A man holds up a placard denouncing a plan to allow mainlander drivers into Hong Kong at a demonstration in a park in Hong Kong on February 12. Photo: AFP
Perhaps the recent push and pull between Hong Kong residents and people from the Chinese mainland is epitomized by an incident on the regional authority's subway.
A woman was feeding her young daughter noodles and some spilled on the floor. An elderly man, speaking Putonghua with a thick Cantonese accent, chastised the woman who was obviously from the mainland. He pointed to a sign that prohibits eating on Hong Kong's noticeably clean subways.
The ensuring argument was captured on a video phone and went viral in Hong Kong after it was posted on YouTube, which is not available in the mainland.
Hong Kongers thought the incident showed the true nature of mainlanders which many consider to be uncouth and uncultured. Mainlanders lashed back suggesting the older man had no right to criticize a fellow citizen and made fun of his lack of skill speaking the country's official language.
The incident brought into focus some Hong Kongers' apparent growing angst with the rising influence that people from the mainland are having on their daily life.
Since December debate between the two sides has sunk into name calling, insults and minor protests in Hong Kong.
Kong Qingdong, a commentator in Beijing, known for his leftist vitriol, called some of the Hong Kongers dogs. People in Hong Kong responded with a newspaper ad comparing mainlanders to locusts.
Honeymoon has ended
There's little doubt that in the 15 years since Hong Kong returned to the mainland, communication and cooperation between the mainland and the Special Administrative Region have been strengthened. The honeymoon, however, is definitely over and a much sterner relationship seems to be taking hold.
Hong Kongers' natural sense of superiority, which was often on display when it was a British concession, has been both boosted and shaken by several recent phenomena.
Tensions erupted in early January when the Italian luxury clothing store Dolce and Gabbana apparently allowed people from the mainland to take photographs of the store, but told Hong Kongers they couldn't.
The obvious unequal treatment caused an outrage and 1,000 people demonstrated in front of the store. Protesters eventually forced the store to close for a short period and management quickly apologized.
The incident seems to have galvanized growing antipathy toward the newly wealthy from the mainland who are now being shown deference and in turn have become arrogant of their ability to spend loads of cash.
"Many people think the protest reflected the cultural differences between Hong Kong and mainland, but it is the vanishing superiority (of Hong Kong people) that caused the war of words and the sentiment is being used by some politicians," Wang Zixi, a media observer, told the Global Times.
Wang suggests that Hong Kongers have to get over the fact that some people from the mainland are now their economic equals. "They should realize the mainland's rise is not a threat; it's an opportunity."