...I know there're quite a few expensive new condos in Clear Water Bay. Do you rent or own your house ? What do you do in HK ?
Yes, it was a new condo. I rented it from a businessman and a lawyer who picked it up real cheap when the real estated market collapsed in '97. They rented it to me until I left Hong Kong in late '99. Then they sold it for a hefty profit after the real estate market had recovered. The MTR was being extended when I left HK, and one of the stops was supposed to be right next to East Point City.
I was a research engineer in HK. Now I live in Florida.
...Are you a Viking ? Irish ? Spanish ? Gee, Brits have lots of enemies
My surname is Ukrainian, but my ancestors are from several countries. It's important to realize the magnitude of the British empire at it's peak in 1900. They controlled 20% of the land mass of the entire world. They had defeated all the other empires of the time -- France, Spain, Germany, etc. So, of course, they had a lot of enemies along the way.
I spent some time watching development in the New Territories. East Point City consisted of a giant two-story mall. On top of the mall were seven high-rise apartment buildings numbered 1,2,3,5,6,7,8 which were missing floors 4,14,24,34,44 (I think Chinese overplay the unlucky number "4" thing). Anyway, a person never had to leave East Point City to survive. To eat, shop, or whatever, all one had to do was get in the elevator down the hall and ride it to the 1st or 2nd floor of the mall. That's typically the way the New Territories were being developed -- into a bunch of "mini-cities". You won't find anything like it in the US.
BTW, the Hong Kong MTR is the only mass-transit railway in the world that is profitable. All others require gov't funding.
My impression is that Hong Kong benefitted from British rule -- at least by comparison to other SE Asian countries. Of course, it could be just a coincidence because India (also controlled by the British for a long time) did not turn out so well. Since the Handover, instead of learning English and Cantonese in school, the Mainland now requires that all children be taught Mandarin and Cantonese -- which has upset many people I knew because many HK businessmen benefitted greatly by knowing English. |
