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
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
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
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