If you’ve visited Hong Kong and experienced a culture shock of how seemingly unfriendly the locals are, you’re not alone.
“唔好阻住地球轉啦”, was what a complete stranger said to me brusquely on my first trip to Hong Kong. In Cantonese, the phrase literally translates to, “don’t obstruct the earth from spinning”. At that moment I knew I’d gotten onto someone’s nerves.
I took a quick glance at the stranger but he’d already overtaken me on the escalator, and so had many others. I felt like a displaced comet that got nudged into earth’s orbit. I just wanted to fall off the face of this earth and never return to Hong Kong again.
And the reason for getting that nasty remark? I was standing on the wrong side of the escalator in an MTR station. Ouch.
I’d be lying if I said that didn’t leave a bad impression of Hong Kongers on me. But looking back now, I’m glad that wasn’t the most impressionable memory I have of Hong Kong.
Visiting Hong Kong for the first time can be a nerve-racking experience, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the culture.
Here are some common impressions (and misconceptions) that travellers have of Hong Kongers, and reasons why we perceive them as rude and unfriendly:
“Hong Kongers are impatient”
Every hour is rush hour in Hong Kong. People want to get things done fast and conveniently. If they can take lunch in the fastest possible way, a bowl of instant noodles with a slice of ham will suffice. And that’s actual food sold in Hong Kong cafes.
The strive for efficiency isn’t the only reason why Hong Kongers are in a constant rush. It’s also because they’re used to, and value, punctuality.
Public transportation in Hong Kong is efficient, affordable and reliable. The MTR train system is reputably on time, allowing commuters to buffer just the right amount of time needed for transportation in-between places to be punctual. The minibuses are also known to be speedy and cost-effective, so commuters are simply used to being on the fast track.
Time is money, and this is especially true in a fast-paced city — people rush to places and race to get things done. For those living in Singapore, this may sound familiar to you — kiasu hor?
So it’s normal for people to get impatient if you fall behind the speed they’re accustomed to. But once you sense the rhythm of pace, you’ll find momentum amongst the chaos and perhaps even appreciate how quickly things move.
“Service staff in Hong Kong are rude and unfriendly”
It’s a common perception among tourists that service staff in Hong Kong are fierce and unfriendly, or even rude.
An acquaintance once told me that she ate instant noodles for almost every meal in her hotel room because it was stressful eating in a cha caan teng (Hong Kong-style cafe). “Not like they serve better food in the cafes anyway”, she quipped as she tried to justify herself.
While I don’t agree with her lousy decision in life, I can understand why she felt that way. Street cafes in Hong Kong are often cramped, with service staff and customers trying to out-shout one another to get orders across. Most service staff in cafes attend to many tables and they simply don’t have the time to be friendly to every patron. So if they do come off as rude to you, it’s not intentional.
Even for myself who’s a frequent traveller to Hong Kong, I sometimes still find ordering food challenging in Hong Kong, though it’s definitely not something to be fearful of.
Here are some things you should know when eating at a cha caan teng, dai pai dong (open-air food stall), or popular restaurant in Hong Kong:
1) Decide on what to order before getting the service staff’s attention. Service staff can get very busy and may lose patience if they’re made to wait while you pore over the menu. If you aren’t sure what’s good, do a little research on the restaurant beforehand. Or check out our tried-and-tested ultimate food guide to Hong Kong 😉
2) Be prepared to share a table with strangers. Sharing tables with other diners is a common practice in Hong Kong, there’s just no way around it. Most people don’t even ask if the empty seat next to you is occupied before sitting down.
3) Though it’s not a must, preparing the exact change for your meal is always appreciated by the service staff.
“Hong Kongers sound like they’re always arguing”
My first venture into a wet market in Hong Kong was a daunting one. Within the tight space, stallholders and buyers were arguing loudly with one another, hurling curt words at each other. Or so I thought.
Turns out, the loud exchanges between the locals were mere conversations — greeting each other loudly to grab attention, and haggling of prices.
To non-native ears, Cantonese is a boisterous language that sounds crude. Like Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese is a tonal language, which means that variations in tone distinguish words or phrases. Mandarin has four tones while Cantonese has six (debatable to be nine)! And when a language with rising and falling tones is spoken quickly, speakers may sound like they’re agitated.
So, imagine how loud it can be in a market when everyone is talking and trying to be heard simultaneously. An argument you hear on the streets may very well just be a normal conversation.
