Tensions between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland have escalated again due to a viral video of a Chinese mainland mother defending her 2-year-old toddler for urinating on the side of a street in Hong Kong while a young Hongkonger was trying to photograph the scene. A well-known Hong Kong journalist criticized the mainland couple on her Weibo account, but mainland Net users fired back.

As details haven't been fully disclosed, the media should not make hasty comments just based on online videos from the ideological point of view. But there are some points that can be proved by the existing footage.

First, the parents of the toddler did help him urinate on the street, which does not conform to regulations in Hong Kong. It is justified that passers-by stopped them.

Second, however, the way the Hongkongers did it went too far. What they did was not kindly reminding or helpful, but taking pictures of the little boy, which was unbearable to his parents.

Third, both sides are to blame. Mainlanders and Hongkongers will have unpleasant sentiments. Mainlanders should admit that the young couple were wrong to let their child urinate on the street and the Hong Kong public should acknowledge that the behavior of young passers-by was improper. Hong Kong society should discourage such an attitude toward mainland tourists.

Most mainlanders admit that some tourists have behaved in an uncivilized manner in Hong Kong and believe they should try their best to "do in Rome as the Romans do." If they do have uncivilized behavior, that's because they know little of Hong Kong's norms or they cannot discipline themselves.

Hong Kong society should adopt a tolerant attitude toward these mainland tourists.

The radical passers-by in Hong Kong tried to show their moral superiority while they only revealed the vulgar side of the region.

There have been cases of Westerners who behave in an uncivilized manner in Hong Kong, but it's rare to see Hongkongers react fiercely to them.

Some Hongkongers adopt a discriminatory attitude toward their mainland peers, but they are actually discriminating against themselves. They try to declare distance from mainlanders and intimacy with foreign cultures.

After all, Hong Kong has already returned to China. It is normal that unpleasant sentiments occur between Hong Kong and the mainland. While the mainland acknowledges the defect in the mentality of Hong Kong society, it should show its magnanimity and there's no need to politicize any of the frictions between them.

Mainland society should also be clear that the Hong Kong government and its mainstream society will not indulge those insulting mainland tourists.