Hong Kong - the Greenest Asian City?

I just came across this new ranking of green cities and found it interesting and surprising that Hong Kong is the best performing in Asia at 18th, ahead of Tokyo (20th), Singapore (45th!) and Kuala Lumpur (49th). (This is another list that is topped by the Nordic nations - Stockholm is No. 1, while Oslo is second.) Mike Rowse and his colleagues at InvestHK should be happy about this. You might also like to check out the country rankings.

Question of the Week: Does Hong Kong Have a (Cultural) Life?

My normal inclination is to choose a Question of the Week that would lead into the following week's lecture topic. But during the POLI0068 IBGM tutorial yesterday, we had such a lively discussion about what Daniel Fung said about Hong Kong's cultural life that I thought it would be fun to put this topic on the table.

Many of the IBGM students felt Daniel Fung had been unfair when he said that, after showing visitors around, there is "diddly-squat" to do in this town once you have had a nice Chinese meal. Others believed he was somewhat elitist by using the lack of a Borders bookshop (a large American chain of bookstores) here as an indication that Hong Kong's cultural life is limited. Some took exception to the observation that young people typically do little else than hang out, go shopping and play video games. We also discussed whether the government should be involved in promoting international cultural activities and attractions - or should the focus be on local Chinese culture. Daniel Fung challenged the notion that Hong Kong is "Asia's World City", at least in terms of culture. If Hong Kong isn't, then should we aspire to be?

So the questions I would pose are the following: Is there a Hong Kong culture? Are we lacking the cultural life that we should have to be a truly international city? Do we need to be a global cultural hub to be a globally competitive and cosmopolitan city? Are we too absorbed by doing business and making money? And should the government be doing more to promote culture - ditch "positive non-interventionism" and adopt an ambitious and aggressive culture policy?

Let's hear your views.

To spur your thinking, you might like to read this article by writer and former Taipei culture chief Lung Ying-tai, who is currently a visiting professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at HKU. This is an unofficial English translation from the original Chinese.

You may also still comment on earlier Questions of the Week - on whether being an SAR of the PRC affects Hong Kong's ability to develop its international relations, and on Hong Kong's competitiveness. Speaking of competitiveness, you might be interested in this comment by one of your colleagues who compared what Mike Rowse told us last week with what we heard from Daniel Fung. Agree - or disagree? Why not reply to this or any other comments? A free-for-all exchange - that's what this blog should be.

Feel free to comment on anything on this blog. And if you wish to initiate a topic, just email me your comment and I can post it.

Summary: Daniel Fung on the Rule of Law and Hong Kong's Competitiveness

• The rule of law is important but it is only one aspect of Hong Kong’s competitiveness

• The basis of the legal systems of Hong Kong and the mainland differ: common law (British) vs civil law (top-down approach, continental)

• Where Hong Kong has failed is in education, culture and the environment
Education:
Cantonese as the language of instruction will diminish Hong Kong's cosmopolitan outlook
There is resistance to academic programs that emphasize critical thinking over rote learning
Too much emphasis on producing lawyers and investment bankers

Culture:
Lack of variety of options and opportunities
Where are the big bookshops and good movies?
Young people just want to hang out and play video games

Environment:
Hong Kong investment in factories in southern China is responsible for a great deal of the problem
We cannot wait for others to resolve the problem

• The moon cake problem: What happens when the mainland is able to make moon cakes of the same quality as HK's
• HK-Shenzhen - Lifting of the border may happen soon. But we still drive on different sides of the road? ie how can there be a merger if the bases of our legal systems differ so fundamentally?
  

The CE's Policy Address

The Chief Executive of the HKSARG will deliver his policy address for 2007-8 on 10 October. Watch for him to talk about many of the issues we have been discussing. Christine Loh and her colleagues at the think tank Civic Exchange have produced their "alternative policy address", which you might find interesting.

More Uploaded Readings

I uploaded to the WebCT site the reports on Hong Kong by the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council. I also put on reserve in the PPA Department office Yash Ghai's article on Hong Kong's autonomy that appeared in the June 2007 issue of The Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration. When a reading is available online, I have provided a link to it. For any readings that are not available on WebCT or on reserve, please look for them through the MyLibrary service of the HKU Portal or go to the Library.

For next week, in addition to the readings on the syllabus, you might want to look at this recent speech by U.S. Consul General James Cunningham at a luncheon organized by the Better Hong Kong Foundation. He gives an American perspective on Hong Kong ten years after the handover.