A sure sign that Hong Kong is feeling the pinch is the organization of the Better Hong Kong Foundation, loaded with "old Hong Kong money" and headed by Chief Executive George Yuen, a former government information officer under the British Special Administrative Region's (SAR's) image.
Yuen is concerned with drop-offs in Japanese tourist numbers and continued reports of rip-offs of visitors from Tokyo an elsewhere by Hong Kong merchants.
"In the old (Pre-handover) days," said a longtime businessman-resident; "Hong Kong was the last place in the world that needed a public relations agency to hide its warts."
Then there is the question of context. Press freedom in Hong Kong is not evaporating in a vacuum. Besides the various internal and external pressures, there is the matter of place; under the British Hong Kong had a certain arrogance that went beyond ambiance; there was always something special about Hong Kong.
The thought had never before crossed my mind to write that Hong Kong is becoming "just another Chinese city."
But day-by-day, at a pace we couldn't have imagined at the time of the July 1, 1997 handover, the image of the fabulous port city is being eroded by subtle change that is making it more like "another Tianjin" than the "pearl of the orient" that it used to be.
Putting Hong Kong under the microscope has become instantly fashionable with the announcement by Washington's Heritage Foundation that Singapore would soon become No. 1 in terms of economic freedom, replacing Hong Kong which had previously held that ranking.
Newsweek magazine, in its Asian edition, recently headlined "Singapore vs. Hong Kong" on its cover. Leading newspapers in Hong Kong (Population: 6.2 million; per capita wealth: US$23,000) and Singapore (Population: 3 million; per capita wealth: US$27,000) picked up the lead and presented several features and series on the competition.
Asiaweek magazine, owned by Time Inc., culminated a two-part series on the Singapore-Hong Kong rivalry by identifying Asia's 40 most-livable cities. Three Japanese cities led the list--Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka--followed by (4) Singapore, (5) Taipei, Taiwan (6) Georgetown, Malaysia, and (7) Hong Kong. The next-rated "Chinese" cities were (10) Beijing, (11) Macao and (12) Shanghai.
The Hong Kong's government's controversial intervention in the market was partly responsible for its toppling from the "most free" category. Other moves include a tightening self-censorship of the press, notable effort to reduce expatriate salaries and even presence, and a distinct switch of preference from the English language to Mandarin and Cantonese in education.
