Evolution of stereotypes

For years, Hong Kong people's image of mainlanders as country bumpkins has been immortalised in the fictional character Ah Chan.

The clumsy way in which the new arrival from the Guangdong countryside tries to find his bearings in bustling Hong Kong - featured in the 1970s television drama series Man in the Net - is an important part of the population's collective memory.

Even the actor who played the character is more widely known for his screen name than his real identity as Liu Wai-hung. The name Ah Chan has since become the nickname of any fool who hails from the mainland.

Since the 1990s, however, as Guangdong rose to affluence, the term 'Gong Chan' - with Gong denoting Kong as in Hong Kong - has emerged as the description for any idiotic Hong Kong person who does not know the mainland's way.

Nobody is sure who coined the term, but many believe it reflects the emergence of a 'greater Guangdong mentality' that reflects the province's growing wealth, just as the 'greater Hong Kong mentality' that underpins the image of Ah Chan shrinks in line with the city's economic downturn.