(Ecns.cn)--A gaokao exam champion of eastern China's Zhejiang province in 2007, Li Qingyang finally chose the University of Hong Kong over Peking University, even though the latter was once her dream school.
After three years of study in Hong Kong, Li graduated this year and secured a post at Bank of China International not long after. She plans to obtain a permanent identity card after working and living in Hong Kong for seven consecutive years.
Li is just one of many excellent Chinese mainland students trying to immigrate to Hong Kong through study.
According to local news media, Hong Kong universities have received more than 24,000 applications from mainland students this year, an increase of about 10 percent year-on-year. Hong Kong's three well-known universities-- the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology--have enrolled 751 top students from the mainland this year.
The University of Hong Kong said it had enrolled 291 mainland students this year, among which 17 were provincial or municipal gaokao champions.
Mainland students who try to study in Hong Kong tend to be more open, more curious and wealthier than their parents, and eager for a better education and social environment.
Huang Jing, who graduated from senior high school in 2008 and won the highest points on the city's gaokao examination, also accepted an invitation from the University of Hong Kong. "In fact, I would like to study both in Hong Kong and Beijing. If I choose Peking University, I have to stay there for four years," Huang told the Times Weekly. "But if I choose the University of Hong Kong, I also have a chance to study in Peking University as an entrust-trained student."
Huang's remarks reveal an important reason why students choose to study in Hong Kong. Mainland students enrolled in Hong Kong universities can receive one year of entrust training at the mainland's top-ranking universities.
