Fiction: Group 3
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Elsa High School, Razon, Ori - 12, Fiction: Group 3
y name is James Williams, I was born on February 22
nd
1990 in the land of Hong Kong and
grew up there for my whole life, I learn Geography and History at the University of Hong
Kong and as I get older and older, I notice the differences between the Hong Kong that I was
born and the Hong Kong that my ancestors lived in. I am yet to see the beautiful Hong Kong that has been
seen by my elder family members and now, my mission is to bring that Hong Kong back.
January 12
th
2015
“Hi Robert, how are you?” I approached my boss at the University of Hong Kong. “I’m fine thank you,
how about you?” Robert asked, “I’m good, now listen. Umm, I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time
but have never gotten the chance to, now I do have the chance. I hope you don’t object but I would like to
fly around the whole Pearl River Delta, to learn more about their culture and how their life is now
compared to their lives in the past. From there, I’ll be able to raise awareness and to bring back the beautiful
Hong Kong and the rest of the beautiful Pearl River Delta.” I proclaimed. It took a few seconds of thought
but Robert agreed in the end. After finishing my work at the University, I ran home to my beautiful wife
and shouted,
“Grace! I can finally tour around the Pearl River Delta!” “How come, we can’t afford that.” Grace said.
“Ya, I know. That’s why I’ve been saving up.” I answered. “Do whatever you want, follow your dreams
and don’t let anybody stop you in your way.” Grace exclaimed. “Thank you, I love you.” “I love you too.”
She answered.
January 13
th
2015
The next morning, I was packed and ready for my trip. My wife and I said our farewells and I left to the
central pier ferry. It was going to leave in exactly 2 hours and couldn’t miss that trip to Macau, and so at 4
pm I was on my way to Macau, the Las Vegas of Southern East Asia. Towards my arrival, I took pictures of
the lights that the tall and high skyscrapers were excreting and in comparison to the Macau of 1970, I was
amazed. The Portuguese had really shaped Macau in both positive and negative ways. However, in my
opinion, we need the old Macau back. A peaceful place, when you could hear the singing of the birds and
the waves of the ocean. That Macau was a beautiful one. I stayed at the Crown Towers hotel for a fortnight,
taking pictures of all architectural phenomenon that captured my eyes as evidence that we have to fix the
problem that we are facing. Macau is extremely polluted now days. Everybody are stuck to their phones
and there is no interaction with one another whatsoever, and I noticed even more than I had before that this
is a problem we have to fix. Quickly.
January 27
th
2015
Now, I was to arrive at Shenzhen, with no knowledge whatsoever of neither what its culture was like nor
what its architecture was like. I thought I would be surprised of Shenzhen’s culture, I thought to myself that
maybe we hadn’t lost Shenzhen yet, but obviously I was wrong. To my surprise, it was exactly like Hong
Kong. It had the same style of Architecture, everybody was stuck to their phones, and yet again we have lost
another part of the Pearl River Delta. I stayed there for three nights longer to learn more about their way of
living and their culture, and to have picture evidence of the cities that we have come to. However, it seems
more and more than that culture I am searching for is never going to be found.
January 30
th
2015
I was now on my way to my final destination, Guangzhou. I knew what it was going to be like and I wasn’t
surprised at my arrival. It was just like Hong Kong if not worse than Hong Kong. Filled with skyscrapers
reaching until the sky. At night, lights were scattered throughout the city lightning up the horizon. Even
without streetlights, you would be able to see at night. At this time, I was shocked by the destinations that I
had reached throughout this whole trip itself. I had seen things that I had never seen before. However,
coming into it I thought to myself that it might not be so bad. I thought to myself that some places will have
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