Inbound Troubles (老表，你好嘢！) is a TV comedy-drama broadcasted in TVB in 2013.
The drama is about the cultural differences and tensions between local Hong
Kong residents and mainland Chinese visitors. The drama starring Kwok Chun-on, Meng
Yee-man, Law Lan and Wong Cho-lam. Wong Cho- lam (a symbol of mainland Chinese)
was born in Hong Kong but raised up in mainland China so the way he talks, he
wears and he acts like a typical mainland Chinese.
As mentioned
above, the drama mainly describes the conflicts between Hong Koong local
residents and mainland visitors. Although mainland Chinese are not described as
bumpkins anymore in the drama, the drama associates with the stereotypes or negative
labeling of mainland Chinese visitors. For example, speaking loudly is one of
the mainland Chinese visitors’ hobbits such as Wong Cho-lam shouts loudly to
the waiter even the waiter is not far away. The mainland Chinese pregnant women
have hot pot in the hospital while they are waiting for delivering babies. These
show that the mainland Chinese are rude and inconsiderate. And at the first episode,
Hong Kong natives sang “Locust World” (蝗蟲天下) in front of a luxury shop after Hong Kong people
are banned taking photos outside the shop. In the song, mainland visitors are described
as locust. Locust flies in large groups and destroys plants and crops which is
similar to the characteristics of mainland Chinese tourists. Thousands of
mainland Chinese visitors flood into Hong Kong every day, they buy tons of
daily items. The original life of Hong Kong citizen is disrupted by them and
also Hong Kong seems to be invaded by them, therefore, mainland Chinese visitors
are being called as “locust” in Hong Kong.
The drama also shows
the identity crisis of Hong Kong people. After the implementation of Individual
Visitor Scheme, everything in Hong Kong seems to be designed to serve the
mainland Chinese visitors. For instance, Hong Kong people are banned from
taking pictures outside the luxury shops but mainland Chinese visitors are exception
to the photo ban. Staff in any kinds of shops is more willing to serve mainland
Chinese tourists instead of local people, and staff speaks Putonghua whenever a
customer comes into the shop, no matter he or she is a local customer or mainland
Chinese tourist. This shows mainland Chinese visitors are superior to Hong Kong
people, the visitors have the first priority in Hong Kong.
It's a fact now Hong
Kong natives are discriminated in many imaginable ways inside their "own
territory" so Hong Kong people are desperate to maintain their local
identity such as Law Lan speaks English and has Western meals in the drama as
to show Hong Kong people are more cultivated and civilized.
To conclude, Inbound Troubles shows the
tensions between Hong Kong natives and mainland Chinese visitors. Apart from
that, the drama also creates a negative identity to mainland Chinese visitors
through different scenarios and shows the reactions of Hong Kong people
towards mainland Chinese visitors. (510 words)
YIP Siu Pui (10554461/ 21240007)
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