Cyclist Lee Wai Sze won the first bronze medal for Hong Kong in the women’s Keirin Track Cycling. Lee, born and raised in Hong Kong, dressed in the winter uniform of Leung Shek Chee College, a girl’s school which is located in a grassroots area in Kowloon East, in her profile picture.
Yeung: The light of Hongkonger Lee Wai Sze suffers from anemia and then suffered from bone fracture. Her wrist was diagnosed to be mildly handicapped. However, she did not give up cycling. Today, you walk one more step towards your road of success and also won an honour for Hong Kong. Thank you and adore!
The scene that flags of Britain, China and Hong Kong appear together instantly stirs up emotion of Hong Kong netizens and anger of Mainland Chinese in Weibo.
Comments from HKATV’s Sports Narrators
(1:17-1:24) We have seen scenes of medalists bit their medals many times. However, this time, our emotion is totally different. It is so warm.
(2:35-2:38) Now, we are going to listen to the national anthem of Britain AND the regional flag of HONG KONG
Comments from Hongkongers
C. Adam_26: Seeing Hongkonger won a medal in the Olympics, hoisting flag and singing national anthem, it is really moving! Listen to the national anthem of Britain, not China!
Yuen: Finally, the right national anthem is played!
Between Hong Kong and China, Britain will exist forever…
Li: Britain is near to Hong Kong; Chinese Communist is far from Hong Kong!
Kai: Biological mother is not as great as adoptive mother…
假真心膠: Britain will be higher than China forever.
Chow: I want to say, when I was born, there was a good health care system; When I was a child, there was 9-year free education. As for living, there was public housing…In the society, we have ICAC, freedom of speech and press (shrinking though). British-Hong Kong government gave me life. I could I see it. I could feel it. Why can’t I love this country?
Ng: Master changed. We are still the last. No changes. Perhaps it is even worse now, because I always have to demonstrate under the scorching sun.
Phoebe: Only a Hongkonger, a local born and raised Hongkonger, can feel all kind of emotions when seeing this scene.
Mok: This makes me want to cry…Not because Hong Kong gets a medal…but because I think back of this 3 flags in 1997! And how bad Hong Kong is these days…
Netizens even photoshopped the colonial Hong Kong flag into the scene.
Angry Mainland Chinese netizens in Weibo
After Hong Kong Cantopop Singer Charlene Choi congratulated Lee Wai Sze, she is being insulted for using only “Hong Kong”. She later deleted this Weibo and asked other Weibo users not to focus on words.
Charlene Choi: Yeah yeah!! Congratulate Lee Wai Sze for winning a bronze medal for Hong Kong~~~I am extremely happy!!
浮生如逆遊: China is China. Why does China have to be separated into Taiwan and Hong Kong?
弓长_伟杰: Hong Kong your ***. Mother’s c***, are you Chinese?
涵、羞灬草艹嗳: Why doesn’t Hong Kong belong to the Chinese team?
Charlene Choi: Yeah yeah!! Congratulate Lee Wai Sze for winning a bronze medal for “China Hong Kong”~~~I am extremely happy.
噼哩啪啦-噼哩啪啦 (*a Mainland Cantonese): Ah Sa (Charlene Choi’s nickname) I have liked you all along. However, I think your Weibo is very biased! In your eyes, besides Hong Kong, the rest is what?
Angry Mainland Chinese netizens also insult professional swimmer-turn-actor/singer Alex Fong who represented Hong Kong to participate in 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Alex Fong: “Win an honour for Hong Kong! Breakthrough of zero!” Congratulate Lee Wai Sze for getting the bronze medal in the women’s Keirin Track Cycling. You’re so powerful! Your sacrifice is not wasted! Congratulates to coach Shen!
锕颓潘: Are you trying to get rid of the relationship between China and Hong Kong. Look at those old TVB actors, they went to China to build careers one by one. If you avoid China that much, don’t build a career in China.
崩溃的小萬: Do you have to be that emotional? Hongkogner! It should be win an honour for the country. Why is there still a say of “win an honour for Hong Kong”? This speech is too inappropriate.
小小小拖肥: I only want to say, “She is also Chinese”.
Hong Kong Netizens’ reactions
Teacher: Kid, which one moves you more, Chinese gold medal or
ChinaHong Kong bronze medal?Kid: Hong Kong, Hong Kong athlete moves me much more!
