On January 15, the IT microblogger Mai Tian posted <Manmade Han Han: A Farce About "Citiizenry>" in which he alleges that the "miracle" of Chinese writer Han Han was created by his father Han Renjun and his marketing team.  This blog post has been removed by Mai Tian since.  But the principal evidence included a comparison of the times/dates when Han Han was supposed to be racing cars in competition and when certain blog posts appeared.  Mai Tian asserted that Han Han could not have found the time to write during competition.  Also Mai Tian asserted that Han Han won a major essay competition ("New Concept") because his father was a friend with the competition organizer Li Qigang who passed him the information about the subject of the competition beforehand.

At 04:14 on January 16, Han Han posted <A small lousy essay> to respond to Mai Tian.  He wrote: "I personally wrote every word of mine."  He offered an award of 20,000,000 yuan to anyone who can prove that Han Han was the front man for a team behind the scene.

At 23:10 on January 16, the actress Fan Bingging announced on her microblog that she is offering to ante up another 20,000,000 yuan on top of Han Han's offer.

At 19:59 on January 16, the microblogger Ouyang Menghou commented on some of Mai Tian's allegations.

At 00:41 on January 17, Han Han's friend Wang Fan blogged about Mai Tian's listings of the times/dates of Han Han's competitions and postings.  Wang Fan is a team mate of Han Han, and he had previously written a book titled <Han Han's H file> about those competitions.  Thus, Wang Fan was simply comparing Mai Tian's information against his own previously published information.

On January 17, Mai Tian explained that he forgot to consider the schedule changes at car races in his original post.  Therefore, "the data were not very accurate."  He provided a table of corrections.  Mai Tian has now deleted this post as well.

At 11:12 on January 17, the microblogger Ouyang Mengzhou wrote:

At 15:54 on January 17, Li Qigang posted on the official microblog of the essay competition.  He stated that he is not acquainted with Han Han's father Han Renjun.  He also explained the process by which Han Han was awarded the Class 1 prize in the "New Concept" essay competition. 

At 16:59 on January 18, Han Han posted <A normal essay> to respond to Mai Tian.

At 23:27 on January 18, Mai Tian published <A letter of apology to Han Han, Han Renjun and Li Qigang>.

Oriental Daily: "Barking dog" Kong bites back Hong Kong people

Yesterday almost 200 angry Hong Kong citizens gathered outside the China Liaison Office in the bone-chilling cold to express their dissatisfaction against Kong Qingdong.  Some protestors brought their pet dogs or toy dogs to say that Kong Qingdong is "even worse than a dog."  Others brought tablet computers to show various artistic presentations of Kong as dog.

The angry crowd began showing up at 3pm.  By 4pm more and more people were showing.  Someone sudden shouted out: "The criminal Kong Qingdong shall be brought in front of the dog-head guillotine!"  Immediately the crowd got emotional.  A man holding up yesterday's Oriental Daily front page lead the other citizens to chant slogans such as "Do not come here to buy infant milk formula, do not come here to take up hospital space!"  "We oppose unqualified people having their babies delivered in Hong Kong" "Hong Kong people save themselves and protect Hong Kong's own existing culture" "Hong Kong people speak Cantonese."

An emotionally excited female demonstrator kept chanting: "Being a dog in Hong Kong is better than being someone like Kong Qingdong on the mainland!"  This drew cheers and applauses from other demonstrator.  At around 4:30pm, the demonstrators wanted to proceed to the front door of the China Liaison Office to express their dissatisfaction.  The police imposed restrictions, such as allowing them to proceed twenty at a time.  The police also warned the demonstrators that this assembly did not obtain a permit beforehand and therefore the demonstrators potentially faced arrest.  Eventually the police relented and allowed the demonstrators to march across the front door of the China Liaison Office.

Q: Do you have any reaction to the media reports criticizing you for saying that Hong Kong people are dogs?
A: I regret to say that I never said that.  The video clearly shows that.  Many Hong Kong and mainland media issued irresponsible reports.  When did I say that Hong Kong people are dogs?  How can anyone talk such nonsense?  When did I ever say that anyone who doesn't speak putonghua is a bastard?
Many Hong Kong people are supposed to have received education?  Many of these people do not track down the source of information.  I think that these media should apologize to me.  Many people are silly people who blindly believes the irresponsible reporting.  Hong Kong has some economic problems and Hong Kong people may have some discontent with mainland tourists.  This should be a family matter.  Besides this is the government's business.  What has this got to do with us common folks?

