Schema Magazine

Controversy went off just before Lunar New Year in Hong Kong. Dolce & Gabbana's flagship store in Hong Kong was accused of refusing customers from taking pictures of the store front. Apparently, this was due to a policy to protect intellectual property. The problem was, the photo ban applied only to Hong Kong people, but not the mainland Chinese and foreign patrons.

This incident sparked multiple protests in its Harbour City shopping center flagship store, with up to 1,000 participants, all angrily proclaiming that D&G should "apologize or get out". These Facebook-organized protests forced D&G to close its doors, unable to do business as protesters put up posters and banners.

As the Lunar New Year drew nearer, D&G issued an official apology, stating that they are "truly sorry" to have "offended the citizens of Hong Kong".

To us over here on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, this incident must seem like an overreaction over a few snaps of photos. It is preferential treatment to one group over another. But I don't think I'll be the first one to say that the ban had more to do with discrimination against less wealthy people than cultural groups. D&G didn't want to upset the wealthy mainland and foreign patrons with the money, simple as that.

The inevitable and growing interdependence with Mainland China is seen to many Hong Kong people as a threat to their cultural identity. In the mix of complaints, there are already issues of high housing prices pushed up by newly wealthy mainlanders, and massive numbers of pregnant mainland women going down south to give birth that deplete local maternity ward quotas. This D&G incident seems to be only adding to a whole mountain of cultural tension and uneasiness towards a transforming cultural climate.

This sensitive node was hit once more by a YouTube clip that burst into the net just recently, a few weeks after the D&G incident. The cell-phone video captured a loud argument between local and Mainland Chinese passengers of the metro system in Hong Kong, over the rules of eating in the trains. Read more on this absurd yet revealing dispute here. Read about the even more ridiculously unprofessional response made by a Peking University professor that ignited debates for the past week.

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Ada Lee is a sixth year Human Geography/International Relations student who is interested in people and what makes them tick. The list ranges from social justice to astrology. She tries to get by in life by getting high on ideas, breathing deeply, and dreaming vividly. Follow 0415ADA at your own risk.