negotiate positions in networkswith the majority.

The Jains’ unwillingness to combine their identities with the charac-teristics of Chinese residents furthers their social isolation. However, thisunwillingness and the Jains’ articulation of strong essential identitiesprotect their economic niche, given the close connections between Jain

religious values, family links and economic pursuits. Jains’ relations withChinese residents are not based on the degree to which they adoptcharacteristics from Chinese culture, rather they are based on the Jains’


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economic characteristics, that is, their access to resources that are notprimarily controlled by Chinese residents. Asserting highly essential iden-tities not only promotes pride, self-justification and group building among

the Jains, it also supports characteristics that are important to their trade.The example of the three ethnic minorities discussed shows that theirability to negotiate positions in networks with the majorities did notprimarily depend on the degree to which the minorities adapted to, orresisted assimilating to, the characteristics of the majorities. Rather, itdepended on the degree to which transregional cultural capital could befruitfully embedded in essential identities. Doing so denoted not only thatthese minorities possessed access to resources that were not controlled bythe majorities, but also that they combined characteristics rooted in differ-ent geographical regions in order to situate their aspirations within trans-national spaces.

Appendix: Interviews

Interview 1 02 Feb. 2000 Male, Hong Kong resident since 1971, memberof the Indian Businessmen’s Association

Interview 2 11 Feb. 2000 Female, resident since 1982, member of theGujarat Samaj (Gujarat Association)

Interview 3 14 Feb. 2000 Male, born in Hong Kong in 1968, member

of the Indian Resources GroupInterview 4 15 Feb. 2000 Male, resident since the 1980s, member of the

Non-Resident Association of HK Ltd.Interview 5 16 Feb. 2000 Male, resident since 1999, member of the

Khalsa Divan (Sikh temple)Interview 6 03 May 2000 Male, resident since the 1970s, member of the

Yau Tsim Mong District CouncilInterview 7 05 May 2000 Male, resident since 1968, founder of the

former weekly Indian Variety radio programme on RTHK

Interview 8 08 May 2000 Male, resident since the 1930s, member of theCouncil of Hong Kong Indian Associations

Interview 9 12 May 2000 Male, resident since 1992, member of theHindu Temple in Happy Valley

Interview 10 17 May 2000 Male, resident since the late 1950s, memberof the Council of Hong Kong Indian Associations

Interview 11 24 May 2000 Male, resident since 1990, member of the Jaintemple (Shree Hong Kong Jain Sangh)

Interview 12 25 May 2000 Male, resident since 1952, member of the

Council of Hong Kong Indian AssociationsInterview 13 26 May 2000 Male, born in Hong Kong in 1934, member

of the Council of Hong Kong Indian Associations


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Interview 14 30 May 2000 Male, resident of unknown duration, memberof the Indian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong

Interview 15 30 May 2000 Male, resident since 1985, member of the

Indian Chamber of Commerce Hong KongInterview 16 01 June 2000 Male, resident since 1987, member of the JainCentre

Interview 17 02 June 2000 Female, resident since 1982, member of the Jain Centre and the Jain temple

Interview 18 08 June 2000 Male, resident since 1949, member of theIncorporated Trustees of the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao

Interview 19 26 June 2000 Female, resident since 1969, member of theSikh Association

Interview 20 28 June 2000 Female, resident of unknown duration,member of the Hong Kong Indian Women’s Club

Interview 21 09 Oct. 2000 Same person as in interview 3Interview 22 27 Oct. 2000 Same person as in interview 3Interview 23 08 Dec. 2000 Male, resident of unknown duration, former

aide-de-camp to the last Viceroy of India, Lord MountbattenInterview 24 13 May 2001 Female, resident since 1926, member of the

Parsi association in Hong KongInterview 25 13 May 2001 Female, resident since 1932, affiliated with

