Confusion the name of the game for border crossings
Don't go to the mainland if you have the same name as a democratic politician.
'Several Cheung Man-kwongs have run into trouble when they tried to cross the border,' said the Democratic Party legislator and member of the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China of his namesakes.
'They are frequently stopped and detained by the mainland authorities just because they have the same name as me.' He knew of four Cheung Man-kwongs and at least three had run into difficulties with officials when trying to cross the border.
Last year, a Cheung Man-kwong even sought help from Cheung Man-kwong the legislator.
The lawmaker recalled: 'I was caught totally by surprise when a man came over to me and showed me his Hong Kong identity card while I was reading a book on a train.
'It turned out that he had the same name as me and that his application for a home return permit had been rejected.' The legislator later wrote to the Director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Liao Hui, urging him not to make life difficult for other Cheung Man-kwongs.
The legislator said Cheung Man-kwong (the complainant) later successfully obtained his China home return permit.
Unionist legislator Leung Yiu-chung knew of two other Leung Yiu-chungs who had suffered the same problem with Chinese authorities.
'It seems that the blacklist has not been cancelled,' he said.
