Pride and Prejudice
By: Sandra Lee
Tags: Hong Kong

My great grandfather was born in Hong Kong in 1862, when Hong Kong was just a bit more than a barren rock. Very few people my age have ancestors who were born in Hong Kong. Most of my friends’ grandparents or even parents, were born in China and migrated to Hong Kong. As industrious and resourceful Chinese, our parents and grandparents created the Hong Kong miracle. They capitalized on opportunities presented to Hong Kong as the intermediary between China and the rest of the world. In less than a century, Hong Kong was transformed into a major financial center in Asia and the world. We should rightfully be proud of Hong Kong’s history, and Hong Kong’s unique position with respect to China. Some now suggest that Hong Kong people are “Hongkongers” and not Chinese, how absurd and ungrateful.

Despite growing up in Hong Kong during the British colonial rule, I never doubted the fact that I was Chinese. I went to an Anglican Church school which predominately taught in English. Among friends, we always spoke Chinese (Cantonese). We played mah-jong and watched Chinese TV. We didn’t like to study Chinese classics and history simply because they were much more difficult than English subjects. We had a choice to learn French instead of Chinese, but my mother insisted I continued learning Chinese. For that, I am forever grateful to her. I am now truly bi-lingual, and after living in Shanghai for 15 years, I can also read and type (I admit writing would be challenging 😊) simplified and traditional Chinese characters and quite fluent in Putonghua. I am very proud of that.

During the 70s, there was a very popular TVB series about a “乡下仔” (peasant boy) coming to Hong Kong from China. His nickname “阿粲” (Ah Can) became a household name for any Chinese mainlander (”大陆人“). During those days, we were so proud of Hong Kong being superior to China, in all aspects of life, that the words “大陆” or “大陆人”, carried heavy tones of inferiority. This prejudice against “Big 6” people (updated term for 大陆人mainlander) never subsided, in fact, it has become much worse.

阿粲 became famous in a classic TVB series “网中人”. He is now an organic farmer in China😊

Stereotypes of mainlanders: vulgar, rude, uneducated, uncultured and unsophisticated

I am not trying to make excuses for those tourists who cut lines, whose kids poop in the middle of Disneyland, or professional shoppers reorganizing suitcases on the pavement etc. They do exist, and such behavior do constitute a public nuisance. In fact, the Chinese government realized the problem and published a 64 page “Guide to Civilized Tourism and Travel”. The caption of the illustration below reads: “Don’t spit phlegm or gum, throw litter, urinate or defecate wherever you feel like it. Don’t cough, sneeze or pick your nose or teeth in front of others.” I remember Hong Kong people used to spit and litter before the litterbug campaign in the early 1970s. It took us almost an entire generation to educate the public to have social responsibility. During the years I lived in China, I saw continuing improvement and awareness on this issue. It is a valid problem, but it does not warrant the exponential leap in logic to arrive at blanket discrimination of all mainlanders.

An illustration of “what not to do” in the guide for Chinese tourists going abroad.

The problem is Hong Kong people who never worked or lived in China, are only exposed to a very narrow sector of mainlanders. For those who are already prejudiced, these unacceptable behaviors and images reinforce and deepen those biases.

As explained in my previous article, my family moved to Shanghai from San Francisco in 2003. For our first New Year’s Eve, we crashed a party at a 3000 square feet apartment of a friend’s friend. On the huge kitchen counter there was a nice buffet of hor d’oeuvres, and unlimited wine and champagne. In one of the living rooms, a jazz band was playing, and guests casually dancing to the music. In another room, I saw older guests sitting along the walls while one gentleman was writing Chinese calligraphy accompanied by a Chinese Hepticord (“古琴”). Turned out it was kind of like a game whereby guests would take turns to “perform” a quick Chinese painting or calligraphy. I was so scared that I only watched from outside. It would be extremely embarrassing if someone noticed and invited me to “写几个字”. This was how high society in Shanghai partied, way back in 2003, way before the wave of the “nouveaux riche” (“暴发户”) arrived. Turned out the host of the party, Diane, is a descendant of the royal Manchu clan from the Qing Dynasty. Don’t forget we had royalty in China too, not just the United Kingdom. Diane’s husband is a successful venture capitalist and Diane is head of several non-profit organizations. Diane is refined, polite, educated, cultured and sophisticated. Definitely not a 暴发户.

Another amazing person I met was Carrie, a single mother and general manager of a Hong Kong based real estate developer. I had landed a position with this real estate company as auditor of an asset management deal. Carrie had started to work for this company immediately upon graduation from Fudan University. She was in her early 30s, and had climbed up to almost the top of the company. She never studied abroad, so her English was not perfect, but she did not need it. Her tough training at Fudan and expertise in the booming local real estate market were more than enough. Looking at her Moments (Wechat social media), she obviously travelled extensively for her job and leisure. She is a die-hard foodie and a wine connoisseur. Her hobbies include canvas oil painting, going to classical music concerts, local dance drama shows, and stage plays. Carrie is refined, polite, educated, cultured and sophisticated. She is also extremely hard-working, efficient and productive. Her parents were both University level educators. Definitely not a 暴发户.

