''McRefugee'' is a

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

and McWords, McWord referring to those who stay overnight in a 24-hour

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

fast food restaurant. The term was first created in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: . That term had been largely replaced by , literally "

net cafe refugee , also known as , are a class of homeless people in Japan who do not own or rent a residence (thus having no permanent address) and sleep in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés. Although such cafés originally provided only Internet servic ...

". In Japan, most McDonald's restaurants are operated around the clock. Due to unemployment, high rents, and

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

costs in Japan, McRefugees choose to stay at a McDonald's overnight. The phenomenon and word spread to Hong Kong as (), where some McRefugees play

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

and are known as McGamers. McDonald's opened 24-hour branches in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

in September 2006, which quickly attracted McRefugees. In early October 2015, the death of a woman in a 24-hour Hong Kong McDonald's restaurant in Kowloon Bay brought attention to the phenomenon of McRefugees. McRefugees can be found in other 24-hour branches as well. Among the more than 1,600 homeless people in Hong Kong in 2015, about 250 were McRefugees. In 2018, a study conducted by the

Society for Community Organization The Society for Community Organization (SoCO) () is a non-governmental and human rights advocacy group in Hong Kong. The group was founded in 1971 by church members. It is also financially supported by donations from various churches, overseas f ...

found that there were 384 McRefugees in Hong Kong. In August of the same year, a movie concerning about this topic started to film in Hong Kong, with the title ''

I'm Livin' It ''I'm Livin' It'' is a 2019 Hong Kong drama film directed by Danny Wong in his directorial debut and starring Aaron Kwok and Miriam Yeung. The film addresses the issues of rich-poor gap in the Hong Kong society, as well as poverty and homelessne ...

'', mimicking the slogan of the restaurant, "I'm loving it".

References

{{Homelessness

Refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

Society of Japan Economy of Japan Economy of Hong Kong Economy of China Homelessness

See also

References