Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Winners 2020 | Page 27

Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020
Non-Fiction – Group 4
WINNER
A Glimpse into the Future
Diocesan Boys’ School, Cheng, Justin Kudret – 15
Historically, Guangdong has always been a kaleidoscope of evolution. From a mere
outpost of imperial China, to becoming an indispensable trading post connecting the Middle
Kingdom to Asia and beyond, through its time as a warzone plagued by colonial struggles,
it has always been a site of breath taking change. And as China awakens from its slumber,
after being ravaged by civil and international warfare, it has garnered recognition slowly
but surely. This is most emblematic in a cluster of Guangdong cities collectively named
the Greater Bay Area, where it has undergone yet another transformation in the span of a
few decades. Briskly, the southern province has reinvented itself into a place the world has
never seen. While Hong Kong’s tale of metamorphosis from a backwater fishing village to a
cosmopolitan city is one that is often lauded, it is integral to note that this success story has
been emulated just a few miles up north, in the metropolis of Shenzhen. When the sleepy
village of 30,000 was designated as one of four special economic zones, giving it access to
more foreign investment and special taxation laws, it underwent an economic boom — its
GDP per capita grew a jaw-dropping 24,569 percent between 1978 and 2014. Now, the story
of the city liberalizing acts as a beacon of light for the region: as it continues to urbanize
at stunning rates, it is paramount that one stops to investigates how life would be like for
ordinary citizens in the region, as well as what it has to offer in the future, especially in our
increasingly interconnected world.
Before delving into the specifics of what the Area could offer, it is of prime importance
to take its regional context into account. Situated on the southern coast of China, the Greater
Bay Area is composed of nine cities — Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan,
Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing, as well as the Special Administrative Regions
of Hong Kong and Macau. To date, it is already one of the preeminent financial centres of
the world: despite taking up less than 1 percent of the country’s landmass, it accounts for 12
per cent of the national GDP. Its close proximity to the South China Sea, one of the busiest
waterways in the world has also helped catapult the Area into a major transportation hub:
according to the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council, the volume of air freight
traffic was greater than the combined volumes of Tokyo, New York and San Francisco.
First and foremost, as the international image of the Greater Bay Area is further
enhanced, this will trickle down to the average citizen in many aspects. Starting with
education, often an integral part of every developed society, many members of the Area are
actively seeking to improve their educational infrastructure. Indeed, with a population of
twice that of Canada, the human capital that is being utilized could not be fully explored if
education were subpar. This is already changing in many ways. In Hong Kong alone, three
32