Intrusion

[Continued HK series #9 of 10] 

The very first time I visited HK was in 1990. A lot has changed since then.

At the MTR station 22 years ago.

 The MTR was still crowded but they installed another layer of safety precautions.

The layer of glass protects the jumpers?

Unfortunately this ice cream store is no longer there. Stores/restaurants do come and go, like at home.

Photo from 1990. This time around I did not get my taro ice cream.. darn!

This beauty of a hotel ChungKing House de Luxe Hotel was just scary to look at much less walk by...

But it seems it got an extreme makeover.. to ChungKing Mansions ... at least from the outside.

Matthew noticed that this is the first braille building map he's seen in HK.

Dogs are not common but they are welcome in certain areas where they even have their own parking spot.

Public transportation have priority seating signs for those who need to be seated in the front.

Yes, many things have changed in HK for the positive.

Yet, many things have also changed for the negative. (At least that is what I hear from people who call HK home and from what I have noticed in the brief time we were visiting.)

And it all has to do with what happened 15 years ago... actually way longer than that.

[Here's my history lesson]

In 1839 during the First Opium War between China and Great Britain, HK Island was occupied by British forces and in 1842 it formally ceded to the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Nanking. The Treaty of Nanking marked the end of the First Opium War between Great Britain and the Qing Dynasty of China. The Qing Dynasty agreed to give the Island to the British Queen in order to provide British traders with a harbor where they could unload their goods. Later China leased the surrounding territories such as the Kowloon Peninsula to Britain. These leases awarded Britain control of more than 200 surrounding small islands. BUT the lease was only for 99 years. China was promised after 99 years the islands would return back to them. In 1984, Britain agreed not only to return the New Territories but also Kowloon and Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. China promised to implement a "One Country, Two Systems" regime for fifty years under which Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and hold political freedoms forbidden in the mainland.

Since 1842, HK was governed by Great Britain. You can see a lot of Britain's influence. Both English and Chinese are the official languages. Public signs are all in English and Chinese. English is even taught in the schools. British-English sounds quite interesting when you hear a Chinese person speaking English with a British accent. Throughout the British colonial era, HK was industrialized and developed in all aspects from its economy to its health care system. It became a prosperous and very popular business and vacation destination for many people from all over the world.

But on July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of Hong Kong and surrounding territories to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

So it has been 15 years since the transfer of control of Hong Kong. HK is as a SAR: Special Administrative Region. This means it is a part of "one country" but "two systems;" with a semi-autonomous relationship with China where they retain control over domestic and economic affairs but China controls foreign policy. So life for a HK citizen would not really change.

Ummm.. not really. Maybe for the first few years after the transfer but now at 15 years.. I can definitely see changes. Maybe not internally through laws and rules (since I am a foreign tourist) but through its people.

Since the handover, Mainlanders (Chinese who are from and live on the mainland) have been streaming into HK like schools of salmon coming back home to spawn. Mainland Chinese are quite different from HK Chinese.

How?

First let's take a look at each group's government:
For most of modern history, Hong Kong was governed by Great Britain which had a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch. A king/queen is head of state, and prime minister is head of government and the people vote in elections for members of parliament to represent them.

China is a single party socialist republic ruled by the Communist party.

Very different! Thus it is safe to assume that the people from each country will think, act and behave very differently.

And they most definitely do!

Now China is seen as a growing economic super power!  Who wouldn't be, with... now how much does the US owe China again? China's economy is growing substantially and so their people's income is growing as well... at least for some of them.

I am saddened to see the negative impact that Mainlanders have in HK. Many come to spend their new-found wealth on high-end material goods. They come just for the day, rolling their giant hard cased luggage down the crowded city streets, filling them to the brim to bring everything back to the mainland to sell ... at a mark up of course.

If you look behind the people waiting to cross the street you will see a very long line of people waiting for the Chanel store to open.

I have seen a tremendous increase of jewelry stores and high end brand name stores such as Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Prada etc.. all around the city. Almost on every block you will find numerous jewelry stores all full of people buying gems and watches and other extravagant items.

But you may ask, why is this negative? It is certainly not negative for the economy, but the Mainlanders come flaunting their wealth and driving up prices of things for the average HK citizen. They come purchasing homes in cash. They come applying to the already impacted universities taking spots from hard working HK students. They come with money, and money can pretty much buy you anything.

Often with new money comes attitude and entitlement. That is also what I see from the Mainlanders. They do not follow rules; they are rude; and they are completely unapologetic to the extreme.

- I have had to bulldoze my way out of a crowded MTR train because a woman Mainlander did not let me exit before she could enter. She literally stood right in front of me blocking my way out.

- My sister-in-law has saw a Mainlander mother let her son pee in the sink at the Disneyland restroom because she did not want to stand in line.

- Almost every day I saw pushy Mainlanders cut in line, even though it was very clear that someone was already standing in a line and was next to be helped.

- I was told that if you argue with a Mainlander they may threaten you by reporting you to the Red Army because many of the wealthy Mainlanders are well connected to high government officials.

- Many HK residents feel that the money the Mainlanders bring over to spend is 'dirty' money.  Money made from corrupt practices.

- Mainland mothers-to-be flock to HK to deliver their babies so their child can have HK benefits.