Q: But the video shows that you were cursing out Hong Kong people?
A: I have spoken to many reporters.  Many reporters do not verify the facts.  They only want to attract eyeballs.  They only worry if there is no chaos under heaven.  It should be clear if you bothered to watch the video once.

Q: Yesterday, some Hong Kong people protested against you down at the China Liaison Office.  They want you to apologize.
A: What I say does not represent the government.  Isn't Hong Kong a place that claims to have democracy and freedom?  Doesn't it have freedom of expression?  Isn't this action an effort to mobilize the power of the government to choke off the freedom of expression for an ordinary intellectual?  Isn't this a naked fascist act?  You feel good by cursing out the Communist Party every day, but now you want to borrow the knife of the Communist Party to kill someone.  This makes one think that Hong Kong is a tiger whose butt must not be touched.
I curse out Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai every day, and it is not big deal?  How come Hong Kong people live in paradise?  If you say something about Hong Kong, their people are unhappy and they run to complain to the government.  What kind of impression does that create?  I think that this is a bad outcome for Hong Kong.

Q: If you can give your opinion again, would you hold the same opinion?
A: Which part of my opinions is inappropriate?  Which sentence of mine was unfounded?  From either linguistics or logic, which part was unfounded?

Q: Didn't you say that some people are dogs?
A: Isn't the original text available?  Hong Kong is a good place with very well-developed media.  But not a single media would come out to make a fair statement.  Not a single media would report on the facts as they exist.  This is very regrettable.

Q: We saw you in an old June 4th photo.  You weren't purged after the incident?
A: How do you know that I wasn't purged?  You need to have the facts before you comment.  My work is very busy, and my time is very valuable.  I am a lot busier than your Henry Tang.  I rarely get to rest.  I am resting at home, but I am actually working.

 [ http://www.youtube.com/embed/wEComrx76uY ]

(Transcript)

TV Hostess: Welcome back.  Let us continue to read the news.  According to Hong Kong MTR subway regulations, nobody is allowed to eat or drink inside the subway (that is, the area once you cross the turnstiles), including the platforms and train compartments.  A violation may result in a fine of HKD 2,000.  On January 17, a microblog post <Mainland tourists caused controversy for eating in the Hong Kong MTR> raised heated Internet discussions.  Let us look.

TV Hostess: Welcome back.  Teacher Kong, each side are making their own arguments in the video, using two different kinds of language.  How does Teacher Kong look at this incident?

Kong Qingdong: Two different kinds of language.  This detail that you mentioned is very significant.  Two different kinds of language.  One is putonghua, and the other is a dialect.  Right?  People who speak putonghua do not have the obligation and need to master any other dialect.  Right?  But the Chinese people have the obligation to speak putonghua.  You are not obliged to speak the northeastern dialect, the Sichuan dialect, the Beijing dialect, the Tianjin dialect ... right?  You may only master the dialect of the place where you grew up, your hometown's mother tongue.  You have no obligation to speak the dialects of other places.  But everybody is obliged to speak putonghua. 

When you meet someone who doesn't speak the same dialect as you do, what should you do?  Both sides should speak putonghua.  What kind of person would deliberately refuse to speak putonghua?  Bastard (note: literally, turtle egg).  Some other motive must be involved. 

For example, consider a Hong Kong person.   You say that he is a Chinese person.  According to what I know, many Hong Kong persons do not consider themselves to be Chinese.  They often say, "We in Hong Kong, you in China."  They are bastards.  These kinds of people are used to serve as running dogs for the British people.  Today they are dogs.  They are not humans.  I know that many Hong Kong persons are good people.  But many Hong Kong persons are still dogs.

If the same incident were to happen to a Hong Kong person, what would be the result?  The result would not be the same.  Mr. Lu Xun had criticized these westernized fools a long time ago.  Mr. Lu Xun said that there were these westernized fools in the streets of Shanghai.  They specialized in harassing rural people who don't know the regulations, such as not understanding the traffic light system or littering in the streets.  They would rush up immediately to arrest them.  In front of the imperialists, these people are dogs; in front of the Chinese people, these people are wolves.  These people represent the dregs of colonialism.