Teacher: Helper please! Drag him out to meditate!
(Source)
citty: I don’t know how to put into words. Perhaps, they have always wanted Hong Kong not to be good.
venusmax: Hong Kong is Hong Kong, Mainland China is Mainland China! I will only identify myself as Hongkonger forever. I will even teach my next generation like that!!! What do I care? Mainlanders…are really out of line!! Ah Sa!! I support you with all my heart!!!
龍崎@PS3: During the rule of Britain, Hong Kong was also called Hong Kong.
卡繆: This is a perverted possession. After raping, China needs to hang a signboard to tell others that Hong Kong is a sex slave of China.
c.hutchson: Hongkongers of course support Hongkongers!! I feel repulsed by Mainlanders/Mainland netizens. I still remember that in that Manila hostage Mainlanders said those Hongkongers deserved to be killed because they chose to travel overseas instead of grand China. So called compatriots.
些粉易呢粉: Look back at Manila hostage, which country flew at half-mast with Hong Kong? A sense of belonging comes back immediately. It is a problem of knowing how to respect. In the past, British enjoyed many privileges in Hong Kong. However, they knew how to respect Hong Kong local culture. as you can see that British flag and Hong Kong flag were at the same height. Therefore, Hongkonger submitted to British happily. Now look back at Hong Kong, it is like Rome was invaded by Gaul.
Ko: I will save this picture forever for my children. (If I have any) The Chinese Communist country? Bah!
Wong: Golden Bauhinia Square is the ugliest and evilest place in Hong Kong. It is the humiliation of Hong Kong.
The scene that only Hong Kong flag was flown at half-mast became a focus in the news report.
Dictionary of Politically Incorrect Hong Kong Cantonese 
wow, mainlanders are quite sensitive when you talk about reality… it’s because their minds live in an imaginary world…
You cannot be anymore correct in saying that. You’re spot on.
If a Chinese medalist hails from Guilin or Xi’an or even Urumqi, is it wrong to say he/she won a medal for Guilin or Xi’an or Urumqi, in addition to for China as a whole? Why is it any different for Hong Kong? Or is the Chinese identity so strong that one is forbidden from having a local identity?
Yes, it’s wrong. They are afraid of division…
By the way an interesting article about the chinese olympics
http://commentshk.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/blog-post_4.html
The best part:
我還看到一個內地網民在相關新聞下面的評論：「我不在乎一場比賽好不好看，也不在乎什麼鳥體育精神，只在乎五星紅旗在場內升起那一剎那的榮譽感」。這句話十足體現了今日流行中國的功利原則，管它黑貓白貓，反正能捉老鼠就行。其實這種想法不用多費筆墨駁斥，如果你這麼喜歡看升旗，何不在家裏裝根旗杆，天天自己升旗自己爽。
I think you also hit it on a nail. The national identity circumscribes all/any local identity. It’s the Chinese mentality, you can’t put the Chinese identity next to a local identity, it simply cannot compute and doing so would somehow mean you are displaying some anti-nationalistic and unpatriotic sentiment.
It’s a simplistic and naive sense as there can be no nation without a region, no region without a locale.
They want HK to be the same as them. They fell to the CCP, and the Chinese identity. It is like a disease, it spreads to others, and they want to spread this blind-patriotism to China to Hong Kongers, because we have our own identity. You don’t see other countries like that. People in Canada, are of different ethnic backgrounds, culture, and nationality, yet many of them cheer for Canada and not their home country like Italy, Britain, etc. and vice versa.
They are so brainwashed. It is really ashamed. It is to the point where I pity them so God damn much, but I am too angry at those Chinese to even spare an ounce of sympathy.
Presently Hong Kong is still Hong Kong or else they would have raised two China flags at that ceremony. Stupid to say ‘China Hong Kong’, do people also need to say ‘China Beijing’, ‘China Shanghai’ etc.? International media uses ‘Hong Kong’ but then again, Mainlanders don’t have internet freedom so who can blame their ignorance and misguided patriotism?
BBCzeitgeist is an filthy mainlander.
He thinks that Hong Kong athletes achievement is due to Mainland coach. HK has won gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal but all of them are HK athletes. HK won gold medal 2009 beating Japan in football, something China never did against Japan before.
Half of China medal won by Chinese athletes have foreign coaches but some European gold medalist winner also have Chinese, Japanese and Korean coaches.
