A town selling its soul: parts of Hong Kong transformed by mainland shopping frenzy
Mainland shoppers and parallel traders have transformed the face of Tuen Mun. Some welcome it, others say that enough is enough
These days, a common sight around a bus station in Tuen Mun is a long line trailing all the way into the street. A bus arrives every 10 minutes. But a queue of more than 100 people, armed with bulging bags and multicoloured suitcases, often forms the moment one vehicle leaves.
They are mostly mainland Chinese shoppers who want to get on the B3X bus, which takes them to the Shenzhen Bay border crossing in about 30 minutes. Three Citybus employees help passengers board. They also attempt crowd control so that when a bus starts to fill, only those without any luggage get to board to allow the queue to move.
"It's like they're moving house," says Suen Wai-yip, a B3X bus driver since 2007. An online video making the rounds shows one bus driver complaining to her passengers that they were using her bus as a truck.
The influx of parallel traders and mainland tourists has transformed the face of this New Territories town: apart from the long bus queues, shops selling snacks and gifts and pharmacies are opening in industrial buildings as well as the city centre. Some merchants have opened up stores in industrial buildings, at the risk of violating the terms of their lease.
The crowds have grown in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year on February 19 as mainland visitors stock up on gifts and daily necessities for the most important festival of the year.
The bus drivers are not the only ones complaining. Tuen Mun residents are also bristling from having to jostle with these day-trippers in the streets and the shops. They have complained to their district councillor and about 800 of them turned up yesterday at a protest rally.
The simmering tensions are threatening to become yet another case of the deepening mainland-Hong Kong divide as locals grapple with the rapidly changing character of their city.