Read more: An Introvert’s Guide to Hong Kong
Understanding quirks of a society that’s different from yours
It may surprise you now if I were to tell you that I really like Hong Kong. In fact, since that harrowing MTR experience, I’ve revisited Hong Kong close to a dozen times more, almost once every year.
I love the energy of the city, the myriad of food options, and the authenticity of its people. The MTR incident that happened eons ago is now nothing more than a coffee table talk I share with friends and fellow travellers.
What I did to change my perception of Hong Kong was simple — understanding that every society has its own societal and cultural norms that can be different from mine. Hong Kongers may seem unfriendly to our standards, but who knows, we Singaporeans may seem impolite by Japanese standards too.
Manners maketh man. This ain’t a civics and moral lesson but as travellers, we’re ambassadors of our countries after all. And just like how the saying goes — when in Rome, do as the Romans do, follow the customs of the locals and you’ll likely to adapt better with fewer frustrations.
It’s also useful to learn some basic phrases in the language of the destination you’re visiting. In Hong Kong, most local shopkeepers are older folks who do not speak any English or even Mandarin. You won’t be in a situation where you’ll have to sign out where the washroom is. Here are some phrases you may find handy:
| English | Cantonese | Cantonese Pronunciation |
| Hello | 你好 | nei hou |
| Do you speak English? | 你識唔識講英文呀? | nei sik mm sik gong ying man ah? |
| Do you have an English menu? | 你地有冇英文餐牌呀? | nei dei yao mou ying men caan paai ah? |
| I’d like to order (getting the waiter’s attention) | 唔該, 寫嘢 | mm goi, se ye |
| Can I get the bill, please? | 唔該, 埋單 | mm goi, maai daan |
| How much is this? | 呢個幾多錢呀? | ni gor gei dor chin ah? |
| Where is the washroom? | 唔該，廁所喺邊度? | mm goi, chi sor hai bin dou? |
| Thank you (very much) — for a service | 唔該 (嗮) | mm goi (saai) |
| Thank you (very much) — when gifted something | 多謝 (嗮) | dor zeh (saai) |
Understanding the two variations of “thank you” in Cantonese can be confusing for non-native speakers, so here’s how you can remember:
唔該 (mm goi) — Is a polite “excuse me” in a crowded street, a sincere “please” when asking for favours, and a grateful “thanks” when you’re receiving a service or favour.
多謝 (dor zeh) — Is a “thank you” when you receive a gift.
People love travelling for different reasons. Many travel to witness the most mesmerising sights of the world, others travel to seek new adventures. Whatever your intentions may be, we hope you will learn and gain more, to be a better, braver, and smarter version of yourself.
This article is part of a series where we uncover and honour the cultural differences of communities all over the world. What other cultures would you like to know more about? Let us know in the comments below.
Let’s not make excuses for those rude HK people. The place probably has the highest number of jerks per capita in the world. Fyi I was born there and hate going back there. So much impotent hate, arrogance, insecurity, bad attitudes. Absolutely toxic place.
More like bad attitudes condoned
Edelyn Chua, why are you soft peddling the fact that Hong Kongers are absolute A – holes? A simple internet search will give you zillions of horror stories about HK Chinese even though a lot of them don’t like being called Chinese. ( self hate) if you wrote Chinese speak a dialect of Chinese and celebrate Chinese holidays then you’re a Chinese. For that matter if you internet Chinese you’ll get a lot of negative comments about all sorts of Chinese from many places particularly mainland Chinese but HK Chinese take the cake for the gold medal for being top award winners in being an arrogant annoying loud mouth bitchy selfish impatient prick azzzzz holes. You as a writer shouldn’t write false or half truths or paint things in an artificial way or sugar coat it if you want to be credible.
Hi Billy, thank you for your comment. We take each and every comment seriously as we see them as pointers for improvement. Our readers are our best critics but we also want to put forth that we do not tolerate hate.
As content writers, we do our best to portray travel stories in the most neutral, non-biased, and definitely non-politically-charged way possible. We do exactly what we wish to change — people’s perception of societies through “simple internet search” and “horror stories” they read online. Bringing travel-related insights to our readers is what we strive to do, for we want to let people become better and kinder travellers, especially when travelling to a society different from their own. If my article has irked you, I urge you to read and reread it, twice, thrice, more… because only through understanding differences will you be able to accept differences.
Thank you.
