Informed by research literature about intercultural competence development, this paper aims to explore non-local students’ skills and strategies in communication when they study at a university in Hong Kong. The previous research indicated that they usually experience many problems to adapt into host culture and country because they are lacking in language proficiency and social-cultural knowledge. Students’ prior learning experience, attitude, psychological or behavioural factors can affect their communication skills. In addition, different languages, dialects, accents, characters or cultural difference between their home and host cultures can also cause communication barriers to the students. This study shows that most of the non-local students, mainly the Chinese, still encounter language difficulties in communication in a Chinese society. Such difficulties are reported in studies on Gangpiaos (literally meaning Mainland Chinese drifters in Hong Kong) as well; the word “drifter” implies adaptation difficulties for Mainland Chinese immigrates. Nonetheless, existing empirical studies have been seldom tapped into non-local university students’ intercultural communication capability and how they cope with their communication difficulties in a Chinese society. The present study seeks to fill this research gap in the literature. Based on in-depth interviews with 30 non-local students who were studying in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programmes, this paper adopted thematic analysis to examine the students’ language obstacles and identify the pattern of their communication practices in the process of intercultural adaptation in Hong Kong. Coping strategies in communication and implications for policies, which assist in young Gangpiaos in developing their intercultural communication knowledge and skills, are drawn based on the findings. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.

This paper explores the influence of friendship in mainland Chinese (MC) students’ adaptation to studying in Hong Kong. The number of MC students in Hong Kong has amounted to 18,887 in 2016, which makes it necessary for universities to cater for these students’ adaptation. Research has identified social-cultural differences between MC students and their local peers despite shared traditional Chinese cultural root. Existing studies have shown that international students can adapt to the new culture better and be more confident by making cross-cultural friends. Previous research has mainly focused on MC students’ difficulties in their adaptation, but how friendship influences their adaptation is still under-researched. This paper addresses the research questions: (1) What strategies do mainland students adopt to establish friendships during their study in Hong Kong? (2) What are the facilitating and hindering factors for mainland students to establish friendship? (3) How can friendship help mainland students adapt to their study and life in Hong Kong? A total of 24 MC university students studying in Hong Kong were interviewed. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The findings show that friendship plays an important role in MC students’ adaptation to studying in Hong Kong, especially regarding daily life routines, such as how to deal with visa issues and navigate the university’s course selection system. MC students build friendships mainly through taking part in social and academic learning activities. Nonetheless, political-social conflicts between Hong Kong and Mainland China have, to a certain extent, hindered friendship establishment between MC and local students. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.