Oh China. I love you so much. This is Siu Heng, the town where, on top of the many scraggy crags, there are signs (signage) exhorting people not to “parapet”. No Parapeting! the signs say in no uncertain terms.
If you’re brave and indeed go all the way to the parapet, there are other stern signs saying “No Tossing” and on your way down you’re reminded: “No Striding”.
肇慶 – Siu Heng (town in western Guangdong province)
牌 – pai (sign, card, label)
山頂 – Saan deng (mountain top, hilltop)
So it’s the private companies that will be driving the communist hieroglyph takeover? Last week it was Hang Seng bank, now it’s HSBC itself. HSBC – isn’t that a British bank?
A few years ago it was that very bank which staged a ‘speak Mandarin campaign’. There she was, an HSBC employee standing in the doorway of little Mui Wo branch of that giant bank, showing the way to the three windows of the 300 square feet room, a big Speak Mandarin Month badge on her lapel, squeaking Ni Hao Ma! to all the locals of Mui Wo including me.
I asked her then as I wonder now: What the hell is HSBC doing trying to force Hong Kong people to speak communist speech-language Mandarin?
Then this afternoon, there it was in the passage between Tsim Sha Tsui East and TST MTR station: A massive sign in those crippled and ugly squiggles.
I still haven’t heard back from Hang Seng Bank about my question as to why they discriminate against Hong Kong people in their advertising, apart from an email two weeks after I wrote to them (Hang Seng Bank promises an answer to emails within 48 hours) saying: We’ve read your email! Thank you for your continuous support!
Now I will have to write to HSBC too. I encourage you to do the same. Rid this ugly pest from our city’s common space.
(Note that the advert is about the world. When did ‘the world’ become ‘Mainland China’?)
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