BBCzeitgetist may or may not be a Mainlander. I think many overseas ethnic Chinese are pan-Chinese nationalists (大中華主義者). The rise of China gets them more chances, recognitions and respects in the western society. For instance, they will be potential beneficiaries if more jobs require Mandarin and understandings of the Chinese society; More ethnic Chinese/Asian would appear in the entertainment industry because studios want more viewership and ticket sales in China; The influence of China makes the West want to learn about China – as I see from BBC zeitgetist blog that BBC has a “Chinese” cookery show hosted by an ethnic Chinese of Taiwanese ancestry. Therefore, many overseas ethnic Chinese, even of Hong Kong descent, are on the side of Mainland Chinese. I noticed that many defamatory comments against Hongkongers are made by overseas ethnic Chinese. They, despite of ancestry, are enjoying the benefits of the rise of China without suffering from all the pains being rule by a dictatorship. And I think their loyalty to the land of China, whether they support Beijing or not, will get them in troubles sooner or later. Besides, the chances, recognitions and respects ethnic Chinese get through the rise of China won’t be persistent in the western society, because these are not gained through a genuine understanding.
I already knew he was an overseas Chinese from UK but regardless he is still of mainland origin.
Actually many overseas Chinese dislike the mainlanders as much as Hong Kongers. The Malaysian Chinese have long stereotyped of mainland of being responsible for all the Chinese prostitutes in Malaysia. In the BBCzeitgetist blogs you can read some of the comments made by British Chinese themselves who also accused of recent Chinese migrant of mandarin speaking origin of being all the Chinese prostitutes, and they were right.
Not that I’m denying there are many overseas Chinese who supports China but there will always be just as many that are disgusted by their morals and habits.
So the bottom line is….China will NEVER get any 100% full support from overseas Chinese only an fraction of support.
Some of the arguments presented are quite frankly ridiculous. You do realise her Olympic success is largely down to her coach shen jinkang who is a ‘Mainlander.’ He trains the Hong kong cycling team entirely in Mandarin, he doesn’t speak Cantonese at all, without this ‘mainlander’ you wouldn’t even be able to have this discussion in the first place as there would be no Hongkong flag on the podium, she wouldn’t have got a medal.
You still seem to miss the point. Anyone can be a Hong Konger. Whether they are African, Caucasian, or Asian. Hong Konger is like the Canadian and American identity. They are of different backgrounds and anyone can become a Hong Konger. Hong Kong has Indian Hong Kongers, White Hong Kongers, Cantonese Hong Kongers, and these new usually Mandarin-speaking (Mainland) Chinese Hong Kongers, because they are doing horrible things in HK, and taking advantage of HK, and all bad stuff. It doesn’t even matter anyways, when they were clapping for the British 1st place winner during the announcement and awarding of the gold medal, the Chinese athlete didn’t even had the sportsmanship to clap. That is pathetic.
I think it should be noted that ever since Hong Kong became more than an indigenous fishing population, pretty much, that the vast majority of residents has very quickly after it easily surpassed the original British colony, been Chinese. Indian’s were drafted in as policemen and others have joined since one and a half centuries ago (obviously) but I think that Chinese Hong Kongers do have a special and respectable identity as Hong Kongers, although I don’t dispute your point that a Hong Konger can be of any ethnic background technically. Let’s keep reality in perspective.
Hilarious comment, but in the eyes of most locals so called ‘white’ Hongkongers will always just be another alien ‘sei gweilo’, right?
Sorry to break the news but there is a fundamental difference between the actual social and legal status of non-Chinese in HK versus their non-Caucasian counterparts in Canada or the US. No offense, but in your comments you come across as more than a little naïve (even by the standards of this blog!!). I suggest you spend some time overseas to broaden your perspectives a little; HK society tends to be stiflingly parochial and monocultural.
When I go to the US or Canada (especially the latter) I see groups composed of ethnically and sometimes culturally diverse individuals (black, white, Asian, Indian, Hispanic) living in communities together, socializing, getting married to each other, having children, buying homes, and establishing multigenerational roots, going to the same schools, participating in the same organizations and political parties, going to the same churches or places of worship, speaking the same language, sharing a common overriding culture, and enjoying exactly the same political, social, and economic rights and opportunities. It is not without conflict, especially in some of the more conservative states in the US, but in general, given the diversity of the individuals composing these communities and their often widely different viewpoints and beliefs, it works remarkably well.
