Fear and anger at mainland Chinese unite Hong Kong and US

At our usual Friday night gatherings of friends, a popular topic is mainland Chinese. The conversation often revolves around complaints and frustration. I should point out here that a good number of my friends are overseas Chinese, including Chinese Americans who are in Hong Kong for work. Here are some scraps from the banter:

"Can you believe what happened when I was lining up for the taxi cab earlier today? A mainlander jumped the queue; is lining up such a foreign concept?"

"There are so many of them outside Sogo that crossing the street is like a contact sport; I'm black and blue."

"I almost got run over by a suitcase. Can't they watch where they are going?"

Here, the anti-mainlander chit-chat is kept safely within the confines of family and good friends. On the surface, we deal with the reality with the same resignation and angst as going to the dentist or taking out the rubbish: what can we do but suck it up?

In fact, the whining is a reflection of the internal tug of war between accepting the reality that Hong Kong's success and relative economic stability is due to mainland China and will continue to be so in the coming years. For me and my fellow Chinese Americans, it is about accepting that China is a strong competitor in this global economy, and that the US cannot afford to sit on its laurels and live off its previous glories. Perhaps, rather than complaining, we should focus on reinventing ourselves so we are competitive. But whining is a lot easier.

Back at home in the US, the conversations sometimes share an uncanny similarity to those in Hong Kong. A friend does her rendition of a mainland woman snapping her fingers and screaming her order at a waitress. It was funny until I thought about the reality.