It’s fairly common to hear the derogatory refrain “Ugly American” when it comes to US tourists abroad, but the strange and offensive antics of a Chinese group in London may warrant a new designation of ugly…
Chinese Group Gets Into Kerfuffle At St. Pancras Station In London Over A Non-Existent Right To Privacy
There’s a talented musician named Brendan Kavanagh who is a fixture of London’s St. Pancras station. You can find him playing boogie woogie tunes on a piano and live-streaming it on his YouTube page.
A woman from what appeared to be a Chinese tourist group approached Kavanagh and asked him whether the group was in the view of his camera, noting that placing them on video “wasn’t allowed.”
Kavanagh patiently explained that they were in a public place and he had a right to film.
A back-and-forth ensued for several minutes before the situation turned downright odd. Kavanagh pointed to the Chinese flag the girl was holding in an effort to explain they were not in communist China.
A male in the group began screaming like a maniac, excoriating Kavanagh for touching the woman when he did no such thing:
“Why are you touching her? Stop touching her. Don’t touch her. You are not the same age, do not touch her!”
This is why Kavanagh was quite reasonable in refusing to turn the camera off.
A cop was called over and also demanded that Kavanagh shut off his camera.
Nope. Same response to her.
I love how he handled this. Love it. And it’s all here:
To the tourists who did not want to be filmed: you’re free to leave. You have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place, but more importantly, you can just walk away…and goodness gracious, look up! I’ve never seen more CCTV cameras anywhere in the world, even in Beijing, than I see in London.
The group suggested they just wanted to celebrate the new year without being on camera, suggesting they were fearful of who might see them.
I want to be careful here.
The point here is not to denigrate any Chinese person or the Chinese system…we can save that for another day.
But can you imagine me strolling into Shanghai and demanding a right to exercise free speech because I was from the United States? I’d be laughed at. Called a fool. Mocked. Labeled an Ugly American…and rightfully so.
When in Rome…
CONCLUSION
A Chinese group walking through St. Pancras stopped to listen and admire a Brit playing piano, only to demand he delete his livestream when it became clear they were on his video.
I feel like there is more to the story, but I was so fascinated by this I watched most of the 37 minutes (not the boogie woogie piano music, which is not my style…) and there really does not appear to be anything missing.
It’s pretty rich when a group from a country in which there is no right to privacy insists on such a right in a public place of a free(er) nation.
Travel tip: when you are a guest in a country, you should not act like you own the place…
Life tip: no matter your citizenship, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the UK.
image: Brendan Kavanagh/YouTube
As an American who’s ethnically Han, just like I would respect local rules these tourists should learn a little bit more before acting like this. Unfortunately, assclowns like this give all tourists who are ethnically Chinese a bad name.
You’re name is Hal? Hal the Han? Lol
When in a country you abide by their laws or risk being punished for breaking the law. Seems like an easy concept.
People always talk about Americans but I’ve seen two cases of Canadians being idiots. In one case they police had to be called. Idiots are everywhere, sadly.
Canadians are absolutely the worst in many Asian countries.
Every culture and country has idiots. China is clearly no different.
Amazing post, Matthew. Like you I was fascinated watching the video.
@Stuart … I recommend Stride Piano : Willie The Lion Smith , James P. Johnson , Fats Waller … those guys could Stride.
@Stuart … check our “Carolina Shout” by James P. Johnson .
The Chinese dude sounded so righteous and so sure of himself too. What a clown!
Good show. It always amazes me how quickly things can escalate.
The officer was right to be concerned about being filmed – her behavior was atrocious.
Right? At first I thought she was a flight attendant. But she makes less than a flight attendant so I should probably give her some slack.
“The point here is not to denigrate any Chinese person or the Chinese system…we can save that for another day.”
So there is a day when it’s ok to denigrate people of certain ethnicities? ok
By another day I meant the Chinese system, which is morally bankrupt. No person should be denigrated except for the content of their character.
@Matthew … +1 . Exactly so .
