Locusts
In recent months, “locusts” as a species
of insect has been made known to Hongkongers who are basically urbanite and
should never be threatened by locusts which are a kind of grasshoppers that can breed rapidly and can become
gregarious and migratory when their populations become dense enough. Locusts form
swarms as adults and can rapidly strip fields and greatly damage crops. They are powerful
fliers travelling great distances, consuming all plants and crops wherever the swarm settles.
They can eat the equivalent of their own weight in a day.
In the biblical book of Exodus, there is the story of The Ten Plagues of Egypt and the eighth plague was locusts. At that time, the Hebrews or the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians. Moses commissioned by God had been asking the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. God had already inflicted upon Egypt plague after plague to persuade Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth plague, triggering the Exodus of the Hebrew people.
The threat of locusts was worded like this:
Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now. ” (Exodus 10:3–6)
When the Pharaoh refused, God then had Moses stretch his staff over Egypt, and a wind picked up from the east. The wind continued until the following day, when it brought a locust swarm. The swarm covered the sky, casting a shadow over Egypt. It consumed all the remaining Egyptian crops, leaving no tree or plant standing.
And to these locusts the mainland tourists have been compared and a so-called anti-locust movement has come forth organizing various rallies in Tsimshatsui and Mong Kok. This is just not fair! True, they flood our streets and shops. But just think of all the revenue they have brought to Hong Kong and the workforce in the service industry they are supporting! What we should do is to make our government officials and all the good people involved to brainstorm for ideas to, on the one hand, cater to the needs of these tourists and on the other hand, defuse the frustrations of the locals!
We should not vent our anger on them! After all, out of the 5.5 million tourists visiting Hong Kong in January 2014, close to 80% (4.4 million) were from mainland!