In HK, on the other hand, I see a city with an overwhelmingly dominate Chinese population and attendant Chinese monoculture. The fractionally small percentage of non-Chinese residents in the city fall into 3 categories: temporary foreign maids with little or no real rights (by far the largest category); HKers of South Asian heritage who although born here and often having family histories in HK that predate the majority of the Chinese inhabitants are nonetheless largely disenfranchised and who, in effect, represent an eternal impoverished ‘untouchables’ caste in HK society; and expats (by far the smallest category) who generally keep to themselves, don’t integrate or care too much about local affairs or society, and are here on a very short timeframe, usually leaving after a few years or often shorter.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Hong Kong is part of China so of course you would expect it to be largely Chinese. My point is, it is not, nor IMO will ever be, a liberal pluralistic society that is truly tolerant and accepting of a wide range of ethnicities and lifestyles such as Canada, the US, or even Singapore. Let’s be honest, in the eyes of most HK Chinese a black HKer is not the same as a Chinese HKer in the sense that a black Canadian is a Canadian to the vast majority of Canadians.
The racial tolerance in the West is built from countless battles, mistakes, forgiveness, wounds, understandings, and most importantly, education. However, the tolerance is still not deep enough in the West, as you can see in Hollywood movies. While in Hong Kong, the colonial government had never made any attempts to teach ethnic Chinese about racial tolerance. Can you recall any government TV ads in the colonial time putting ethnic South Asian in it and telling ethnic Chinese their contributions to HK? No! The colonial government dared not to challenge Chinese nationalism for fear that they would be backfired for bringing South Asian and themselves to here. Most importantly, the colonial government dared not to teach the genuine history of Hong Kong and the Opium War. Not many people know that there were Chinese in the British army during the Opium War. The Chinese history back in the colonial time one-dimensionally condemned the British for invading the Manchu-Qing Empire. In fact, many poor Chinese hated the Manchu so they assisted the British and other foreign invaders. In the end, only Chinese impressions on other races were taught at home. My father taught me that Ah Cha police rode the coat tail of British and bullied Chinese. Even in Malaysia, they have a propaganda song called “Setia” (Loyal) to unite Chinese, Malay and Tamil. British-HK government dared not to make a song like this to unite British (Black, Brown or White), Chinese and South Asian. And it is even impossible for nowadays Hong Kong to make a song like this for fear of turning HK a real nation.
She represented Hong Kong, regardless of her coach’s nationality. If she didn’t win, she didn’t win. I’m sure she and others are grateful to Coach Shen’s training.
Great reason dude! you made the point. Then China should return half of their medals because they use foreign coaches…that’s ridiculous!
You seem not to realise that there are many westerners training athletes of the People’s Republic of China, such as the swimming prodigy Ye Shiwen one of her trainer was an Australian.
Therefore according to your logic, Ye Shiwen should have flown an Australian flag. Thus your logic and your rationale is entirely flawed. But I guess anything is worth earning an easy 5 cents.
So according to your logic, half of China medal success should be due to foreign coaches. Some European gold medalist winner also have Chinese, Japanese and Korean coaches, but since you put things this way, it seems those coaches deserved an medal more than the athlete.
It’s an Hong Kong athlete who won the medal. Half of China medal success should be due to foreign coaches according to you. Also some European gold medalist winner also have Chinese, Japanese and Korean coaches.
To my knowledge, Mainland China does not subsidize our Hong Kong athletes the way they do their own. Training done here is done at the expense of parents/families, local taxpayers, and the hard work of the athletes themselves.
I am not Chinese, but I am a Hong Konger. I love Hong Kong and feel proud of Lee Wai Sze’s achievement.
For an interesting story about some of the difficulties local athlete’s can face (financially and otherwise) check out Herman Yau’s movie LOVE LIFTING [高舉‧愛] http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/love_lifting.html
As a British, I love you guys and I love Hong Kong. I wish and pray I can do something in my lifetime to honour you my friends. Hong Kong should come back to the Commonwealth of Nations. Thank you for your kind attitude and non-nationalistic (to CCP) sentiments. It means a lot to my heart as someone abused and suffering so many times by Chinese nationalists.
Why is she eating a chocolate biscuit?
Ah Sa shouldn’t have deleted her message. She didn’t say anything wrong and to change your message to appease aggressive mainlanders is..
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