The “Bus Uncle” Video Phenomenon That is Sweeping Hong Kong

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

We spend a lot of time in the US writing about Web fads, like when a video clip catches everyone’s attention and spreads faster than a “check this out” link in an old n00b’s email. The Saturday Night Live video of Natalie Portman and the now –classic “Lazy Sunday” are great examples (Although NBC was not too happy.)

That’s why we were thrilled to find that the same phenomenon is also happily sweeping Hong Kong – with a video short called the Bus Uncle (or Uncle Bus). If you aren’t up on this, here’s the story:

In late April 2006 a young bus commuter named Elvis Ho Yui Hei got annoyed when the man in front of him was speaking too loudly on his cell phone. He asked the man politely (addressing the older man as “uncle” which is a sign of respect for older people) to speak more softly and the “Uncle” proceeded to lean over his seat and rip poor Elvis a new one.

A man across the aisle named Jon Fong Wing Hang recorded the whole thing with his cell phone and uploaded in onto the net, and now the clip is spreading like wildfire. Uncle Bus as he is known kept shouting about how the matter was “Not yet resolved! Not yet resolved! Not yet resolved! …I face pressure. You face pressure. Why do you provoke me?” and those phrases are now the “in” lingo in Hong Kong. Ask someone to do something and if they decline with an “I face pressure” response, and you have been Uncled-bussed.

Uncle Bus himself was actually not known until reporters began combing the bus route in hopes of spotting him. He was later located and lives in a tiny 360 square foot apartment with 5 cats and identified as 51 year old Roger Chan.

Many people who watched the video have said that Uncle Bus was very impolite, and in fact the man who filmed the clip did so to gather evidence in case violence broke out (it did not.) The transcript does show that Chan used many vulgar phrases and was definitely rude. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the best part is the response phase of a video fad – people are doing “mash ups” of the Uncle Bus video and setting it to music. There are rap versions, classical and so on. There are “I have Pressure” T-Shirts for sale, and even the Government is considering using the video as an etiquette lesson for commuters.

Here are some Uncle Bus video clips from YouTube:
Bus Uncle Original w/ English Subtitles
Bus Uncle (Adagio For Strings) Mash Up
Bus Uncle (Darth Vader Version) Mash Up
Uncle Bus (Unsolved-Mix)
–Even More Uncle Bus Videos

More History of Uncle Bus
Uncle Bus English Transcript
Source: Wikipedia

We Say: What else? I face pressure. You face pressure, it’s not yet resolved.