Fiction: Group 4
Stories of the Pearl River Delta
Island School, Cummins, Amelia - 14, Fiction: Group 4
ong Kong, dubbed ‘Asia’s World City’, is a bustling business hub situated near China. It consists
of a population of 6.96 million people and is one of the most densely populated places in the
world. But beneath the mile-high buildings, steady stream of expats and million dollar handbags,
there lies a sea of culture.
Hong Kong was under British rule for 150 years, before being given back to China in 1998. Overtime, the
city has developed its own culture, its own society and its own expectations. Hong Kong is truly one of a
kind. No matter how hard you look, you will never find a place like it, not Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or
Shanghai. Once the city is gone, it will be gone forever. Hong Kong is a boiling pot of western and Asian
influences. For every bowl of pasta sold, a pot of rice is bought. For every taxi ride taken, a sampan leaves
the bay. The spread may not be equal, but Hong Kong is where East meets West.
When you first land at Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong seems like you’ve always been told. With all of the
skyscrapers and designer shops, it appears as a land for the wealthy, business folk and their spoilt expatriate
children wearing Armani and carrying with them their million-dollar bank accounts. You gaze at the young
Filipino women caring for the screaming babies of the cities filthy rich residents and the young professionals
hustling down the road, leaving straddles in their wake. It is a looking glass, peering intensely back at you
with a look of distrust and dismay. However, all is not as it seems in this city of great depths.
Asia’s World City is not only home to the fortunate, the wealthy, the lucky. You walk the streets and there
is a woman kneeling on the street corner, begging the bee lining penguins to spare a mere few cents, and
there maybe a man that lumbers up the litter-lined roads hunchbacked over a trolley full of cardboard.
These are the forgotten few, hidden under the glitz and glamour of this financial hub. But they are not
sparse. They do not struggle as a mini minority. 1 in 5 Hong Kong residents live in poverty, 100,000 people
live in cage homes or coffins and 1 in 4 children do not get three meals a day. Hong Kong may be one of
the greatest cities, but it also has the greatest income inequality in the entire world. Just because you can’t
see it, it doesn’t mean its not there, hidden beneath the jumble of extravagant parties, million dollar bills and
young professionals. Hong Kong is a happy, safe, welcoming society, but thousands of people slip through
the cracks every day.
The people in this hectic city are not the only treasures in the sea. There are buildings, largely out of Central
District, that are not coated in sparking metal and lined with golden mirrors. There are buildings that stand
where they stood eighty, ninety, one hundred years ago. There are buildings in ruins of peeling paint. There
are bed-spaced apartments stacked one on top of the other, caging their owners in. All 53,200 occupants.
There are temples that glisten green and red, providing sanctuary for those most in need. And there are, of
course, gargantuan towers, spiralling, their tips scraping the sky. 1,233 skyscrapers salute the city, placing it at
the top of world rankings. IFC. Bank of China. HSBC. Each and every one of those 1,233 buildings
contribute to creating the Pearl River Deltas most ravishing scene: The Hong Kong skyline.
But Hong
Kong is not only a vertical city. It is not only a pretty face.
Hong Kong, the Victoria Sponge of Asia. Sponge. The skyline. Jam. The people. Cream. The culture.
Sponge. The money. And a sprinkle of strawberries. You will never run out of things to see in Asia’s World
City
.
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