editorial
Written by: Hong Kong 01
2020-08-31 06:00
Last update date: 2020-08-31 06:00The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone celebrated its fortieth anniversary last Wednesday (August 26). In the past four decades, not only has the city developed from a rural village into an economic and innovative metropolis at an astonishing rate in history, but it has also marked the achievements of the reform and opening up of mainland China since the 1980s. Forty years is not a long time, but in modern history it is enough to be a testimony to the rise and fall of the country and the success or failure of reforms. The same amount of time can be easily wasted by some people, and then lament that the times do not retain people, but for those who know how to use it, it is enough to change the destiny of a country. The Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty lasted for 35 years. Although it cannot be simply said that it did not have any positive effects, the reforms were never in place, and the efforts made eventually sank to the bottom of the Yellow Sea with a group of warships. On the other hand, Japan’s Meiji Restoration was on the right path, coupled with the blessings of the times, and finally thirty-eight years later, it became famous in the battle to destroy the Russian fleet in the Tsushima Strait, successfully making Japan the first world power. Non-white country.
The achievements of Shenzhen's 40 years of reform and opening up are obvious to all. Shenzhen's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 was nearly 2.7 trillion yuan, which was 10,000 times higher than that when it was reformed and opened up in 1980, far exceeding China as a whole and even Zhuhai, Xiamen and other special economic zones. In addition to the brilliant data, Shenzhen today is China’s innovation and high-tech capital. There are countless high-tech companies headquartered in Shenzhen, including Tencent, Huawei, ZTE, and DJI, which are well known to Hong Kong people. The Shenzhen stock market is also Become a gathering place for high-tech companies.
The development and success of Shenzhen is naturally a lot to Hong Kong people who are separated by a river. Especially these changes are happening in the eyes and around. Decades ago, when faced with Shenzhen people and mainlanders, many Hong Kong people thought they were superior. This arrogance is not incomprehensible, because it is based on the relative success of Hong Kong. In the 1970s and 1980s, Hong Kong was rapidly developed into a world-renowned cosmopolitan city with the advantages of time, location, and harmony of people. On the one hand, the free business environment and the geographical convenience of the border with the inland attract western investors and professionals to come; on the other hand, the labor and capital of the inland southward have enabled the light industry to flourish and stimulate economic development. Hong Kong has become one of the "Four Little Dragons in Asia".
The success of Hong Kong has made many people yearn for. In Japan in the 1990s, many film and television works were based on Hong Kong. In contrast, Shenzhen was little known at the time, and it was still in its infancy. The buildings were shabby and rustic and the streets were lifeless. For the Hong Kong people at that time, Shenzhen was nothing but a door and window connecting civilized Hong Kong to the backward mainland, allowing those mainlanders nicknamed "old watches" to go to Hong Kong to buy foreign goods that the mainland could not buy. A transit station.
No longer a backyard of Hong Kong people, the gap between Shenzhen and Hong Kong is not what it used to be
In the late 1980s, Hong Kong gradually successfully transformed into the development of financial services. At the same time, many Hong Kong businessmen moved to Shenzhen or other places in Guangdong to set up factories because of the high wages in Hong Kong. As a result, Shenzhen had more vitality and many Hong Kong people began to travel between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. With the development of Shenzhen, it is no longer a backward town without all kinds of goods and services. Hong Kong people have discovered that Shenzhen is cheap and good. Even if the salary in Hong Kong can only barely make ends meet, once you cross the Shenzhen River, you can enjoy the grandfather-like treatment. As a result, Shenzhen has become a place for many Hong Kong people to spend leisurely, and has even created a social atmosphere of "contracting mistresses". At this time, Hong Kong people are still consciously superior. After all, Hong Kong is already an internationally renowned financial center. For those Hong Kong elites who have high spending power and enjoy a world-class life, Shenzhen is just a remote place for Hong Kong people to spend locally. Raise" it.
However, this gap continued to narrow in the future. The speed of Shenzhen's development in recent years has aroused many Hong Kong people. In the past, low-end consumption places are catching up with Hong Kong day by day-a cup of hand-cranked drinks is more than 30 yuan, and the price of fast food restaurants is the same as Hong Kong. Behind the rise in the consumption index is the development of Shenzhen's overall industries. The low-end industries have turned into high-tech industries through the "cage change". Nanshan District has developed into an innovation center today. Shenzhen is no longer the "Hong Kong's back garden" or low-end product processing plant in the hearts of the older generation of Hong Kong elites.
