As Hong Kongers seek to emigrate, some simply can’t leave

HONG KONG (AP) — Pamela Lam’s 6-year-old son fell in love with the Hong Kong protest anthem, ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, the first time he heard it, and he loves singing it, at home, in the shower, and sometimes on the streets.

Thanks to a sweeping new national security law, though, singing it in public is now risky. As China's communist leaders tighten controls that many believe are stripping semi-autonomous Hong Kong of its freedoms, some families are considering moving away from the former British colony, but few can afford to.

After Britain announced in May that it would allow holders of British National (Overseas) passports extended stays and a path to citizenship, thousands of Hong Kongers rushed to renew or apply for them.

That may be an option for relatively affluent Hong Kongers, who often have been educated overseas and hold multiple passports, but not for most of its 7 million residents.

One in five Hong Kong families scrapes by below the poverty line in a city with one of the biggest populations of billionaires, many of whom are tycoons who carved out lucrative niches in manufacturing, trade, property development and finance.

“I’ve thought about moving to Australia, or the U.K., but we don’t have the financial ability to do it now,” said Lam, who has a BNO passport.

“We don’t have to worry about putting food on the table or the clothes on our backs, but there isn’t much room for more," said Lam, a freelance designer whose family’s monthly income is about $4,300.

Most people in most countries either cannot or would not consider moving away to escape their governments. But many living in Hong Kong chose to escape the communist mainland or are descended from people who did.

Lam’s parents fled from China in the 1970s, seeking a better life...