A fierce quarrel broke out between a young couple from the mainland and two Hong Kong locals over a toddler urinating in a busy street in Mong Kok last Tuesday. A video footage that has been circulated widely online showed the mother placing a diaper beneath the toddler to prevent him peeing on the ground.

One of the Hongkongers locked in the scuffle photographed the scene, and the parents tried to remove his memory card from his camera, leading to the arrest of the mainlanders for assault. The father was released unconditionally while his wife was released later on bail and is due to report back to police in May.

The row, which has drawn wide attention online, has highlighted once again the mounting tensions between Hongkongers and mainlanders in recent years. Public opinions are polarized over the incident. Among mainland netizens, a majority think the parents' behavior is understandable, as there was a long queue before the washroom and the mother used a diaper, while some others rap them for lack of public decency.

Such dispute between Hong Kong locals and mainland tourists seems inevitable along with closer social and economic ties between the two sides. It also reflects the complicated mentality of many Hongkongers toward the mainland.

Though Hong Kong has returned to China for nearly 17 years, some locals are still enveloped in a superiority complex because of a different historical background.

The unprecedentedly rapid development of the economy in the mainland has somewhat overshadowed Hong Kong's once advantageous status.

Debilitating competitiveness has inevitably led to a psychological gap among some Hongkongers who blame mechanisms and institutions of the mainland for their own social conundrums.

While there is no denying that some mainland tourists do behave barbarically, the Hong Kong public tends to impose undue discrimination by patronizing them.

In February, disgruntled Hong Kong residents lodged an "anti-locust" campaign to protest the influx of mainland visitors, whom they decried as "locusts" occupying their valuable resources. They have displayed deep-seated fears of "being assimilated and invaded" by mainlanders.

Hong Kong is in a transitional stage of integration with the mainland which becomes increasingly powerful and exerts greater influence on the world stage.

It is inevitable that some Hongkongers constantly complain about anything new mainlanders bring to them, giving rise to the simmering anti-mainland sentiment among the general public.

To alleviate this discrepancy that seems difficult to resolve, Hongkongers and mainlanders should engage in more exchanges to improve mutual understanding and overcome baleful prejudices. Mainland tourists should behave better and adopt local habits when in Hong Kong. And Hong Kong locals need to adopt a more open, placid and tolerant attitude toward the influx of mainlanders.

Hong Kong has made glorious achievements to turn itself into a cosmopolitan city because of its confidence and tolerance. If Hongkongers fall short of the elegant demeanor, the city may lose its soul, which may lead to a serious crisis for the city.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. wangxiaonan@globaltimes.com.cn