Whitehead Refugee Camp, HK disused in 2008
The old RAF headquarters on Kwun Tong Road, Kai Tak, which housed boat people until 1997

Bat lau dung laai (Chinese: 不漏洞拉 or 北漏洞拉;[1] Jyutping: bat1 lau6 dung6 laai1) is a Hong Kong Cantonese corruption of the Vietnamese phrase bắt đầu từ nay, meaning "from now on" (bắt đầu = begin, start; từ = "from", nay = "now", Vietnamese pronunciation: [ʔɓat̚˧˦ ʔɗəw˨ tɨ˨˩ naj˧˧]).[2]

The phrase was made famous in the 1980s and 1990s in Hong Kong, due to a Vietnamese-language radio public service announcement that was broadcast, nearly hourly, on public radio broadcaster RTHK.[2]

Background of the radio announcement

The broadcast was first made on 16 August 1988, which announced the government's decision to implement a screening policy that would separate refugees from non-refugees (or boat people with economic motivations).[3] The statement was read by Chung Wai-ming, a well-known RTHK radio personality.[4] The Vietnamese portion of the broadcast was read by a Vietnamese boat person who was about to be repatriated.[5]

Content of the announcement

Original text of the announcement

The radio announcement began with a sentence in Cantonese, the most commonly spoken Chinese variant in Hong Kong.

香港[政府]對越南船民已經實施甄別政策。跟住嗰段越南話廣播，就係向佢哋講述呢個政策嘅內容。[3]
Hoeng1 gong2 [zing3 fu2] deoi3 jyut6 naam4 syun4 man4 ji5 ging1 sat6 si1 jan1 bit6 zing3 caak3. Gan1 zyu6 go2 dyun6 jyut6 naam4 waa2 gwong2 bo3, zau6 hai6 hoeng3 keoi5 dei2 gong2 seot6 ni1 go3 zing3 caak3 ge3 noi6 jung4.

This was then followed by a paragraph in Vietnamese.

Bắt đầu từ nay, một chính sách mới về thuyền nhân Việt Nam đã được chấp hành tại Hồng Kông. Từ nay về sau, những thuyền nhân Việt Nam kiếm cách nhập cảnh Hồng Kông với thân phận những người di tản vì vấn đề kinh tế sẽ bị coi là những người nhập cảnh phi pháp. Là những người nhập cảnh phi pháp, họ sẽ không có chút khả năng nào để được đi định cư tại nước thứ ba, và họ sẽ bị giam cầm để chờ ngày giải về Việt Nam.[3]

After that, the announcement ended with another sentence in Cantonese.

剛才嗰段越南話廣播，係向企圖進入香港嘅越南船民，講述香港對佢哋實施嘅甄別政策㗎。
Gong1 coi4 go2 dyun6 jyut6 naam4 waa2 gwong2 bo3, hai6 hoeng3 kei5 tou4 zeon3 jap6 hoeng1 gong2 ge3 jyut6 naam4 syun4 man4, gong2 seot6 hoeng1 gong2 deoi3 keoi5 dei2 sat6 si1 ge3 jan1 bit6 zing3 caak3 gaa2.

Meaning of the announcement in English

The first sentence in Cantonese Chinese:

[The] Hong Kong [Government] has implemented the policy of 'Comprehensive Plan of Action' on Vietnamese boat people. The following Vietnamese-language announcement will elucidate to them the content of the policy.[3]

The message in Vietnamese:

From now on, a new policy regarding Vietnamese boat people has been implemented in Hong Kong. Hereafter, those Vietnamese boat people seeking to immigrate into Hong Kong as immigrants due to economic reasons will be considered illegal immigrants. As illegal immigrants, they will not have the ability to settle in a third country, and they will be detained until repatriated to Vietnam.[3]

The final sentence in Cantonese Chinese:

The Vietnamese-language announcement, which has just been broadcast, elucidated the policy of 'Comprehensive Plan of Action' that the Hong Kong Government implements on the Vietnamese boat people who intend to enter Hong Kong.

Use of the phrase in Hong Kong

Due to the frequency of the broadcast, many Hong Kong people came to learn the phrase. Some, however, mistook the phrase as a term of greeting,[6] similar to sawasdee in Thai.[2] The phrase eventually became a metaphor for Vietnamese people and even Vietnamese culture.

