Recently, a news that "Hong Kong people speaking Cantonese in the mainland has been looked down upon" has sparked heated discussions on the Internet.
As a Hong Kong living in Beijing, I can relate to this.
Coincidentally, many Hong Kong friends in the mainland also complained: Here, we feel depressed and tormented all the time, as if we have become "aliens".
Ah Qiang (pseudonym), who is studying at a university in Beijing, has encountered such an embarrassing incident: once when he was eating in the cafeteria, he habitually said "Oh" to his aunt in Cantonese, but the other party glared at him fiercely and replied coldly, "I don't understand!", and he was so ashamed that he hurriedly apologized.
Since then, Cuong has only dared to order food in Mandarin, and even if he stumbles, he has not dared to speak Cantonese again.
Coincidentally, many Hong Kong people working in the mainland have suffered similar experiences.
A Qi is a white-collar worker of a Fortune 500 foreign company, and once communicated with a customer in Cantonese, but was ridiculed by the other party in person: "What kind of bird language do you speak? Can you use Mandarin?"
Ah Qi said aggrievedly: Obviously, Cantonese is also one of the common languages in China, why does the mother tongue become "bird language" as soon as you arrive in the mainland?
In fact, with the increasing exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland in recent years, many Hong Kong people have chosen to go north for development. According to statistics, there are currently more than 500,000 Hong Kong people living in the mainland, distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other places. Among them, there are those who are studying, working, doing business, and all walks of life.
However, for many Hong Kong people, "settling down" in the mainland is no easy task. Language becomes the first barrier to their integration. As the birthplace of Cantonese, 97% of Hong Kong people speak Cantonese as their mother tongue. They are accustomed to communicating in Cantonese, and many are not proficient enough in Mandarin. Once you speak Cantonese in public, you are often treated differently and even unkindly.
In addition to language barriers, cultural differences and living habits also make many Hong Kong people feel stressed. Some people complained that mainlanders pay attention to personal relationships and are not straightforward enough in their way of doing things. The pace of life is too fast, and the pressure of competition is huge; Dietary tastes vary greatly and are difficult to adapt. All these troubles make them feel estranged and difficult to truly integrate into local life.
As Allen, who works in Shanghai, puts it: "Sometimes, I'm really at a loss. I feel that no matter in terms of language, ideas or living habits, I am always out of place with the people around me. I am afraid that similar feelings represent the aspirations of many Hong Kong people in the mainland.
Should we mainlanders also reflect on these discomforts of Hong Kong people? Imagine how you would feel if you lived in Hong Kong and one day were looked down upon for speaking Mandarin? In today's increasingly integrated economy, the psychological gap should clearly not become an obstacle to exchanges between the two places.
As a diverse and inclusive society, we should be more open-minded to linguistic and cultural differences. Just as it has been 25 years since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the two places have been integrated in all aspects. As an important part of Chinese culture, Cantonese should be respected, and Hong Kong compatriots are guilty of speaking their mother tongue? In the same way, even if they speak Mandarin, they are still the descendants of Yan and Huang, and they share weal and woe.
At present, the country is vigorously promoting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the connection between Hong Kong and the mainland will be even closer. Achieving a true heart-to-heart fit requires us to work together. As a mainlander, you might as well start with your side, and the next time you meet a Cantonese-speaking Hong Konger, why not give them a friendly smile? Let them feel warm and accepted, and shorten the distance between them.
If you have friends from Hong Kong, you may wish to share your observations and experiences. What other measures do you think can be taken to eliminate the gap and enhance the relationship between compatriots in the two places? Feel free to share your views in the comment section. But in any case, I always believe that the distance between hearts is far more important than the difference in language. Only by proceeding from the heart, with more understanding and tolerance, and less biased prejudices, can Hong Kong compatriots truly have a sense of belonging to their "second home" in the mainland.