Retweet
I don’t know where you’ve been, Matthew, but Chinese tourists have had a much-deserved horrible reputation for a long time, and all over the world. American’s are no angels, for sure…neither are Brits. But let’s not pretend that the Chinese haven’t been atrocious for quite some time. We’re talking about a country that had to publish tips on how NOT to be awful tourists. And that’s before you add the clearly CCP angle to this video, which has come out as a result of this video going viral (Streisand effect in full play for these folks) and some of the identities of the Chinese being made public and highlighting connections to party members. Reddit has multiple posts in multiple subreddits about this incident.
Americans*…sans apostrophe.
Got a link to where this is getting attention elsewhere? Would love to learn more about these oh-so-entitled, elitist communist goons.
Worth noting: Goons trained by fascist governments (China, Russia) love to try and conflate legitimate criticism for acting like a complete ass (or mass murder of innocent noncombatants) with “racism”. When confronted with clear evidence of Russian war crimes, Russians and their apologists quickly claim you are being “racist” for calling the out for brutal crimes – as if “Russian” was a race. Same thing here. It’s just mis-direction and nonsense to distract. These dirt-bags have been trained well. Note how triggered all of these clowns were by the word “communist” – they immediately started crying “racism” and feigning an assault. Shameful, dishonest scumbags.
It’s got nothing to do with being ethnically Chinese or Asian, zero to do with “race” in any way – that’s laughable. It’s got nothing to do with being a poor victim who has grown up in a dystopian hellhole. It’s all about their behavior and the abject lies their society is built on. These are the Chinese elites who are perfectly fine with their evil (yes, evil) government, and who benefit from it.
I’m looking forward to watching what happens to these clowns and others like them when China’s house of cards collapses and their next revolution sweeps through that long-suffering nation. I’m sure they will be glad to run away to free countries like the UK and sing God Save The King when the trials begin. Slime-balls.
The Chinese that can afford to travel abroad are among the worst individuals, as DCAWABN points out.
I strongly disagree with the notion that one can categorize an entire group of people based on their nationality or financial status. Making sweeping generalizations about the character of individuals from a particular background is not only unfair but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes. It is crucial to recognize the diversity within any group and refrain from passing judgment on people solely because of where they are from or their economic status. Such broad assertions lack nuance and contribute to the perpetuation of prejudiced views. It’s essential to treat each person as an individual, assessing them based on their actions and character rather than making unfounded assumptions.
“The Chinese that can afford to travel abroad”
What do you mean by “The Chinese”?
Chinese nationals from the PRC or ethnic Han Chinese from: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, UK, Canada, and the United States?
Following this incident, they returned to their hotel where another Chinese couple was allowing their young child to move his bowels on the floor in the lobby.
After spending 1 month in Japan on a dream trip just 4 months back, I can officially say that Chinese are some of the rudest people I’ve met. Really learned a lot about them since there were so many Chinese tourists. They would literally just stick their arm over me to reach for food during breakfast. So rude. Also, extremely loud and abrasive. (and I thought Americans where loud..I’m American by the way) Guess they were shocked when the British guy didn’t give in. That British guy handled things REALLY well. Kept his cool, his humor, had very logical arguments. I’ll be in back in London in a few months, if I see him that guy, I’ll applaud him.
The group doesn’t appear to be typical tourists; tourists generally don’t mind being included in a YouTuber’s video. It seems like they were creating promotional content themselves, and Chinese commentators speculated that they might have an exclusivity deal, hence the importance of not being seen in advance. This speculation is supported by the recognition of some faces from other content.
However, their approach seems to have shifted from clumsy to inappropriate to rude. Despite a decent accent, there is a noticeable lack of skill and nuance. There appears to be a sense of entitlement, although, in reality, they were asking for a favor. When their request was denied, they quickly escalated the situation, bringing up image rights (which don’t apply in this circumstance either in China or London), hints of racial discrimination (there is a little bit of it based on the pianist’s language although though nothing substantial), appeals to national pride (probably provoked by the repeated reference to “communist” but unfortunately that’s a truth in it even though Chinese people may not enjoy the association), and even claims of sexual harassment (unfounded).
When seeking assistance from others, it’s essential to be polite, deescalate, and gracefully accept a refusal. Unfortunately, this group failed to do so, becoming a subject of mockery both internationally and in Mainland China. It’s highly regrettable, and reflects poorly on the propaganda machinery employed by the Chinese government.
