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The Bus Uncle

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File:Unclebusscreenshot.jpg
The Bus Uncle

The Bus Uncle (Chinese: 巴士阿叔) is a Cantonese video clip capturing a verbal altercation aboard a bus ride in Hong Kong on April 27, 2006. The incident was recorded by another passenger and uploaded to YouTube and Google Video, two popular collections of online video clips. Soon after its debut on YouTube, the six-minute video became a cultural sensation in Hong Kong and inspired vigorous debate and discussion on life and etiquette in the city. Enjoying over five million hits, the clip became one of YouTube's most viewed items in May 2006. Its copious use of profanity and rhetorical outbursts has gained attention from local and international media with many of its utterances becoming popular new catchphrases in Hong Kong and Chinese communities around the world.

The phrase 'The Bus Uncle' was coined by members of an Internet forum in reference to the belligerent character in the video. Contrary to reports in Western media, the word "uncle" was never used in the video.

The incident

Poster of an event by Capcom, capitalizing on the tagline "I face pressure. You face pressure." (我有壓力,你有壓力) adopted from the clip.

The incident took place onboard a Kowloon Motor Bus (route 68X) heading towards Yuen Long at approximately 11:00pm on the evening of 27 April, 2006. The video clip begins with the middle-aged "uncle" reacting furiously after the young man seated behind him had tapped his shoulder asked him to lower his voice while speaking on the phone. The younger passenger, who seldom talks back during the quarrel, expressed reluctance to carry on the discussion. The middle-aged man exclaimed, "Not yet resolved! Not yet resolved! Not yet resolved! ...I face pressure. You face pressure. Why do you provoke me?", which has become a popular catchphrase in Hong Kong. There were excessive uses of profanity to insult the young man, but he did not express any regret when the young man warned him to keep his mother out of the argument.

Despite the profanity-filled exchange and "Bus Uncle" asking if the youngster is a "good fighter", a physical altercation never seemed imminent.

The characters

  • The young man being scolded on the video has been identified as 23 year old Elvis Ho Yui Hei (Chinese: 何銳熙), a property agent for his family's property management company in Mong Kok. On May 23, 2006, Mr. Ho (previously misidentified as Alvin or Elvin) called a talk show on Commercial Radio claiming to be the young man involved in the argument. [1]. In a later interview with the South China Morning Post, Mr. Ho said he often takes long bus rides home and would frequently ask passengers to lower their voices so he could nap. Despite being threatened and berated, Mr. Ho said he forgives "Bus Uncle" and sympathized with whatever stress the older man was suffering.
  • The man who recorded the video clip has been identified as 21 year old Jon Fong Wing Hang (Chinese: 方穎恆), an accountant and part-time student, after he called a radio station on May 25, 2006. Mr. Fong, who recorded the clip with a Sony Ericsson cellphone, claimed there was a second video yet to be posted online where Mr. Ho fought back by making fun of "Bus Uncle" with a friend on the phone. Mr. Fong also stated that the reason he recorded the clip was to provide evidence to police in case "Bus Uncle" became physically violent. Mr. Fong has since sold the rights to the second video to Easy Finder magazine for HK$3,000 (US$375).
  • The "Bus Uncle" has been identified as 51 year old Roger Chan, aka Chan Yuet Tung (Chinese: 陳乙東), a Yuen Long resident living with five cats and receiving welfare payments from the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme of the government. He has also made three attempts for the office of Hong Kong Chief Executive in 1997, 2002 and 2005. After Mr. Chan's identity was revealed, many journalists have tried interviewing him, but he demanded remuneration for press interviews. Mr. Chan further claimed to have served an eight year prison sentence in Belgium for drug smuggling and said he once won $2.5 million in a lottery only to gamble it all away.

Mr. Chan stated during the time of the incident, he was stressed from an argument with his girlfriend and was phoning the Samaritans phone hotline for support when Mr. Ho tapped him on the shoulder. However, Mr. Ho claimed Mr. Chan was just chatting with friends at the time and not with a suicide prevention hotline.

Singtao Daily has reported that Mr. Chan visited Mr. Ho's office on 31 May in Mong Kok to apologize for the dispute and to initiate a business proposal for the duo to hold a "Bus Uncle Rave Party". But allegedly, Mr. Chan was quickly waved off and expelled by Mr. Ho as he expressed outrage towards the journalists who arranged the meeting and threatened legal action against the press.

On June 7, 2006, Ming Pao Daily reported that Mr. Chan, who had been hired by a steak restaurant as a Public Relations Officer, was physically assaulted on-the-job in front of horrified diners and journalists by three unidentified masked men who then fled the scene. Mr. Chan sustained severe injuries to his eyes and face and was admitted to the Emergency Department for overnight treatment.

