This week, my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of visiting that kingdom on the other side of the hills from Shenzhen known as Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a symbol of Asian modernity. It is a cosmopolitan outpost of the former British empire, and although it is just like any other global mega-city (a metropolis teaming with Americans, Europeans, Australians, and Indians) it has many characteristics that have been defined and influenced by the greater Chinese diaspora community. Hong Kong's fortunate history has decorated the island with a jewel lined shore of brightly lit skyscrapers obscured by the traffic of Chinese Junks and other nautical vessels. Thriving markets and expansive natural wonders illustrate a proud urban culture that values a connection to the earth and the past. In many ways, Hong Kong is like Manhattan while Shenzhen and the greater Chinese mainland are like New Jersey. Hong Kong residents look down upon the Chinese mainland as a larger counterpart that fails to match the potential of the residents on the empire island of prosperity and corporate majesty.
That being said, I was far from charmed by Hong Kong in many respects. I found it to be distinctly Western and hostile to the China that I have known. As I have said in past article, the China that I have been acquainted with is marked by its randomness. Chinese traffic, bureaucratic blundering, and daily life are all highly unpredictable. It is very common to find people driving on the sidewalk, or carrying a heavy load of livestock on the back of a motorcycle. You never know what you might see being sold on the street, whether it is something as simple as pineapples or something as odd and disturbing as a pig's head. When traveling by overnight train, it is common to see migrant workers or peasants get on for a few hours in the middle of the night and stand in the aisles. When traveling by long distance bus, it is common for the driver to call out your stop, only to find that it is on the side of a street with no major bus station or landmarks. If you value cleanliness, China will scare the living daylights out of you on a daily basis. Dust often clouds the air due to construction, traffic, or just some peasants burning garbage (the primary method of disposal). If you don't like cigarette smoke, too bad. Almost all Chinese men smoke cigarettes and the idea of a no smoking zone is almost no existent even in the face of no smoking signs. And don't even get me started on factory workers. Anyways, such unpredictability can be difficult for the average westerner to understand let alone tolerate.
Thus it came of no surprise to hear my girlfriend talk about how much she loved Hong Kong. To her, coming to Hong Kong is a nice breath of fresh air (literally). In fact, she told me that coming back to Shenzhen immigration brings with it a solemn state of mind. Hong Kong (while not as extreme as Singapore) is clean, rule oriented, and expensive. Whereas the most you will have to pay for a ride on the Shenzhen metro is 8 kuai, Hong Kong's metro can cost you over 100 HK dollars for a single ride across town. Keep in mind that exchange rates between Chinese Yuan and HK Dollar are about the same. A night in a hostel will cost about 200 HK dollars and a good meal will cost you 50. Traffic is relatively normal in HK, and when I walk along the street I see no hole in the wall restaurants, no charcoal grill street venders, and no greasy motor taxi drivers. Worst of all, it is full of White people, to the point of which you hardly stand out as a foreigner. Due to Britain's domain of the island until 1997, everyone speaks English, so I don't even bother to practice my Chinese there. Even if i do, the people look at me like I'm a fool and say curtly "I speak English you know" as if they were ashamed that I would even try speaking Mandarin with them.
Although I overreacted, the final straw to me was being told I couldn't eat my McDonalds on the metro. In reality, this probably would have been the case if I had taken the metro in America or Europe. But China has socialized me into believing that such behavior is acceptable. China is far more laid back than Hong Kong's cold and sterile character. On our way back on the extremely slow and overpriced metro, my feelings about returning to China were the exact opposite of my girlfriend's. I couldn't wait to return to the land where I ironically felt more free to do what I wanted (as opposed to say what I wanted).
To me going to Hong Kong was like coming back to America. It was a British city not a Chinese city in my perspective. Everything that made China exciting in my eyes had been erased in Hong Kong. It was a China Disneyland, in fact it has a Disneyland. Not to say that Hong Kong is a city exclusively made up of uptight snobs. It is an amazing cosmopolitan community that provides an open gate for Southern China to the world, Furthermore, the Chinese who are there obviously left China to escape the the rough, dirty, and random aspects of China that I so embrace. I came to China to learn Chinese and experience a new way of life dictated by other social norms, China's social norms, not to find a little western hammock to relax and sip on a can of Diet China. Still, Hong Kong provides the perspective of overseas Chinese, and its easy to forget about these communities when living on the Mainland.
In writing this, I suggest to my readers interested in coming to China to consider what they want from their experience. If you are the kind of person that wants to rough it in the great wilderness that is China, a person who isn't afraid to get dirty and can tolerate frustrating situations, then come to Shenzhen, Beijing, Kunming, Chengdu, Xian, or the many rural communities of this great nation. If this is what you want than I suggesting passing over Hong Kong altogether as well as Shanghai for that matter. But, if you are the kind of person that requires stability, manners, and cleanliness, or that doesn't have Chinese language skills, then I suggest sticking with Hong Kong, Shanghai, and some parts of Beijing. Neither of these two experiences of China are superior to the other. They merely fit a certain type of personality.
Furthermore, while my girlfriend prefers Hong Kong, that doesn't mean she can't tolerate living in Chinese society. In fact she has adapted quite well and should be congratulated on taking on the challenge successfully, especially since she lives all the way in the far out Fox Conn Factory district. Also, just because I find Hong Kong frustratingly clean and banal doesn't mean I didn't find anything that struck me as fun, interesting, or beautiful. The two places are just different. That's why they call it One China Two Systems.
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