Chinese newspaper slams Hongkongers for failing to give up their seats on the MTR

It’s normally Hongkongers who tut-tut at mainland Chinese folk for their perceived poor etiquette, but it seems we’ve got a taste of our own medicine.

Communist Party newspaper the China People’s Daily this week gave Hongkongers a slap on the wrist for failing to give up their seats to elderly people on the MTR.

According to HKFP, the paper said in Tuesday’s overseas edition that Hongkongers either pretend to be absorbed in their phones or pretend to be asleep in order to avoid giving up their perch for someone in need.

Hong Kong people are “generally lacking civic-mindedness” and entertain themselves by “staring down at their phones, oblivious to the suffering [of those] around them,” the paper claimed. 

The article also cited a study from the Elderly Services Department of the Hong Kong YWCA, which found passengers fail to offer their seats to the elderly 40 percent of the time, according to the respondents, who were no doubt elderly people with swollen legs.
   
Photo: Myriam Tsen-Kung/Coconuts Media
 


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