Anyone can clearly feel that the development speed of Hong Kong in the past few years has been compared with that of Shenzhen. Shenzhen's growth rate is amazing because of its late start and low base. However, even if the two places are directly compared now, Shenzhen's results are worthy of recognition. As an already developed region, Hong Kong has better conditions and opportunities than Shenzhen in terms of developing innovative technologies, but it has left Shenzhen behind. At the historic juncture of 2000, high technology was already regarded as the greatest driving force for future economic development. Hong Kong also tried to keep up with this wave. The first Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa launched projects such as Cyberport and Science Park, but in the end It failed to make Hong Kong successfully change its track and lead the trend of high-tech development. This is like the story of the tortoise and the hare. The "rabbit" in Hong Kong missed many opportunities in vain. What's more, Shenzhen is not a slow tortoise, but an "another rabbit" that can catch up with the opponent and relax the chance.
Futian District, Shenzhen at night. (Profile picture)
Hong Kong is not without the capital to let go of arrogance and catch up
The reason why the rabbit lost in the tortoise and the hare race was that it fell asleep halfway through. Some people understood it as the rabbit lost because of being too lazy, but it was actually catching the wrong god. "Laziness" has never been an absolute bad quality. If laziness is properly used, it can sometimes become a driving force for social progress. Many entrepreneurs have pointed out that hiring lazy people can sometimes find out how to accomplish the same thing in less time. The real reason for the rabbit's failure lies in his arrogance and misjudgment situation, believing that he will not lose even if he sleeps a lot. Arrogant people are usually very capable, and Hong Kong people have always given the impression that they are shrewd, professional, smart, creative, and smart. This is true. Compared with people in many places, Hong Kong people are very "excellent", but arrogance is enough to make people feel good about themselves. They become less aggressive and believe in their own advantages.
It is as if Hong Kong has missed the opportunity of high-tech development. On the one hand, it is because the ruling party has a low eye and low hands, but on the other hand, it is also the long-term arrogance of the social elites who believe that Hong Kong’s position is strong enough and are not willing to seriously invest in high-tech with unpredictable returns Above the project. This arrogance is believed to be felt by many Hong Kong people. From high-ranking officials to ordinary people, many people think that Hong Kong’s "living money" is enough. The lack of farsightedness of officials' policies is evident in the various housing and industrial policies introduced in the past. Even the prohibition of food in restaurants during the epidemic did not take into account the large number of people working outdoors. Some politicians and citizens even have the illusion that "Hong Kong's status is unshakable", and even put forward the self-destructive method of "soliciting speculation."
Hong Kong did have the capital of arrogance in the past, but in the face of Shenzhen's 40 years of transformation and success, Hong Kong people should reflect on where we have spent our time over the years. Different people have different reactions. Some people can't let go of that arrogance. Even if they don't have the capital, they will do everything possible to "invent" some rationale so that they can continue to be arrogant. When Shenzhen's GDP surpassed Hong Kong for the first time in 2017, it was supposed to be a blow to Hong Kong. However, some Hong Kong people refused to face reality and issued various self-comforting expressions such as "You believe in mainland fraud" and "Shenzhen only has money but no culture." Argument.
Hong Kong and Shenzhen are not enemies, but brothers. There is no need to fight to the death. It is more like a "two rabbits race." (Profile picture)
When arrogance evolves into escape from reality, Hong Kong seems to be unable to escape the fate of failure. In the face of China, the United States has rushed to catch up. Even if it has not caught up, it has been surprised and suppressed China in every possible way. Such arrogant Americans still know this, do Hong Kong people still want to continue to escape?
In the 1990s, Hong Kong rejoiced in being a member of the "Four Little Dragons of Asia", but unknowingly, Hong Kong's per capita GDP has fallen behind Singapore by more than 30%. Now Shenzhen is also making efforts. If we feel distressed and bored because of this, it is not a bad thing. This proves that Hong Kong people still care about falling behind. If Hong Kong people have no sense of Shenzhen's success, it may be the proof that "Hong Kong is dead." It is precisely because of "uncomfortable" that we have the motivation to change.
Hong Kong and Shenzhen are not enemies, but brothers. There is no need to fight to the death. It is more like a "two rabbits race." What Hong Kong people need at the moment is not help, but to let go of their arrogance, renew their anger, and through continuous reform and progress, Hong Kong and Shenzhen will be mutually beneficial and mutually beneficial, and they will also be able to maintain that cosmopolitan status. Confident and arrogant.
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