A Problem That Isn't a Problem

In recent years, putonghua has become a feature of Hong Kong life. When I called Lai Wai Shing to arrange an interview, he insisted that he could not speak putonghua well. During the interview, however, it was clear that he was being modest; his putonghua was both clear and fluent. Wallace Yeung, a Hong Kong native whom I met at Mei Foo Sun Chuen, where I interviewed putonghua-ignorant Tsui Chee, volunteered to be his interpreter, albeit with a strong Cantonese accent. LAI Wai Shing's work experience is straightforward. He was employed by the Ta Kung Po in 1972, and became an economic journalist in 1980. He and his family migrated to Canada in 1995. Lai Wai Shing returned to Hong Kong in 1999 and joined the Hantec Group. He began to work as financial commentator at Hong Kong NOW TV in 2006.Lai Wai Shing has witnessed Hong Kong's huge growth and immense changes. He tells me, "I was born in 1952. At that time Hong Kong was very poor. I remember as a child living with my whole family in a small room with seven or eight people sharing one bed." Lai Wai Shing thinks of this period as the "epoch of poverty in a small fishing port." In the 1960s Hong Kong entered an era of processing industry, and in the 1970s its economy took off. In the 1980s Hong Kong's financial and service trade began to burgeon. After more than 20 years' development, Hong Kong is now a cosmopolis and an international financial center. "There are those that believe Hong Kong is at a crossroads, and that it runs the risk of being marginalized and supplanted as an international financial center by Shanghai," says Lai Wai Shing. Quite a number of people worry volubly about the future role of Hong Kong. To Lai Wai Shing, "It's a problem that isn't a problem."     

I Married a Mainlander

A decade ago, marriages between Hong Kong and mainland residents occurred mainly among old Hong Kong men and young mainland women. Sometimes the age difference could be as much as 40 years. This gender bias is no long the norm, and there are few instances of even a ten-year gap. Many Hong Kong and mainland residents now "intermarry" on far a less pragmatic basis.I married a mainland husband, isn't that the best I could hope for over the past decade?" jokes Yeung Ming Yu, in fluent putonghua. Prior to Hong Kong's return, the probability of a young Hong Kong-born woman marrying a mainlander was extremely low. A decade later, such matches are relatively commonplace. A total 6,500 Hong Kong women married mainlanders in 2006, according to statistics.     

Vying for the Cream of China’s Academic Crop

I T was not until 1998 that main- land high school students had the opportunity to study at Hong Kong universities, in restricted numbers. This year, eight Hong Kong universities became authorized to recruit undergraduates from more than 20 mainland provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. This has led to a situation where mainland and Hong Kong universities are now vying for students and going all out to attract the cream of the academic crop. In 2006, 151 out of a total of 6,342 …     

Enjoy the Mixture

AU Yeung Ying Chai is a Hong Kong resident. Although well traveled he has never considered emigrating. Despite rising housing prices and worsening air pollution, Au Yeung still loves his city of birth.Au Yeung recently bought a workshop in a remote corner of Hong Kong. He has built a kitchen on its balcony. "I think of it as my cookery laboratory," explains Au Yeung. He has recently written and published two books on Hong Kong cuisine, Eat Half Full ¨C The Climax of Life and Tastes of Hong Kong. The latter looks into the origins, development and distinct ingredients of Hong Kong cooking. It is popular on the mainland as well as in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.Hong Kong is famous as the city of cuisine. Its chefs proudly proclaim to all interested gourmands that fresh ingredients from around the world can be found in Hong Kong. ~~International cuisine is served at Hong Kong's many restaurants and hotels, often tasting better than at its place of origin. There are also enthusiastically attended cuisine festivals throughout the year at the city's 10,000 or so restaurants.     

Weighty Matters in Hong Kong

Education is a rocky journey in Hong Kong.Costs are skyrocketing and competition is fierce,as it is on the mainland.But who would have thought that even the issue of schoolbags would be so contentious?News items about how heavy schoolbooks are here,and how to lighten the load for Hong Kong’s students,are matters that everyone in the     

Retired Life

As Hong Kong inhabitants have a sense of privacy and their living space is often limited, they seldom invite people to their homes. The teahouse is the most popular meeting place. Our interview with Tsui Chee, however, was at his homeMEI Foo Sun Chuen, Hong Kong's first private residential subdistrict in Lai Chi Kok, was built in 1968. It epitomized a well off society where middle-class people, such as Tsui Chee and his family, moved in the 1970s, to live in compact communities. Tsui Chee's apartment has an area of more than 80 square meters. It is furnished in a manner similar to that of a mainland household, other than the altar left of the entrance, where devotions to deities and ancestors are made. As the principles of fengshui are commonly observed in Hong Kong, the position of the altar in the household is decided by geomancers. Hong Kong people visit temples to worship deities and also to draw bamboo slips out of a pot for divination purposes. Geomancers are employed to determine the most auspicious location of new companies and suitable layouts of houses being considered for purchase.     