Regrettable? Not at all – I thought this was AWESOME!
The Chinese folks were complete assholes. Not because they are Chinese, not because they are communists (though that goes a long way to explain their behavior), not because they were absolutely clueless. But because they were complete ass-rockets. Entitled. Arrogant. Selfish. Tone-deaf. Stunningly ignorant about basic human interactions. The cop was an idiot, too.
More people should see this. This is the best thing I’ve seen on the internets for a long time. Bravo!
“The Chinese folks were complete assholes. Not because they are Chinese…”
Exactly – there’s is plenty of that behavior here in the US too. How is it so many people grew up to be so maladjusted?
+1
Ok racist, we get it you hate Chinese and Russians.
Send more money to your nazis in Ukraine
Hah, hah, fascist troll.
News flash for you: Russians are not a race.
You’re a liar and a moron. Neither of which are races, either.
There is something really off about the Chinese people in this video. Why are they standing around a London train station waving CCP flags and holding these yellow flyers that purportedly say that you can’t record them? Who is the young white guy with them also carrying a flag? Their is a lot more to this than just tourists who think that all the world is China.
If you are talking about the big guy, he is the boyfriend of one of the Chinese girls.
The girl mentioned that they are from Chinese TV. If so they are definitely Communist Party members since all media in China is state run.
The irony is that they’re going to be way more noticed now vs. if they had just kept their mouths shut.
I saw this video and was infuriated. These arent regular Chinese tourists. The definitely have a connection to the CCP. BTW to say the Chinese are communists really isnt correct. They are hard core fascists’. If they were communists, they would not be so rich but I digress.
They have been trained well as the first thing the male handler squaked about was Dr K being a racist. My how well they have learned. Thats supposed to paralyze people laden with white guilt. Thankfully Dr K wasnt having it.
The worst thing wasnt the Chinese it was the policewoman. She had the chutzpah to complain aabout Dr K and his friend videoing and she herself had a camera as well. but the citizens video wont get lost, denied access, redacted, and/or muted at inopportune times. She actually said when he pointed out they were waving the communist flag that, “You cant say that”. WHAT??? What a disgrace.
This has drawn so much negative attention when they could have just kept their mouths shut. Had they done that nobody would know who they were but this Dr K is finding out a whole bunch of stuff about these cretins.
Great video. I’ll have to go watch him play in St. Pancras. It’s interesting seeing that cop try to trample the guy’s rights, though overall, she treated him with much more respect than a law breaking cop in the US would have paid him. Ultimately they did their job by upholding the law, but it sure would be nice if cops actually defended the innocent.
well if this guy kept recording and publsihed this online (youtube) to mock the chinese, is that illegal? it seems like that is what happened eventually. Of course, the chinese should have just chosen a location where they are not on camera if they wanted to enjoy his music but not to be in the video but they are kinda stupid to argue and even say, hey I am also british…
No, showing the whole world what a complete ass someone is, that’s not illegal. At least not in the UK.
Of course, in China, North Korea, Russia, and other fascist countries it can be very illegal and quite dangerous – if you mock the wrong asshole.
But this took place in the UK, which has a long and proud tradition of embarrassing and mocking idiots who deserve to be embarrassed and mocked. The flag-waving clowns in this video seem to have forgotten they were not in China any more – they seemed to be used to getting police to do their bidding to shut people up.
If this had taken place in China (or Russia, or North Korea), the piano payer would probably have been arrested, dragged off to some gulag, tortured, and then probably executed.
Fascism is fascism, no matter what flag and Dear Leader they salute to. Something we all should remember.
Terrifying. If this happened in Germany then they would have a case, you can’t disseminate an image as it violates personal rights, I assume that’s like China… LOL… but in the UK it’s fine.
The WPC is a disgrace. This is two tier policing.
More concerning is that one of the women is photographed with the Chancellor of the Exchequer at a party and it’s said the other woman has case against her in China for violating image rights… you can’t make it up. We know the Chancellor has such a penchant.
Since this happened, St. Pancras have closed off the piano.
