Hong Kong people vs. Mainland people

[website]

If you want to try something interesting sometime, go

to the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border and try to pick out the

Hong Kong people from the Mainland people. China might be one country, but the difference between the two places is night

and day. The Hong Kong people will usually have better clothes, wear jeans, look more educated and worldly, have nice hairstyles, carry backpacks, and wear glasses and quality watches. Peasant mainlanders,

in contrast, will often be wearing a suit with white socks, have messy hair, and have dull, vacant expressions. Having money and education truly seems to make a difference in how people look. The differences between Hong Kong and the mainland is like comparing the differences between city-slickers and farmers.

[gato]

Did you actually go up and ask them if you were born in Hong Kong or the Mainland?

Why would a peasant Mainlander wear a suit? Must be a HKer. The vacant look's from eating too much dimsum.

[pazu]

Indeed that's why I feel a need to tell people I'm from China or Hong Kong, if I don't do it people will think another Korean or Japanese coming to travel again, most people just can't tell the difference, they just thought they could.

But to be really frankly, if you just confine your area of activity near the Luohu, it's pretty obvious who are people from Hong Kong, or mainland Chinese. I believe it's quite a fact, rather than an argument.

In Thailand, sometimes it's truly amazing that people could just see my face and ask, "kon Hong Gong, chai mai?" Yes, how can you know that, haha?! And I've learnt a way to reply too, "Mai chai, pom bpen kon Hong Naam krup!" (Hong Gong is HK; Hong Naam is toilet...), is it funny? Oh all Thais laughed at my joke, then they will tell me I'm very 勁 at speaking Thai, it's just lovely.

[Pravit]

Do you wear really fashionable clothing? I'm Chinese and I have yet to hear it in Thailand. I wonder how they can tell the difference between foreign Chinese and local Chinese(I'm not a local, but I've never had anyone ask me if I was from Hong Kong)...

[Ian_Lee]

Border town is a very interesting place.

When I traveled to Mexico via land, border towns like Laredo is also a mixing pot which blends two cultures like Shenzhen is.

Actually there are many peasant households in HK too. In New Territories, many big clans in those historical "forted" villages can be traced back to Song Dynasty.

The rural peasants you see in Shenzhen are from outer provinces or remote northern hilly Guangdong. Most peasants in the Pearl River Delta are getting quite well-off that many live in 3-storey villas.

[Quest]

Actually there are many peasant households in HK too. In New Territories, many big clans in those historical "forted" villages can be traced back to Song Dynasty.

Looks like many clans in the south started in the Song Dynasty, including mine. My ancesters moved to 番禺 and built a clan village there during the Southern Song period.

Here's a page describing hongkong's historical relationship with the mainland:

http://szlib.szptt.net.cn/hk97/o.htm

Here's the part related to Nan Song & Early Ming Dynasty:

1277年〔南宋端宗景炎2年〕

南宋端宗在元兵追逼下, 退至广东。4月, 进驻官富场〔

今九龙城以南地带〕。建立宋末海上行朝。9月, 移至浅湾〔

今荃湾〕。后在元兵追击下逃往秀山〔今虎门〕。

1384年〔明太祖洪武17年〕

明朝在南头设东莞守御所, 大鹏湾设大鹏守御所, 均归

南海卫管辖。屯门位于两守御所之间, 乃设炮台, 后改为汛

房, 以资分守。

1394年〔明洪武27年〕

广东左卫干户张斌筑九龙城, 当时称大鹏所城, 周长327

丈6尺, 有门楼、敌楼各4座。