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Speaker: One year on from the umbrella protests

8 Responses

  • Kevin McCready,

    Thanks Nickkita
    I tell people that the Chinese empire is more diverse than eastern and western Europe put together, linguistically, culturally, historically. The attempt to unite the empire is via imposing a written script on Thai speaking areas in the south (much of Guangxi Province for example), Yue speaking areas (Guangzhou), Islamic areas (Xinjiang), Vietnamese areas, Korean, Russian etc etc. There are at least 55 non-Han nationalities in China). I've even seen Tibetan written in Chinese characters designed to be pronounced in the northern language (Madarin).

    BTW for those who don't know, parallel goods smuggling or parallel trading happens on any porous border where there's a price differential (eg Singaporeans going on shopping trips to Malaysia). In HK, mainlanders make multiple trips to HK and buy up household goods such as milk, creating shortages in HK and crowding out the locals in the markets. Localist groups in HK have taken direct action, including burning down warehouses involved in the trade.

    Auckland • Since Jun 2013 • 119 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    Yes the signs at the border about limits on carrying baby powder across are hard to miss.

    I was talking to a friend in Shenzhen on Friday about the changes to his access to Hong Kong ... He was born in Shenzhen but has no birth certificate (Shenzhen residents are grandfathered in, something he can't prove) ... the changes created by the reactions to the smuggling have limited the access to HK he has been used to (and needs for his work). Meanwhile I can get across the border faster with eChannel on my NZ passport.

    On the other hand it seems easier to get a seat on the Luohu train .....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Nickkita Lau,

    The HK government is now blaming the loss of tourists on anti-parallel trade campaigns and the UM while in fact it's more due to the strong HK dollar and the weakened Chinese economy than anything. Either way average HKers still think there are way too many Chinese "tourists" unless they work in retail, of course.

    Since Oct 2014 • 6 posts Report

  • Nickkita Lau,

    Another very strange phenomenon is how much young HKers enjoy seeing signs of a Chinese recession. They think a weak Chinese economy would give them an opportunity to finally get on the property ladder. I don't have any information on this, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the anti-Chinese sentiment was found to be the highest in HK than anywhere else in the world including Taiwan.

    Since Oct 2014 • 6 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    dupe

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • linger, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    * It may be worth clarifying that Paul's comment concerns a duplicate post (now removed); it is not intended as a description of any previous poster.

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    oh yes, sorry

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Chris Waugh,

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report

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