Thursday, October 31, 2024

Hong Kong

Hong Kong consists of three parts. From south to north, there is Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and, the New Territories. North of that is the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen, which we have previously visited.

This is a truly incredible city. I can remember, in my youth and childhood, seeing the stamp of "Made in Hong Kong" everywhere. I wondered how one city can possibly produce so much of what the world uses.

But in 1978, all of that changed. Deng Xiaoping, leader of mainland China essentially opened up all of China to western companies. The result is that today, instead of seeing "Made in Hong Kong", we tend to see "Made in China". Like so many other cities, Hong Kong had it's manufacturing base pulled out from under it.

But this is not just any city here, this is Hong Kong. In a move that amazed the world, Hong Kong relatively quickly transformed itself into such a great financial center that today more money probably flows through it than through any other city in the world. When it's manufacturing base was gone, instead of becoming the "rust belt of the east" it became the world's financial capital.

That is what happens when you collect many of the most dynamic people in the world, and put them all together in one city.

Cantonese is the language that is spoken in the southern coastal region of China. The Chinese language has traditionally been structured in such a way that it was written the same all across China, but could be spoken in several different ways.

The Chinese Government makes it clear that it prefers Mandarin as the way to speak Chinese. Mandarin is predominant in northern China, including in Beijing and Shanghai. The other way of speaking Chinese, with the greatest number of speakers other than Mandarin, is Cantonese. An example of a third way of speaking Chinese is Fujianese.

The nature of the relationship between Mandarin and Cantonese depends on who you ask. A Mandarin speaker from Beijing might say that Cantonese is just a southern dialect of Chinese. A Cantonese speaker from Hong Kong might say that it is an entirely separate language that is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin, even though the same script and some of the same vocabulary is used.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

The following scenes begin in the central part of Kowloon. The first three images are from Google Street View.





















https://www.google.com/maps/@22.3180215,114.1904855,3a,75y,130h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOHB1YPKGoyyqEhxM_XFtOEMmcGIDsLPL63GQmC!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOHB1YPKGoyyqEhxM_XFtOEMmcGIDsLPL63GQmC%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya40.499996-ro-0-fo100!7i10000!8i5000

In these scenes, you can see the towering housing estates that Hong Kong is known for.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.3332405,114.1668438,3a,75y,189.92h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQr0cNDTgeS2UYvPMWns3cA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DQr0cNDTgeS2UYvPMWns3cA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D189.18608%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is Kwun Tong, in the southeastern area of Kowloon. The artificial peninsula extending into Victoria Harbor used to be the runway of the former airport of Hong Kong. The first image is from Google Earth.



https://www.google.com/maps/@22.3091039,114.2229319,3a,75y,319h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDBpNceLN7datO-KJiepfOg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DDBpNceLN7datO-KJiepfOg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D319.26318%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is a look at the Tseung Kwan O area. The endless residential apartment towers is because there is not enough room in Hong Kong for everyone to have a detached house with a backyard. The first three images are from Google Street View.





https://www.google.com/maps/@22.3107461,114.260147,3a,75y,34h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOT7ZBRZmqU76x4ZTfMbA16YSg6Gx01iDVFG6OV!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOT7ZBRZmqU76x4ZTfMbA16YSg6Gx01iDVFG6OV%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya34.500004-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830

All of what we have seen so far is in Kowloon and adjacent areas. The following scenes are on Hong Kong Island. The view across Victoria Harbor is looking back to Kowloon, where we have just finished visiting. The first two images are from Google Earth.




https://www.google.com/maps/@22.275852,114.1780735,3a,75y,6.56h,105.2t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO6XQzho-btZ1dWrAEs91p033Wc95JLsEgkiesn!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO6XQzho-btZ1dWrAEs91p033Wc95JLsEgkiesn%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-30.000002-ya187.85483-ro-0-fo100!7i13312!8i6656

Most people think of Hong Kong as being very urban and densely populated. But you would be surprised at how much of it is actually rural. The satellite imagery of Hong Kong shows that actually about 70% of it is rural and mountainous.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2711665,114.2163639,2a,75y,1h,88t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syV5yA7_mBqwhl_DND6ufuw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DyV5yA7_mBqwhl_DND6ufuw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D1.5000076%26pitch%3D-2.9338646%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656


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