Learned on a couple trips how rude Chinese people are.
They didn’t forget they weren’t in China, They are in China. Tomorrow the nine dash line will extend from the South China Sea all the way to Great Britain. They were standing there waving the flags as evidence to claim Britain. Sorry mates.
What is your definition of “Chinese”?
Are you only referring to Chinese nationals from the PRC? What about ethnic Chinese from Taiwan, Hong Kong, , Singapore, or even the ethnic Chinese living in the west?
Ask any African what they think about the behavior of Chinese that have invaded the continent.
Ask any African what they think about the behavior of Europeans that invaded the continent and sold their people to slavery.
Typical Chinese – Taiwanese wouldn’t have cared.
If they were concerned about the filming of them..they should have moved.. Hearing that the mall has stopped the piano playing means the Chinese and their rude behavior and claims…WON!!! very sad..Hope this guy finds another place to play in public!!
Something doesn’t smell right. Can you explain why Kavanaugh also posted this video of the same Chinese group dancing with him and playing piano?
This was before. They apparently did not realize they were being streamed.
They stupidly drew even more attention to themselves by ineffectually disputing with Kavanaugh. Right up there in tourist hall of shame.
They should have just asked Kavanaugh to blur their faces if they were concerned about privacy.
If they were so concerned about privacy, they should have stayed in China, where the government watches everyone everywhere all the time. Oh, wait…
I don’t get it. Their behaviour is completely illogical. They complain about being on camera and in the recording of the livestream. As someone who is camera shy myself, I understand this. But then why not just remove yourself from the scope of the camera? Why deliberately stay in the camera lens, extending your coverage and calling attention to yourself? Plus who walks around London with a Chinese flag? This was definately a set up or publicity stunt of some kind.
@Lynn … I also asked the same ?
Because as Communist Party elites, they are used to being able to command uniformed thugs to simply drag anyone they don’t like off to be tortured or killed, and they think nothing of it.
Their magic powers don’t work that way outside fascist dictatorships.
Who knows!!
Or just a group of state sponsored actors portrayed as Chinese tourists running a false flag propaganda trying to frame China.
MI6 espionage in the age of TikTok.
Maybe on orders of the Windsors.
It’s interesting that these Chinese people are using the same grievance politics as the left. Immediately play the victim, make accusations of racism and ect.
Lots of the left use the politics of distraction to create issues that don’t exist as a way to scare their voters into voting for them.
We saw it this month in Germany when the failure government created a fake astroturf “movement” against their “far-right” Boogeyman. All because they support a plan a majority of Europeans support. (Deportation of illegal migrants).
But that’s precisely what YOU did a few replies above!
No wonder Chinese looking ppl. in US and Europe are sneared at when behaving stupidly. All these kind of tourists are tolerated because of their money, otherwise they will get the real treatment.
Of course for some anyone Asian looking is viewed with disdain and suspicion. We never learned from WWII when Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps and had their assets frozen and seized.
You’re quite right; London is the CCTV capital of the world.
It’s because of terrorism fears
What a bizarre reaction. If you don’t want to be filmed in a public place, just walk away? Did they really think they could hang out in one of the busiest train stations in London and not be caught on any camera or video?
If they were worried about being tracked by the Chinese government, perhaps a holiday to London wasn’t the best idea?
There is another possibility as to why the tour may not have wanted to be in the video. The Chinese government may see them on the video (and there is a much better chance of that now). When leaving their country, the Chinese government requires it’s citizens to apply for permission, an exit visa, and to provide their travel plans. As an example, if they are granted an exit visa to travel to the United States to attend a convention in NYC, they will buy a round trip airline ticket from Beijing to NYC. Then they will have a separate second itinerary for their travel outside of their authorized travel, like going to Las Vegas or other tourist destinations they want to visit in the U.S.
This could have been handled better by the tour guide. She could have been more open and honest about their concerns and maybe he would have edited it out for their safety. As for the man repeating not to touch her, he simply lost control, maybe due to stress of thinking what if the Chinese government finds they violated the terms of their exit visa.
I lived in China for a decade. If it’s any consolation, Chinese tourists behave appallingly within the country too.