Abstract: Previous studies in political economy and political psychology on attitudes towards (im)migrants have put forward various theoretical hypotheses but have largely neglected the importance of cohort comparison. While some studies suggested that young people are more friendly towards (im)migrants, others had opposite findings. This suggests that the identification and interpretation of cohort effects must take into consideration of the specific socioeconomic conditions in which young people are located. In this paper, we compare cohort variations in attitudes towards (im)migrants in Hong Kong and Shanghai, two cities under "One country, Two systems" framework in China. We also examine previous explanations such as macroeconomic environment, individual economic interests, fiscal or welfare responsibilities, group threats or contacts, and local or national identity, and etc. We find that the interweaving effect of these factors resulted in differences among the young people in Hong Kong and Shanghai in their attitudes towards (im)migrants. Relative to older generations, young people in Shanghai are more acceptant than their counterparts in Hong Kong towards migrants. Such a difference can be partially explained by education, life satisfaction and local identity. The differences in the three factors as well as their associations are correlated to the acceptant or resistant attitudes towards (im)migrants, resulting in the cohort difference between the two global cities. In terms of magnitude of mediation effects, while education and life satisfaction have strong influences in Shanghai, local identity plays a dominant role in Hong Kong. Therefore, in order to alleviate negative attitudes towards (im)migrants, it is necessary to take measures in fundamentals such as boosting economic development and promoting equitable benefit distribution, restraining local identity and fostering dual identity, improving education and delivering inclusive values.

Key words: migrants, cohort, Hong Kong, Shanghai