Hong Kong in China: 20 years of remarkable progress

    Updated: 2017-07-21 06:02

    (HK Edition)

      Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按鈕 0

    I was there when China took back Hong Kong from Britain in 1997. I saw the fireboats, dragon dances, military tattoos and last governor Chris Patten's tears. I had been an expatriate academic in Hong Kong since 1985 and was returning from Australia to witness this historic event.

    Colonial Hong Kong in its last decade was regarded as a plum posting for Western expatriates. The insulting epithet applied by Hooray Henrys in England to their friends who left for Hong Kong was "FILTH" - "failed in London, try Hong Kong". This cultural sneer was reflected in the absence of the very top British corporations from a significant and high-profile presence in walking distance of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The big hongs then were not well known in London itself. Jardines, Swire, Standard Chartered and HSBC were prominent in 1990s Hong Kong but in London did not really sit at the same table as Unilever, ICI, Lloyds or Barclays. For academics a stint in Hong Kong might add significantly to their financial capital but was not highly regarded by British university employers for the most part. Poor old Patten was seen in some quarters as an example of FILTH after losing his parliamentary seat in England, then being catapulted into the governor's mansion. Many British expatriates found his belated attempt to introduce more democracy naive and dangerous, not because they were against democracy (though some undoubtedly thought the franchise should exclude the less-propertied members of society) but rather because they thought it should have been progressively introduced much earlier, under a strong governor such as the iconic Murray MacLehose in the 1970s.

    The "one country, two systems" policy never meant that one system was full-on democracy, especially as no such thing existed in the colony. Rather the Hong Kong system was the one they actually had: Vigorous markets, international free-ish trade, somewhat representative government, tight monetary regulation, a clean capital market and real estate as the fuel for economic momentum.

    Hong Kong in China: 20 years of remarkable progress

    Before 1997 the Freemasons were a formidable force in Hong Kong, with a six-year waiting list for membership and many members drawn from the police, legal fraternity and banks. Now there is no waiting list, few lodges and no influence. Then the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Chinese University of Hong Kong were the top universities locally and regarded in the West as good mid-level achievers. Hardly any academic employed back then would be shortlisted for a job at either institution now. The rise of Hong Kong universities to the global top 100, and the presence of HKU and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the very top table of world rankings, is a post-handover phenomenon in its entirety. It is paralleled by an increasing presence of good and great scholars from the Chinese mainland in all the top Western universities now, especially in the United States. It appears freer markets are good for scholarship but populist democracy might be bad for it. This is quite a serious point. Brexit in the United Kingdom and the trumping of Hillary Clinton's campaign in the US may not signal the end of the Enlightenment but they do not seem to reflect the outcome of calmly considered, deep and long-term analysis. China's efforts over recent years, especially the Belt and Road Initiative, do seem like the outcome of that admirable process.

    The most striking contrast for me between today's Hong Kong and 1997's however is the landscape. In 1997 the harbor skyline was dominated by HSBC, the Bond Centre, the Bank of China and the Shun Tak Centre. Planes were still scraping the air over Kowloon as they came into land at Kai Tak. Within a year of the handover, Hong Kong had a world-class airport at Chek Lap Kok which still achieves the very top ranking in users' polls. Lantau Island has come alive with airport support facilities, Disneyland and a host of new suburban developments. Before 1997 Lantau attracted devout Buddhists but few others, despite being much larger than Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. The Kowloon skyline now has imaginatively designed skyscrapers. The MTR has digested the old Kowloon-Canton Railway and goes nearly everywhere in Hong Kong where there are communities. We are about to be able to drive from Hong Kong to Macao or Zhuhai by land bridge. That in turn will facilitate the coming together of Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong into a single regional innovative ecosystem able to beat any competitor in the world. The Greater Pearl City will be a lasting monument to the success of Hong Kong and its neighbor since the city returned to China.

    The author is professor of accounting in the New England Business School at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia.

    (HK Edition 07/21/2017 page11)

    中文字幕无码成人免费视频| 亚洲AV无码一区二三区| 亚洲 欧美 国产 日韩 中文字幕| 日韩综合无码一区二区| 全球中文成人在线| 18禁免费无码无遮挡不卡网站| 无码夫の前で人妻を犯す中字| 超清无码无卡中文字幕| av大片在线无码免费| 一区二区三区人妻无码| 最近免费中文字幕高清大全| 中文字幕色婷婷在线视频| 国产无遮挡无码视频免费软件| 无码国产精品一区二区免费式直播 | 亚洲一区二区三区无码中文字幕| 国产精品多人p群无码| 亚洲色中文字幕无码AV| 亚洲日本中文字幕天堂网| 亚洲欧美日韩中文在线制服| 免费无码婬片aaa直播表情| 人妻无码视频一区二区三区| 伊人久久综合精品无码AV专区| 大地资源中文第三页| 久久精品aⅴ无码中文字字幕重口| 免费a级毛片无码免费视频| 国产AV一区二区三区无码野战| 无码少妇一区二区性色AV| 超清无码无卡中文字幕| 久久亚洲AV无码精品色午夜| 无码精品国产dvd在线观看9久| 中文字幕在线播放| 欧洲精品无码一区二区三区在线播放 | 无码日韩精品一区二区三区免费 | 未满小14洗澡无码视频网站| 伊人久久无码中文字幕| 亚洲AV无码片一区二区三区| 亚洲av无码成h人动漫无遮挡| 无码人妻品一区二区三区精99| 十八禁无码免费网站| 4hu亚洲人成人无码网www电影首页| 精品久久久久久无码专区 |