Hong Kong

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Is Hong Kong part of China, or is it its own country? Technically, it is part of China, but the real answer lies somewhere in between. Some websites, including this one, still list it as being its own sovereign state. Entering Hong Kong, you would be forgiven for thinking it is completely separate. I arrived via train from the mainland and had to go through immigration. For westerners, it is very easy to visit Hong Kong. No visa is necessary. For mainland Chinese, it is much more difficult; they still must apply for a visa. The Chinese Yuan currency will do you no good in Hong Kong, as it has its own established currency, the Hong Kong Dollar. Be sure to bring a power adapter. The mainland electrical plug is a two prong plug, kind of like the US, but the prongs are at an angle. Hong Kong uses the same bulky 3 pronged plug that you would find in the UK. Even my mobile phone number was rendered useless, as Hong Kong has it's own international country code. The cars don't even drive on the same side of the street as in the mainland; they are still driving on the left-hand side of the road in HK.

Walking around Hong Kong reminded me more of the UK than it did of mainland China. The street signs and line paintings are similar to Old Blighty. English is printed, and spoken, just about everywhere. Even some of the shops I was used to visiting in London, like Pret A Manger, are noticeably everywhere. The truth is that not much has changed since the British handed their colony back to China in 1997, and not much will for at least the next 39 years.

Hong Kong island was ceded to the British in 1841 in the Treaty of Nanjing after the British won the First Opium War against China. In 1860 there was the sequel to the First Opium War, (The British Empire Strikes Back), and Britain gained control of the Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland, just north of Hong Kong island. In 1898, Britain obtained a 99 year lease from China for nearby Lantau island and the adjacent northern lands, called the New Territories. Foolishly, Britain had slipped in their negotiations with the Chinese and agreed that all of the British territory, including Hong Kong island, would be placed on a 99 year lease in exchange for gaining the New Territories. Had they not sought to grab more land, or at least have been stronger in their negotiations, Hong Kong would still be flying the Union Jack. Today, Hong Kong collectively refers to Hong Kong island, Kowloon, Lantau island, the New Territories, and many different smaller islands. Except for 4 years during WWII when the Japanese occupied Hong Kong, it was entirely in British hands between 1841 and 1997.

With the lease on Hong Kong coming to an end, discussions were held between Britain and China in the 1980s as to how the handover would commence. In 1984, the two countries signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Thatcher's government agreed to hand over sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997, which was Tony Blair's first year as Prime Minister. An important stipulation was that Hong Kong would retain its laws, currency, form of government, etc for at least 50 years. After that, all bets are off. The treaty indicated that Hong Kong would be known as a "Special Administrative Region." Basically, China is responsible for Hong Kong's defense and foreign affairs, and everything else is managed by Hong Kong itself. A few years before the handover, the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, introduced reforms to increase the influence of democracy. Expectedly, this was met with disapproval from the top leaders in China, but great encouragement from the citizens of Hong Kong. China would now have to work with a democratic government within their own People's Republic. As an aside, I saw Chris Patten on Question Time a few years ago and it prompted me to buy one of his books. He appears to me to be very switched on.

Enough with the histrory though, what about the city. The sexy part of Hong Kong is still the island itself. This is where it's world famous skyline sprouts from, and where most of the business is done. Hong Kong has become of the the leading financial centers of the world, and it is not shy about it at all. The names of the most recognized financial institutions in the world dot the tops of the skyscrapers and it is no cooincidence that the tallest building in Hong Kong is part of the International Finance Centre (IFC). One of the most remarkable things about the buildings here, is how they are constructed. Wherever you see buildings in construction or under repair, it is just as common here to see scaffoling surrounding the site. However, whereas we may be inclided to use steel scaffoling in the west, bamboo seems to be adequate for the job here. I've seen it used at least 10 stories up in the air. I wonder if OSHA or Health and Safety will ever approve this meathod for the US or UK?

At nighttime the skyline comes alive as a light show is put on for the tourists. Spotlights, building lights, and lasers are all used to entertain the masses to music. The engineering of such a feat is pretty remarkable, but I found the whole experience pretty cheezy.

Although there is an underground train that connects the island with Kowloon, I prefered to take the ferry across. The journey is less than five minutes and just as frequent. It seemed a much better way to breath in the city as it gradually loomed larger and larger.

Elevated walkways from the ferry allow you to rise above the traffic and connect you with the financial district. Further on and you can reach the Central-Mid-Levels escalator. The island is not flat and climbing the streets has been made a lot easier by the escalator. It is reported to be the longest in the world, but I think the escalator in the Angel tube station in London is closer to the mark. This escalator is more of a moving walkway at an incline, and it is not continuous anyway. The escalator takes you into the heart of SoHo, which refers to South of Hollywood Road. As in New York and London, Soho seems to be the place to dine and party.

