Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2020 | Page 46

Non-Fiction – Group 5
Goodbye with the ration ticket and hello to liberalism. “We need a Special Economic
Zone, no matter the cost!” Deng announced during another of his Working Committee
meetings. One year later, the Shenzhen SEZ was born as a pilot project, opening to foreign
investment and free-market forces in a sharp deviation from the centrally planned economy
embraced by Mao. And as its name suggests, it was really distinct, with its own border
checkpoints, its own policies, and even planned to introduce its own currency, presumably
scrapped when the RMB was devalued from its artificially inflated exchange rate. Just as he
would be with Shenzhen today, his visit to the area in 1992 brought him great satisfaction.
The British and the Chinese had many disagreements, but one thing they had in
common was that both governments were fed up with farmers fleeing to Hong Kong. The
implementation of the SEZ also meant rigorous, bilateral enforcement of border controls,
hardly believable today when it houses multiple tech giants (i.e. Huawei, Tencent, DJI, etc.)
and surpassed Hong Kong’s GDP for the first time last year. The time when youth idolised
our popular culture and civilians envied our wealth as an achievable version of modernity
is long gone, but some of us haven’t adapted to this changing reality. Defence mechanisms,
or something more sinister? Soon, it might as well be us fleeing across the border for work
opportunities.
And hence, Deng’s Four Modernisations (Economy, Agriculture, Science and Defence)
and his praxis of experimentation guided China’s development for years to come, laying the
foundations of today’s Greater Bay Area. Rain deluged the abandoned fields of Hong Kong, as
thin mist obscures organised rows of skyscrapers across the river. Still awkwardly perched on
the same knoll, Deng reflects on whether his achievements bear relevance in the modern-day.
By the time the long-proposed GBA officially came into fruition, its eleven participating
cities have become more integrated than ever: inter-regional specialisation, intensive
infrastructural development in pursuit of the “one-hour living circle”, and ambitious plans for
economic trade. A disequilibrium of power dynamics catalysed by mainland China’s stunning
levels of development means that unless Hong Kong is determined to reposition itself as the
innovative driver of change it once was, it has no choice but to “integrate into the nation’s
greater schemes”, as national leaders keep emphasising.
Although Xi’s rhetoric against foreign intervention in his recent visit to Macau may be
contentious, it is quite evident that our city is not exactly the unique paragon of ‘freedom’
some of us think it is. Politically changing the mainland is nothing but a false hope, when our
fundamental conceptions of development are different: one in which food, housing, security,
basic human needs and economic development come first; another in which a model of
Western liberalism and representative democracy rules.
It isn’t very wise to turn down an offer of assistance and pursue something else at this
critical juncture of development. Deng recalls personal experiences of his relatively forced
retreat from power when student protests in memory of Hu Yaobang morphed into factional
struggles both within and outside the party. Now, he didn’t know whether he was shuddering
from the sudden gust of wind or from sheer terror at the disastrous splits that could have
happened. His former pro-market ally Zhao Ziyang was placed under de facto house arrest
ever since, conservative party cadres seized the reins of power, and his road to moderate
reform wasn’t reinstated until a few years later.
His sighs are muffled by intense winds from the south. Factionalism nearly deprived
him of his legacy, and analogously, it threatens to do the same to our city in the south,
marginalising it to the extent where it no longer bears significance. Action leads to a greater
reaction, and it is very hard to tread cautiously and moderate the needs of all stakeholders.
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