Hong Kong University’s student-run Campus TV apologises, pulls video aimed at mainlanders after school officials condemn ‘hatred, bullying and bigotry’

Spoof of HKU’s welcome video refers to mainland students as spies of ‘Big Brother’, suggesting they got unfair share of big scholarships

School’s management had demanded apology for video, described by creators as political satire

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Hong Kong University’s Campus TV has apologised and pulled down a two-minute parody of the school’s official welcome video for new students that had been slammed as hurtful and bigoted. Photo: SCMP

Published: 1:01pm, 3 Sep 2020Updated: 11:28pm, 3 Sep 2020

The University of Hong Kong’s student-run Campus TV has apologised and removed a controversial video hours after senior management condemned it for containing hate speech directed at mainland Chinese students.

In the two-minute clip, a parody of HKU’s official welcome video for new students, the institution was described as the “University of Xiang Gang” – the Mandarin romanisation of the city – while mainland students were referred to as “spies of the Big Brother”.

News footage of an elite mainland student who received a scholarship from HKU this year was included, along with the words: “We are especially proud to have a Gaokao [the mainland’s university entrance exam] arts top scorer achieving a B+ in history [to earn] over a million dollars [in scholarships].”

The video also criticised the university’s sacking of law scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting as “based on political interests”.

HKU president Xiang Zhang was among senior management figures who called the Campus TV video’s depiction of mainland students ‘offensive, hurtful, insensitive and unfair’ . Photo: Handout

In a statement on Wednesday, a day after the video was posted on social media platforms, HKU’s senior management team, including president Xiang Zhang, said the film’s depictions of a “specific group of the university’s students were particularly offensive, hurtful, insensitive and unfair”.