800 Adoptees to Be Allowed in Hong Kong

Eight hundred adopted Chinese children have been given permission by Beijing to live with their families in Hong Kong after a bitter struggle, the territory’s Department of Immigration said Monday.

Since this former British colony was returned to China in 1997, many mainland Chinese have demanded the right to live here, prompting protests and legal battles.

Last year, Hong Kong’s top court ruled that mainland children adopted by families from the territory had no right to live here. Three months later, the government struck a deal with Beijing allowing some parents to apply for residency for the adoptees.

Immigration authorities in Hong Kong said Monday that the Chinese government has decided to approve applications for Hong Kong residency for 800 children with no remaining relatives on the mainland.

Officials did not say how many applications had been made or how many were rejected. But Hong Kong human rights activist Ho Hei-wah told radio stations that he knows at least four families in the territory with adopted children whose applications were denied.