Economist.com Cities Guide: Hong Kong Briefing - September 2005

News this month

Pulling power

Mickey Mouse welcomed visitors in China for the first time on September 12th, with the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland. Built on Lantau island at a cost of $3.5 billion, Disney's 11th theme park is the company's biggest investment in China so far. Zeng Qinghong, China's vice-president, Donald Tsang, Hong Kong's chief executive and Michael Eisner, head of Disney, attended the opening ceremony.

Since its inception in December 1999, Hong Kong Disneyland has been beset by obstacles. Toxic mud, the illegal removal of river rocks, shark’s fin soup and food poisoning have all caused controversy. But attention is now focusing on the project's merits: the 18,000 jobs, the fillip to the construction industry and the pulling power those big black ears exert over millions of increasingly affluent tourists from the mainland. The Hong Kong government, which has a 57% stake in the project, hopes the park will attract 5.6m visitors in its first year.

A legal triumph

In a victory for both the city’s gays and the rule of law, a court has overturned laws that effectively banned homosexuality among young men. One law, for example, gave life sentences for acts of sodomy with or between men under the age of 21. On August 24th, Michael Hartmann, a High Court Judge, found the laws biased for targeting acts between gay men when no such sanctions exist for heterosexuals or lesbians. He ruled that the legislation violated Hong Kong’s Basic Law and Bill of Rights.

The case, brought by a 20-year-old man, could boost support for an anti-discrimination law to defend sexual orientation. The ruling also affirmed the court’s role as a warden of basic rights. The government had conceded that most of the laws challenged by the suit were untenable, but argued that the court could not overturn primary legislation. But Mr Hartmann disagreed, saying that if laws violated people’s basic rights, it was the court's duty to declare such laws invalid.

Shall we dance?

Zeng Qinghong, China’s vice president, played suitor during a recent visit to Hong Kong. After arriving on September 10th, he wooed reporters by speaking in Cantonese, their local dialect, schmoozing with business leaders and visiting senior citizens (with television crews on hand). Most notably, he dined in the same room as pro-democracy legislators. With Hong Kong due to release a report on democratic reform next month, Mr Zeng, Beijing’s man in charge of Hong Kong affairs, did not skimp on charm.

Relations were decidedly less rosy in July 2003, the last time a leading Beijing official visited the city, when more than half a million people filled the streets to protest against a national security law and Tung Chee-hwa, the city's chief executive at the time. The demonstration—followed by another in 2004—prompted Hong Kong's government to review democratic reforms in the city. Local democrats have long called for the direct election of the chief executive, who is currently installed by a Beijing-approved election committee. But Beijing has ruled this out, as well as a direct election for the Legislative Council, Hong Kong's pseudo-parliament.

With mainland politicians wary of more democracy rallies, Mr Zeng avoided prickly subjects during his visit. In a banquet speech, he pledged to cement the city's role as a financial hub, and praised Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, Hong Kong’s popular new chief executive, for restoring faith in the city's government. The three-day visit ended with plenty of fanfare when Mr Zeng presided over the opening of Disneyland.

Watch what you eat

Hong Kong’s 6.9m residents have reason to feel uneasy as they sit down for dinner. In mid-August, the safety of the city’s food supply was cast into doubt after a cancer-causing chemical was found in imported farmed fish. High levels of the chemical—a toxic disinfectant banned in America and Europe—were initially detected in eels imported from the mainland, as well as other farmed species of freshwater and marine-water fish popular in Hong Kong.

The discovery, the latest in a string of food scares, raised serious doubts about whether Hong Kong's government can ensure food safety. Bird flu, a recent outbreak of a pork-borne disease, and the heavy use of pesticides by mainland farmers have exposed the need for better food inspections in Hong Kong, particularly given the city’s dependence on imports. The central and Hong Kong governments have tried to restore confidence in the food supply, but efforts to improve surveillance have been foiled by bureaucratic bungling and the high volume of goods that enter the city each day.

Hazy days of summer

On several days in September, Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour all but vanished behind a wall of summer smog. According to the city's environmental department, air pollution has reached hazardous levels as emissions from cars accumulate in the hot, still atmosphere. To make matters worse, mainland power shortages have forced some defunct coal-fired power stations back into use, while many mainland factories, faced with power shortages during peak periods, are using diesel generators, often with sub-standard fuel oil.

Environmentalists have lobbied Hong Kong’s government to urge the city’s two electricity producers, China Light and Power and Hong Kong Electric, to use clean energy sources. In the meantime, green groups are asking Hong Kong’s residents to conserve electricity. These calls may go unheeded—the city has a penchant for ice-cold office temperatures, particularly during the tropical summer months.

Till death do us part

Investment bankers are not often tabloid-fodder—Hong Kong’s banking community is usually as private as it is wealthy. But those hungry for scandal have been glutted by a recent trial. On September 1st, Nancy Kissel was sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband, a senior executive at Merrill Lynch, an investment bank. After a gripping, three-month trial, a jury took only eight hours to find Mrs Kissel guilty of murdering her husband, Robert Kissel, in November 2003. The case gave the press plenty of gory morsels to savour: Mrs Kissel (who admitted having an affair with a TV repair man) drugged, then bludgeoned her husband to death, and her defence team alleged drug abuse, sexual violence and bisexual infidelity by Mr Kissel.

The trial has ended, but the Kissels could captivate headlines for some time: the judge advised that some aspects of the case be further investigated, and Mrs Kissel may appeal the verdict.

Catch if you can

October 2005

“100 Days of SARS: Triumph Through Unity”

Until September 30th 2005

Situated in a beautiful park in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island, the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science tracks the progress of western and Chinese medicine in the city. Hong Kong’s busy port and proximity to southern China have made it vulnerable to disease throughout its history. It is here that the plague bacillus was first isolated, the deadly H5N1 bird flu was first encountered, and SARS gained momentum.

The museum's current exhibition, “100 Days of SARS: Triumph Through Unity”, traces the course of the outbreak that killed about 300 locals and crippled the city’s economy in 2003. It runs until the end of the month before moving to the Hong Kong Science Museum.
Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science. Caine Lane, just below Caine Rd in the Mid-Levels, Hong Kong Island. Tel: +852 2549-5123. See the museum’s website.

More from the Hong Kong cultural calendar