Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020 | Page 29

Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020 The Incredible Technologies in the Greater Bay Area The Independent Schools Foundation Academy, Cheung, Chi Yan – 9 ‘Hello guys!’ greeted Professor Nick Zhang, head of planning and engineering at the Greater Bay Area (GBA). ‘Welcome to our facility. I’ll be taking you on a tour to showcase the advanced technologies of the Greater Bay Area, which comprises eleven great cities, in the south of China, with our Hong Kong as Capital City. I have friendly nicknamed the zone 仔仔 which means “son” in Chinese to symbolize that it is an offspring of the mainland and for its shape like a puppy.’ We entered the gigantic venue with ceilings of a height more than 800 meters and arches, vaults larger than the one on the Sistine Chapel. We were told to enter a semi-dark room, with a giant model of the GBA looking fresh out of a science fiction book, laying on a giant podium, in the middle of it. We were smitten and somehow intimidated by the size and grandness of the skyscrapers, with connecting sky-pods and elevated highways that brought you from one building to the other. A mega structure called the Hyperloop was cordoning the whole area, connecting all municipalities. They had even made unique replicas of the sky- monorail linking all buildings together. Then, the professor began to explain all that we had to know. ‘Our new country within the motherland is a unique zone, regulated by new liberal laws that allow us free-action and cooperation. As you must know by now, we do not use currencies. All payments, within the zone, are fully automated.’ ‘But Prof, how can that be possible?’ Terry inquired, puzzled. ‘Well, the concept is quite simple. Every person living here wears what we call a ‘credit-sensor’, which is a wristband very similar to a Fitbit, equipped with a sophisticated microchip, containing all data related to the person,’ continued Prof. Zhang, pointing at the wristband that he was wearing. ‘The microchip can be used for all operations related to payments, like going to the supermarket to buy groceries, paying your bills, booking shows online, etc. What you need to do is to simply scan your wristband against one of the station monitors placed at every corner of the city. Credits are generated by tracking what you do every day. The time you spend at work, studying, completing tasks, and achieving goals, are continuously recorded inside the microchip which will send all the info to a mega computer called the SORTER, that will translate your efforts into credits.’ ‘But Prof, what about if you lose it? It must be very dangerous! Anyone picking up your wristband may steal all your information!’ Jerry exclaimed horrified. ‘Not really,’ Prof. Zhang carried on saying. ‘If anyone happened to be losing the wristband, the system shuts down automatically.’ ‘Wow, Prof. that is pretty incredible!!!’ said Terry in complete adulation. ‘I would really love to try one!’ he cried. Prof. Zhang then gave everyone in the group a temporary one that they could use for the day. ‘It’s amazing! It feels so light!’ Exclaimed Terry after trying it on. ‘Yes, in fact it is! It is designed for complete comfort and practicality,’ replied Prof. Zhang. ‘But guess what guys? I’ve got plenty more to show you, come this way.’ Prof. Zhang led us into another gigantic warehouse, with rows of electronic kiosks lying around the perimeter of the warehouse. Then he approached one of them, scanned his wristband against the monitor to activate it, on which a number of selections appeared. 90