Not quite the Marco Polo Bridge Incident you may be thinking, but some of New Zealand’s Chinese netizens might beg to differ. We are hearing a lot about how the world needs to start listening to China more. So what are Chinese netizens in New Zealand saying? Well, while there are sane voices out there, many of these people appear to have a screw loose. How much of this online anger is going to be dished out physically? Will young patriots really track down a pregnant street person and deal to her with iron bars?

The “McDonald’s Incident” saw saw a pregnant Maori or Polynesian woman (apparently some kind of street person) aggressively initiate an altercation with Chinese demonstrators. The altercation turned physical and the aggressors got the worst of it, with two Polynesian females being kicked and punched by a large group of Chinese (plus a European). The Polynesians were charged with assault. No Chinese were charged with anything, and by all accounts the police were extremely sympathetic. Many of the Chinese side feel they still have a score to settle though. Some feel the Polynesians must be punished to send out the message that China cannot be bullied. Others are worried that if the Polynesians are not punished Chinese demonstrators will react by becoming more violent.

The incident seems to be the only case of non-Chinese initiated violence from last Sunday’s demonstration, though some details are a bit controversial. Two accounts say the physical stuff was started by the Polynesians, but one account says a Chinese male ‘accidentally’ initiated physical contact.

The following is a complete (albeit rough) translation of the first thread on this incident from Sky Kiwi.

J2lane says:

What happened with the incident outside McDonalds? Was there any follow up?

I saw some of my compatriots crowded around the entrance to the Queen Street McDonalds, and heard some arguing. Everybody was so united, and so fired up. I was affected myself. The whole while I was driving to the Railway Station and parking the car I was feeling all fired up.

So did a fight happen? I took a quick look around when I was passing in the car. There were no police. I hope no Chinese people got in trouble. I heard that in Australia several students were sent home to China. I hope that isn’t going to happen here.

So can anyone tell me what happened? Share your experiences.

Joz27 says:

It was like this: My friend and I were walking towards the train station. As we passed McDonalds two Islanders swore at us. We ignored them because we really didn’t want to cause any trouble. They carried on cursing us though, and asking us to go back to China, saying this was not our country. Biting our tongues, we stopped walking and stood our ground to see what they would say. A group of our friends were on the other side of the road. The two Islanders stood up and walked towards us. We were a group of six or seven. They came up to us and cursed us, to which we replied “we don’t care!” They continued swearing, and got in our faces being very provocative. One of my friends was worried his girlfriend would get into a fight with them, so he started to pull her away. He accidentally touched one of the Islanders, and the islanders began pushing us. We didn’t react. They pushed us again. We still didn’t react. They even knocked my (male) friend’s glasses off. My friend still didn’t react. He just picked up his glasses. Then the Islanders cursed at two more females from our group. Then they [NOTE: Presumably the Islanders.] started hitting. I was so scared I didn’t react. Nobody was helping! Then I waved to the people across the street. It was so great to see them come running over. The first to reach us was a westerner, and he hit the two Islanders. I really was grateful. Although there was a fight nobody got hurt. I’m really relieved.

Clock+knife says:

Ah, so that’s what happened.

You are the most precious says:

A westerner came and helped fight? Pretty cool!

‘Yaojin’ says:

So provocative! You should have recorded them.

Venlley says:

These Maori have nothing in their heads besides violence!

End of April says:

Shit too! [in their heads]

Sallylove says:

You really put up with a lot without getting provoked! I admire you!

Polynesians are much lower class than Maori.

J2Lane says:

Just so long as nobody got hurt.

Good to see we taught those pigs a good lesson. At the time I was thinking, at what point should I jump out of my car and grab the metal rod I keep in the boot.

I’m going to go to Placemakers and buy a piece of steel pipe. I need to upgrade my weapon.

Lala Rat says:

Our flagpole was made out of a metal rod. . .

Actually during the rally we had to be careful not to wave the flag too hard in case the pole went flying.

It’s a shame I didn’t see the McDonalds incident. I could have been in there swinging my flag.

