Nihao!
Right now I’m sitting in the lobby of a hotel in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province in central China.
Due to my tight schedule I haven’t been posting a lot in recent weeks, but I will report in detail on my experiences here in China.
I left for Asia about one and a half weeks ago. My first destination was Hongkong. Hongkong is one of two Special Administrative Regions in China. The city and the surrounding territories are part of China, however, they’re widely self-governing and unlike the mainland enjoy freedom of press and free elections.
Hongkong has been one of the most competitive economies worldwide for many years and is constantly among the leading countries in the United Nations Human Development Index.
Having been in Singapore a little more than a year ago, I was interested to see in what ways Singapore and Hongkong are different. Both had been British colonies - Singapore until 1965 and Hongkong until 1997.
While Hongkong has about twice the population of Singapore and one of the most impressive skylines in the world, Singapore is leading in regard to cleanness and air quality.
Hongkong appears to be busier and more dynamic than Singapore. A clear disadvantage is Hongkong’s exposure to the pollution of the bordering Shenzhen metropolitan area. A vast smog cloud is lying over Hongkong island, Kowloon and the minor islands part of the Special Administrative Region.
Comparing Hongkong to Singapore, I was surprised to find out that many citizens of Hongkong don’t speak English fluently. In addition to their native language being Cantonese and not Mandarin (the Beijing dialect that is considered standard Chinese), that is a huge drawback. In contrast, most Singaporeans speak English on a native speaker level and at least one other language like Mandarin, Thai, Malaysian, Hindi, …
Tuesday last week I left Hongkong for Beijing and on Saturday Iwas heading to Xi’an by overnight train.
In a few hours I will depart for Shanghai where I will visit the World Expo 2010 before I return to Hongkong at the end of the week.