Hong Kong ParsiInterview 26 16 May 2001 Female, born in Hong Kong in 1972, member

of HARD (Hong Kong Against Race Discrimination)Interview 27 17 May 2001 Female, resident since 1965, member of the

Parsee association in Hong KongInterview 28 23 May 2001 Same person as in interview 25Interview 29 28 May 2001 Male non-Indian advisor to the last Governor

of Hong Kong, Christopher PattenInterview 30 12 June 2001 Same person as in interview 24

Interview 31 15 April 2002 Male, resident since 1983, member of theKhalsa Divan

Interview 32 15 April 2002 Male, resident of unknown duration, memberof the Khalsa Divan

Interview 33 31 May 2004 Male, resident since 1957, Jain diamondtrader

Interview 34 04 June 2004 Male, resident since 1987, Jain diamondtrader and committee member of the Jain temple

Interview 35 04 June 2004 Male, resident since 1991, Jain diamond

trader and committee member of the Jain templeInterview 36 10 June 2004 Same person as in interview 34


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Notes

A grant from the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust in Hong Kong contributed to theresearch on which this article is based. An earlier version of this article was

presented at the Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Sociological Association,Brisbane, 4–7 July 2002, and the World Congress of the International SociologicalAssociation, Brisbane, 7–13 July 2002. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers of International Sociology for their helpful suggestions and comments, as well as tothe individuals who made time and resources available to this research.

1. I have used Bourdieu’s understanding of cultural capital in an article on trans-national identities of Indians in Hong Kong (Plüss, 2000: 2).

2. This article refers to Indians as being individuals of Indian ethnic origins, inde-pendent of their nationality. It includes Parsis, since they settled in India in

the eighth century (Fernandez, n.d.: 3).3. Bourdieu (1986) distinguishes between economic, social and cultural capital.

These three forms of capital are closely interrelated and under certainconditions convertible into each other. Economic capital is the access to purelymaterial resources and is directly convertible into money. Social capital hasmore non-material characteristics. It consists of opportunities, as well asconstraints and obligations, determining the interaction with other membersin networks to access potential resources. The main characteristics of culturalcapital are outlined in the text.

4. Thanks to Chan Kwok Bun for suggesting the distinction between ‘expressive’

and ‘instrumental’ identities (Kiong and Chan, 2001: 13). A similar conceptualiz-ation of essential identities has been formulated by Chan (2002: 193).

5. See Appendix.6. These were a district councillor for the Yau Tsim Mong constituency, in which

the largest number of Indians work and/or live; an aide-de-camp to the lastViceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten; a member of HARD, an anti-racediscrimination association, and a non-Indian advisor to the last Governor of Hong Kong, Christopher Patten.

7. Interview 27.8. Interviews 18 and 20.

9. Interview 24.10. CO 129/12: 288. Letter of 10 July 1845 from a Mr Davis, who held an unknown

position in the colonial administration of Hong Kong, to an unidentifiedrecipient.

11. CO 129/92: 311. Letter of 18 June 1863 from a Mr Mercer of the colonialadministration to the Duke of Newcastle.

12. Interview 18. The interviewee explained that forefathers of the Shroff familiesin Hong Kong were village bankers in India. It is possible that the name Shroff is derived from the Hindi word sara¯f, meaning a trader and money lender(interview 33).

13. Interview 28.14. Interview 30.15. Interview 23.


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16. Interview 30.17. Interview 18.18. Interview 20.19. Interview 30.20. Interview 20.21. Interview 25.22. Interview 24.23. Interview 20.24. Interview 21.25. Interviews 18 and 27.26. Interview 28.27. Interview 25.28. Interview 30.29. Examples of newspaper accounts on the question of nationality are: ‘Hong

Kong’s Forgotten Few Look to Future in Full Hope’, South China Morning Post,16 December 1996: 10; and ‘90 in Passport Limbo’, South China Morning Post,16 February 1997: 2.