DongningbinBN says:

I support that westerner!

Lala Rat says:

Absolutely.

Seeing that westerner with Chinese flags painted on his face and waving a Chinese flag, it was even more moving than seeing ourselves doing the same.

Clock+knife says:

Next time I’ll be bringing a metal flagpole, and if certain people aren’t careful they will be getting their heads cracked.

KakaJ says

Myself and my friend are the two girls that the poster above mentioned nearly got into a fight with the Maoris. It was like this. . . One of the Maoris threw a paper cup at a car carrying a Chinese flag in Queen Street. Initially we were going to just take it lying down. We didn’t expect her to curse us too! “Fuck off. Go back to your country!” When she said that I replied “What the fuck did you say? What the fuck are you doing? You fuck off!” Then she came over and grabbed my (female) friend’s clothes! We started arguing! Just as the Maori was about to hit us, a group of Chinese came running across the road carrying Chinese flags! The first to arrive was a young Kiwi guy, also carrying a Chinese flag. He kicked the Maori girl. Then several other lovely Chinese also joined in and started hitting the Maoris. We were startled, and were pushed out of the way by all the Chinese that rushed over to help. I heard somebody was injured and bleeding? Then the police arrived. Then we all started shouting “We love China! We love China!” The Maori was still swearing at us. I think in the end she was taken away by the police.

I still feel a bit scared when I think about it, because that Maori girl was so fat she was like three of me! But I’m so grateful for the way things happened, and grateful that we have strength in unity. I would also like to thank the Kiwi who rescued us, and the lovely Chinese who also helped.

I also want to thank all the Chinese who came over to help! Because of you people, I feel that in future I will never have anything to fear. I don’t need to fear Maoris. I don’t need to fear Kiwis. So long as we Chinese join together, wherever we go in the world, nobody will dare so much as look sideways at us!! We can walk the whole world without fear!!

‘Turtle coming for dinner’ says:

Pretty interesting! Ha ha!

‘Clear and Worldless Day’ says:

You shouldn’t have put up with any of that! You should have attacked them right at the start. You had them outnumbered.

You went and let them knock your glasses off and insult you. Man I’m angry. If it’s the last thing I ever do I want to smash these sons of bitches.

I wish I could turn the clock back. I totally missed the McDonalds incident because me and my friends were down at the LV store singing the national anthem.

Zhangxiu0420 says:

So that’s how the incident started then? Looks like I smacked them for a good reason then!

Joz.27 says:

I really regret I didn’t smack them myself.

Crazy red leaf says:

You should have killed them.

Siyuan79 says:

I know that Kiwi. After it finished he rode the same bus as me back to the North Shore. I guess he lives in Glenfield.

While he was waiting for the bus he carefully folded up his Chinese flag and put it away. I was really touched. It was a shame my English wasn’t good enough to talk with him. On the bus he was excitedly telling all the other passengers about the rally.

Jenny_kim says:

Who is joz.27? I was a witness to what happened. I was the one who had their clothes grabbed by one of those Polynesian sons of bitches.

P.S. I am looking for the people who rescued us. Any of you who see us please contact me. You are all lovely!

Tiaopixiaogege says:

[Picture] Is this him? He was the first to run over.

Angel in Hell 1983 says:

What a shame! I always miss this sort of stuff.

‘Clear and Wordless Day’ says:

Agree with the above poster!

Cena says:

I missed it. We outnumbered them. What do we have to be afraid of? We should mess these sons of bitches up!

Waiting4u says:

That westerner looked so gentle. I would never have expected he was a tough guy.

Zhangxu0420 says:

[to joz.27] Were they the friends I saw outside the door of ‘Big World’ [Seems to be an internet café. I don’t know the location though.].

Zhangxu0420 says:

[to jenny_kim] Didn’t I jump in and help? Maybe I rescued you? As soon as I saw a girl getting her clothes grabbed I raced in and gave a kick to the back.

So who were the ones I bumped into outside ‘Big World’. They seemed pretty staunch.

