MCLC: HK hatred toward mainlanders

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Han Meng <hanmeng at gmail.com>
Subject: HK hatred toward mainlanders
***********************************************************

Source: Foreign Policy (2/3/14):
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/02/03/why_its_dangerous_to_say_w
e_are_all_chinese_ella_koon_hong_kong

Why It's Dangerous to Say 'We Are All Chinese'
A starlet discovers the hard way how much Hong Kongers dislike their
mainland brethreen.
BY Rachel Lu

When 34-year-old Hong Kong singer and actress Ella Koon penned
<http://www.ol.mingpao.com/cfm/star5.cfm?File=20140124/saa01/mca1h.txt> a
column for the respected local paper Ming Pao on Jan. 24 entitled "Kick
Out Hatred and Discrimination," she was trying to beseech her fellow Hong
Kong residents to be more tolerant toward mainland Chinese visitors.
Instead, she has found herself pilloried online in a display of hatred
toward mainlanders that's become eerily typical over the past several
years.

Hong Kong, a financial center and Special Administrative Region of China,
is culturally and linguistically distinct from the mainland. Hong Kongers
speak Cantonese while mainlanders mostly speak some form of Mandarin; Hong
Kong has a history as a British colonial outpost that China lacks; and
Hong Kongers still generate far more income per capita than their mainland
counterparts. In her column, Koon wrote, "In the face of unavoidable
cultural differences, we" -- meaning Hong Kong residents -- "should have a
tolerant heart" for mainlanders, because "we are all Chinese."

Accordingly, Hong Kongers should not mock those who are "of their own
kind." Koon compared the cultural schism with her experience of studying
in the United Kingdom as a high school student, when she noticed that
locals often laughed at her ignorance of social mores, like the unspoken
requirement to hold back a burp after a satisfying meal.

Koon's column might sound uncontroversial to the politically correct. But
correctness is not the order of the day in Hong Kong, where the opinion
piece went over like a lead balloon: Netizens besieged Koon's Facebook fan
page <https://www.facebook.com/EllaKoonOfficialFanPage> with messages of
hatred and intolerance soon after the article's publication. (Koon's
Facebook page, which has over 280,000 fans, was scrubbed of all content
posted after Jan. 13, but the vitriol lives on in mirror sites,
Chinese-language articles, and discussions elsewhere on Facebook.) Writing
in webby English, one user, whose comment was typical, called
<http://fposts.com/fbpost/133402744833_10152217454336264> for Koon to
apologize for her column because "the Truth is, Chinese from The Red
Soviet-China r intentionally invading us," (sic) an incursion which
includes "raping the civilization we built." Hong Kongers also raged
<http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/enews/realtime/20140125/52126037> against
the star for preaching tolerance for what users called mainland "locusts"
who are "invading" Hong Kong and "taking its resources." Some took
<https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151916923646616&set=a.1015056741
2666616.373715.94802341615&type=1> special offense at Koon's suggestion
that Hong Kongers and mainlanders are "all Chinese."Anti-mainland
sentiment had been running high in Hong Kong, as the former British colony
struggles to adjust to its status as a special Chinese city. The United
Kingdom returned the city to the mainland in 1997, with the caveat that
the city would continue to operate much as before for 50 years, before
being fully absorbed into the much larger, Communist-controlled People's
Republic. But many believe Beijing is going back on its word. Critics
point to encroachment
<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/01/24/the_freedom_to_say_nothin
g_ming_pao_hong_kong_protests> of Hong Kong's freedom of press, the lack
of direct elections of Hong Kong's chief executive -- which presumably
give Beijing greater opportunity to meddle -- and Beijing's control
<http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1252219/plan-dalai-lama-visit-h
ong-kong-may-fall-prey-beijings-meddling> over Hong Kong's immigration
policy. But ordinary Hong Kongers are more likely to be angry at the
quotidian: Photographs of mainland tourists crowding city streets, eating
on Hong Kong subway, or cutting in line regularly go viral
<http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/02/01/about-that-hong-kong-locust-
ad/> on Hong Kong's social media. (The rancor goes both ways: Influential
Chinese commentator Kong Qingdong infamously called Hong Kongers "dogs" in
January 2012.)

Hong Kongers can at least be forgiven for feeling outnumbered.
Approximately 40.7 million mainland tourists visited
<http://partnernet.hktb.com/filemanager/intranet/ViS_Stat/ViS_Stat_C/ViS_C_
2013/Tourism_Stat_12_2013_0.pdf> Hong Kong in 2013 -- more than five times
Hong Kong's population of 7.2 million. While the Hong Kong government
estimates that mainland tourists created more than 110,000 jobs in the
region in 2012 alone, several surveys have shown
<http://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/tc/press_detail.php?id=1401> that ordinary
Hong Kongers do not believe that they have benefited from the influx.
Instead, they resent mainland tourists for overcrowding subway cars,
driving up commercial rents, and emptying store shelves of baby formula.
New immigrants to Hong Kong face even more ire for taking jobs and the
benefits given to residents, like school spots for children and hospital
beds.

Koon's foray into Hong Kong-mainland relations proved a bit too much to
handle; the star broke down in tears at a Jan. 27 public appearance under
what mainland paperGuancha called
<http://www.guancha.cn/toutiao/2014_01_29_203173.shtml> "the pressure of
public opinion." It's a force that is sure to have other would-be
peacemakers on notice. Mainland Chinese will continue to flood into Hong
Kong, but those seeking a warm welcome may want to wait a while.