← "Teacup in a storm" | Return to Main Page | "Daily linklets 19th July" → | TrackBack (0)

July 19, 2005

You are on the invidual archive page of The Monte Carlo of the East. Click Simon World weblog for the main page.
The Monte Carlo of the East

Philip Bowring on Hong Kong's identity crisis in Time gets it right. Read the whole thing, but some excerpts:

Monte Carlo is a metaphor for things that Hong Kong should stand for—quality, wealth, low taxes and a sort of independence...Hong Kong must adjust to the fact that it is not the only capitalist city or financial center in China, is not the biggest port, is no longer a manufacturing hub or a unique political anomaly in a postimperial age.

The most attractive aspect of Hong Kong is precisely that it is so different from the rest of China...Its leaders should stop stressing cultural and racial homogeneity and instead celebrate the roles of Nepalis, Americans, Filipinos, Malaysians, Nigerians and, yes, British in making Hong Kong what it is.

He goes on to discuss Disneyland, casinos, the harbour and the West Kowloon Cultural boondoggle. What it boils down to simple: Hong Kong needs a shot of self-confidence. It is a world city suffering an ongoing inferiority complex. It should just get on with being itself.

In a similar vein Dave discusses how the Taiping Rebellion helped populate Hong Kong. Again worth a read, but the conclusion bears repeating:

China's trouble and loss has historically often been Hong Kong's gain. What does this illustrate about the Chinese feelings of ambivalence about the city, and what role it can play in China going forward? What will it mean for Hong Kong now that China has grown strong for the first time in the 160-year history? Will it gain alongside the behemoth, or will it gradually fade into obscurity?
Dave is looking for feedback on these questions.

I'm very pleased to say that Dave is going to become a guest blogger on this very site, with a post later today. He and one other special guest blogger will take over posting duties from Friday afternoon as I enjoy 2 weeks of Australian winter. I'm extrememly lucky to have two such high quality writers accepting these guest blogging spots (I'll introduce the other person on Friday).

 posted by Simon on 07.19.05 at 10:11 AM in the




Trackbacks:

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/102013

Send a manual trackback ping to this post.


Comments:

Thanks for the plug Simon!

As for the always excellent Bowring, I thought his article really defined the crossroads that Hong Kong was in. I found myself loving all the suggestions he made, and some turns of his phrases were spectacular, in particular:

"Without the sparks that fly from its freedoms, Hong Kong will never translate its cultural hopes into realities that justify bold architectural monuments."

Yet as I read his prescription for making Hong Kong a better place, I was struck by how much intervention that would require on the part of the government. You could already argue that we have a very interventionist government, but it seems to create the utopian Hong Kong that would retain and grow its competitive advantages we would fundamentally need to change Hong Kong's character. I think Hong Kong's fundamental problem is that people here don't like thinking long-term, don't like investing in anything without immediate returns. To get them to do what Bowring suggests, you'd need to convince people here what the payoff here is for investing in the arts or in the environment.

Arguably more people are appreciating how that pay-off works, but not enough of them are in positions of power...

 posted by: David on 07.19.05 at 04:16 PM [permalink]

In other places there are often tax incentives or subsidies to encourage that kind of pay-off. Again, that's not ideal. It comes down to creating long run incentives that can overcome people's natural short term greed.

 posted by: Simon on 07.19.05 at 05:06 PM [permalink]




Post a Comment:

Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember your info?







Disclaimer
All content, including comments, on this site operates under a Creative Commons Licence. The content except for quotes reflect my personal opinions and not those of my employer, family, co-workers, fellow Sydney Swans supporters or anyone else. The comments section is open but if you write it, you stand by it. I take no responsibility for comments. I may, at my sole discretion, moderate, alter or remove comments. I reserve the right to unashamedly change the rules as I go along. All emails are publishable unless otherwise marked. If you don't like it, use the little x in the top right of your browser.