The marriage of China's diving queen Guo Jingjing and Kenneth Fok is one of the examples of a cross-border marriage. (Photo : whatsonjinan.com)
According to a survey released by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) on Wednesday, 36.6 percent of the marriages in Hong Kong are due to cross-border marriages that amounted to approximately 21,000 cases in 2014.
Cross-border marriages in 2014, which numbered to 5,435 in total, are much higher compared to recorded data in 2013.
Tsang Tak-sing, secretary of Home Affairs of the Government of the HKSARG, stated that a total of 50,000 or 40 percent of cross-border marriages were done annually from 2010 to 2014.
However, the percentage of men from Hong Kong who are marrying women from the mainland has declined from 82.5 percent in 2010 to 73.7 percent in 2014.
On the other hand, policy research institute Hong Kong Ideas Center has also conducted a survey on cross-border marriages.
The survey stated that every year, cross-border marriages increase to 19 percent, with much higher percentage of newly wed couples in Hong Kong, which ranges from 39 to 56 percent as more accomplished men from the mainland marry Hong Kong women.
Demographic differences and greater connectivity are two of the reasons why more mainland men marry Hong Kong women compared to male Hong Kongers marrying mainland women, Chung Kim-wah, a professor of applied social sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told China Daily.
Chung stated that there are 876 men for every 1,000 women in Hong Kong, while in China, there are 1,178 men to every 1,000 women.
Male from mainland China are known to have the "three highs," which are education, a senior position at work and high income, said Elvis Luk Wai-Ki, principal researcher of Hong Kong Ideas Center.
Among the famous cross-border married couples are Guo Jingjing, an Olympic diving gold medalist, and Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, son of Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, a member of Hong Kong's legislative council and also one of Hong Kong's wealthiest families.
Fok's second son, Eric, is also married to Chinese actress and model Zhang Ziyi.
Celebrity couples Zhang Jin and Ada Choi are also among the cross-border married couples. The award-winning actor is from the mainland, while Choi is a Hong Kong citizen.
