Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2020complete | Page 114

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. The metaphorical silver lining of optimism is the certainty in a shared
future engendered by the creation of common objectives, similar to how Deng’s Four Modernisations were
succinctly delineated. The cycle of experimentation and implementation in the pursuit of this is instrumental
to long-term development. Following in his footsteps, “seeking truth from facts” and the emphasis on
finding a consensus was the Chinese recipe of success, just as it will be for the GBA. An uncertain future lies
ahead of us, especially in view of the status quo, and I sincerely hope that unity will lead us to new
adventures, to new heights.
Once upon a time, Jiang Zemin and Tung Chee-hwa attended international summits as near-equals. Times
have changed, but something hasn’t, and that is Deng’s perennial quote: “it doesn’t matter whether the cat is
black or white, as long as it catches mice.”