Ever since the 1997 handover, foremost in almost every visitor's mind today is, "How much has Hong Kong changed?" To the casual observer, not much. In fact, if it hadn't dominated the news, I doubt the average tourist would even notice there'd been a handover. Entry formalities for most nationalities remain unchanged. English remains an official language, and the Hong Kong dollar, pegged to the U.S. dollar, remains legal tender. Scores of lanes, roads, and sites are still named after Hong Kong's former governors, Queen Victoria's statue still graces Victoria Park, and barristers and judges still don off-white wigs and gowns. In most hotels, restaurants, and shops that cater to tourists, it's business as usual.
There are, however, discernable differences. Most visible was the replacement of the Union Jack and colonial Hong Kong flag with China's starred flag and the new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's flag emblazoned with the bauhinia flower. In addition, new coins bearing the bauhinia were minted (the old coins with the queen's head remain valid but are being snapped up by collectors) and new stamps were issued. The words "Royal" and "ER" (Elizabeth Regina) disappeared throughout Hong Kong, along with royal crests, crowns, and coats of arms. The police sport new badges.
Of course, the British population also noticeably declined after the handover (dropping from more than 20,000 in 1998 to less than 14,000 by 2005), due primarily to the completion of large construction projects such as the new airport, the departure of the British military, and stricter regulations making it more difficult for casual workers to remain in the SAR. Although the number of U.K. residents was never huge (less than 2% before the handover), British presence loomed understandably larger when Hong Kong was a colony. Today the SAR seems increasingly more Chinese, with more in common with Shenzhen across the Chinese border than with its former colonizer. Of course, Hong Kong has more links now -- financially and emotionally -- with mainland China than it ever had in the past. Tourists from Europe, North America, and Japan are now outnumbered by visitors from mainland China, especially since the 2003 introduction of relaxed travel laws that exempted mainland Chinese of certain geographic areas (mostly wealthy areas like Shanghai, Beijing, and so on) from the requirement that they visit Hong Kong only in tour groups, thereby allowing them to travel to Hong Kong on their own. Today, mainland Chinese make up more than half of all visitor arrivals into Hong Kong.
Naturally, another question that looms large in the minds of visitors to Hong Kong is, "What about SARS and avian flu?" While no one can be certain that new outbreaks will never happen, Hong Kong is ready. The temperatures of all passengers passing through border controls -- at the Hong Kong airport, the border checkpoint between Hong Kong and mainland China, and ferry terminals serving Macau and beyond -- are thermally scanned for fever, and there are hand sanitizers throughout Hong Kong.
Perhaps most striking about Hong Kong since the handover is that it suffers from an identity crisis: What should be its role in a greater China? Long serving as the manufacturing liaison between China and the rest of the world, Hong Kong is now challenged by a dazzling, dynamic, confident Shanghai. Hong Kong manufacturers have moved across the border to Shenzhen to take advantage of lower production costs. Guangzhou threatens to take over Hong Kong's role as a transportation hub. Pollution, primarily from rapid industrial development in the Pearl River Delta, has reached an all-time high, threatening not only the health of its citizens but its status as a major tourist destination. All these issues -- worsening pollution, the high cost of living in Hong Kong compared to China, and a growing tendency for foreign companies to base their workers on the mainland -- have even led to a decline of foreign professionals living in Hong Kong, with 14% fewer Americans, Canadians, Britons, and Australians living in Hong Kong in 2005 compared to the year before.
But if you ask me, Hong Kong seems poised for a tourism renaissance, due in no small part to increased tourism from the mainland. Many new attractions have opened in the past couple years, and, for the first time in a decade, new first-class hotels have opened in the Central District. New restaurants are blossoming all over the city, and the nightlife scene has never been more robust. Many hotels, particularly those offering reasonable rates, are often full, due largely to individual tourism from the mainland and Hong Kong's reputation as a convention destination. The economy is on a rebound, and it seems increasingly clear that Hong Kong's future lies as a financial center, not as a low-cost manufacturing base it enjoyed in the past.
Still, no one can predict the future, as Hong Kong has always been a city in transformation. The Hong Kong I am writing about now is not the same city that existed just a few short years ago and is not the Hong Kong you'll probably experience when you go there. Changes occur at a dizzying pace here: Relatively new buildings are torn down to make way for even newer, shinier skyscrapers; whole neighborhoods are obliterated in the name of progress; reclaimed land is taken from an ever-shrinking harbor; and traditional villages are replaced with satellite towns. Hong Kong's city skyline has surged upward and outward so dramatically since my first visit in 1983, it sometimes seems like decades rather than a year must have elapsed each time I see it anew. Change is commonplace, and yet it's hard not to lament the loss of familiar things that suddenly vanish; it's harder still not to brood over what's likely to come.
But don't worry. If this is your first trip to Hong Kong, you're much more likely to notice its Chinese aspects than its Westernized appearance. Ducks hanging by their necks in restaurant windows, bamboo scaffolding, herbal-medicine shops, street-side markets, Chinese characters on huge neon signs, wooden fishing boats, shrines to the kitchen god, fortunetellers, temples, laundry fluttering from bamboo poles, dim sum trolleys, and the clicking of mah-jongg tiles all conspire to create an atmosphere that is overwhelmingly Chinese.
In short, Hong Kong is a place like no other, with an energy and irresistible draw that will surely captivate travelers for generations to come.
