《蝗蟲天下》

蝗蟲天下 was created based on a popular Cantonese song, 富士山下, which is sung by Eason Chan. The newly made song adopted the original music while its lyric was rewritten by several dozens of active forum users online. According to the lyricists of 蝗蟲天下, this song aims at reflecting the irritating behavior of some mainland Chinese in Hong Kong, including cutting in queues and excreting in public areas. Meanwhile, the resent towards the fact that Hong Kong culture and environment are being polluted by their uncivilized acts is also clearly expressed through the lyric.

蝗蟲你的確欠打 巴士港鐵小巴

餐廳酒店商舖內亂叫喧嘩

難道你不覺醜嗎 街邊點煙踎下

跟手比個蘇蝦將金滿地灑

Right at the beginning, a metaphor of locust is used to stereotype mainland Chinese as a kind of pest according to their burglar-like and uncivilized behavior. Followed by detailed depictions of various disturbing acts, the complaints on not only Hong Kong’s image being destructed but also local benefits being exploited are announced.

來香港闖我邊境 愛侵占地盤是你本性

寄生到身份終可以得確認

蝗蟲大肚像異型 懷孕入境卻未停

無人能阻止它搶獲身份證

蟲卵在醫院蜉化侵占病床後再走數

你可會悲哀中感到很憤怒

其實下兩代前途 全部被侵蝕未嫌早

It is described that mainland pregnant women flock to Hong Kong hospitals to give birth for infants’ Hong Kong ID and then flee from the bill. This phenomenon is particularly specified to express the anger of local social welfare being seriously abused as well as the grief for the dim future of Hong Kong’s next generation.

誰在我境裡放聲 不懂分吋叫囂
不可一世口氣大話語輕挑
"如沒有中國關照 香港已經死了"
香港都算真多得中國唔少

Apart from the irritating acts, mainland Chinese’s attitude towards Hong Kong people is also in a bad manner. They are no longer “poor villagers” in need asking for financial help from Hong Kong like the period before the return of Hong Kong in 1997. Undergoing national economic upturn, the new rich have their attitude towards Hong Kong totally transformed: they started to look down on Hong Kong.

如今的這個香港 已給那害蟲逐吋收購
嘆息這當天光輝已經過後
平民汗血尚在流 蝗蟲就搶盡食油
誰能憑戰意將獅子山拯救
難保有天把假貨中國運來讓你選購
把假貨於香港黑店中發售
無視你拼命跪求 蝗蟲亂港亦未停手
假麵包假奶 假雞蛋假醋假酒
你能說都有

誰都驚恐有天災 對匪國暴民又要捐送
這可算香港給中國的作用
財物盡獻奉害蟲 平民愈捐就愈窮
誰人能教教我怎樣不悲痛
何解在香港的我超過十年被你呃透
假中有假香港怎會可接受
窮人在閉目淚流 蝗蟲就趕極亦唔走
炒地都不夠 炒車炒水貨炒樓
佔盡我所有

Moreover, it further describes the situation that Hong Kong citizens feel various aspects of daily lives are invaded by mainland Chinese, including culture, food and housing, etc. Hong Kong citizens now face a bitter competition of resources due to the invasion of “locusts”.

往日靠打拼
港英的繁華光景
再沒有保證

In the end of the song, the “good old days” of being governed by the British government are reminisced meanwhile the loss of those days are sighed. The lyricists yearn for the golden past prosperity when the mainland Chinese has not yet overwhelmed Hong Kong.

All in all, the uncivilized acts and attitude of some mainland Chinese have set up the anger of Hong Kong citizens. And thus, some active Hong Kong people produced rewrite a song to express their indignation over those mainland Chinese in an alternative, peaceful way. The lyricists have produced a “locust’s series” reflecting what they daily encounter or hear from others about mainland Chinese in the edited songs while the questions of “whether all those acts are performed by the mainland Chinese” and “if all mainland Chinese behave as uncivilized as depicted” are ignored to some extent. All songs they produced related to mainland Chinese are symbolized as locusts. Meanwhile, nothing good done by the mainland Chinese is mentioned in the whole series of songs. Judging from the high click through rate and “likes” it gets, this remade song even gained much greater popularity than the original song 富士山下 on Youtube.

It can be observed that local citizens approve 蝗蟲天下's view point on the stereotyped identity of mainland Chinese, which is somehow a pest to Hong Kong society.

Reference

ChinglishVlogs. (2011, February 27). [Video]. Youtube. [高登音樂台] 《蝗蟲天下》MV （原曲：富士山下）.

 Retrieved April 24, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWZFgkJNxDM

Dyers, R. (2000.) The role of stereotypes. In P. Marris & S. Thornham (eds.). Media studies: a reader. (pp.245-251). Washington Square, N.Y.: New York University Press.

Shiroi Yuki. (2008, August 23). [Video]. Youtube. Eason Chan - 富士山下. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEcoxvquMww

Posted by Yu Hoi Ki, Crystal (21047323)