Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2020complete | Page 19

and the continuous development of high-speed rail, all eleven cities in GBA are easily connected – which mean we can enjoy greatly improved traffic convenience in the future, the so-called 3 hours living zone! Besides of the close connection of infrastructure facilities, it is important to connect and integrate public services among cities as well, e.g. education, medical care etc, so as to speed up the rapid growth of production as quickly as possible, and finally achieve an integrated single market in GBA! We can imagine how large the potential it will unleash! 3. Development of financial and innovative industry In an era of globalization, it is imperative for us to develop world-leading industries thus to maintain our competitiveness in the world. Hong Kong, besides being named the “Pearl of Orient”, has matured into a well-established finance centre since the 1970s, while our home country, China, has also shown tremendous progress in technological sector (look at your mobile, check your social media apps, see how you shop in Internet!) for recent decades. If cooperation among GBA cities can be strengthened, our world-leading financial and technology position will definitely be further secured. 4. The Belt and Road This modern “Silk Road” covers more than 70 countries which enables China to deepen cooperation and connection with other Asia, Europe and Middle-East countries, no matter in economy (broaden the market coverage), culture (West-meet-East fusion), environment protection etc. GBA’s development plan facilitate China’s southern cities to jointly open a platform to the world which exposes our global presence. Imagine one day you might be invited to participate in a forum held in Saudi Arabia, just because you invented an innovative product which sold there via The Belt and Road! What an amazing experience! 5. Limited natural resources, esp. in Hong Kong and Macau Vs Quality of life! Hong Kong and Macau are sometimes notorious as one of ‘The most difficult place to live”. Why? This is the truth that Hong Kong and Macau are such tiny cities, but with a dense population. People there find life is always not easy – so polluted, so crowded, so expensive, it is hard to find a solution at all! For the GBA development plan, cities are all linked up. We can share our natural resources together – think about to living in Guangzhou, or take a break in Zhaoqing village, or have a nice meal with family in Zhongshan - just by 1 or 2 hours travelling! Or think about our retirement life, cities in GBA with relatively low living cost and ideal living environment can attract retirees from other cities to move in – making them suitable for the development of high-end elderly care services. 6. Development of integrated shopping and tourist centre In every year, eleven cities in GBA receive more than 400 million tourists which contribute revenue around RMB one trillion in 2016. However the major cities are almost independent with each other in terms of tourism destination – an integrated single market has not yet been established! For the closer cooperation in GBA, e.g. faster interconnection among cities, people can reach other tourist sites within two to three hours, this would definitely enhance our tourism industry. China has showed to the world her tremendous growth in past three decades – reformed from remote country into one of the world’s most dynamic and exciting regions. Within GBA, we share a similar dialect - Cantonese, we have similar appearance but the most important point is, we all Chinese have the heart and determination to build up a better future for our home country – China!