30. Interview 27.31. Interviews 1, 8 and 10.32. Interview 28.33. Interview 11.34. Interview 33.35. Interview 33.36. Interview 33.37. Interview 35.38. Interview 34.39. Interview 11.40. Interview 2.41. Interview 34.42. Interview 33.43. Interview 33.44. Interview 11.45. Interview 35. While an interviewee was very willing to explain the Jains’

religious characteristics and their life in Hong Kong, he was hesitant to

volunteer information about the organization of the diamond trade amongrelatives and co-religionists both in Hong Kong and in India (Interview 11).

46. Interview 33.47. Interview 34.48. Interview 33.49. Interview 33.50. Interviews 34 and 36.51. Interview 34.52. Interview 35.53. Interview 33.

54. Interview 35.55. Interviews 33 and 34.56. Interview 34.


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57. Interview 33.58. Interview 11.59. Interview 17.60. Interview 17.61. Interview 11.62. Interview 34.63. Interview 17.64. CO 129/127: 580. Memorandum of 26 December 1866 by Major G. Hutchin-

son, Inspector General of Police, Punjab.65. CO 129/127: 583. Letter of 7 January 1867 from E. C. Bayley, Secretary to the

Government of India, to the Colonial Secretary, Hong Kong.66. CO 129/131: 633. Letter of 28 October 1867 from C. Smith, Acting Colonial

Secretary Hong Kong, to E. C. Bayley, Secretary to the Government of India.67. They consisted of 206 constables, six officers, eight attendants and two inter-

preters; CO 129/131: 354. Letter of 21 July 1868 from Governor Sir RichardGraves MacDonnel to the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Her Majesty’sPrincipal Secretary of State.

68. CO 129/23: 77. Letter of 12 January 1848 from the Colonial Secretary [signatureillegible] to C. B. Hillier, Chief Magistrate.

69. The emphasis that Sikhs were a ‘warrior class [caste] to protect India fromMuslim invaders’ (Interview 19) was a recurrent theme in interviews (i.e. Inter-views 5, 19, 32) and still features prominently in websites on Sikhism (i.e.www. Sikhs.org/).

70. CO 129/134: 633. Letter of 28 October 1867 from C. Smith, Acting ColonialSecretary in Hong Kong, to E. C. Bayley, Secretary to the Government of India.

71. In 1902, 189 Sikhs and 173 Muslims served in the police force. CO 129/313:429. Letter of 9 December 1902 from Henry A. Blake, Governor of Hong Kong,to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

72. CO 129/423: 496. Letter of 13 August 1915 from illegible signatory from theGovernment House in Hong Kong to A. Bonar Law, Secretary of State for theColonies.

73. CO 129/314: 404. Letter of 8 September 1902 by Francis Bertie from the ForeignOffice to the Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.

74. CO 129/346: 220–1. Letter of 11 February 1908 from Sir Frederick Lugard,

Governor of Hong Kong, to the Earl of Elgin.75. Personal observations of disputes between Chinese and Sikh residents in

Hong Kong, including a dispute over parking space and standing arrange-ments in a bus.

76. Thanks to Tracy Sokolowsky for providing this example. More informationon his case was found at (admiralty.pacific.net.hk/~ymkhan/index.htm).

77. Interviews 31 and 32.


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Biographical Note: Caroline Plüss is currently an adjunct assistant professor inthe Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where sheis teaching and researching on ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, sociologicaltheory and methodology. Her interests are in identity, transnationalism,globalization, ethnicity, race and religion. She recently published ‘Hong KongMuslim Organisations: Creating and Expressing Collective Identities’ ( A Carnivalof Gods: Studies of Religions in Hong Kong; Oxford University Press, 2002),‘Assimilation or Asserting Tradition? Strategic Constructions of Sephardic Iden-tities’ ( Jewish Culture and History, 2002), and is working on an article analysingthe reterritorialization of Muslim identities in Hong Kong.

Address: Department of History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, ShatinNT, Hong Kong SAR. [email: [email protected]]


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