- Salespeople don't even bother learning sufficient English. Americans are not their 'real' clientele anymore; it's the Mainlanders. I went into a GAP store and asked a salesman where to try on clothes and he seriously did not understand what I was saying. I then said, "fitting room?" "Ohhh.." he replied and proceeded to point in a direction and responded, "go straight and turn..." then he hesitated. Apparently he did not know the English for directions. I helped him finish his sentence.. "left?".. "yes" he said. Sheesh... BUT if I spoke in Mandarin (which Mainlanders speak) I'm sure he would have given me 100% top notch service!

- One my biggest complaints is that Mainlanders don't know how to use the toilet. I am serious! Many places have Western toilets that you are supposed to sit on... am I right?  But in the Mainland there are still the squat toilets where you squat to go. Apparently they say it's more hygienic.

A very clean squat toilet at Disneyland

So what do they do when they encounter a Western toilet?

This one even has a dispenser filled with a cleaning gel (on the right side) for you to use to wipe down the toilet seat before you sit!

They stand and squat on it... how would you feel standing in line in the bathroom and stepping into the toilet stall a Mainlander just used? Not too happy right? Nope! I feel so sorry for the women who clean those toilets. They have to mop and wipe down the seats as if a toddler just used them! Dis-gus-ting! One time I had to look into 4 toilet stalls to find a decent one for me to use!

Interestingly enough, I found an article from the Journal of Business Ethic, that did a study on factors affecting ethical attitudes in the Mainland and Hong Kong.  Bottom line, it was found that religion played an important role in affecting ethical attitudes. Christianity was found to be most favorable to higher ethical standards while people of traditional Chinese religion had a higher acceptability of unethical behaviors involving social concerns. Also employees in state-owned enterprises, private employees, employees in foreign-investment firms, and employers on the mainland all had higher acceptability of unethical law-breaking behaviors compared to workers in collectives. [Journal of Business Ethics February 2008, Vol 77 Issue 4, p463-479] I think this is why HK citizens feel that the Mainlanders are bringing 'dirty' money into HK. It is not a secret and probably a known assumption that Chinese government officials and employees are corrupt or engage in corrupt practices.

Another new article regarding smugglers..."thousands of mainland Chinese day trippers are flocking to nearby Hong Kong, where they buy up mass quantities of lobsters, moon cakes and other pricey delicacies to resell across the border for higher prices. Hong Kong’s favorable exchange rate has made it a magnet for mainland shoppers seeking both cheaper prices and stronger assurances on quality.  Such traders are bitterly resented by many Hong Kong residents, who accuse them of driving up prices of everything from milk powder to toothpaste, and of crowding subway stops close to the border. Though frustration over mainland traders has persisted for years, the issue has reached “a breaking point,” says Peter Cheung of the University of Hong Kong, who studies cross-border issues. Tension with mainland China has simmered all year, spurred by the number of mainlanders who choose to give birth and buy up property in Hong Kong.

But resolving local anger over the existing influx of mainland tourists—some 28 million of which visited Hong Kong last year—won’t be easy. The city’s economy relies heavily on such visitors, which have helped boost its retail sector in recent years and also driven up the rent.
“It’s not just a political issue, but also one concerning real questions about who benefits from this huge growth in visitors,” says Mr. Cheung. “And ultimately it’s Hong Kong’s big landlords and tycoons in real estate who benefit tremendously, not ordinary people living in those border areas.”
[WSJ ChinaRealTimeReport Sept 25, 2012 ]

Now of course I am referring to the wealthy mainlanders who are able to come to HK to shop. Even though China is becoming an economic super power there is still a significant part of the country where the poor remains very poor.

My parents are from the mainland. But they don't like going to HK. Everything is too expensive they say.  Of course, it's expensive. They are not the affluent. They are from the village.

While we were there, Matthew read an article in the local newspaper (article here) which talked about how the descendants of the Chinese Communist founders are all multi-billion dollar executives of state run and privately run conglomerates. Isn't the idea behind communism to share the wealth? How is it that the founders of communism and their families are now among the wealthiest in the country? It's hard not to feel that there has been a fair amount of corruption going on. And if those in power have benefited so much from the system, how difficult will it be to bring about reform?

Not only are individual mainlanders influencing the quality of life in Hong Kong, but there are plenty of influences from the Communist Party as well. We saw many "competing" banners at tourist areas. One group that is obviously pro-communist has been plastering tourist areas with anti-Falun Gong banners. Directly across the plaza just 10 meters away is a pro-Falun Gong banner hanging above the "quit the Communist Party booth." Falun Gong is heavily persecuted in China, and while people have freedom of religion and free speech in Hong Kong, it appears that China is bringing their persecution to Hong Kong now. Regardless of how locals feel about the Falun Gong movement, China's persecution of this group is only going to incite support for religious and political freedoms.

Across from this were about a dozen anti-Falun Gong banners.

A typical anti-Falun Gong banner. Except this one has been modified to show the true sentiment of local Hong Kong citizens.

It pains me to see how Hong Kong is changing through Mainlander influences. Many are resentful and feel that the Mainlanders are intruding on their home.

Yes they are. Yes they are.

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