Former soccer superstar David Beckham managed to piss off Hong Kong with one video posted to Facebook and Instagram.
How could one of the world’s most recognizable stars manage to do this? Well, it’s all in the caption.
Beckham recently spent some time “in Shanghai and Hong Kong promoting AIA, a life insurance empire for which he is the new global ambassador,” according to T+L.
After the quick, two-day visit, he posted the video mentioned above to Facebook and Instagram with the caption “Great 48 Hours in China”. T+L describes the video as showing some highlights of the visit along with time-lapses of traffic and people playing soccer.
The thing is that while Hong Kong is officially a part of China, it is an autonomous region with it’s own currency, passports and government etc. When HK was given back to China by the UK in 1997, China agreed to still “allow the territory to have a high level of autonomy for the next 50 years”.
When the video was shared, there were some angry comments. The most popular one was “This is Hong Kong not China. Thank you for visiting us David“. Another wrote “We have our own government, currency, even football team!”
Since receiving the negative feedback, the caption for the video was switched to a more accurate “Great 48 hours in Shanghai and Hong Kong“.
So was David Beckham right in his caption? Technically yes, but considering how much autonomy Hong Kong is given, I’d be pissed too if I was from there.
What do you think? Was David Beckham’s caption offensive or just a little mistake?
Find out more from T+L here.
I’m offended. =) Some people just don’t know the difference so it’s not their fault to assume. I actually had this same conversation re: China/HK last week with an “uneducated” coworker.
Aws- Thanks for your opinion. If HK was just another part of China then they wouldn’t have their own passports, government, currency etc…
DS Harrison- I didn’t exactly dabble, I found the story interesting. I don’t only write about travel deals, I also write about our travels as well as share interesting things related to travel, food and other things. My choice, my blog.
Not sure why you dabble onto this kind of political debate; just stick to your travel deals. Leave the HK/China issue to NY Times or Breitbart.
Hong Kong was LEASED to Brits for 99 years. End of the story. Those denying themselves Chinese are just pathetic (denying one’s motherland simply because it is less developed). It is not like say, in French Polynesia, where they have natives, the Polynesian. There are no such native existing in Hong Kong. The Brits never give them British Passports. Some in HK are still holding British National Overseas passports, which do not even entitle them the right of abode in UK, let alone European Union. Now with Brexit, finally BNO passport will be at least looking the same as the British Passport (without the European Union on the cover). Good for them.
Well said!!!
Eric Guichard- Thanks for the info- I know and did not say that HK was an independent country.
Deltahater- It is a touchy topic and one that I found interesting.
Non-issue for the world. Maybe a few HKer are pissed off. We have bigger things to worry about.
Hong Kong is a “Special Administrative Region” (SAR) of China. It is not an independent country. It does not have a seat in the UN, nor have its own embassies. Various countries have consulates, not embassies, on its territory.