Thanks. Yes, I would definitely recommend China over HK even if you are a Chinese citizen. Unless you have a REALLY good reason to be there (e.g., you have family high up in the CCP and do business through them), I can’t think of why you’d pick China over HK. It’s true that the CCP has taken more control of HK over the years, but it is still separate, and you can find better finance opportunities there with more international firms (though they have been leaving HK as well…).

Thank you so much for sharing, super insightful and the information is inline with my observation. I am born and raised in China but went to US since high school and recently graduated from top 10 masters there. I applied for the Shanghai office of a US boutique bank and is currently working as an analyst there now. Was thinking strategically whether I have made the best decision for myself and should I relocate to Hong Kong considering the fact that the traditional exit path for bankers are become narrower in China as mega funds exiting China. Would really love your thoughts on whether I should relocate to Hong Kong and comparatively speaking will you think HK is a better place to be career wise for someone like me? Will HK have better exit path compared to mainland China since at the end of the day HK is China ever since CCP took over control. I am debating…

Yes. You don’t need Chinese for most trading or quant roles.

Sorry, for the double comment .I wanted to say that ,”Thank you for your advice and opinion”.

Thank you so much for you advice

In general, there’s no point going to HK for IB roles if you are not Chinese. Your main high-paying options really are S&T and quant funds there, but I am not sure offhand how competitive they area. I would say if you’re really interested in one of those, yes, you can go to HK and use the full scholarship.

If not, or you’d rather just do a tech job, you’re better off going to the US or the UK as a Plan B. I don’t think HKU/HKUST is widely known in the US but may be better-known in the UK due to the historical UK / HK relationship.

I don’t think you really want to stay in India because not only is the IB recruiting market there miserable/difficult to crack, but there aren’t many other good, high-paying jobs in tech or finance. So that seems like the worst option, especially if you have full scholarship options elsewhere.

Thanks, I think. Good luck – HK is a very tough place for non-Chinese students to find jobs/internships, but it might be possible in some industries.