McRefugee is a neologism and McWord referring to those who stay overnight in a 24-hour McDonald's fast food restaurant. [1]
The term was first created in Japanese: makku nanmin (マック難民). [2] That term had been largely replaced by nettokafe nanmin (ネットカフェ難民), literally "net café refugee". In Japan, most McDonald's restaurants are operated around the clock. McRefugees in Japan were reportedly mostly day laborers and some high school aged teenagers who chose to stay at McDonald's restaurants overnight as a cheaper alternative to net cafés. [2]
The phenomenon and word spread to Hong Kong as mahk naahn màhn (麥難民), [3] where some McRefugees play video games and are known as McGamers. [4] McDonald's opened 24-hour branches in mainland China in September 2006, [5] which quickly attracted McRefugees. [5]
In early October 2015, the death of a woman in a 24-hour Hong Kong McDonald's restaurant in Kowloon Bay brought attention to the phenomenon of McRefugees. [6] McRefugees can be found in other 24-hour branches as well. [7] [8] Among the more than 1,600 homeless people in Hong Kong in 2015, about 250 were McRefugees. [9]
In 2018, a study conducted by the Society for Community Organization found that there were 384 McRefugees in Hong Kong. [10] In August of the same year, a movie concerning about this topic started to film in Hong Kong, with the title I'm Livin' It , mimicking the slogan of the restaurant, "I'm loving it". [11] [12]
A capsule hotel, also known in the Western world as a pod hotel, is a type of hotel developed in Japan that features many small, bed-sized rooms known as capsules. Capsule hotels provide cheap, basic overnight accommodation for guests who do not require or who cannot afford larger, more expensive rooms offered by more conventional hotels.
An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a café that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage is generally charged by the minute or part of hour. An Internet café will generally also offer refreshments or other services such as phone repair. Internet cafés are often hosted within a shop or other establishment. They are located worldwide, and many people use them when traveling to access webmail and instant messaging services to keep in touch with family and friends. Apart from travelers, in many developing countries Internet cafés are the primary form of Internet access for citizens as a shared-access model is more affordable than personal ownership of equipment and/or software. Internet cafés are a natural evolution of the traditional café. As Internet access rose many pubs, bars, and cafés added terminals and eventually Wi-Fi hotspots, eroding the distinction between the Internet café and normal cafés.
McDull is an anthropomorphic pig cartoon character that was created in Hong Kong by cartoonist Alice Mak and Brian Tse. Although McDull first made his appearance as a supporting character in the McMug comics strips, he has since become a central character in his own right. McDull has featured in several comics, TV shows, and films, and has become extremely popular in Hong Kong and East Asia.
A McWord is a word containing the prefix Mc-, derived from the first syllable of the name of the McDonald's restaurant chain. Words of this nature are either official marketing terms of the chain, or are neologisms designed to evoke pejorative associations with the restaurant chain or fast food in general, often for qualities of cheapness, inauthenticity, or the speed and ease of manufacture. They are also used in non-consumerism contexts as a pejorative for heavily commercialized or globalized things and concepts.
Cha chaan teng, often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan teng are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to the waves of mass migrations from Hong Kong in the 1980s, they are now established in major Chinese communities in Western countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Likened to a greasy spoon cafe or an American diner, cha chaan tengs are known for eclectic and affordable menus, which include dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine. They draw comparisons to Western cafés due to their casual settings, as well as menus revolving around coffee and tea.
A flophouse or doss-house is a place that has very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities.
A manga café is a type of café, originating from Japan, where people can read manga. People pay for the amount of time they stay in the café. Most manga cafés also offer internet access like internet cafés and vice versa, making the two terms mostly interchangeable in Japan. Additional services include video games, television, snacks/beverages vending machines, and more. Like Japanese cafés in general, smoking is usually permitted.
Hong Kong in the 1970s underwent many changes that shaped its future, led for most of the decade by its longest-serving and reform-minded Governor, Murray MacLehose. Economically, it reinvented itself from a manufacturing base into a financial centre.
The Excelsior was a four-star hotel located at 281 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It was owned and operated by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, and served as the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group's headquarters. The Noon-day Gun is located opposite the hotel. It closed on 31 March 2019 for demolition and replacement by an office tower.
MacDonnell Road is a street in the Mid-Levels area of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.
Forum Restaurant is a Cantonese restaurant officially established in 1977. It is located at Sino Plaza, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong since 2014. Run by Hong Kong's international chef and ambassador of Chinese cuisine, Yeung Koon-yat (楊貫一), it is known for its expensive abalone dishes.
Jaimes Anthony McKee is a former professional footballer who played as a forward or winger. He is currently the assistant coach of Hong Kong U-23.
Fairwood is a fast food chain offering Chinese and Western food. Founded in December 1972 in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong, its current headquarters are located in North Point. Since that time, the company has grown to 98 outlets all over Hong Kong and 13 locations in Mainland China including major cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Beijing. Behind Café de Coral, Fairwood is the second largest fast food chain in Hong Kong and serves over 100,000 customers each day.
Net café refugees, also known as cyber-homeless, are a class of homeless people in Japan who do not own or rent a residence and sleep in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés. Although such cafés originally provided only Internet services, some have expanded their services to include food, drink, and showers. The term was coined in 2007 by a Nippon News Network documentary show NNN Document. The net café refugee trend has seen large numbers of people using them as their homes. The shifting definition of the industry partly reflects the dark side of Japanese economy, whose precarity has been noted since the downfall of the national economy that has lasted for decades.
Aberdeen is an area on southwest Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District. While the name "Aberdeen" could be taken in a broad sense to encompass the areas of Aberdeen (town), Wong Chuk Hang, Ap Lei Chau, Tin Wan, Wah Kwai Estate and Wah Fu Estate, it is more often used to refer to the town only. According to the population census conducted in 2011, the total population of the Aberdeen area is approximately 80,000.
McDelivery is a McDonald's service that delivers food to the customer's door. The service was introduced in parts of the United States beginning in 1993 and is available in many Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries using motorcycle couriers. In some countries, McDelivery is available 24 hours a day, and in certain locations is free with a minimum order.
An automated restaurant or robotic restaurant is a restaurant that uses robots to do tasks such as delivering food and drink to the tables and/or cooking the food.
600 @ Toa Payoh, formerly Central Cinema (中央戏院) and Kong Chian Cinema (光前戏院), is a commercial building and a former cinema in Toa Payoh town centre which was located near the Toa Payoh Public Library. The building currently houses a pool centre, amenities, eateries and a 24 hours McDonald's fast food restaurant.
Between 1978 and 2000, a number of detention centres were formed by the Corrections Department in Hong Kong for the internment of Vietnamese refugees. As the government of Hong Kong took more actions against the refugees, tightened restrictions and deporting them to Vietnam, the centres were depopulated and disestablished over time.
I'm Livin' It is a 2019 Hong Kong drama film directed by Danny Wong in his directorial debut and starring Aaron Kwok and Miriam Yeung. The film addresses the issues of rich-poor gap in the Hong Kong society, as well as poverty and homelessness and focuses on McRefugees.