The Planning Department and the Shenzhen Municipal Statistics Bureau will jointly conduct the first Survey of Hong Kong People Living in Shenzhen.

The study will ascertain how many Hong Kong people are living and acquiring residential properties in Shenzhen, and their socio-economic ties with Hong Kong.

Interviewers will visit households September 10 to 30 to conduct interviews.

The data required includes the socio-economic profile of these people, living standards, the pattern of ownership of residential properties and the characteristics of the properties owned or rented, marriages of Hong Kong people to Mainlanders, reasons for living there and aspirations for changing the usual place of residence and socio-economic ties with Hong Kong. A report will be tabled early next year.

More than 4,000 households have been selected randomly for the survey. Personal information will not be disclosed, and only the compiled results will be used for analysis. All questionnaires will be destroyed after use.