Not far from Soho, I found Dr. Sun Yatsen's museum. This museum was dedicated to the life of Dr. Sun, and although I found it lacking in artifacts, it was generous in details of his life story. Dr. Sun studied medicine while a student in Hong Kong, and it was during this time that his revolutionary ideas began to take shape. Later he based his revolution from here until the Hong Kong governor issued an order banning him from the island in order to maintain favorable trade relations with China. While in exile, Dr. Sun traveled the world; to Japan, America, and Europe. At every stop he championed the cause of a democratic and free China, set up regional chapters to move his agenda forward, and most importantly raised funds to put the plan into action. On one such visit to London, he was kidnapped by Chinese opperatives and held in the Chinese embassy; about to be deported back to China with certain consequences. Luckily, the plot was foiled by his close friend, the dean of his medical school. His account of this episode was published into a book which immediatly raised his profile both in China and abroad. The medical school background and calls for revolution echo that of another charismatic figure who would be born only 2 years after Dr. Sun's death. Although Che Guevara would live to see his revolution fulfilled, Dr. Sun died without seeing his vision fully realized. The more I learn about Dr. Sun, the more interesting he becomes. I had never heard of him before my trip to China, and he has easily made it into my list of biographies to read.

A quick ferry ride over to the island of Lantau brought me face to face, after a few stairs, with the tallest outdoor Buddha statue in the world. I think it may be the biggest bronze one as well. It's hard to keep track. There are so many Buddha statues throughout Asia, and they all seem to boast about what classifys them as the best Buddha in the world. It seems like I have visited Buddahs that can lay claim to being the oldest, tallest, fattest, indoor, outdoor, bronze, sandlewood, etc. At any rate, it is an impressive sight, especially from a distance, but hardly ancient as it was constructed in the 1990s. While I was on Lantau island with Sean, we got to witness one of the Dragon Boat races that was being hosted here. These are long thin boats, kinda like canoes, with rowers closely sat together, two abreast. The boats race against each other with fierce competition and the crews train all year for it. We saw a few races, but the spectator areas are pretty far away from the action, and it ended up looking more interesting on the tourist brouchure.

More exciting is the cable car journey that takes you from the top of Lantau island all all the way down across the sea, and towards the airport. It's a spectacular sight. The airport itself is a bit of a modern marvel. It was completed the year after Hong Kong's Chinese handover. The old airport was in Kowloon and was surrounded by tall buildings. Apparantly, you could see people having breakfast in their apartments from your plane seat as it landed! The new airport was made by leveling 2 islands and reclaiming more land to make a huge base. The airport is open 24 hours, is first class, and a pleasure to spend time in. At least that's what I'm hoping as I'm spending tonight here in preparation for my early morning flight tomorrow.

I found Hong Kong to be an oasis of civilization after having spent the previous month on the mainland. There is very little spitting, hardly any haggling, people aren't always trying to sell you something, and even the honk honking has seemed to disappear. Although I still wouldn't drink the tap water, things feel cleaner and that "China smell" doesn't seem to permuate everything. It is still a step above Shanghai and has no equal on the mainland yet. Of course all of this has little to do with China and everything to do with Britain. I can't help but be reminded of the movie "Bridge Over The River Kwai." The movie is about British WWII POWs being forced to build a bridge for a Japanese railroad to link Burma. Alec Guiness (later to play Obi Wan Kenobi), plays the senior officer in the camp. Instead of constructing an inferior bridge, he siezes the opportunity to show his captors what superior British engineering and organization can accomplish; all the while maintaining a stiff upper lip. His motivation was to increase the morale of his troops, and in a way stick it to the Japanese. His absolute confidence in eventual Allied victory allowed him to direct the construction of a superior work of engineering which would be the marvel of its peers for years to come. Thankfully, Hong Kong has escaped the same fate as the Burma bridge and has continued to show China what a model Chinese city can be.

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Photos

Night Magic
Hong Kong skyline at night.

Bank Of China Building
This is signature trademark of the Hong Kong skyline and the star of the lightshow. Its edges flash in all sorts of ways. At one point it looks like a snake is slithering all over the building.

Hong Kong up high
This is from the viewpoint after ridding the peak tram.

Here Comes The Bride
This is how brides in Hong Kong used to arrive at their weddings. Their feet were not allowed to touch the ground and their faces were not allowed to see the sky. Now they just use a Mercedes.

Resistence Is Futile; Prepare to be Assimilated
Here is a propoganda leaflet dropped by the Japanese onto Hong Kong.

Dragonboat Z
Here's a close-up of the bow of a dragon boat. It's probably the only good picture I got of the event.

Big Buddha in da House
He's Big. He's Bronze. He's Buddha.

HK Airport
An engineering marvel and a pleasant place to spend the night.

Bamboozled
Who needs steel for scaffoling when you have bamboo?

Move On Up
This is supposed to be the world's longest escalator, only it is more of an inclided moving walkway than an escalator.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen
A man on a mission.

HSBC Building
Not quite as classic as the original in Shanghai

It's a lot to tram in here
Tram riding down the street in Hong Kong