The China Thread

[Valmy]

I guess angry Hong Kongers found a safer target to vent their frustration on than the government.

I was amused to see the Chinese Government reference McCarthy.  Kind of an obscure reference for non-Americans I would think.

[Monoriu]

I guess angry Hong Kongers found a safer target to vent their frustration on than the government.

I was amused to see the Chinese Government reference McCarthy.  Kind of an obscure reference for non-Americans I would think.

Nah, they targetted mainland tourists not because it is a safe target.  Imagine tens of millions of tourists come to your city, and they do so not only on the busy weeks like Christmas, but 365 days a year.  They are going to turn your world upside down, and this is exactly what happened here, to an already cramped place.  All your favourite retail places will be gone, replaced by shops that only the tourists want, in our case thousands and thousands of drug stores, jewelry stores, Swiss watch places.  Everything will go much more expensive, from meals to housing to baby milk powder.  They don't just go to the landmarks.  The mainland tourists swarm all of HK's malls, supermarkets, they are everywhere.  They aren't here for sightseeing.  They are here because they don't trust their own supermarkets, drug stores and jewelry stores that sell fakes.  Hundreds of thousands of professional tourists travel between HK and the mainland, making several round trips a day to smuggle small quantities of milk powder, toilet paper and instant noodles to the mainland.  Imagine what this does to our public transport system.  Imagine local mothers can't buy milk powder for their newborns.  Imagine tourists taking up your hospital places so that locals can't have access to hospital beds.  Some of the bahaviour of the tourists don't help, like not respecting queues, peeing everywhere, shitting in swimming pools (yes, they love our swimming pools because mainland pools are more expensive) etc.

They feel they have to scare the tourists away themselves because the government want more tourists to come to get more business. 

[Valmy]

Well now I only said it was safer, not safe.  I think they are attacking the mainlanders as a proxy for the government as they feel powerless to have any impact on how their city is run.

[Monoriu]

Well now I only said it was safer, not safe.  I think they are attacking the mainlanders as a proxy for the government as they feel powerless to have any impact on how their city is run.

The anger against the tourists is severe even among pro-government groups.  Most civil servants are pro-government, but everybody I meet complain about the tourists.  They are not just making the queues for the giant Buddha longer.  They are making housing prices reach insane levels, taking away school and hospital places, turning malls into nothing but a collection of drug stores and jewelry places. 

[Valmy]

They are not just making the queues for the giant Buddha longer.

Their attachment to seeing the giant Buddha is the source of their unhappiness :om:

[Monoriu]

They are not just making the queues for the giant Buddha longer.

Their attachment to seeing the giant Buddha is the source of their unhappiness :om:

The real source of their unhappiness is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

[celedhring]

I guess angry Hong Kongers found a safer target to vent their frustration on than the government.

I was amused to see the Chinese Government reference McCarthy.  Kind of an obscure reference for non-Americans I would think.

Not in the least, it's used and referenced over here too. The good senator is quite infamous.

[Valmy]

Not in the least, it's used and referenced over here too. The good senator is quite infamous.

'Politician tries to score points by taking advantage of public paranoia'

Is that really so unique?

[celedhring]

Not in the least, it's used and referenced over here too. The good senator is quite infamous.

'Politician tries to score points by taking advantage of public paranoia'

Is that really so unique?

Given that we haven't had that many elected politicians in our history, I'd say yeah    Franco didn't need to make up many excuses to get people out of the way.

But your culture is our culture. It shouldn't be surprising that we adopt so many American references when you enjoy the kind of cultural dominance you have.

[Josquius]

BBC news is doing the usual report on people going on 20 hour train journeys and all that sort of thing because of the new year.
After the report the guy said "For BBC news this is Martin Patience".
Patience.
Ha.
That made me smile.

I'm going to try and make some gyoza (餃子, dunno the Chinese pronunciation) to celebrate Chinese new year...or rather because a Chinese friend was talking about them and made me want some.

[garbon]

Frozen gyoza are one of the cheap, tasty items that one can get at Trader Joe's.

[Valmy]

I am not celebrating Chinese New Year until somebody gives me a red envelope full of money.

[Valmy]

They are not just making the queues for the giant Buddha longer.

Their attachment to seeing the giant Buddha is the source of their unhappiness :om:

The real source of their unhappiness is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

Making it harder and harder to live in their city.  Tourist destination cities really suffer from that as a rule and I can only imagine in Hong Kong and Macau it is magnified.

But I was just making a Buddhist joke.

[Josquius]

Frozen gyoza are one of the cheap, tasty items that one can get at Trader Joe's.

They have them even in the regular non-oriental supermarkets here.
But they're damn expensive
But oh well. If I fail to make my own I can always buy them on sale next week!

[Monoriu]

BBC news is doing the usual report on people going on 20 hour train journeys and all that sort of thing because of the new year.
After the report the guy said "For BBC news this is Martin Patience".
Patience.
Ha.
That made me smile.

I'm going to try and make some gyoza (餃子, dunno the Chinese pronunciation) to celebrate Chinese new year...or rather because a Chinese friend was talking about them and made me want some.

Jiaozi in Mandarin.  Gaozi in Cantonese.