Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Hong Kong-Mainland Tiffs Worry Beijing

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Hong Kong-Mainland Tiffs Worry Beijing

    I found this article personally interesting. I lived in HK for a decade when I was growing up, and my parents still live there. My wife is from the mainland and has often expressed discomfort when we visit Hong Kong over what she considers to be Hong Kong locals looking down on her. She says, "Ta men kan bu qi da lu ren."

    Yet this past Christmas, she found the shopkeepers and restaurant staff far more willing to speak with her in Mandarin and for the first time didn't feel like she was being looked down upon. Still, I am sure that the anxiety about the growing presence of mainlanders is real. My parents have complained that Chinese money is driving real estate out of the reach of many locals, and the difference in public manners and behaviour between Hong Kong locals and many from the mainland is noticeable(but I do maintain that progress is being made in this direction, perhaps just not to the satisfaction of enough in HK).

    Hong Kong-Mainland Tiffs Worry Beijing - WSJ.com

    By JASON CHOW

    HONG KONG—A series of incidents in this city have highlighted escalating resentment among Hong Kongers toward the ever-growing presence of mainland Chinese in the city, a shift that has Beijing both incensed and worried.

    The deterioration in attitude has expressed itself in protests small and large, with "locusts" the latest insult hurled by Hong Kongers at the millions of mainlanders who come to the city to shop, see the sights and in some cases give birth. The incidents have led to harsh denunciations from Beijing.

    In recent weeks the tension has risen following a poll showing that the number of Hong Kong residents identifying themselves as Chinese citizens—as opposed to Hong Kong citizens or a mix of both—fell to 16.6%, a 12-year low. Three years ago, 38.6% of Hong Kong residents considered themselves Chinese citizens.
    [hkfeud] Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

    People marched during an October rally calling on the government to take action against mainland Chinese pregnant mothers using hospital services in Hong Kong. Last year, 40,000 pregnant women from mainland China gave birth to babies in the city

    "I'm angry because they're invading us," said Sun Wong, an 18-year-old student leading a small but vocal group of high-school students chanting "antilocust" slogans on a shopping street favored by Chinese tourists last month as mainlanders descended on the city for the Lunar New Year holiday. "They're having their kids here, taking welfare and benefits while not paying taxes or contributing anything."

    When Hong Kong passed from British colonial rule to Chinese control 15 years ago, there was a surge in patriotic feeling. The growing kinship deepened after the 2003 SARS epidemic when China rescued Hong Kong's sagging economy by opening its borders and flooding Hong Kong with big-spending mainland tourists.

    Hong Kong continues to benefit from the rise of the Chinese economy, but the venom of the insults now being hurled between Hong Kong and Beijing underlines Hong Kong's wobbly sense of identity as its own profile as an Asian powerhouse fades.

    Enlarge Image
    0131feud
    0131feud
    European Pressphoto Agency

    Chinese tourists have their photograph taken in Hong Kong.

    "Just a few years ago, those from China were country bumpkins and now, the mainlanders are the economic overlords and that is deeply grating to those in Hong Kong," said Gordon Matthews, an anthropology professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

    He said mixed in with the economic resentment are political anxieties: Hong Kong residents remain fearful of China's lack of democracy and its human-rights record.

    New episodes in the spat have become a near-daily occurrence. Last week, a mainland Chinese professor called Hong Kongers "dogs" and "bastards" for their haughty attitude toward the rest of China.

    Tensions have been fueled by a series of pressure points. Last year, 40,000 pregnant women from mainland China gave birth to babies in the city, seeking to get Hong Kong passports as access to its education and health-care systems for their children. That stressed the city's maternity wards and in response, the Hong Kong government said it would cap the number of nonresidents giving birth at 34,000.

    The dispute feeds the anxieties of China's leaders who are worried that the first democratic elections in Hong Kong, scheduled for five years from now, could empower forces hostile to Beijing. That helps to explain recent attacks by Chinese officials and Beijing-backed Hong Kong media against U.S. Consul General Stephen Young for comments he made endorsing Hong Kong's transition to democracy. Beijing deemed his remarks to be interference in local politics.

    A Chinese government official in Hong Kong criticized the recent poll as "unscientific" and "illogical." The poll, which has been carried out by a University of Hong Kong professor since 1997, is widely watched and considered statistically valid. Chinese state-run media denounced it, with one columnist writing that the academic had "corrupt intent" and that he was seeking to undermine the current political system.

    China has a long history of restive provinces, but Hong Kong has deeper significance. Beijing celebrated the return of Hong Kong to China as a historic triumph of the Communist Party that expunged more than a century of humiliation under European and Japanese imperialism.

