Mainlanders create 'quarrel squad' to fight with HK citizens: Duowei
Staff Reporter
2015-03-13
People protesting against parallel traders from the mainland gather at Hong Kong Rail's Sheung Shui Station, March 8. (Photo/ CNS)
Some mainland Chinese are reportedly planning to form a squad whose job will be to pick fights with Hong Kong residents, as anti-parallel trader sentiment has escalated in the administrative region, reports overseas Chinese news portal Duowei.
Anti-parallel trader campaigns have started to take place more and more in Hong Kong in protest of the numerous mainlanders who take advantage of the multi-entry visa policy to import goods from Hong Kong to mainland China, causing shortages of household goods for locals, especially in the north.
The protests have angered netizens in the mainland, however. A post looking to recruit individuals interested in scolding Hong Kongers was posted on the Weibo microblog recently. Members of the "quarreling squad" will receive a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan (US$480) and an extra 300 yuan (US$48) bonus for every Hong Konger they successfully bring to tears. The organized team will consist of 14 members, who will receive professional trainings to enhance their verbal skills and "angry looks."
Chan Wing Kee, on the standing committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said he has never heard of such a group but hopes that it is not true. Such an organization will only aggravate the conflict between the both sides.
There are indeed too many Chinese tourists in Hong Kong due to faulty regulations, though that does not make it right to drive them away, said Chan. He added that those who do display uncivilized behavior in Hong Kong may have come from some remote countryside and do not know common courtesy.
The whole world welcomes visitors, and thus it does not make sense if Hong Kong refuses to take in more. Some pick on the multi-entry visa policy, but if the policy is cancelled, meaning that less Chinese can come and go as they freely, the livelihoods of businesses around the border which depend on the Chinese tourists will be affected, said Chan.
Chan urged Hong Kong citizens not to take their discontent of the current situation to the tourists.
Tam Yiu-Chung, chairman of Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said the protests are put together by the few that do not represent the majority. It is meaningless to point fingers and he urged the mainlanders to be tolerant.
A spokesperson for an HK Indigenous activist group admitted that the anti-parallel trader campaign may have been too intense but he thinks that they have happened for a reason, which is to express the resentment of the people towards the government's turning a blind eye to the problem of excessive parallel traders from the mainland.
