蝗蟲 Hong Kong “Locust”

蝗蟲

Pronunciation:
wong4 cung4
Original meaning:
Locust
New definitions:
1. Mainland Chinese who take advantage of Hong Kong healthcare and welfare systems
2. Mainland Chinese who purchase large amount of baby formula in Hong Kong and other places
3. Uncivilised Mainland Chinese

Etymology:
Due to tainted baby milk scandals in China, many Mainland Chinese purchase foreign-made baby formula from Hong Kong and attribute to the baby formula shortage in there. The shortage due to Mainland buyers becomes critical as Hong Kong dollar depreciates (compared with RMB), the definition of 蝗蟲 expands from 1 to 2, 3, and spreads from Internet forums to mass media.

On Forum:

蝗蟲: 去香港生仔lu
Locust: Let’s give birth in Hong Kong

Netizen even created “locust” icon. I grabbed some and posted in here.

Netizens took Eason Chan’s 富士山下 (Under Mount Fuji) and rewrote its lyric to express their opinions on the issue of “locust” in Hong Kong. The title of the song is called 蝗蟲天下 (Locust World), “Under the Sky of Locust” literally.

Lyrics (in the mixture of written Cantonese and Mandarin):

蝗蟲你的確欠打 巴士港鐵小巴
Locust come out from nowhere, overwhelm everywhere

餐廳酒店商舖內亂叫喧嘩
Shouting, screaming, yelling like no one could hear

難道你不覺醜嗎 街邊點煙踎吓
Ever feel shame to yourself? Smoke like breathing in hell

跟手比個蘇蝦將金滿地灑
And your fucking son who shit right in the mall

其實見這個國家 偷呃拐騙到家
See this country? countrymen expert in stealing, cheating, deceiving, lying

高呼一句中國人誰人亦怕
“I’m Chinese!” scares the piss out of everyone

蟲國化名叫支那 一早醜遍東亞
Locust nation named “Cina” – disgusted by the whole of East Asia

一天一句普通話將我同化
Everyday trying to naturalise us with Mandarin

來香港闖我邊境 愛侵占地盤是你本性
Invading across the Hong Kong border and taking over our land – that’s your speciality

寄生到身份終可以得確認
Parasitic until your citizenship is recognised

蝗蟲大肚像異型 懷孕入境卻未停
Big-belly locust like aliens; pregnant and not stopped by immigration

無人能阻止它搶獲身份證
No one can stop them from scamming HKIDs

蟲卵在醫院蜉化侵占病床後再走數
Locust eggs hatch in hospitals – taking over beds and not paying bills

你可會悲哀中感到很憤怒
Do you feel the anger within the sadness?

其實下兩代前途 全部被侵蝕未嫌早
What’s really invaded is the future of the next two generations

設下這圈套 每天講中國多好 對著我洗腦
Setting up this trap, brainwashing me ‘China is great’ everyday

誰在我境裡放聲 不懂分吋叫囂
Who’s yelling within our borders without restraint

不可一世口氣大話語輕挑
Lying arrogantly and frivolously

「如沒有中國關照 香港已經死了」*
“Without China’s care, Hong Kong would have been dead”*

香港都算真多得中國唔少
Thanks to China, Hong Kong has now deteriorated so badly

蟲沒有所謂最醜 根本只有更醜
We thought we’ve seen the worst, but…

週街剝褲解決後仍然未夠
doing your toilet business on the streets?

無論打尖放飛劍 都不感到丟臉
There’s no shame – jumping queues, spitting in public…

天天譴責得多都感到煩厭
we witness and condemn these acts everyday

如今的這個香港 已給那害蟲逐吋收購
Inch by inch, Hong Kong is now being taken over by these pests

嘆息這當天光輝已經過後
Those glittering days are now long gone

平民汗血尚在流 蝗蟲就搶盡食油
While our citizens are bleeding, the locusts buy out all our food

誰能憑戰意將獅子山拯救
How can we retake our homeland?

難保有天把假貨中國運來讓你選購
Someday, fake goods will be shipped from China

把假貨於香港黑店中發售
and sold in dodgy shops in Hong Kong

無視你拼命跪求 蝗蟲亂港亦未停手
The locusts will stop at nothing

假麵包假奶 假雞蛋假醋假酒 你能說都有
Fake bread, milk, egg, vinegar, alcohol… there’s no end to this list

誰都驚恐有天災 對匪國暴民又要捐送
Another natural disaster, and our government will again donate to the corrupting officials

這可算香港給中國的作用
Is this all we are to China?

財物盡獻奉害蟲 平民愈捐就愈窮
We donate all our reserve up North, and grow poorer ourselves

誰人能教教我怎樣不悲痛
Who won’t be despair in this situation?

何解在香港的我超過十年被你呃透
Over so many years, we are tricked by your ploys

假中有假香港怎會可接受
Hong Kong cannot tolerate all these shams anymore

窮人在閉目淚流 蝗蟲就趕極亦唔走
The poor weeps, while the locusts continue to occupy

炒地都不夠 炒車炒水貨炒樓 佔盡我所有
Flipping lands, cars, goods, properties… Takeover all we have

往日靠打拼 港英的繁華光景 再沒有保證
Built by sweat and blood, the illuminous past of British Hong Kong… shines no more

On Newspaper:

Fig.2. The term 蝗蟲 appears in Apple Daily

Title of the video:
蝗蟲軍團襲港，狂掃日用品 (2010-11-15)
The army of locust attacks Hong Kong, crazily purchase daily product

On Magazine:

Fig. 3. The term 蝗蟲 on magazine 新Monday vol. 541 (11.02.11) P. 43

Download Full Page

Couplet:
高登同人 蝗蟲 滾出香港 你死你事
All member from HKGOLDEN: Locust, roll out of Hong Kong! It’s your matter if you die.
Caption:
網民以大舉侵蝕農作物嘅蝗蟲嚟比喻內地人嚟香港shopping嗰陣嘅瘋狂，呢句揮春祝福欠奉，似詛咒多啲囉！

Netizen use agriculture destroying locust to describe the shopping craziness of Mainland Chinese. This couplet looks more like cursing than good wishing

It is not the first time that “locust” is used as an analogy. According to “Mount Omi and beyond a record of travel on the Thibetan border“, which was written by Archibald John Little and published in 1901,

Père Amand David, who spent years on the Thibetan border, comments bitterly in his Journal de mon troiseme voyage on this locust-like propensity of the Chinese to destroy every green thing wherever they penetrate, for when the trees are gone comes the turn of the scrub and bushes, then the grass, and at last the roots,until, finally, the rain washes down the accumulated soil of ages, and only barren rocks remain.