Video shows fans of Cantopop star Keung To, not mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong

This article is more than one year old.
Published on May 5, 2023 at 06:09
Updated on May 5, 2023 at 06:10
3 min read
By Jeff LI, AFP Hong Kong

A video has attracted tens of thousands of views in social media posts that misleadingly claim it shows crowds of mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong during an extended holiday weekend. In fact, the video shows fans of a local Cantopop star who gathered to celebrate his birthday. A woman who attended the event told AFP there were some tourists among the crowd, but that most were fans of the singer.

"May 1 Labour Day, the Chinese have occupied Causeway Bay in Hong Kong," reads a simplified Chinese tweet, referring to a popular shopping district in the city.

"This has scared Hong Kong people."

The video, which has more than 76,000 views, shows crowds packed onto streets.

Simplified Chinese text overlaid on the clip says: "Huge crowds. Mainland Chinese like Causeway Bay in Hong Kong very much."

Tourists from mainland China have been a contentious issue in Hong Kong in recent years, fuelled by Beijing's squeeze on civil rights in the former British colony and complaints of overcrowding and rude behaviour from visitors.

Screenshot of the misleading tweet, captured on May 4, 2023

The video, which was also shared on Facebook and Gettr, surfaced as China marked its Labour Day holiday -- the first after the country eased its zero-Covid policy last year -- which ran from April 29 until May 3.

More than half a million mainland Chinese visitors arrived in the city during the holiday, according to statistics from Hong Kong's immigration department, with local residents reportedly complaining of traffic congestion and crowded streets (archived linked here and here).

Birthday celebrations

The video in fact shows fans of Hong Kong Cantopop star Keung To who gathered on April 30 to celebrate his birthday.

At the start of the video, a billboard is visible with white text reading "Happy Birthday" in traditional Chinese and "Keung To" in English, alongside pictures of the star, who is a member of boyband Mirror.

Screenshot of billboards in the footage showing Keung To's image

The singer's fan club had called on fans to gather in Causeway Bay -- which they called "Keung To Bay" -- on April 30 to see and take pictures with trams adorned with special liveries to celebrate the singer's birthday (archived link).

Footage of the event was also posted on Instagram by local broadcaster ViuTV on April 30 (archived link).

"Keung's fans boarded the tram and shouted 'happy birthday Keung To' along the way, while passers-by took pictures of the parade," the post says in traditional Chinese.

"Let us show you the crowd at Keung To Bay!"

The clip shows a similar scene to the misleading video and also shows some of the same billboards and vehicles as well as a police motorcycle.

Hong Kong news portal Channel C also posted a clip of the gathering on YouTube, showing a similar scene at the 4:36:47 mark (archived link).

Jas Lee, a fan who attended the event, said she believed there were some tourists among the crowd, but that most of those gathered there were Keung's fans as they wore distinctive white T-shirts featuring the singer's caricature.

"There were locals everywhere, many were fans," she told AFP on May 2.

Fans that attended another event marking the singer's birthday on the same day can be seen wearing the same T-shirts in a video published on his fan club's official YouTube page (archived link).

An analysis of the clips of the event in Causeway Bay shows many people wearing the distinctive tops.

Below is a comparison of the T-shirts worn by fans at a charity walk to celebrate Keung's birthday (left) and fans in Causeway Bay seen in ViuTV's video, magnified by AFP (right).

Comparison of the T-shirts worn by fans at two events to celebrate Keung To's birthday

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