I have been to Hong Kong many times before.  There are many good things about Hong Kong.  For example, the rule of law.  Speaking of the rule of law, the British brought it there and let it stay.  How did the British deal with these Hong Kong dogs?  They gave them a good lashing.  They lash them harshly.  Today, the Beijingers would say that these people fucking deserve a physical lashing.  Today Hong Kong has been returned to China for so long already, but their hearts and minds have not returned yet.  There are still plenty of running dogs for the colonialists.  In front of the colonialists, they are dogs; in front of the mainlanders, they are wolves.  In the language of how to describe how the Japanese used the Taiwan and Korean conscript soldiers, we say that these are "second-class ghouls."  There are still plenty of "second-class ghouls" in Hong Kong now.

Hey, why?  You look at the guy in the video.  Does he resemble a human, even though you can't understand what he is saying?  So a kid is eating in the subway train.  You say, "Little friend, you cannot do this.  There is such a regulation.  What you are doing is bad."  That is how it should be handled, right?  Besides the mother had said, "We didn't know.  We won't eat anymore.  Is that okay?"  But the incident did not come to an end.  Also it was a group action by many persons.  It was a group action.  Is that how you treat another Hong Kong person?  An American person?  A Japanese person?  Is that how you deal with American and Japanese persons?  I have never seen you done that.

Do Hong Kong people have high quality?  I think that the Hong Kong people have relatively poorer quality compared to people elsewhere in China.  I have been to Hong Kong many times.  I have seen many Hong Kong persons act without ethics.  They steal, they cheat, they swindle, they defraud.  There was nothing they wouldn't do.  Not many Hong Kong tourist guides or salespersons have ethics.  What right do Hong Kong people have to stand tall and proud?

Let me say again, many Hong Kong persons are dogs!

TV Hostess: Let us look at what Internet users are saying:
User 1: During the initial stages of the reforms (in China), Hong Kong took advantage of the mainland.  Today the mainland is developing, so they are jealous.  This is truly the small-mindedness of a British island colony.
User 2: Hong Kong people have a tradition of discrimination against mainlanders.

Kong: If that is the case, then Hong Kong should not bother to maintain any relationship with the mainland.  We the mainland will no longer provide you with water and vegetables.  You live on your own, or you can look to your British daddy.

User 3: Quantity without quality.  This is the moral quality of the Chinese people.  This way of thinking.

Kong: In any country, there are morally upright as well as morally defective people.  In Hong Kong, there is a large group of morally defective people.  This is based upon my personal experience.  But why are they so forthright?  This is just like when the colonized Korean look down on other nationalities.  The Hong Kong people look down on the mainlanders similarly.  Typical colonialism attitude.  Children of westerners mentality.

User 4: The correct thing to do is to seek co-existence of differences.  You shouldn't wink at mistakes, but you shouldn't ban them.

User 5: No eating in the subway?  There are people drinking beer in the subway.  It is better in China.

Kong: It is never good to eat in the subway anywhere (in the world).  The problem is what do we do when we spot a child eating in a subway car.  We should treat them equally.  We shouldn't rush up to scold them because they are peasants.  Is that right?  Besides, you Hong Kong people should not presume that you have any superiority.  Hong Kong has lost all its superiority.  Hong Kong used to be a Special Administrative Region within China.  But today Hong Kong does not have anything superior.  You rely on mainland tourists to make a living.

TV Hostess: Supposedly the environment is cleaner in Hong Kong.

Kong: That is correct.  Why is it cleaner?  Because they rely on the rule of law.  They do not rely on the quality of the people.  Just like in Singapore, you get fined 5,000 dollars for smoking.  When you have to resort to the legal system to maintain order, it shows that your people have no quality and no self-consciousness.  You won't do what you are supposed to unless you get a beating.  This is summarized in one word: Trash.

User 6: It is better for Hong Kong not to be returned to China.  Mainlanders are hurting the chances of the Hong Kong people to become first-class world citizens.

Kong: Right, two million Hong Kong people live in pigeon nest buildings with apartments that are less than 20 square meters in area.  What do you have to be proud of?

