EARL'S WORLD--19

EARL’S WORLD---19
Hong Kong-The Crown Jewel of Asia

This city must be the capital of the 21st century. Sailing into the harbor among the mountains and seeing the ethereal sight of towering Hong Kong is one of the world’s great travel experiences. Looking east, north, south and west and your eyes are riveted on massive buildings, moving ships and blue water. The M/V Explorer docked at Ocean Terminal in the center of Kowloon. A front row seat of the harbor and the city.

Hong Kong is situated at the mouth edge of the Pearl River several miles down river from Canton and that is significant because of British trade with that city though early history. The British acquired the island of Hong Kong in 1840 after winning the first opium war against the Chinese. This became part of the British Empire. Canton was the exporting city of Chinese goods and materials to the world which the British bought with silver, and later opium. They brought opium from India, a British Colony, and exchanged it for spices, silk and other fineries. Hong Kong expanded by 1860 after the second opium war which the British won. Further expansion in 1897 occurred when a treaty was signed granting ownership to the British for 99 year. In 1997 Hong Kong was turnover to the Chinese.
The modernizing Chinese policy of Deng Xiaoping allowed Hong Kong to continue operating as a capitalist economy. He ordered “one country, two systems” and the city has prospered and grown exponentially since. There are fault lines and skirmishes but the Chinese have their eye on the “bottom line” over all else. It is the money capital of Asia.
A gaze around the harbor one sees all the skyscrapers with familiar names we see on our appliances and gadgets at home. There are 7 million people here, Chinese and Asians and Europeans and Americans. Space is a problem and they move traffic with impressive designs; two tier streets, elevated pedestrian walkways, four harbor tunnels, double decker buses. The Shopping malls are world class and are full or the young generation of Orientals, richly dressed, and spending money. Christmas decorations are already in place. Construction material is glass, terrazzo tile, marble, brass and silver and everywhere it is spotlessly clean. Deng Xiaoping, the instigator of the new China would be very pleased.