Hong Kong Soccer Fans Boo Chinese National Anthem

The boos of the Hong Kong fans were triggered by the playing of the Chinese national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.” China and Hong Kong will meet in September in Shenzhen, the mainland Chinese city that borders Hong Kong, before the two sides have a rematch in Mong Kok in November.

Hong Kong fans responded with their own poster celebrating the team’s multiethnic makeup, with black, white and Asian players all fighting for Hong Kong.

By 2014, a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that more than 53 percent of Hong Kong people could sing the anthem, up from 41 percent in 2006, even though the words are in Mandarin and most Hong Kong residents speak Cantonese.

“Hong Kong fans jeering during the national anthem, that’s truly disgusting,” the Chinese state television soccer commentator Liu Jiayuan wrote on Sina Weibo.