Translation: Peking University professor: Hong Kong people are dogs

Yesterday our reporter contacted Kong Qingdong to ask him to explain his assertion that "Hong Kong people are dogs."  When Dong learned that his statement had caused many Hong Kong people to feel insulted, he asked our reporter: "Is there anything wrong with saying that 'some Hong Kong people are dogs'?  I have previously criticized Shenzhen people, Shanghai people and Beijing people and it was no big deal.  So is Hong Kong the tiger whose butt cannot be touched?"  "In any place, some people are going to be dogs.  Some New Yorkers are dogs, some Beijingers are dogs, so why isn't it the same with Hong Kong?"

kong Qingdong clarified that he did not say that all Hong Kong persons are dogs, "just some."  He believed that "normal persons, persons who are educated and persons who consider themselves to be humans" will know clearly what he really meant.  He said that some Hong Kong persons hold a sense of superiority as colonialists.  But since the reforms and openings of China, the mainland cities have developed faster and Hong Kong needs to explore its economic development principles anew.  "It is bad for Hong Kong people to keep bullying mainlanders."  He advised those "superior-feeling Hong Kong persons" to reflect upon themselves.

Apart from charging Hong Kong people with self-importance, Kong Qingdong extended his criticisms to the Hong Kong academics and media.  He accused some Hong Kong professors of "lecturing mainlanders all the time," and the Hong Kong media of "fostering the belief that they come from an advanced region."  He said that if Hong Kong persists in fighting with the mainland, they will ultimately lose out.  He criticized many Hong Kong persons for lacking nationalist consciousness, which has been buried by their sense of superiority.  He asked the Hong Kong people to "have a conscience" and be smart enough to build up their nationalist consciousness.

Finally Kong Qingdong said, "As mainlanders, we don't feel any need to meddle with Hong Kong affairs.  But you Hong Kong people keep wanting to lecture us."  He asked the Hong Kong Tourism Board to examine upon service qualities: "Tourism depends on service.  If your attitude is lousy, they won't come again."

He said that Hong Kong people do not appreciate their best attributes.  "They keep wanting to lecture other people.  The sooner these people wake up the better.  It would be bad if mainlanders stop coming."  Then he hung up the phone in a hurry.

The Hong Kong man involved in the incident is named Ken.  Yesterday he was interviewed for the first time.

Ken said that the YouTube video did not show what occurred shortly before.  He had started off by using putonghua to kindly remind the female mainlander about the MTR regulations against eating.  Because this was not shown, "Kong Qingdong did not understand the whole situation.  Therefore I felt that he was being indiscreet in his comments."

Ken said that many mainlanders follow the Hong Kong regulations over the years.  "This was an isolated incident.  I don't want to create the impression that all mainlanders are uncultured."  He said that he was heaped with abuses from mainlanders over the past few days.  But when he explained what really happened, the mainlanders understood.  This showed that the mainlanders are not all barbaric and unreasonable.  Ken also admitted that he was too rash and negative when he uttered "Mainlanders are like that!" and he apologized publicly for that remark.  "But has Professor Kong said even half a sentence in apology?"

Ken said that he will not be participating in this afternoon's demonstration outside the China Liaison Office.  "Kong Qingdong represents himself only.  I don't want to instigate hostile feelings.  The people of Hong Kong have their own refined qualities.  If Kong was speaking on behalf of the state, it would be a different thing.  But he is just presenting his own personal position."

At Facebook, almost 16,000 persons have indicated "Like" to a suggestion for people to take their dogs out for a stroll near the China Liaison Office.  Other Internet users have called for a letter-writing campaign to Peking University to demand a public apology from Kong Qingdong.  They also want "all Chinese wealthy people who intends to make donations to Peking University to withhold their donations indefinitely."

The scholar Chan Won wrote on his Facebook page that the position of Kong Qingdong is not necessarily the position of the official organizations (such as Peking University and the Chinese government).  Therefore, any popular request to the China Liaison Office to sanction Kong Qingdong may be enabling the Chinese government to interfere with the freedoms of speech and academic research.

Hong Kong Daily News: Photo of Chief Executive candidate Henry Tang with quote: "Hong Kong people aren't dogs."

Apple Daily: Kong Qingdong offers sly justification
Once again accuses Hong Kong people of being mindless

Oriental Daily: Down with the trash-talking professor
Kong Qingdong has angered all of Hong Kong; 10,000 persons will surround the China Liaison Office today