Now, I'm on extended holiday in Hong Kong, true pearl of
the Orient (the other contenders for the title are Manila and Sri
Lanka). No question, Hong Kong is my favourite location on planet
earth.
My last visit to Hong Kong was nearly two years ago and
there have been a few changes, including two unfortunate developments
in areas that particularly interest me – books and photography.
Before every trip I salivate at the prospect of browsing in the
city's excellent range of English-language bookshops and
window-shopping at the dozens of excellent photographic stores,
freshly stocked with the latest offerings from Japan.
...However, Dymock's, the Australian-owned chain of
English-language bookshops, has closed down, as has the massive
Singapore-owned Page One bookshop in Times Square mall. Why? Because
expensive up-market restaurants and fashion retailers have offered
more money – up to 30% more allegedly – for the rental space when
the bookshops' current leases expired...and that's the story of Hong
Kong, money talks - in fact it roars.
To compensate, the Taiwanese-owned chain Eslite has
opened two massive bookshops, in Causeway Bay and TST. The vast
majority of their stock is in the Chinese language, which guarantees
a much better footfall and is also in line with the city's gradual
Sinoization after 1997. The stores also house a variety of
third-party merchandise, such as fashionable crockery, high-end
luggage and niche electronics in a bid to attract the wealthy
illiterate or those whose money is burning a hole in their pockets.
(Those searching for new English-language books still have Bookazine,
Kelly& Walsh, Hong Kong Book Centre and Swindon Books...but
that's about it.)
The other sad development is the decline of photography
outlets. Camera sales have fallen off a cliff since people discovered
that their mobile phones could take perfectly decent photos. The
latest data on Japanese camera exports that I have seen from the
Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) is for September
2015, when 3.2 million units were exported, which is less than the
same month in 2014 (4.0M) 2013 (5.9M) 2012 (7.4M) 2011 (13.6M) and
2010 (12.9). Imagine: in five short years camera exports during
September have fallen by 75%.
That fact is not particularly evident in Brighton where
camera shops continue to sell a variety of cameras. However, in Hong
Kong many camera shops have closed down; there used to be several in
Stanley Street in Central - now there are just one. The large department
stores near where have I live (APiTA and Sogo) have given up selling
cameras, the Broadway and Fortress chains no longer sell compact
cameras, numerous other independent camera shops are gone and the
malls that specialised in photographic equipment now only sell
high-end DSLRs or the like.
Nevertheless, there is hope for the industry in that CSCs
(compact system cameras) continue to innovate and introduce new
technology at a bewildering rate that has flummoxed the complacent
duopoly of Nikon and Canon. (No mobile phone can hope in the
foreseeable future to match the output and convenience of the new
Sony A7R ii).
Apart from these two 'blips', Hong Kong is functioning
quite well. Tourist numbers are down and the mainland tourists'
propensity to fill suitcases with expensive watches has been tempered
somewhat by President Xi's war against corruption. Rental prices are
slowing and there are warnings of a pending housing 'correction' in
the mainland but that has not quietened Hong Kong's national bird –
the jackhammer; construction continues at its usual frantic pace.
A housing correction is overdue. PwC's recent 'Building
Better Cities' report of 2015 ranked Hong Kong only 11th
out of 28 cities in the APEC region that were evaluated for
'livability.' The telling statistic was the comparison of housing
costs versus income; incomes have risen by 42% since 2007 but home
prices have soared by 154% over the same period. Someone has done
well – but clearly not the one million of Hong Kong's 7.1 million
population who live in poverty.
While, for many, the city is a materialist heaven where
any conceivable desire can be met – at a price – for others,
particularly the elderly, unemployed and homeless, it must be hell. I
am reminded of these lines from Charles Kingsley's poem 'The
Buccaneer':
'Oh England is a pleasant place for them that's rich
and high;
But England is a cruel place for such poor folk such
as I...'
There is a trend to renovate shops and restaurants to
make them increasingly up-market and appealing to wealthy mainland
tourists but, at the same time, there is resentment of the
mainlanders' voracious appetites for housing and schooling, driving
up prices and reducing supply; for consumables such as baby milk,
causing shortages; and for creating mayhem, trailing their suitcases
and failing to queue politely in the Hong Kong way.
What do you do when the mainland authorities forbid
dissent and demand compliance as proof of patriotism? Well, the Hong
Kong response was Occupy Central, an audacious but naïve student-led
mass demonstration for freedom, democracy and the
Hong-Kong-way-of-life that lasted for about nine weeks, morphing into
the Umbrella Movement before it petered out. The spirit of Tiananmen
Square inspired many but, as the demonstrations dragged on, the
transport gridlock infuriated others, particularly businessmen and
taxi drivers, dividing the city into two camps. The city is
increasingly divided as this week's District Council elections showed
with pro-democracy and pro-mainland parties both making gains at the
expense of arguably more moderate parties.
So, is the rebellion completely over, have the
mainlanders steamrollered all visible dissent? Not quite...this week
the Chinese national team played the Hong Kong football team in a
qualifying match for the World Cup. Officials let it be known that
there should be no repetition of previous occasions when Hong Kongers
had loudly and unpatriotically boo'd the Chinese National Anthem.
This time all was quiet as the anthem played...except that quite a
few Hong Kong fans held up placards that read
'Boo!'
This is a city and a people to love, like no other!
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