‘How can I not love this place’: Hong Kong folk praised online after ‘deeply moved’ mainland Chinese woman watches subway riders aid vomiting student
- Passengers on city subway rush from every direction to help sick student with offers of tissues and their seats
- Fellow traveller from mainland China who witnessed collective act of kindness shares what she saw on social media, prompting praise for city
Multiple acts of kindness on board a subway train have moved a mainland woman studying in Hong Kong to take to social media in praise of the city and its people.
The young woman, who goes by the nickname “yeaholiday” and shares photography on her page on the social media platform Xiaohongshu, somewhat provocatively began a post in mid-April by saying: “Someone vomited on the MTR and I thought ...”.
She describes how she was travelling on the city’s mass transit railway system, or MTR, when a student suddenly took off a mask and began to vomit.
The watching woman thought other passengers would “run away in disgust”. She was wrong.
Immediately, two nearby passengers “took paper tissues out of their bags and handed them to the sick student.”
A parent with a child some distance away from the scene also “walked over with a tissue” while others offered both dry and wet wipes to the student.
Fellow passengers also offered their seats or showed concern.
The touched woman said: “These people were no longer cold strangers but warm-hearted people.”
She said she was “deeply moved” and ashamed about her initial reaction to the situation and praised MTR staff for being “so efficient” by arriving quickly to clean the carriage.
She concluded by exclaiming: “How can I not love this place?”
On Xiaohongshu, her post has already received more than 2,000 likes.
Among the close to 100 comments, one said: “Hong Kong people seem to keep their distance, but when something happens, they come every direction to help. That’s the lovely thing about the city.”
Another online observer shared her experience: “Once I was not feeling well on the MTR, and a member of staff came to ask if I needed a chair. Even when I said no, I could feel that she was watching to make sure I was OK.”
As mainland tourists return to Hong Kong following the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions, a number of posts praising the city have appeared on social media.
Earlier this year, a physically disabled mainland woman who praised Hong Kong’s buses for being wheelchair-friendly also prompted a shower of praise for the city on Xiaohongshu.