Edelyn
Hi Edelyn Chua,
What I’ve written is not hate it’s the truth. I’m calling black black and white white.
What I’ve written is not from just reading from the internet. I’m sharing my first hand experiences with HK Chinese. I still repeat this. A simple internet search typing HK Chinese will give you many negative hits and comments about these people. I’ve lived in Hong Kong longer than your age. How old are you? I’m guessing 24-25 by your present profile photo? I’ve seen a lot, done a lot and experienced a lot living in HK. Whenever anyone hears about HK Chinese it’s usually with negative connotations. It’s just a bad ill mannered barbaric culture. You’re definitely sugar coating what you’ve written. You still are not convinced? Around 1999-2002 time frame the Hong Kong government had a campaign TV advertisement telling the Hong Kong people to be nice to the tourists and to be warm and friendly and to smile more to visitors. I’ve never in my life been to any countries where the government needs to constantly remind it’s citizens to act like civil human beings and to be civilized. The HK government bombarded these ads on tv on a daily basis for 4-5 years to remind its citizens to smile and to be courteous and to be nice. I love to travel and I love meeting people and interacting with the locals wherever I travel. I can unbiasedly tell you at the risk of being falsely accused of hating by you your first poster mentioned these people are number one jerks per capital worldwide. I fully agree with this person. I’ve never ever, I repeat again never ever met any other people like Hong Kongers/Cantonese as aggressive and rude and azzzholes anywhere in the world but in Hong Kong and even in Guangzhou but that’s for another story. I’d even stretch it further and say Cantonese too. I found other Chinese elsewhere like northern Chinese to be a lot friendlier. I’m a well traveled individual and I have enough experiences and comparisons to state this about these people on what I’ve just said.
Well said. Evelyn Chua might be a Hong Konger. She is trying to sugar coat the negative side of the culture in Hong Kong. I visited Hong Kong once with my wife. It was the first time and the last time. Frankly speaking, Hong Kong people are rude in every corner even I met a few of them in Bangkok especially the younger generation. They think that they are smarter than anyone but in reality they are jerks.
Strongly agree with what you say.
I completely agree with Bob.
I was born here. I left for 15 years, then came back to work.
These creatures here are the most bitter creatures on the planet. And this bitterness is condoned. The bitterness is what is causing the rudeness. All of this behaviour is condoned. I used to complain by Emails on service staff but it is a losing battle. I’ve travelled to at least 30 countries for work. NEVER do you come across these hell froth creatures like you do in Hong Kong.
HK is the only place that Ive traveled once and never wanted to go back. Almost everyone are rude, no courtesy and offensive. Even the Hotel Front desk are having an emotional issues.
The people are full of themselves and ego especially how they look down on south east asian. The country is rich but people are poor spiritually and materially.
As a local, born and raised here and lived abroad for long time. Every time I come back Hong Kong I am afraid that I do not enjoy spending any time with locals. I grew up in a family which is poor, from a very young age we encountered a lot of stereotypes, and obvious discrimination, extended to school and workplaces. I am a female in the banking industry and I can’t stress enough how backward thinking people are here. Local men mostly are sexist, women have to be acted in a certain sexually favored way in order to get promoted or her career would just be stagnant. I got several sexual harrassment that actually messed up with my mental health. Local people are fake and they would come to you only when you look “cool” or well-off, that also include my relatives. I am speaking as a local and all my best friends are not from here. Horrible!
Mannerism of hongkongers is outta this world bad. They’re renowned for being worse than angry New Yorkers. Search up HK in Google and you will have millions of other people sharing the same experience as I did. Do the same for Taipei, Kyoto or Shanghai and no articles will come up. Hong Kong is honestly rude and subpar, but the locals won’t admit it or change their attitude
I lived in hong kong for 21 years, i come from western Europe , Hong kong is in my opinion a really rude place like no other , it’s soul crushing to live there, people are truly inhuman and full of themselves , racist , judgemental .
Never made any local friends in 20 years , all friends were other expatriates or hkongers who were educated abroad .
had awful experiences at work with people , just plain terrible .
the city has modern infrastructures but people think like in the 12 th century or so .
i left hong kong in 2022 and will never ever go back there , not even in transit , or even a few hours .
You are really finding excuse for Hong Kong people, I have traveled to many places in the world, never seen a place with people rude like those in Hong Kong. I ever heard a lady in Hong Kong talked to her friend, ‘how bad looking that women is’, just in front of that women! Unbelievable. Not to mention they even beat people just because they speak mandarin.
