Hong Kong: Overview

I spent Thursday, February 4, 2010, through Sunday, February 7, in Hong Kong. I spent about half my time on Hong Kong Island itself and half in Kowloon, the peninsular section of the Hong Kong administrative region that's closest to the island. This entire region is commonly considered "Hong Kong" and, yes, was ruled by the British for a time.

Because this was such a short trip and I know I'm visiting H.K. again in March, I'll write only about my overall impressions that I think aren't going to change. Because I'm visiting again, I postponed some top Hong Kong sites for my next trip. Thus, I may omit describing major attractions in these posts describing this trip to Hong Kong. Forgive me. I'll see more sights on my next trip.

Hong Kong is in many ways like what Shanghai likely will become as it develops and internationalizes. Indeed, I can believe that Hong Kong is the future of Chinese cities. This is not a bad thing; it's a decent major city.

My three strongest, most distinctive memories of Hong Kong will be its pedestrian walkways, its skyline, and the look of its streets. On Hong Kong Island, in the densest part of the city, elevated walkways are widespread. You can get many places without having to cross a road. Indeed, I once walked fifteen minutes from a hip neighborhood in the hilly part of the island to the ferry building without having to wait to cross a major road. (The only times I wasn't on elevated walkways, I was crossing minor streets, often without traffic.) Also, subways (underground tunnels to cross major roads) also occur and are handy; these are more common on the peninsula side of Hong Kong.

Two, Hong Kong Island, as seen from the peninsula, has one of the world's prettiest night skylines: many skyscrapers, all outlined in lights, with some playing animated light shows on their faces.

Three, of anywhere I've been, Hong Kong has the most signs/advertisements hanging over the street. It's remarkable. (You'll see what I mean when I link to my pictures.)

Returning to my comparison of Shanghai and Hong Kong:

Like Shanghai, Hong Kong is crowded. I think in many places it needs wider sidewalks. Hong Kong also had many smokers, like Shanghai, though in Hong Kong the places they're allowed to smoke are much more restricted. For instance, restaurants and parks are generally smoke-free. In Hong Kong it's also easier to find people who speak English. Furthermore, the city feels international; there's simply more diversity in food and shops than Shanghai. For instance, while in Shanghai one can with work manage to track down a particular type of food, in Hong Kong international restaurants are common. Indeed, any hip restaurant or nightclub neighborhood seems likely to have more non-Chinese non-Hong-Kong restaurants than Chinese/Hong-Kong restaurants. It's easy to run into choices, ranging from Vietnamese to German to Indian to Mexican, that one wouldn't find in Shanghai without searching.

Continuing to compare Shanghai and Hong Kong, in Hong Kong people respect the rules more, whether this means keeping a car in its lane or not jumping the queue.

As in Shanghai, in Hong Kong I can feel the pollution in the air, though to a lesser extent. Also, like Shanghai's Bund, central parts of Hong Kong Island have significant amounts of construction and corresponding construction noise. But, a welcome change from Shanghai, throughout the Hong Kong region there are large, green parks one can use to escape from the noise and crowds of city life.

In some ways, Hong Kong feels like a cross between Shanghai and Singapore. Both have big shopping malls, and Hong Kong does have the Western influence one feels in Singapore (though it's stronger in Singapore). And I even found a hawker centre and a freshly blended juice stand in Hong Kong (though only one of each). (These are common in Singapore.)

Neat observations:

• There are many handy signs pointing out the direction of various landmarks. Good! But it's too bad street signs themselves are hard to come by -- some intersections don't have even one.
• Many handles have signs "this handle is disinfected every x hours." Also, signs discussing cleanliness, especially as in regards to bird flu, abound.

Neat facts:

• Hong Kong wasn't all on a 99 year lease -- only part of the region was. While Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, the part of the peninsula nearest the island, were ceded to the British in perpetuity, much of the rest of the peninsula, referred to as the New Territories and the outlying islands, were on the famous 99 year lease. But, the British didn't feel as if they could keep the parts ceded in perpetuity without the other 9/10ths of the colony (including, say, the airport). Instead, they returned the whole colony to China with the stipulation that China shouldn't force a change to the colony's way of life for 50 years. This means, for instance, Hong Kong keeps it own tax system, rough government structure, legal system, currency, etc.
• Hong Kong's tax system, by the way, is both amazingly simple and generous: profits are taxed at up 16.5%; salaries are taxed at 15%; there are no capital gains or sales taxes.
• Many parts of Hong Kong (10%?), including the airport and Disneyland, are built on land reclaimed from the sea. A substantial portion of government revenue (25%?) comes from these land development activities.

For future reference, openrice is Hong Kong's equivalent of yelp.