The Hong family once never imagined setting foot in Northern Ireland but eight months ago they made a new life for themselves here.
They are now among tens of thousands of people from Hong Kong who have chosen to move to the UK following the introduction of the Government's British Nationals Overseas (BNO) visa scheme in January 2021.
In October 2021, Hong Chan, 48, his wife, Candy 50, and their daughter Race, 14, packed their bags and emigrated over 6,000 miles to Belfast.
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British rule formally ended in Hong Kong back in 1997 and control was passed to China. Under the ‘One Country, Two System’ principle, those in territory were promised they could retain their freedoms and unique way of life for 50 years.
But in July 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to extend the right of Hong Kong citizens to live and work in the UK after accusing China of a "clear and serious breach" of its treaty with Britain.
Mr Johnson accused Beijing of violating the former British colony's degree of autonomy by imposing a much-criticised national security law on the territory. He introduced a new route for millions of Hong Kongers with BNO status, giving them the right to a five-year visa to live and work in the UK.
It is this visa scheme that has brought the Hong family and hundreds of others to Northern Ireland. They family are now based in East Belfast while Race has settled well into her new school, Malone College.
"We first visited Northern Ireland in 2018 to explore the idea of coming to live in the UK," Hong explained.
"We have friends living here for over 20 years so we got lots of local knowledge from them and felt quite comfortable and confident about coming to Northern Ireland.
"So when we moved forward with our BNO visa application in 2020, we decided to locate here rather than another part of the UK."
He added: "We have settled down well and life is much better now than a few months ago so everything seems to be working out well. We have been integrating well with local people, learning English in order to communicate with them and understand the culture.
"The local people have been very kind to us, speaking to us directly and being patient with the language barrier while introducing us to many places we can visit."
This weekend will see Belfast become one of the first cities in the UK to host a Friendship Festival, offering a VIP celebration to welcome the new arrivals from Hong Kong.
The festival, which is expected to attract hundreds of people, is hosted at Saintfield Presbyterian Church on the Myrtledene Road this Saturday, June 18 from 3-5pm.
It will feature stalls, music, children’s entertainment, dancing, along with British and Hong Kong food. Organised by charity UKHK, in partnership with many churches, the festival will be attended by several church leaders and special guests.
One of the event organisers is Kerry Fee, who wants to show how Belfast is a welcoming city.
She said: “Belfast is a great city for newcomers but can also be a challenging city if you don’t know it. This is a great opportunity to support others and for churches to come together and offer true and real friendship.
“It’s also an opportunity for us to to learn about Hong Kong culture and begin to make fresh connections and help integrate them into society. It’s going to be a great day and we’re so excited to see everyone together.”
The event is one of a series of eight Friendship Festivals across the UK over May and June.
The UKHK project, founded by Dr Krish Kandiah, is a partnership across organisations including Welcome Churches, COCM, OMF and others.
They have recently received funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to run events and activities to help welcome those arriving from Hong Kong.
Dr Kandiah said: “Thousands of people have experienced huge changes and challenges as they have navigated moving 6,000 miles across the world to start a new life.
“Our hope is that we can really showcase the ‘best of British’ in our welcome of all those arriving in our communities, no matter what the reason they have come to the UK.
“We want to celebrate the coming together of cultures, and build friendship with between BN(O) holders arriving and locals living in the same city.
“We want every Hong Kong arrival (and those still in Hong Kong thinking of moving over) to know that they are welcome, and that they can call this country their home.”
For more information on the Friendship Festival, please visit https://www.ukhk.org/ukhk-events/belfast-festival
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