Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2020complete | Page 104

New Area, New Benefits
St. Mary's Canossian College, Lee, Amber - 14
“New Bay Area, New Chance.” This is one of the advertisements frequently shown on television, telling us
how the new planned Great Bay Area can benefit adolescents, saying that many chances can be grasped in
the Greater Bay Area. Let us know more details about this place and look into different kinds of benefits that
Greater Bay Area can bring to the areas nearby, China and even the whole world.
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area consists of 9 cities and 2 special administrative regions,
namely Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan,
Dongguan, Guangzhou and Huizhou. With Macao SAR, Shenzhen and Hong Kong SAR as the core cities,
these 11 coastal cities would build up a connection in different aspects such as medical service,
transportation, exchange of knowledge, youth development, etc. The Greater Bay Area is built with several
aims including providing a brand new and advanced international innovation and technology hub,
improving infrastructural connectivity, etc.
Talking about how Greater Bay Area is formed, it is better to refer to China’s huge development project--
-- The Belt and Road Initiative. The B&R is one of the long-term developments of China with other
countries in the world. In order to facilitate the south coastal cities’ economic development and make use of
the advantage of special administrative regions and Shenzhen to the greatest capacity, the idea of developing
the Greater Bay Area in 2022 in the immediate term and 2035 in the long term had popped up on 1st
March, 2015 in The Belt and Road Initiative Document. Another milestone for the Greater Bay Area
Development is set on 7th December, 2016. The concept of the area was mentioned in 13th Five-Year
Plan for Economic and Social Development of PRC. Then in July 2016, the Framework Agreement on
Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area was signed,
marking that Hong Kong is formally listed under the list of the Greater Bay Area.
The Greater Bay Area could bring benefits based on the geographical location. The Greater Bay Area is
located at the southern coastal area of China. In cope with one of the most significant projects in the Belt
and Road Initiative, Maritime Silk Road, ports in Greater Bay Area can play important roles in connecting
the other Asian countries in exchange of goods. Huizhou is the easternmost point in the Greater Bay Area.
With the establishment of Xiamen-Shenzhen railway with the starting point in Huizhou, transportation
time for people who have their business trips to northern part of China will be shortened. The two ports,
three networks development of transportation infrastructure is mature in Huizhou, making the connection
between the southern and northern part of China closer. In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau
Bridge and Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link are set up to strengthen the connection
of the three core cities in the Greater Bay Area. Having the best airport in the world, Hong Kong has been
the most important transportational component in aviation aspect among the cities in the Bay Area. With
the cooperation of coastal geographical advantages and mature transportation systems, this could bring more
trades and merchants to the Greater Bay Area to set up their business.
The advanced level of technology takes up another place of the major pull factors for different technological
enterprises to set up headquarters in the Greater Bay Area. One of the core cities, Shenzhen, is the home for
tech giants such as Tencent, Huawei, Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation and BGI
group. In 2017, Hong Kong and China have signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Jointly
Developing the Lok Ma Chau Loop by Hong Kong and Shenzhen", which plans to build a new Innovation
and Technology hub in the Lok Ma Chau Loop. Shenzhen and Hong Kong will both invite some
professions to develop the hub. With the size larger than four Hong Kong Science Park, this hub aims to
attract different professions and related higher education to help strengthen the co-development of Hong
Kong and Shenzhen in innovation and technological aspects. In Zhongshan, Zhongshan E-Park
Entrepreneurship Incubation Base is built, providing opportunities of e-commerce and cultural and creative