Allying Our Markets

The Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets look for synergies Shanghai and Hong Kong, the two cities striving to be China’s financial center, are setting aside their competitive differ ences to discuss     

A Necessary Task

正Worries about the Central Government interfering in Hong Kong's autonomyare misunderstandings At the closing meeting of the Third Session of the 13th National People's Congress(N PC),the top legislature of China,on May 28,deputies adopted a decision to make national security laws for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).The decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for Hong Kong SAR to safeguard national security was tabled on May 22 for deliberations.The aim is to ensure that the"one country,two systems'principle is not undermined.The decision will entrust the Standing Committee of the NPC to formulate relevant     

Hengqin New Area Expands Room for Macao＇s Development

正HENGQIN New Area was established on December 16,2009 in southern Zhuhai City,Guangdong Province.Covering 106.46 square kilometers,it triples the size of Macao.Across a river from each other,the two are connected at their shortest distance by a bridge less than 200 meters long.Hengqin is 34 miles from Hong Kong.After the opening of the Hong KongZhuhai-Macao Bridge,scheduled for2016,Hengqin will become the only national new area directly connected to Hong Kong and Macao.     

Kowloon Shangri-La,Hong Kong Launches New Limousine Fleet

正In its constant pursuit to offer the highest level of services and luxury to its guests, Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong has launched a new fleet of limousines, including seven bespoke Mercedes-Benz S350L Series sedans and two five-seat Viano vans. Together with the two existing seven-seat vans, Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong     

EXTENSIVE SUPPORT

A press conference in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) on March 21 supporting a decision by the National People's Congress to improve the SAR s electoral system.The top legislature made the decision 10 days earlier to ensure Hong Kong is administered by people who love the country and the SAR.More than 2.38 million signatures were collected during a petition campaign.     

China Goes All Out to Ward off H1N1 Flu

AFTER its debut in late March, A/H1N1 flu soon spread from Mexico and the .U.S. to more than 30 coun-tries and regions worldwide, including China＇s mainland and Hong Kong, causing global alarm and prompting a flurry of precautions. By April 27 the World Health Organization had raised its pandemic alert level from Phase 3 to 4, and only two days later, to the second place register on the scale.     

EXTENSIVE SUPPORT

正A press conference in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) on March 21 supporting a decision by the National People's Congress to improve the SAR s electoral system.The top legislature made the decision 10 days earlier to ensure Hong Kong is administered by people who love the country and the SAR.More than 2.38 million signatures were collected during a petition campaign.     

Special Administrative Success

<正>On July 1,1997,the Chinese Government resumed its exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong.To guarantee its prosperity and stability,the principle of"one country,two systems"has since been implemented,al owing Hong Kong to retain its capitalist economic and political system while the Chinese mainland practices a socialist system.Except for national defense and foreign affairs,Hong Kong enjoys a high     

Fending Off Hot Money

Being a financier may not be the exclusive privilege of those working on Beijing’s Financial Street and Shanghai’s Lujiazui Area.Exporters in some remote towns are training themselves to become adept at moving cash.They are thoroughly conversant in the non-deliverable forward market in Hong Kong and the renminbi lending rate on China’s mainland.     

Horses for courses:China's equestrian scene——Posh families turn to horses,golf and piano lessons

Inever expected to ride a retired race horse in Beijing on Saturdays. But in this city of unknown equestrian quantities I have found some of the best horse-riding training and facilities I've ever encountered, anywhere. Most of the instructors come from Inner Mongolia, home to most of China's horse culture. The horses meanwhile have been brought here from stables in Hong Kong and Australia. Many are retired racehorses, mild-mannered, gentle beasts who take students gently around the training pens. Lessons aren't cheap by any standards but the qual-     

Stories of Hong Kong

At midnight of June 30, 1997 the Union Jack and the Hong Kong colonial flag over the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Center were lowered; at zero hour of July 1, the Chinese national flag and HKSAR regional flag were hoisted. Chris Patten, last governor of Hong Kong, shed tears, saying that night "marked the end of a historical era." Many Hong Kong inhabitants also wept; it was the moment that Hong Kong had awaited for 156 years.Shigekazu Sato, the consul-general of Japan in Hong Kong, recalls how pessimistic the international community was about Hong Kong's future. Many thought that it would lose its dynamism in the process of returning to the motherland. Ten years later, the US Heritage Foundation awarded Hong Kong top spot in its 2007 freedom of trade, freedom of investment, freedom of finance and protection of property rights indexes, and named it number one in its economy freedom index for the 13th successive year.     

A Link to the Future

正Trading platform between Hong Kong and Shenzhen aims to further open up the stock market Lin Hong—a 29-year-old software engineer and amateur stock trader living in Beijing—was excited to hear that the proposed Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect program had been approved.     

Getting Picked Up

This is a true story about the experience of a friend that took place in Beijing. Alexander Ronalds is the type of guy who can get things done. Let me put his life into context for you. Alex was bom in Australia and raised all over the globe. He's lived in Hong Kong, Paris and California. He likes moving around and adapts to different environments very quick- ly. So, it didn't surprise me that a few days     

Shenzhen:Pacesetter for Open China

KINGDEE is the large financial software vendor that dominates the south China market. It was in Shenzhen that Xu Shaochun, now chairman and CEO of Kingdee International Software Group Co., Ltd., successfully guided the company through its transition from a private enterprise to a software giant.Xu Shaochun came to Shenzhen ten years ago. On arrival at Shenzhen Railway Station he saw two signposts, one pointing to Shenzhen, and the other to Hong Kong. He was immediately aware of the differ-