You are really finding excuse for Hong Kong people, I have traveled to many places in the world, never seen a place with people rude like those in Hong Kong. I ever heard a lady in Hong Kong talked to her friend, ‘how bad looking that women is’, just in front of that women! Unbelievable. Not to mention they even beat people just becaus
Lived in hk for 5 years and will never go back. EVER. That place is horrible and not suitable for living in any way!
While I made few friends, overall I faced way too much arrogance, aggression, ego-centrism, backward thinking and lack of empathy, not to mention the fact that they calculate every single penny like no one else. On top of that people are insecure and afraid of everything, and because of that they get even more aggressive. Somewhat similar to Guangzhou, but worse.
Let’s not make excuses for these people. I was born in hong kong and left as a child. I came back to work 16 years ago and experience the rudeness and selfishness of them daily. It starts from the top with the parents and teachers not teaching the kids properly, and these kids grow up to have their own kids. It’s a vicous cycle and unfortunately the young people all have some inexplainable hatred for older people. The rudeness and selfishness has been embedded into the hong kong culture. If you act otherwise, you will be seen as the weird one.
When in Rome do as Romans do is a stretch that nobody should allow themselves to. Hong Kongers are rude and they should be reminded that they are so, no excuses to them. The way the behave is just not civilised and when they are told so they become even more aggressive, someone should put them into their place.
I agree with Iris which shared her options quite well.
People are also backwards thinking and extremely sexist and this also affects men who don’t think the way locals do, females in Hong Kong talk to men like they own something to them and sometimes even there to tell them what to do leaving the scene ghosting you (rarely seen this behaviour anywhere else).
I find people are much friendlier in mainland China & Taiwan. Hong Kong is also much dirtier. It has some good points I’m sure, but not one of my favorite places to visit.
Hiya, I lived in Hong Kong for my whole life and I agree with some of the points you have made. Yes, people can be impatient or even rude, however, not everyone is like that. Most of the ‘rude’ people are service-based and locals get annoyed by it as well. Everyone’s experiences are different and I respect that. Personally, I don’t really like to stereotype people and assume all of the people in that city/country are the same. I think experiences can really shape our ideas and perspectives on different things, so it’s nice to see it from a tourist’s perspective and I appreciate your understanding of different cultures. Hopefully, I don’t end up like one of the ‘rude’ people who are from HK, lol. Hope you have a nice day!
just returned after 5 days in hongkong, first time back after for 8 years after previously living there.
The locals are even more bad, rude, ill mannered, loud and even more aggressive than they were years ago.
We noticed this so clearly after living in other more socially mature countries since leaving HKG, the trip this week has made us remember and rediscover just how dreadful they really are.
Love Chinese mainlanders but absolutely hate Hong Kongers – Selfish, horrible and materialistic fake folk. They treat other people terribly. Don’t like them full stop and for that reason I would never visit that place… even if it was the last place on earth.
From my experience not all Hong Kongers are rude or unfriendly and ect ect, however there are individuals that are, I have quite a few friends from Hong Kong and all of them are nice and sweet except for one individual who I don’t know if I want to continue to be their friend anymore. At first they were nice, however a few months into our friendship I found out they didn’t even consider me their friend, and at that time I already consider them as my friend. Then they started to point out every single flaw I have never even noticed about me, how I’m ugly, fat and dumb. And every single day they would say horrible things about the chinese and my race too ( I’m black ) and not only that but I feel like they are so unloyal, they talk about their ‘friends’ behind their back to me about how ugly and ‘ uneducated ‘ they are, so I’m also going to assume that they do that to me too. Honestly every single day they would find the opportunity to insult me, whether its about my looks or the things I like. Not only that but they would talk about the other Hong Kongers too about how so and so looks ugly and that they are more prettier than so and so, its honestly so tiring now.
I’m in HK for the first time. I was yelled at while trying to pay for the bus and almost pushed out of the way. This was by the person who was selling tickets for the tour. Later the same day, our first, at our hotel (which is very nice) we went to the top floor to look at the gym and pool. The elevator comes out to a restaurant and the guy would not let us enter to look at the menu. When he figured out we were guests he was mildy nicer, but the damage was done. I find the city interesting, a lot of green space which is great. I am always very friendly and respectful when I travel. I don’t want to be THAT American, I also expect that if people want my money they will be helpful and polite in return. I will probably leave most of my dollars elsewhere.