    Indeed, the successful integration of Hong Kong is intended to pave the way for the eventual reunification of Taiwan, a far bigger and more complex project.

    Earlier in January, a Hong Kong man got in a yelling match with a mainland woman whose daughter was eating dried noodles on the subway, where eating and drinking are prohibited. The incident was caught on videotape and widely watched.

    Days later, professor Kong Qingdong of Peking University to called Hong Kongers "bastards" and "dogs of British imperialists" in an online interview. Hong Kongers were irate. Some protested on the streets along with their dogs, while others spray-painted "mainland dogs" on walls.

    Earlier in the month, Italian luxury goods maker Dolce & Gabbana got caught in the middle when security guards banned locals from taking pictures at the brand's flagship store while allowing mainlanders to keep snapping. The policy was exposed by local media and within days, an estimated 3,000 people rallied in front of the store, which quickly dropped it.

    The latest effort is an online campaign for Hong Kongers to donate money to launch "antilocust" ads to run in a local newspaper. Within days, more than 800 people donated money to the effort.
    —Joanne Chiu contribute

  • #2
    Beijing would do well to put a big gag in the mouths of Kong Qingdong and hopefully throw him to somewhere deep in Tibet or something. Idiots like him made a icky situation into a full blown crisis, sheese.

    Comment


    • #3
      How do the Police stand on this? Is there a case of racial discrimination to answer to here? We have a similar problem with millions of non british claiming benefits, free housing and health care etc. However if we chanted locust it would soon be classed as a racial remarks there would be arrests and Court action. I don't know if shouting locust is classed as racial in HK but if it's not nipped in the bud it could soon get out of control.

      Comment


      • #4
        Chinese-on-Chinese insults may be bigotry, stupidity or just a lack of class, but one thing this is not is racist. Hong Kong has an anti-racial discrimination law that specifically excludes any mention of someone's place of origin. I was involved in the drafting, and there were quite a lot of people looking for a clause that would make it illegal to discriminate against someone who arrived in HK from China after about 1980.

        Given that no one gets a facial tatoo with date of arrival, it would be silly to work out whether I could call Zhou a country bumpkin, but couldn't do the same with Lee. Totally unworkable.

        The problem is that Mainlanders simply don't have the kind of manners (limited though they may be) that HK people expect. I've seen plenty of HK folks eating and drinking on the subway, and no one pays attention. This case got attention, I'm guessing, because the offenders were identified as Mainlanders.

        Apple Daily ran a paid advertisement about "locust" -- Mainlanders -- coming to HK to take everything from us. No mention of the billions they spend here, just more bigotry.
        Trust me?
        I'm an economist!

        Comment


        • #5
          I think the tiff is not a big problem,with a large population,China has an unbalance developmen,HK has good education welfare and medical treatment.so,the mainlander went to HK,but with too many mainlander coming,the locals found situation out of control.then,the tiff happend.
          I think without the unbalance economic development,the contradiction will not be a problem.
          I am new here,and I don‘t have a good sight,so read it with your patience and forgivness.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by lzkhnu View Post
            I think the tiff is not a big problem,with a large population,China has an unbalance developmen,HK has good education welfare and medical treatment.so,the mainlander went to HK,but with too many mainlander coming,the locals found situation out of control.then,the tiff happend.
            I think without the unbalance economic development,the contradiction will not be a problem.
            I am new here,and I don‘t have a good sight,so read it with your patience and forgivness.
            welcome izkhnu, and your point is mostly correct.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by RollingWave View Post
              welcome izkhnu, and your point is mostly correct.
              thank you,actually everybody judge one thing at his own position,for me,the love for mainland maybe is my position.so sometimes my point may not be right

              Comment


              • #8
                Hong Kong's problem is that we like Mainlanders spending lots of money here, but we kind of wish they'd just phone it in. Two-thirds of HK's tourists are from other parts of China, and those folks spend more than the Germans, Americans, Japanese and Brits -- on a per capita basis.

                Mainland mothers giving birth in HK hospitals, so that the kid gets automatic residency, is a problem that doesn't have to be. Hong Kong's own birth rate is so low as to be hard to find, so we should be delighted to have someone else boost our future workforce. Since the parents don't get to live in HK until the kid is of age, we don't have to educate the brats. We will, however, have a strong call on their labor and talent (if any) when they reach maturity.

                Win-win, except for the bigotry.
                Trust me?
                I'm an economist!

                Comment


                • #9
                  In university, I had a roommate from Hong Kong who kept his distance from other Chinese students in our program. Once I asked why he didn't talk to them (they were pretty handy to get notes off of), his reason was that "they're from the mainland".

