Well, having lived in hk for 8 years I can say for sure that locals never refer to China as mainland, unless you are a government official or similar.
What? Where are you getting this from. And having been in HK and working with HKers. They do use mainland and mainlanders. Not all but I find it crazy you would not have encountered that if youâve lived in HK.
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And I can say for sure that they do. Conclusion: we know different people.
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Not sure which age group you refer to, but most young(say under 30) would generally refer to Chinese as Chinese and not mainlanders, especially since 2014 or so.
Older generations are more inclined to consider themselves as Chinese, hence could refer people from China as mainlanders. But even here, I seldom would here a Hongkongese use the term mainlander
Might be that the word mainlander is used more often when discussing with outsiders, ie non local who might not otherwise see the distinction between a Hongkongese and Chinese person
Doesnât the HK gov itself issue statements using the word nei di âmainlandâ?
Iâve heard of other more derogatory words for mainlanders used by HKers as well.
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The language in China used by municipal authorities is standardised, same applies to hk. The correct term to use is Mainland China(for Taiwanese itâs Chinese Residents living in Taiwan)
The whole Chinese residents living in Taiwan threw me off when applying visa for my Taiwanese wife I remember, I used the same form as other foreigners use. Didnât work.
I donât understand what youâre saying about mainland not making sense like using it for China/japan. Itâs clearly understood by people.
Even the PRC has to unwillingly make the distinction. Go to any airport in China and you clearly do not use the domestic Chinese terminal.
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So, when a resident of penghu tells another resident of penghu heâs going to the mainland. Where is he going ?
Or switch penghu to Hawaii, where is the person going when he/she says sheâs going to the mainland ?
To the mainland. Whatâs there not to understand. And Hawaii clearly has a different political situation, rather weak comparison.
I agree the political situation is different, and that obviously is the differing factor. But feeding the Chinese narrative doesnât do Taiwan or hk any good
You can switch Hawaii to Ă land, itâs a more apt comparison
Stop seething with rage bro.
Different people refer to things⌠wait for it⌠differently.
Itâs a subjective opinion.
In before
âB-but everyone I know says it this wayâ
âMuhh punghu is a islandâ
âI lived in HK and two of my friends sayâ
âB-but what do people in Hawaii sayâ
To the mainland? OK I have one too! What color is the guy in the video?
Green. WaitâŚis this a trick question?
Feeding the bovine narrative are we⌠hmmmph
in mandarin chinese? if he said âda4 lu4â then obviously he means mainland china. i have never seen that word used by itself in a context that wasnât âzhong guo da luâ. if itâs any other context, then it would be specified.
People with different political opinions need a way to get along and understand each other. Separate Customs Area of X, Y and Z is a pain in the mouth, so people just say Taiwan, and in most contexts, no clarification is needed. The blues have learned to live with it. Can the greens learn to live with the term mainland China?
(Whether or not the M should be capitalized is another storyâŚ)
I reckon a Hawaiian in Honolulu talking about the mainland would mean the lower 48. A Hawaiian on a small island/islet might mean one of the larger islands, but mainland USA would still have a clear meaning.
Would any Hawaiians or Hainanese like to comment? 
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Read the post and then drew a blank on whether or not hk is an island. Is it? Iâm super not great at geography.
Youâre completely ignoring the fact that, for a goodly portion of its existence, people (here and elsewhere) referred to this place AS âChinaâ.
When I was a kid, the standard designations for the two entities were âFree Chinaâ and âRed Chinaâ (you can puzzle out which was which), and I mean standard. When I came to live here, the official (and universally used) name of the country was, literally, âThe Republic of China on Taiwanâ.
Calling it âTaiwanâ is far from a universally applied norm.
As well, please note that these terms have actual definitions in English.
Accordingly, hypothesising about Peng Hu or Hawaii is dopey and utterly inapplicable.
Nobody on Kaâula would ever refer to Maui or Kauaâi as âthe mainlandâ, and ditto for Peng Hu, because even though theyâre bigger, theyâre still, obviously islands , for Cripes sakes. 
island
[ahy-luh nd]
noun
- a tract of land completely surrounded by water, and not large enough to be called a continent.
mainland
[meyn-land, -luh nd]
noun
- the principal land of a country, region, etc., as distinguished from adjacent islands or a peninsula:the mainland of Greece.
- (in Hawaii) the 48 contiguous states of the U.S.
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As a Hawaiian-Hainanese islander I would like to say that the OP deserves a swift kicking in the main-ass. Which he seems to be getting, so I am happy with how this is going.
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