Hong Kong (CNN)
"Go back home!"
"Locusts! You're not welcome here!"
These were just some of the insults hurled at Chinese shoppers Sunday as hundreds of Hong Kongers surged through through the old neighborhood of Yuen Long, an area close to the city's border with China.
It was the latest in a series of angry protests that have seen brawls erupt in humdrum shopping malls, with demonstrators singling out the "parallel traders" who crowd into Hong Kong to purchase tax-free products and then resell them for a profit back in China.
"I've grown up here, and ever since a lot of the Chinese started coming into Hong Kong, things have changed," said Suen, a law student who only gave her surname.
Clad in a mask to protect against police wielding pepper spray, she took part in the protest with her mother.
Local residents say the traders are not only disturbing the peace, but are driving up the price of food, rent, and gutting local neighborhoods of their character - the city has become a blur of jewelers, pharmacies and other businesses that cater primarily to Chinese shoppers.
"Previously there were a lot of indigenous places like restaurants, but all of them have closed," said Suen, standing across from a store selling baby milk powder - the top item on many Chinese tourists' shopping lists. "It's very difficult to be very welcoming."
Growing tensions
Tensions have long been simmering between Hong Kong and the motherland, and parallel trading is just one of the thorny issues brought about by the influx of mainland Chinese to the city.
A series of food scandals -- most notably in 2008 when melamine-tainted milk powder caused infant deaths across China -- led to shortages of baby milk formula in Hong Kong as Chinese flocked to buy up the city's supplies.
The ensuing uproar led the government to introduce a law limiting the purchase to two tins per traveler leaving the city.
Hong Kong to Chinese shoppers: 'Go home' - CNN.com
"Go back home!"
"Locusts! You're not welcome here!"
These were just some of the insults hurled at Chinese shoppers Sunday as hundreds of Hong Kongers surged through through the old neighborhood of Yuen Long, an area close to the city's border with China.
It was the latest in a series of angry protests that have seen brawls erupt in humdrum shopping malls, with demonstrators singling out the "parallel traders" who crowd into Hong Kong to purchase tax-free products and then resell them for a profit back in China.
"I've grown up here, and ever since a lot of the Chinese started coming into Hong Kong, things have changed," said Suen, a law student who only gave her surname.
Clad in a mask to protect against police wielding pepper spray, she took part in the protest with her mother.
Local residents say the traders are not only disturbing the peace, but are driving up the price of food, rent, and gutting local neighborhoods of their character - the city has become a blur of jewelers, pharmacies and other businesses that cater primarily to Chinese shoppers.
"Previously there were a lot of indigenous places like restaurants, but all of them have closed," said Suen, standing across from a store selling baby milk powder - the top item on many Chinese tourists' shopping lists. "It's very difficult to be very welcoming."
Growing tensions
Tensions have long been simmering between Hong Kong and the motherland, and parallel trading is just one of the thorny issues brought about by the influx of mainland Chinese to the city.
A series of food scandals -- most notably in 2008 when melamine-tainted milk powder caused infant deaths across China -- led to shortages of baby milk formula in Hong Kong as Chinese flocked to buy up the city's supplies.
The ensuing uproar led the government to introduce a law limiting the purchase to two tins per traveler leaving the city.
Hong Kong to Chinese shoppers: 'Go home' - CNN.com
