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Thursday, 28th March 2024

Irish Born Chinese

HK wealthier now than 10 years ago

Created Monday, 2nd July 2007, 13:17 by whykay
(NOTE: This is a migrated article from the old IBC blog)

From my last posting about HK, I mentioned that HK is still wealthy. And Beeb has an article saying that…

Some feared Beijing would crush the city’s spirit. But believe it or not, Hong Kong is 40% richer than it was 10 years ago.
Ever resourceful, its locals have bounced back from the Asian financial crisis and SARS. The economy is growing at its fastest since the 1980s. And it is still a great place to do business.

It’s amazing that HK has grown stronger and stronger. People want democracy, but you cannot rush things like that. It takes time. HK people wants to make profits, they get that, and the government fully supports that. Unlike other countries with heavy taxes on anything profitable that you make. It’s great that China is using HK as an example, but that could also be HK’s downfall. Cities in Mainland China has progressed so fast and it’s already outgrown HK. It’s shopping plazas are shinier, roads bigger, just about anything materialistic has gone more and more upmarket. So now we have Hong Kongers kowtowing to Mainlanders who are oozing with wealth, and are not afraid to show it. Hey, it’s in Chinese nature.
Unfortunately, the poor are getting poorer. Even in HK they do exist. All you have to do is look around in HK, you will see the homeless under the bridges, in parks. The elderly men and women who have to fend for themselves wheeling their carts of cardboards and tin cans in the awful summer heat.
The lights are shining bright everywhere, but the forgotten does not seem to find solace in HK (or China)'s prosperity.