The restaurant owner Mr. Lee was then under pressure from his wife and daughter to fire him due to magazine coverage of his exploits in the Shenzhen karaoke. He was reluctant to do so and eventually led to his wife attempting suicide, by an overdose of sleeping pills, to force the issue on June 11. Upon hearing the news of Mrs. Lee's attempted suicide, Mr. Chan handed in his resignation, claiming he did not want Mr. Lee's family to be unhappy.

Legal issues

Some local newspapers pointed out that the behaviour of the Bus Uncle contravenes the general code of conduct of bus passengers, which constitutes a criminal offence, according to Section 46(1)(a), (n)(ii)[2] and 57(1)[3] of Cap 374D of the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Regulations[4], with a maximum penalty of HKD$3000 and a 6-month imprisonment.

His behaviour also constitutes an offence under Section 17B(2) of the Public Order Ordinance (the section titled "Disorder in public places"), with a maximum penalty of HKD$5000 and 12-months imprisonment.[5]. It is possible that his behaviour also constitutes Criminal Intimidation, which is an offence under Section 24 of the Crimes Ordinance, with a maximum penalty of HKD$2000 and 5 years imprisonment.[6]

The latter two offences would be the more likely charges he would face (compared to the breach of the Regulation) if he were actually arrested by the police.

File:Triad3uc.jpg
The infamous quote, "It's not resolved!", said by the middle-aged grumpy man appears as a tagline in this fake movie poster, imitating Johnnie To's Election series.

Social influences and popular culture

The famous quotes of Bus Uncle are now frequently used and mimicked among Hong Kong teenagers during conversations. The new catchphrases also appear on internet forums, posters and radio programmes. Parodies of the video clip have been created, including modified video clips including songs by Sammi Cheng and Edison Chen, musical remix, artificial pictures and movie posters. On television, a TVB sports reporter was heard using the phrases, while an ATV sitcom episode also imitated the video in an argument scene. On 28 May, 2006, this incident was mentioned in the 6.30 News on TVB, highlighting the success of YouTube. It was also mentioned on Cable TV news[1].

The video clip, having been subtitled in English, has penetrated Western media and reported in numerous prominent international journals such as the Associated Press, New York Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and the Wall Street Journal [2] in late May.

Although many have found the video humorous and entertaining, others have warned that it hints at a more alarming and sinister prognosis of life in stress-filled Hong Kong.

To Kit, a Hong Kong-based columnist, has made a commentary about the incident on Commercial Radio. He described the behavior of Bus Uncle as "a noise raping", and said that the incident was the manifestation of the underlying social tension in society, as well as the mindset of a common Chinese person. He criticised Elvis' speechlessness as being too weak, likewise a stereotype of youths in present-day Hong Kong. In addition, he noted that the incident implied that harmony in the neighborhood was somehow hindered.

Lee Sing, director of the Hong Kong Mood Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, points to the Bus Uncle video as warning that the city's high stress working environment is spawning a metropolis full of "Bus Uncles". Dr Lee estimates that one out of every 50 grumpy Hong Kongers is a "ticking time bomb" when it comes to rage and violence.

Still, others deny any insightful social commentary was revealed by the video clip and that the frenzy is merely the product of newspapers boosting circulation and profits. Media ethicists have charged the media with creating news, not merely reporting it. Clement So York-kee, Director of the School of Journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, warned that methods to uncover Bus Uncle news "did not seem to...[involve the] traditional practice of news reporting". For example, several media outlets had offered rewards on unmasking Uncle Bus' identity once the frenzy began. And in late May, a group of journalists and photographers initiated and escorted Mr. Chan's second meeting with Mr. Ho. After being rejected by Mr. Ho, they brought Bus Uncle to a dinner and karaoke session. Although the session was widely reported, many believe it was artificially generated news by the media and unworthy of front-page attention.

Others have argued the frenzy is not the product of a media conspiracy but a natural reflection of reader curiosity and demand in Hong Kong's consumer driven media market.

In June 2006, TVB television made a parody of the Bus Uncle video in its television promotion for its coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The advertisement features TVB sports commentator Lam Sheung-Yee (林尚義), whose voice coincidentally resembles that of Mr. Chan in real life, on a bus playing the role of the Bus Uncle. In the promotion, a passenger sitting behind Lam Sheung-Yee (played by Lam Man Chung) questions whether Lam Sheung-Yee feels pressurized from his commentator role in the upcoming World Cup, his last-ever TV appearances before retirement. Lam turns around and replies that there is no pressure, and stresses that the issue (the viewers' need for watching the World Cup) has been resolved. The passenger then offers to shake hands with Lam Sheung-Yee and calls for a truce.

A re-enactment of the Bus Uncle scene is now an advertisement for a type of bottled water sold at supermarket chain Parknshop.

Notes

  1. ^ (Cantonese)
  2. ^ Section 46
  3. ^ Section 57
  4. ^ Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Regulations
  5. ^ Section 17B of the Public Order Ordinance
  6. ^ See Section 24 for the definition of the offence and Section 27 for the penalties.

References

External links

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