Jenny_Kim says:

[to the previous poster] If you saw an incident on the other side of the road and were part of the group that rushed over then you did [rescue me]. At that time there were only a few Chinese on our side of the street. As for who was first into the fray I only remember the Kiwi, plus a Chinese man with very short hair.

Zhangxu0420 says:

[to the previous poster] No idea about that. I just know I got the first kick in.

Zhangxu0420 says:

Maybe you mean the second clash? Because my flag and that of the Kiwi got grabbed and ripped. Then we rushed back in. Then there was a third clash. Ha ha!

J2lane says:

Reading the above posts. . . fucking great!

I arrived late that day and hadn’t prepared. I was driving down Queen St. and saw my compatriots rushing across to the right hand side of the road. I knew a fight was happening, I was pretty aroused and I wanted to pull an iron bar out of my car and start dealing to a few people. But then I thought maybe that would be overreacting, and that the police might see.

I didn’t have a flag with me because I was running late. I played some nationalistic music on my radio instead to give support.

Haven’t felt that great in ages!

La la Rat says:

Go look at page A1. There really has been some follow up to all this.

Joz.27 says:

[to zhangxu0420’s earlier post about the unclear ‘group’] Yes! It was them. [the group outside ‘Big World’]

up.n.go says:

[again to Zhangxu0420’s earlier post on the identity of the ‘group’] Yes that was us. We were people you saw outside the Internet café.

 

Below is another account of the incident from a later thread (which became one of the most discussed threads of the week), plus some selected posts from that thread.

 

Xiaofan says:

On April 27^th there was an incident outside the entrance to McDonalds. I saw peoples talking about it here. I’m sorry to tell you all, but it still isn’t over.

I am one of the people who was involved. At the time there were a lot of witnesses, but the incident started with me.

[After the rally] we marched down to the McDonalds. At McDonalds we came across two big and aggressive female Polynesians (actually they might have been Maori, but since I can’t tell the difference I will call them Polynesians). The pair were constantly cursing me, saying ‘F’ this and that. I couldn’t stand listening to it so I began arguing with them. I didn’t use any offensive language though. They rushed up and made like they were going to spit at me. We backed off right up until the edge of the kerb, from where we could not back off any further. Then one of them snatched at my placard, scratching my hand and ruining the placard. My boyfriend was pushed by them, pushed again, and still didn’t react. We were thinking whatever happened we mustn’t react violently. Then they knocked the glasses off one of us. We picked the glasses up and said nothing. The whole time they carried on swearing at us.

Then people came running across from the other side of the road. First to arrive was a westerner who hit the Polynesians, then everybody started to join in. We were the people standing there saying “calm down, calm down”.

When the police arrived they spoke to us and we gave them a detailed account of what had happened. As everyone who was there knows, one of the Polynesian girls acted quite disgustingly, pulled up her clothes to reveal her stomach and saying she was pregnant. I told the police her and her friend had pushed us and broken our glasses. I couldn’t believe it when she lied to the police and said my boyfriend has pushed her in the stomach.

My boyfriend never pushed her. As for her getting beaten up by the crowd, well even if she was pregnant it wasn’t our problem. While the police were taking our statements they were very much on our side and said with disgust that this was racial discrimination.

After I got home the police called me to say that the Polynesians would be appearing in court on the 28^th (i.e. the following day), but likely would not admit what they had done.

Sure enough, on Tuesday the court called me and said that they had been acquitted. [I’m not sure exactly how these things are done, but I assume she really means something like that they had appeared in court, pleaded not guilty (not quite sure what the charge was), and the case was adjourned for later]

They are to appear again on May 19, and if they don’t admit guilt on that occasion they will appear again on June 4. My boyfriend and I have decided that if matters are taken to a third court appearance we will go and face them in court.

The police recorded our material losses (the glasses), plus emotional damage (taking an emotional impact report). So far as emotional damage went I told the police that their behavior had damaged my impression of New Zealand, I felt I had faced serious racial discrimination, and I felt unsafe.

