Hong Kong Phooey!

[Nitro Express]

I believe the Hong Kongese (if that's correct) see the Beijing regime as slowly chipping away at their freedoms rather than reforming and opening their own gov't up faster...

When Hong Kong was turned over to mainland China there was an agreement that Hong Kong would still have free elections and choose their own rulers there. Bejing is breaking the agreement.

When we lived there in the late 70's you had the boat people refugees coming into Hong Kong harbor fleeing indo China. Pol Pot was wreaking havoc in Cambodia. Many people we knew in Hong Kong fled Mao's takeover of China and had property confiscated and family killed. So the atmosphere was being on this little island and peninsula surrounded by a menace. The people who fled it feared it. I remember up on the HK/China border my mom talked to the chinese border guard and our friends were terrified she was even talking to him. I'm sure that fear and distrust is still there. It has to be.

It boils down to money. The people I knew relocated to Canada but couldn't make the money they did in Hong Kong. When they found out Hong Kong was pretty much left to be Hong Kong they moved back. These were the same people who were terrified of the chinese over the border in the late 70's. As Cindy Lauper sings. Money changes everything. Maybe they are worried China is going to confiscate things again. It's a weird situation. People live in the moment.

[Nitro Express]

It's just a matter of time, Nick....

I can't speak for what Hong Kong is like since China took over control in '97, but I went there about 5 times in the mid-'80s when the Brits still controlled it, and it was fan-fucking-tastic.....

Great clubs, great shopping (especially suits and electronics), women of all nationalities all over the place.... It's really a fascinating place for being so small.....

And I would be it's because Hong Kong is very much a melting pot that's fueling those demonstrations....

It was a great place to visit. I lived there for three years. It was very competitive and cut throat and frankly it was nice to get back to the US.

[Nitro Express]

Bejing tried to make Shanghai the new Hong Kong but it just didn't work. Much like their central planned real estate market is going to go down in flames. Badly. I think there are people in Bejing trying to do the right things but there's huge corruption in China and lot's of other problems like pollution. I just can't see it escaping some massive civil unrest and hell just about every place on the planet that is a major country is going to have some of that going on. Oh well, they have high speed trains and people seem to think high speed rail saves the world.