HongCouver

HongCouver or Hongcouver is a portmanteau referring to Vancouver in the aftermath of the large-scale Chinese Canadian immigration of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly as a result of Hong Kong returning to Chinese rule. The name is considered derogatory by some and simply descriptive by others. It is not in common public use by residents, non-residents, media, and politicians. The Chinese translation of "Hongcouver" would be 香�"�華 (Heung go wa in Cantonese and Xiang ge hua in Mandarin).

Being Canada's major port on the Pacific Rim, the city has always been a significant Canadian landing point for Asian emigrés. The term HongCouver itself was already part of Lower Mainland and to some extent Canadian zeitgeist by the late 1980s, surfacing on a larger scale around the 1997 return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. The word aroused particular controversy when it was used in a National Geographic article concerning the migration and its impact on Vancouver. This article noted that the term was in fact coined by newly-immigrated young Chinese to brag about "the takeover", although there are differing opinions as to the origins and motivations of those using the term..

The reason for the exodus was that several affluent Hong Kong families feared the nationalization of their wealth, prompting a large migration by upper middle class Chinese, and also because Canada had agreed to honour immigration applications from anyone with a British or Commonwealth visa. Many chose to settle in Vancouver as they preferred living in Canada to the United States, relaxed Canadian immigration policies, a history of trade between Hong Kong and Vancouver, and the community already present in Vancouver's Chinatown, which is the second largest in North America. The latest Statistics Canada estimates imply that the Greater Vancouver Regional District could have a 50% population of Asian descent by 2017.{{cite news