                  Another incident. Once I asked a girl about China, she got somewhat offended, "No! I'm from Hong Kong!"

                  And knowing both, I seriously doubt that it was because they had concerns about mainland Chinese migrants coming to Hong Kong. It seemed more of a superiority complex thing to me.
                  Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
                  -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Tronic View Post
                    In university, I had a roommate from Hong Kong who kept his distance from other Chinese students in our program. Once I asked why he didn't talk to them (they were pretty handy to get notes off of), his reason was that "they're from the mainland".

                    Another incident. Once I asked a girl about China, she got somewhat offended, "No! I'm from Hong Kong!"

                    And knowing both, I seriously doubt that it was because they had concerns about mainland Chinese migrants coming to Hong Kong. It seemed more of a superiority complex thing to me.
                    As if his parents or grandparents were not from China, anyway your descriptions of Hong Kongers are pretty close to the reality except that some Hong Kongers such as me do not have any superiority complex over our mainland brothers and sisters. I get alone with mainland Chinese quite well both in university or at work.

                    The funny thing is that one time my older sister who replied to a Caucacian that inquired about if Hong Kong is part of China. Her friends all stared at her for few minutes when she said Hong Kong is part of China. The true is Hong Kong was still a colony back then.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The first Mainlander students at Cal were happy to talk to anyone; the Hong Kong and American- born, too. It was the Taiwan-born who worried about getting in trouble. Henry Liu (Jiang Nan), a Taiwan-based writer critical of the Chiang famly, had been murdered in California by Taiwan gangsters seeking to curry favor with the Taiwan Garrison Command, under General Wang Sheng.
                      Trust me?
                      I'm an economist!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Preparing for the 2016, 2017 and 2020 elections

                        We recently had a closed-door meeting with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen and Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary Raymond Tam Chi-yuen to discuss changes in the way the Chief Executive (i.e., mayor) is chosen in 2017, and the structure of the Legislative Council in 2016 and 2020. The 2016 LegCo election is expected to be a transitional phase to a completely geographically elected legislature in 2020.

                        For the Chief Executive, the process is (s)election of a “broadly representative” nominating body; nomination; election; and appointment by Beijing. The process must be “in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress;” “in accordance with democratic procedures;” reflective of “the actual situation in Hong Kong;” and lead to the ultimate objective of “selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage.” These are non-negotiable.

                        The issues to be determined include the following:
                         Total number of people in the nominating committee (the last one had 1,200 members);
                         Means of (s)electing the members of the nominating committee;
                         Fine tuning the subsectors represented in the nominating committee;
                         Number of nominations required to have a name placed on the ballot;
                         Minimum or maximum number of candidates to be placed on the ballot; and
                         Minimum number of votes required for election.

                        The previous nomination committee comprised four broad sectors: business; professions; social, labour and religious groups; and political groups such as members of the legislature, district councils, NPC and CPPCC. This is highly unlikely to change, either the broad categories or the even distribution among them (300 seats each). However, within these broad sectors, there is ample room to change the make-up. For example, the 60 representatives of the agriculture and fisheries sub-sector (5% of the seats) grossly over-represents their 0.1% of the economy, whereas the wholesale, retail, export and import sub-sector’s 3% of the seats does not adequately represent its 28-30% of the economy.

                        Adjusting the mix will be tricky, as the final proposal has to pass the Legislative Council with a 2/3rds majority and the Government admits to being 5 seats short (8.3%). Practically, the final proposal also must be widely accepted by the people of Hong Kong and by Beijing.
                        Trust me?
                        I'm an economist!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Japan, in year 2013 received only 10 million foreign visitors, will be targeted record highs in year 2030, to 30 million people.

                          Japan has hundreds of times more land space than Hong Kong, there were already 50 million visitors came last year, and then a few years later also increased the target of figures to 70 million, to 100 million later going. The bad influnence to local people any sensible person can forecast.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Enzo Ferrari View Post
                            Japan, in year 2013 received only 10 million foreign visitors, will be targeted record highs in year 2030, to 30 million people.

                            Japan has hundreds of times more land space than Hong Kong, there were already 50 million visitors came last year, and then a few years later also increased the target of figures to 70 million, to 100 million later going. The bad influnence to local people any sensible person can forecast.
                            in

                            So in addition to cheapening the Holocaust and denouncing capitalism, you also oppose basic mathematics?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              It Could Take a Law to Force Hong Kongers to Be Nice to Mainland Chinese - China Real Time Report - WSJ

                              Banning of wordings such as "Locust" and "Shina" will not make Hongkongers shut up, Stupid!
                              Last edited by Enzo Ferrari; 23 Feb 14,, 03:09.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X