Today (Thursday), my boyfriend was walking by himself on Queen Street opposite the cinema and ran into the same three Polynesians: the pregnant one, her sister, and an older and very aggressive one who seems to be her sister’s husband. The pregnant one cursed at my boyfriend again, and tried to block his path, shouting “come back here! Fuck you, bitch!” My boyfriend just bit his lip and carried on walking, and after a long while they stopped cursing him.

I really feel this is dangerous. These people are often hanging around on Queen Street. I’m scared of running into them again, and it might be even worse next time.

We not only want to claim damages, but also want to speak up on behalf of other Chinese. Although we didn’t want to personally sue her, the case has already gone before the courts. There is no going back now. We have no idea how to cancel a charge like this. Anyway, even if we did know how we wouldn’t want to cancel it. We can’t let these people know that Chinese are scared of them.

In a democratic country like New Zealand, we have the right to hold a protest march [NOTE I do not believe any license was given for a protest march. There was talk on Sky Kiwi about how the event was organized at short notice and the police never issued a permit for a march]. But they don’t have the right to attack us, or the right to insult the dignity of our nation. They are totally in the wrong, and by denying guilt are making a mockery of the courts. They are just totally unrepentant!

If they really feel so racially superior, and if they really feel invincible, then this incident is a great opportunity. I am going to make a real effort to let them know, this is not their backyard, there is no reason for them to behave like such animals, and most especially they should not behave this way towards Chinese!

We don’t really understand New Zealand law, and don’t really understand the nature of the case against them. The only things I am worried about right now is whether they are going to find my boyfriend and take revenge on him, and what to do if they get off without being punished. What are we going to do if that happens? Should I contact the police and let them know about what happened on the street today? Does it count as a threat?

We need your support. We hope someone who knows about the law can give us some help, maybe tell us what we should do next. Do we need more witnesses? Or maybe we should make more detailed statements on what happened, explain how we were emotionally hurt, and make sure they get punished? I am also worried that this could influence plans to immigrate to New Zealand (something which my parents want to do).

Thank you everyone. April 27 was an amazing day. Whatever the flaws, I don’t believe anyone could have organized a better day. I’d definitely come again. [Chinese] unity does not just mean uniting for one event, it means uniting the whole world!

[NOTE: There are too many posts in this thread to translate all of them. The majority of responses were reasonable enough. The most common post was to suggest the original poster get some legal advice and not worry too much. Many voices suggested the incident demonstrated serious racism and the Polynesians needed to be suitably punished to avenge the honor of China and prove to the world that Chinese people were not easily bullied. Several posters suggested further physical reprisals against the Polynesians. Some posters found the two Polynesian women very scary, to the point that failure to deal with them could jeopardize the future of Chinese political demonstrations in New Zealand. I have translated a small sample of posts below, focusing on the revenge aspect]

Austin says:

[In response to a Guanny who wants to distribute photos of the pregnant woman so a group of Chinese can assault her.] If she gets let off without any punishment I am worried about two things, both at opposite ends of the spectrum:

The first is that nobody will feel like coming to future patriotic rallies because they will be worried about getting hit. Even if they come they won’t dare shout slogans.

The second is that some of us are going to take revenge despite her being pregnant and female (she is often in the city after all). There could even be serious injury. It would be really hard to control. Actually that day when we were marching on Queen Street a lot of people were already getting carried away. If she gets off without punishment it could lead to everyone completely losing control on our next protest march.

Anyway, whatever happens later all we can do for now is keep an eye on the situation.

+B&h;I.V;c6e2G2b
Xiaofan says:

Hi thanks so much for all your advices and support!
-J0G9s&Y&}”|%|新西兰华人社区the pregnant woman we are sure she is pregnant, coz she showed us her tummy!!
9G f/\%h%f$e(B2k(o.Q7[新西兰,新西兰娱乐,新西兰留学,新西兰咨询,新西兰生活but yea, Im agree with some of you, she s afraid of nothing, she was attacking others, swearing, and smoking~~SkyKiwi社区-Z#n7{0\)X/x.P6f
新西兰,新西兰娱乐,新西兰留学,新西兰咨询,新西兰生活*M6^1Y)`4d*L/w-~
Now we cant take anything back coz it already happened, and we are not able to cancel this case just like that easy, eventhough we assume we can cancel the case, next time they see us, it will be the same. They will justcontinue insulting us even use violence.
2d,E7]/\9B:D5D&G新西兰华人社区,留学生交流中心新西兰华人社区,留学生交流中心:v4i:P;W”X6{*k7H
we are university students and living in city, I think there are lots of chances to meet them.
/?4F’?;h-],`1x”K,K5W新西兰华人社区if we win, they will hav to pay for it, if they win, they will be more unbridled.
%?.[6D,G A2I新西兰华人社区,留学生交流中心either way, will not change how they treat us, because racism is racism.
;W0w6]&X#^(C)|”a%vSkyKiwi社区*L(d1g’x4J-G7}.M7\
we will wait until 5月19日 see what happen

“U%a4A(T4K0z%A;],u!Z新西兰华人社区,留学生交流中心

G-cool says:

Get their photos up on here. If the law doesn’t work we can think of using some other methods.

Apricot NZ says:

Put their photos up. I’ll organize for a group of people to hang out at McDonalds and beat them up if we see them.

Jacky Zeng says:

I don’t know what I should do to help the original poster. Does anyone have a clear photo of the face of the pregnant girl? I saw a blurry image among photos put up elsewhere. I think I know who she is and where she hangs out. But I still need a clear photo of her face to be certain. Maybe that will help the original poster.

Guanny says:

I have a clear picture. If the original poster gives me their e-mail I’ll send it.

 

So what to make of all the above? Well, it is what it is. All I have done is translate the voices of some of these angry young Chinese protesters. One or two people posted comments on the “McDonald’s Incident” below my earlier post on the April 27 demonstration. One commenter had even witnessed the tail end of the incident himself. His impression was a bit different to what is described above. I thought people might be interested in reading Chinese accounts of what occurred, as well as some of the associated online discussion.

Personally I find the first thread disturbing. An aggressive pregnant woman who picked a fight and clearly came off second best has netizens fantasizing about taking to her with iron bars? While the second thread was not as bad, it is a concern to see certain posters circulating information to help identify an pregnant woman that other posters are talking about seriously assaulting. Austin is one of the only voices suggesting that people are starting to go crazy.

The complete lack of empathy for non-Chinese is strange. The poster J2Lane says “at least nobody got hurt”, then immediately talks about getting a better weapon. The message seems to be that it only matters when Chinese people get hurt. Non-Chinese must be dealt to severely.

Overall, the desire of many posters to create an anti-Chinese racist bogey-woman out of this street person is weird. Why did so few of them dismiss her as an annoying piece of lowlife? How did she become the most talked about topic of the week following the demonstration on April 27?

Perhaps the CIA paid her to throw that paper cup?

UPDATE: There are many comments below accusing me of misleading people with an inaccurate translation. I already noted my translation was ‘rough’; I am not a professional translator. However, I do not accept that my translation was misleading or inaccurate. Anyone who can read Chinese can judge for themselves. The critics are making fools of themselves.

Complete screenshots from thread 1 (first translation above). The final two or three posts (the ones after j2lane’s last post) do not have associated screen shots - they had no very meaningful content anyway. You have to click on each image to magnify it and view the text:

Selected screenshots from thread 2 (second translation above - includes only selected posts, as explained already). The posts by Xiaofan are not included in the screen shots below (the first one was too long to fit into a screen shot, and for some reason I don’t have the second either). I originally skipped translation of the first line of Austin’s post. To be honest I didn’t quite get his point. In the first sentence he says that the people who rushed across the street to help did so despite not knowing each other or the person they were helping. He says they intervened to “fight for a good cause”, this last being a concept that he claims does not exist in New Zealand. It seemed too weird to bother with, and since I already said I was only selecting parts of the second thread I originally just left it off. I only mention it here to limit the ammunition available to those who are about to appear and accuse me of mistranslation:

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 3:35 am and is filed under China, Chinese Media in NZ, New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.