The National - News

China’s rise negates the allure of Hong Kong

Mainland tourism to the city has fallen and Hong Kong’s cultural clout has been blunted by China’s global ascendance

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BEIJING // When Naomi Wu was a teenager, she and her friends would ride the train from mainland China to Hong Kong several times a year to shop for clothes and designer handbags. But the computer programmer, 23, who lives across the border, now shuns a city that has lost its allure for many mainlander­s two decades after Britain returned the island to China.

“Chinese gadgets are as good or better than foreign,” said Ms Wu, who prefers to shop online from her home in Shenzhen, which has transforme­d from a backwater into an industrial powerhouse.

“There’s lots of new malls that are well- designed, and new buildings everywhere else. There are new subway lines and lots of parks.

“Shenzhen built more skyscraper­s last year than the United States and Australia combined.” As Hong Kong gets ready to mark the July 1 anniversar­y of the handover, it is increasing­ly eclipsed by China, which has become a global superpower with a vibrant consumer and cultural scenes of its own.

Beijing and Shanghai boast a sophistica­ted array of bars and restaurant­s as well as sprawling shopping centres and arts districts that put space-starved Hong Kong to shame.

China has leapfrogge­d from seventh to second place among top economies since 1997, and has become a vital engine of global growth, while Hong Kong has fallen from 24th to 33rd place.

Import taxes on foreign goods are still much higher in China, but shoppers who had flocked to luxury flagship stores along Hong Kong’s glittering Canton Road are now also visiting cities such as Paris and New York.

The changing fortunes have led to the steady decline of mainland tourist visits to Hong Kong, with the number falling about 7 per cent last year from 2015.

Disneyland opened in Shanghai last year, attracting millions as visitor numbers sag at its older sister theme park in Hong Kong. And Hong Kong’s waning cultural clout has led to fewer of its movies being shown on mainland screens after the dominance of its cinema in the “golden age” during the 1990s. “Hong Kong films and Hong Kong music have faded from our lives, and there is a variety of mainland- produced music and shows,” said a trading manager at a state-owned enterprise by the name of Li.

“China’s rapid economic developmen­t has greatly reduced the gap between the mainland and Hong Kong.”

As the scales tip, there is growing resentment in Hong Kong over the perceived “mainlandis­ation” of the city as China extends its influence in a range of areas, from business to politics, education to media.

Some see this as a way for Beijing to tighten its grip on Hong Kong and erode the city’s identity and cherished freedoms – fears reflected in mass student-led rallies calling for democratic reform in 2014.

One of the results is that the mainland tourists who continue to visit Hong Kong do not always feel welcome. Ms Wu was shocked to hear open criticism aired on the subway during a recent visit. “Mainlander­s go to Hong Kong and spend lots of money, but then get sneered at for our trouble. I speak Cantonese, and they are still rude to me,” she said, referring to the dialect spoken in the city. Manners have long been a source of tension, with Hongkonger­s complainin­g about what they view as the unrefined social habits of the “nouveau riche” mainlander­s. The growing tension is a hot topic on China’s internet forums. On Zhihua, a question- and- answer site, about 1,400 people posted responses to this question: “Fewer and fewer people go to Hong Kong to shop. Why?”

“I loved the shops and restaurant­s, the public transport was so convenient and people were very friendly,” wrote Jennifer Liu.

“But the last time I went there was a very different atmosphere. On the streets, young people would glare at me.

“Since then, the news I see from Hong Kong is very strange to me, full of hostility.”

But mainland Chinese still lack the personal freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong, which remains semi-autonomous under the “one country, two systems” deal agreed to before the handover. Thousands make the move to Hong Kong each year to pursue higher education and work opportunit­ies, and the city’s redhot property market is fuelled by Chinese seeking a place to park their cash.

That is part of an exodus of those with the means to secure property and passports abroad, in search of cleaner air, safer food and better opportunit­ies.

“Hong Kong’s attractive­ness to the mainland Chinese is in decline but many people still want to go to Hong Kong for education because they feel it is safe there,” said Qiao Mu, a media studies scholar in Beijing.

“They still long to live in a society that is free.”

 ?? Bloomberg ?? Fewer mainlander­s are visiting Hong Kong, above, as China’s vibrant consumer and cultural scenes keep them home.
Bloomberg Fewer mainlander­s are visiting Hong Kong, above, as China’s vibrant consumer and cultural scenes keep them home.

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