The term is now considered to be a derogatory slur for Vietnamese people.[2]

Portrayal in Hong Kong Media

Early portrayal

The first recorded instance of the usage of "Bắt đầu từ nay" in Hong Kong entertainment programmes was during the 1980s, when it was used in a segment of the light entertainment show Enjoy Yourself Tonight. In the segment, a fight in the refugee camp was parodied, and two actors, using the stage names "Bắt đầu" and "Từ nay", roughed up one of the audience (played by an actor) in the "Legislative Council" meeting who was well known for creating commotions during Legislative Council meetings.[7]

1990s

During the 1990s, some asylum seekers managed to use self-made tools to cut through the fence around the refugee camps and escaped. This incident was replayed on RTHK's news parody programme Headliner. In the video, the phrase was split into the following

  • Bắt đầu? (不漏?) (phonetically close to "bat lau", which means "leakless?", a reference to the supposedly high security measures in the refugee camp)
  • từ! (洞!) (phonetically close to "dung", which means "hole!", a reference to the holes that were cut and used as escape routes).
  • nay! (拉!) (phonetically close to "laai", which means "arrested!", a reference to the eventual arrest of the escapees).

2000s

In the 2000s, Vietnamese cuisine became popular in Hong Kong, and the phrase, which had faded out of memory after the resolution of the refugee problem, resurfaced in an advertising campaign for a Vietnamese restaurant.

2010s

The phrase was used at least twice during the 2010s on books.

  • 2010 travel book on Vietnam used the phrase in its title.[8]
  • A Hong Kong émigrée to Canada used the phrase in her 2017 book on Vietnamese boat people, titled bắt đầu từ nay: The Boat People Saga.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "世紀．info：不漏洞拉：港人最熟悉的越南語" [Century Info: Bat lau dung laai, the Vietnamese phrase most well known to Hongkongers]. Ming Pao (in Chinese). 19 June 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "What Does "Bat Lau Dung Laai" Mean in Hong Kong?". HK Magazine. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Chan, Yuk Wah (2011). The Chinese/Vietnamese Diaspora: Revisiting the boat people. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-81310-2. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "一代播音皇帝殞落 香港電台深切哀悼 鍾偉明（1931 – 2009）辭世" [A radio broadcasting king is no more: RTHK mourns the passing of Chung Wai-ming (1931–2009)]. Radio Television Hong Kong (in Chinese). 27 November 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2018. 當年的颱風消息、對越南船民的呼籲等錄音，港人記憶猶新... (Hongkongers still remember [his] typhoon reports of yesteryear, as well as [his] message for Vietnamese boat people...)
  5. ↑ "回憶「北漏洞拉」" [Remembering "Bat lau dung laai"]. Hong Kong Commercial Daily. 28 November 2009. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2018. 中段的越南語由一位當時即將被遣返回越南的南越船民讀出的。 (The Vietnamese in the middle portion was read by a Vietnamese boat person who, at the time, was about to be repatriated to Vietnam)
  6. ↑ "香港故事 (VIII) 2009" [Hong Kong Stories (VII) 2009]. Radio Television Hong Kong (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2018. 「北漏洞拉」越南語廣播深入民心，更有香港人誤以此為越南招呼語。 ("Bat lau dung laai" Vietnamese broadcasts are well known, and some mistook the phrase as a Vietnamese term of greeting)
  7. ↑ 開放 Issues 37–42 冲天有限公司, 1990 "「危城 I 北漏洞拉」一.作者:張志强在九七前途與越南船民等問題困擾下,受香港前途所影響,聯想香港會否在回歸中國時變成 8 一個越南?到時香港人的努力成果會否被傲底破壞?."
  8. ↑ "越南潮遊──不漏洞拉 (Trendy Vietnam Travels - bat lau dung laai)". Red Publishing. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "【流徙的人】港人花四年尋訪越南難民 書寫百萬人怒海求生故事" [[Displaced People] Hongkonger spent four years looking for and interviewing Vietnamese refugees, wrote a tale on a million people's take of survival on the angry seas]. HK01 (in Chinese). 22 July 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "bắt đầu từ nay: The Boat People Saga". National Library Board of Singapore. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
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