Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine language, academic, social-cultural and financial adjustments facing mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: The current study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods and included over 300 mainland Chinese students from seven major universities in Hong Kong. In addition to a survey questionnaire, in-depth interviews were also conducted. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to recruit participants. Findings: The findings indicate that though mainland Chinese students were satisfied with the quality of Hong Kong's higher education, many expressed that they were having language, academic, social and cultural, and financial challenges during their stay in Hong Kong. The results are consistent with the current literature to a large extent with some variations. Few differences were found by gender and between undergraduate and graduate students. Research limitations/implications: Two thirds of the sample was undergraduate students and only one third graduate students. Future research may want to include an equal number of participants from both groups to get a more balanced view. In addition, since the sample of our sub-degree students was very small, generalization to this group will be inappropriate. Future studies are needed to explore the unique challenges facing these mainland Chinese students who are pursuing their sub-degree in Hong Kong. Originality/value: Most of the current research is limited to mainland Chinese students studying in Western countries, such as the USA, the UK and Australia. Few studies to date examine adjustment problems of mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong. There is a need, therefore, to deepen our understanding of the major adjustment issues experienced by these mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. (Contains 1 figure, 8 tables, and 1 note.)