Table 1.

Categories related to identity negotiation.

Category	Conceptual encoding	Original statement
Ontological identity stability	Essentialization of native identity	“Even after living in Hong Kong for so many years, nothing has really changed. No matter what they say, I’ve always felt that I am a mainlander”
	Determinism of developmental trajectory	“I was born on the Chinese Mainland and grew up here. This fact cannot change my mindset.”
	Persistence of cultural roots	“I have maintained the values of people from the Chinese Mainland, but gradually I started to shift in the direction of the values in Hong Kong.”
Negotiation of hybrid identity	Identity duality awareness	“I’ve come to realize that I am a Hong Konger and at the same time a Chinese. I think it’s a process of the mixed nature of identity.”
	Transcending regional identity	“While I am Chinese, I also identify myself as a global citizen.”
	Identity capital complementarity	“In fact, having multiple or dual identities is quite advantageous. It’s not like what one might initially think, that one has to be a certain type of person, or that these two identities are in opposition. That’s really not the case.”
	Identity position fluidity	“And when I can switch between these identities freely, I think it’s quite typical.”
Dilemma of the identity marginalization	Dual othering experience	“I think it’s rather difficult for people who are not from Guangdong province to consider themselves as Hong Kong people.”
	Belongingness cognitive dissonance	“Especially when it comes to matters related to identity. Yeah, it’s rather negative because I feel that I still have not truly integrated into the local community.”
	Absence of collective belongingness	“It makes me feel as if I might be isolated. Maybe it’s because on the Chinese Mainland, it’s often about collective living or collective activities.”
Language as an identity marker	Linguistic-based discriminatory structure	“It’s just because I spoke in Mandarin. I feel that perhaps it was due to the fact that I was speaking Mandarin. Because I was chatting with my friends in Mandarin the whole time, the person taking our order, as I recall, rolled their eyes at me, and their service attitude was rather mediocre.”
	Language as a social stratification mechanism	“If you speak to him/her in Mandarin, he/she might be a bit slower in response. But if you speak to him/her in Cantonese, he/she will probably be quicker, and it can also reduce potential troubles.”
	Association between linguistic competence and regional exclusion	“That is to say, they would say that if you do not know the language, you should not come to Hong Kong. Anyway, they are just trying to discourage you and tell you to go back to the Chinese Mainland and not stay in Hong Kong.”
Strategies for linguistic capital accumulation	Progressive acquisition of linguistic capital	“When I first came here, I did not really know how to speak Cantonese. But as I spent more time living here, I gradually learned to understand it and became more willing to speak it.”
	Active linguistic capital investment	“After coming to Hong Kong, I would try to speak Cantonese with the people around me.”
	Context-oriented nature of linguistic capital	“When going out, in order to communicate more conveniently, I may choose to speak Cantonese.”
Multimodality of language practices	Context-driven code-switching	“For people from the Chinese Mainland, I will use simplified Chinese characters and Mandarin as the form of language expression when communicating with them, and I will not use so many internet meme.”
	Platform-specific language acquisition	“I choose to use Cantonese or English to post messages, and mainly use Cantonese as the language when making posts.”
	English as neutral linguistic capital	“When I talk to people in Hong Kong, for example, I use traditional Chinese characters along with Cantonese-specific characters to chat.”
Internalization of behavioral norms	Public transportation cultural adaptation	“When taking the MTR, before reaching the turnstile, I will quickly take out my Octopus card and try my best not to cause trouble for the people behind me. That is, I do not want to make them wait even for an extra second, because if they do have to wait for one more second, some Hong Kong people may get quite unhappy.”
	Adherence to orderly norms	“It includes giving up seats on the bus, and also when taking the elevator, people line up row by row.”
	Internalization of regulatory awareness	“For example, in Qingdao, one can smoke on the streets in some areas. However, in Hong Kong, smoking is prohibited. I was even fined for smoking before because I did not know the rule.”
Reshaping of social habitus	Adjustment of private discourse patterns	“Generally speaking, when having private conversations on the street, they tend to speak a little more softly.”
	Adaptation to transactional interaction patterns	“For example, when having a meal, they usually go Dutch.”
	Differences in service interaction patterns	“For instance, Hong Kong people may attach great importance to efficiency and do things very quickly, accurately and resolutely. And sometimes, it may seem that they are not that polite. On the other hand, people on the Chinese Mainland may have been influenced by the concept that “customers are gods” in their daily lives.”
Acquisition of institutional capital	Organized identity engagement	“I have participated in the Student Union and actively sought cooperation with local merchants in Hong Kong.”
	Peer network construction	“I’m quite familiar with several of them. Then they invited me to join them and we had fun together.”
	Performative practices on social media	“Regarding the interactions at school, we have academic cooperation within the school. Also, we organize activities like making friends together. In this process, we may post some group photos on social media platforms or leave messages for each other and so on.”