Footage of a Chinese woman covering her nose while sitting next to a black woman on the MTR has been shared widely on social media, igniting an online discussion over racial discrimination in Hong Kong.
The clip shows the Chinese woman sitting with a young boy, who appears to be her son, pressing a tissue to her nose. The uploader, a young black woman named Harmony, is heard saying, “When I came to sit next to her, she decided to put a tissue on her nose.”
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Harmony then gave her seat to her mother but noted that the Chinese woman continued “doing the same shit”, which Harmony’s mum countered by also covering her nose.
“Whenever I tell people I face discrimination in Hong Kong no one seems to believe me,” Harmony wrote in the description of her video. “This lady was actually fine, she wasn’t having a running nose or whatsoever.”
Since it was uploaded last Friday, the video has been shared over 880 times, sparking comments from others who had similar experiences in Hong Kong.
One netizen who shared the video said, “This is the same thing that happens to me and my mom on the train. Stop discriminating us”, while a commenter accused the woman of setting a bad example for her son that’s “worse than drinking alcohol in front of him”.
A Coconaut who reached out to us described the video as an example of the “painful problems and discrimination we feel every day”.
On Reddit, some seemed to agree with Harmony that such instances of apparent discrimination are commonplace in Hong Kong.
While acknowledging that “this kind of behavior does occur quite often,” one commenter expressed their disappointment that the Chinese passenger in the video appears to be “fairly young”, as they are more used to seeing “close-minded reactions” amongst the elderly.
Another Redditor agreed that “it’s not a secret HK is pretty racist”, but said the act wasn’t inherently racist, as “it could easily be a [body odor] issue, HK is hot and a lot of people smell awful in the summer.”
The Chinese and whites have a distinctive smell, but tunavumilia tuu good manners dictate I won’t cover my nose when I meet someone who has a body odor, I will ignore it.
I will take a moment to try and clarify where I am coming from with my controversial take on these matters.
Most of the time this happens, is when I am trying to explain that Africans have carried themselves in such a way that other races have reason to deride them. We show up where we are not wanted too much.
Among whites, the less literate one is, the more likely they are to express racial intolerance.
I like to believe this cuts across all races.
That Hong Kong lady represents the poor of that society, most likely.
Most of the time, in any society, racial intolerance is most evident in the lower classes of that society.
If you see someone who cant stand one of another race, most likely that person represents the lower class of that society. Take blacks and whites and mix them. Bickering will start among the poor first. The rich will try to cope with each other for some time. The problem is that the rich have real power to act on their dissent. That is why their racism is conspicous albeit not as deep.
I like to accept what people deal to me, and to be able to respond in kind. What the other races do to us as a people should fire us to upgrade ourselves as a people to their level or beyond. Where in Kenya public transport system would one hold a nose at a Chinese? A matatu?
Blacks hate Chinese, Whites hate Jews, Jews hate Arabs, Arabs hate Jews, Chinese hate Blacks, Whites hate Blacks, Blacks hate Indians, Indians hate Blacks, Black Americans hate Africans, Africans hate Nigerians.
Some people have been brought up to have that much sense. But not everyone has that much sense. Also some people have a sensitive nose. Not everyone in the train is holding their nose. There are people who hold their nose when they are filling up in the petrol station. Other people have motion sickness halafu mzungu akuje aketi hapo I swear watatapika. Unless tu ashike pua roho safi.
