李怡，1936年生，香港知名時事評論家、作家。1970年曾創辦雜誌《七十年代》，1984年更名《九十年代》，直至1998年停刊。後在《蘋果日報》撰寫專欄，筆耕不輟半世紀。著有文集《放逐》、《思緒》、《對應》等十數本。正在Matters連載首部自傳《失敗者回憶錄》：「我一生所主張所推動的事情，社會總是向相反趨向發展，無論是閱讀，獨立思考或民主自由都如是。這就是我所指的失敗的人生。」

Memoirs of a Loser 178: Mainlanders Arouse Hong Kongers' Local Consciousness

Aug 6, 2022

The previous article mentioned that Hong Kong people's feelings towards China have been overturned, which is highlighted by the strong contrast between the two earthquakes. In fact, this is just a clear symbol of the change in Hong Kong people's feelings. The real change actually started earlier. Since Hong Kong became a British colony, the population has continued to increase as a refuge for the Chinese. Since then, it has developed into an international city, bringing together foreign populations from all over the world.

Since Hong Kong became a British colony, the population has continued to increase as a refuge for the Chinese. Since then, it has developed into an international city, bringing together foreign populations from all over the world. Hong Kong people get along well with new immigrants from the mainland and residents from all over the world. Compared to Taiwan, Japan or other places in Asia, Hong Kong people are not very hospitable. But Hong Kong people abide by the rules, attach importance to the rule of law, do their part, and will not discriminate against outsiders. Hong Kong people are also not hostile to the rich, and they only treat some "beauties" who have become wealthy and wealthy because of their beauty, and they only treat them as idle talk, and they have no contempt.

Hong Kong people have seen a lot of money, power and sex transactions, so I don't think it's strange. Before the Wenchuan earthquake, it was not uncommon for Hong Kong people to donate money to other parts of the world, especially mainland China. Hong Kong people never ask about the whereabouts of donations. Even if it is in the pockets of corrupt officials, most people just feel that they have done their best. It was only because the Wenchuan earthquake involved the suppression of investigations into the school buildings, the suppression of the publication of the death toll and the list of the dead, and the scandal of Guo Meimei, which made Hong Kong people feel that their donations were taken advantage of. Especially: in such a big China, there are so many upstarts who spend money like water in Hong Kong, the national private donation is only more than 70 million yuan (the same below), plus more than 40 million Communist Party members are forced to pay for the earthquake. The "special party dues" paid was only 9.7 billion yuan, while a small place in Hong Kong donated 20 billion yuan. This feeling of being taken advantage of is something that has never happened in the past 100 years by donating money to the mainland for disaster relief, supporting the revolution, resisting Japan, etc.

The main factor behind the upheaval of Hong Kong people's feelings is not their disgust with the CCP regime, but the invasion of Hong Kong people's lives by the nouveau riche created by China's vicious society since its economic take-off.

With a population of 1.3 billion, corruption and red envelopes are prevalent in China. Even if one percent of the people who become rich, there are more than 10 million. Beginning in 2003, China opened up free travel from Guangdong Province to Hong Kong, and this policy has been gradually extended to other cities since then. As a result, Hong Kong has become a blessed place for many mainlanders to buy property, shop, launder money and run capital.

In the past, Hong Kong was once known as a shopping paradise because of its low taxes and convenience. When the Japanese economy was booming, many people went to Hong Kong to buy brand-name leather bags. There was a period of time when some wealthy Indonesian Chinese businessmen bought properties in Hong Kong, which drove up property prices. Hong Kong people are not disgusted, most people know that this is a phenomenon of free economy.

But Chinese upstarts behave differently. They buy houses with cash, sometimes outbidding sellers, and they are determined to win. The large number and the wide range of various properties have pushed up property prices to an unaffordable level for the general public.

Mainland tourists flock to Hong Kong in large numbers, and their shopping mainly focuses on famous brands and gold jewelry, because these valuables are the most fake, counterfeit and counterfeit in the mainland, and gold and jewelry stores in Hong Kong are guaranteed to be fine. Because the business was so good, a jewelry store with the same name appeared on the same street and opened another one not far away.

And because of the frequent occurrence of poisonous milk powder in the mainland, buying milk powder in Hong Kong has also become the favorite of mainland customers. Not only for personal use, but also for resale in mainland China at high prices.

As a result, the streets of Hong Kong are filled with jewelry stores and pharmacies that mainly sell milk powder. The snack shops and grocery stores that Hong Kong people usually visit have become unsustainable due to rising rents.

It is undeniable that independent travel has boosted Hong Kong's economy to a certain extent, but it has also changed Hong Kong. According to statistics, there were more than 48 million visitors to Hong Kong in 2012, of which 72% were from mainland China, an increase of 24.2% over the previous year, while the overall number of visitors from other regions declined. Friends who come to Hong Kong from overseas generally have a bad impression of Hong Kong, the hotel rooms are too small to turn around, the prices are ridiculously high, and the streets are crowded with mainlanders. Some adults with children let their children defecate on the spot in the most lively streets. Hong Kong has become disrespectful.

The fake, counterfeit and counterfeit goods in the mainland are not only famous jewelry brands, but even daily necessities are fake. Therefore, when Shenzhen opened a visa to travel to and from Hong Kong multiple times, that is, the so-called "multiple travel with one visa", there were many "parallel buyers" who came to Hong Kong supermarkets to buy daily necessities. They travel to and from Hong Kong several times a day, and the supermarkets in neighboring border towns are overcrowded every day, and many stores have become transit points for re-sorting and packaging in response to the needs of the mainland. Before the Lunar New Year, supermarkets in the New Territories were often seen circling a few times, pushing a line of payers with shopping carts full of New Year's goods, and crowds of people packing their prey into large boxes outside the door. It is very difficult for ordinary people in Hong Kong to go to the supermarket to buy some small things in those days.

As for how parallel importers can enter and exit Chinese customs several times a day? Shouldn't Chinese customs be taxing their goods? These questions do not need to be asked more, everything is silent.

The impact of mainland tourists on Hong Kong is also reflected in the wave of pregnant women coming to Hong Kong since the opening of mainlanders to Hong Kong for free travel.

The Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulates that anyone born in Hong Kong is a Hong Kong resident. Therefore, many mainland pregnant women come to Hong Kong to give birth in the name of independent travel. No hospital in Hong Kong can refuse pregnant women, especially if they go to the emergency department of the hospital in the later stage of pregnancy, they must deal with it. The child born automatically has the right of abode in Hong Kong and can enjoy various benefits including medical treatment.

The number of pregnant women in mainland China has increased every year, and by 2010, it had increased to 40,000, accounting for 45% of the births in public and private hospitals in Hong Kong. And giving birth in Hong Kong has also become a new industry in the mainland. From visa to customs clearance, to private hospital inspection, booking of inpatient beds, to the birth of a baby and obtaining Hong Kong resident status, the one-stop service costs hundreds of thousands of yuan. This amount is not a problem at all for the nouveau riche known as "big money" in China.

However, for locals in Hong Kong, their normal lives have been disrupted because hospital costs have been raised and inpatient beds are hard to find.

Hong Kong people not only turned their feelings towards the Chinese regime, but also disgusted Chinese people from the mainland, calling them "locusts". This is a feeling of hatred of outsiders that has not been seen in more than a hundred years. In this social situation, the local consciousness of Hong Kong emerged and grew rapidly.