Many people in Hong Kong assume that any mainlander who could afford a Chanel or LV bag is either a 暴发户 or criminal/scam artist who earned their wealth through corruption or money laundering. The above are two real life examples of someone who do not fit that stereotype. In fact I never saw them carrying a brand name bag. They are both so successful and confident that they would not even care to carry a Hermes bag to prove their social status. What a humongous gap between reality and perception. Hong Kong people should watch a couple mainland Chinese soap operas, maybe that gap can be a little smaller.

Soap operas are melodramatic, but they do show many aspects of real life and pop culture.

I do know someone who is vulgar, rude, uneducated, uncultured and unsophisticated. She was my part-time domestic helper in Shanghai. She is extremely resourceful and a creative problem solver. When she first moved to Shanghai in the early 2000s, her monthly salary was about 1200 RMB per month. By 2015, her highest monthly gross income reached 20,000 RMB per month. She would juggle among 3–4 part-time jobs within a close neighborhood, plus some occasional babysitting jobs at 100 RMB per hour. When she came to work for us, she was divorced, with 3 grown-up children all living in different cities in China. She had saved up enough of her earnings to pay for her son’s wedding home in her home town (btw, it’s the norm in China for the groom’s family to purchase the couple’s new nest, preferably mortgage-free, as renting is not acceptable). She lives in a 300 RMB/month room in Shanghai but she owns an apartment in Nanjing (worth about 800K RMB now), near her daughter’s home, in preparation for her eventual retirement, also mortgage-free. She spends her free time social dancing at public parks and “meeting people”. 😊 She is loud and impolite but she is never nasty. Nobody ever taught her, not her parents or teachers (I am not certain if she even ever went to school), the importance of manners or courtesy. But when she saw me insisting that our kids thank her for simple tasks, she showed appreciation, and said she would teach her grandchildren the same way. She would probably never travel outside of China, or even anywhere far from her hometown or work place, but she is truly happy, and so proud of her own accomplishments. And so am I.

On the topic of prejudice and discrimination, Chinese people in general, love to belittle others outside their own social identity. Beijingers and Shanghainese cannot stand each other too. People in Shanghai would describe Beijingers as uncultured and “smell like garlic”. People in Beijing would say Shanghainese are selfish, mercenary and “崇洋”(blind worship of anything foreign). In both cities, city-dwellers mock at migrant workers from the villages as coarse and unreliable. But all this basically stays at the level of providing content for benign cultural jokes.

However, during the height of last year’s riots in Hong Kong, the level of discrimination against 大陆人 rose to a level of criminal narcissism. Anyone speaking Putonghua on the streets would be chased and beaten up by the rioters. One Global times reporter was tied to a luggage cart by the rioters and abused physically and verbally for hours before police saved him. I personally was harassed on Facebook when I typed simplified Chinese characters in a comment. The response was so nasty I don’t want to repeat it verbatim here. But I was basically asked to stop pretending to be a Hong Kong person and to go back to China.

I have no quick solutions to this extremely troubling social problem in Hong Kong. I just desperately worry about the effects of such images to younger children in Hong Kong. Will they think that such behavior is acceptable and justifiable? If we, as Hong Kong people, pride ourselves as refined, polite, educated, cultured and sophisticated, we cannot allow these extreme prejudices to continue.

Let’s not ignore the possibility that, if we discriminate against 1.4 billion mainlanders, they may hate us in return too. Some people will say they don’t care. But I do, I definitely don’t want to have 1.4 billion mainlanders despise me, as a Hong Kong person. Even if they don’t hate us, I highly doubt the volume of Chinese tourists will return to pre-Covid levels. Mainlanders are aware of such discrimination, and the reasons for visiting Hong Kong (Disneyland, luxury goods shopping, food etc.) no longer exist. Last year, I heard some tourists came to Hong Kong because they wanted to witness the riots. Let’s not make that the only Hong Kong tourist attraction.

Long lines outside LV on Canton Road. Will we see this ever again? Do we want to? I hope so.

Let’s not forget, Hong Kong’s economy was in the ditch after SARS in 2003. By July that year, the Chinese government launched the “Individual Visit Scheme” (“自由行”) which allowed mainlanders to come to Hong Kong on an individual basis, without having to be part of a tourist group. Undeniably, economic benefits brought social problems, but not to the extent to turn away mainland tourists from Hong Kong.

Obviously, my personal experiences are very different from most people in Hong Kong. Instead of being proud, I have been humbled by all these amazing people I met and befriended during my years in China. I wish people in Hong Kong would step out of their comfort zone and get to know a mainlander. Or if a mainlander cut them in line, they could just nicely suggest him/her to get back in line. No hard feelings.

We can continue to be proud, but let’s stop being prejudiced.