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

News this month

Democracy on the march?

Universal suffrage, always a touchy subject in Hong Kong, is particularly so this October, as everyone awaits the recommendations of a taskforce on constitutional reform. The taskforce formed after half a million people filled the streets in large political protests in 2003. Though Beijing has ruled out the direct election of a Hong Kong chief executive in 2007 or the legislative council in 2008, new reforms could allow directly elected district councillors to pick the chief executive. But this is not enough for Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp, which claims the proposal concedes just enough to stymie further progress. Still, the plan is likely to win the two-thirds majority of the legislative council needed to pass, and to help Hong Kong avoid a repeat of 2003's mass demonstrations.

In the midst of the roiling debate, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, Hong Kong's chief executive, tried to appease both democrats and Beijing in a big speech on October 12th. Mr Tsang, delivering his first annual policy address, announced several changes to make Hong Kong's government more receptive to the public, but avoided mention of broader reforms.

Culture vultures

A controversial proposal to build a HK$40 billion ($5.1 billion) cultural hub in Kowloon may soon be finalised. The plan is for the West Kowloon Cultural District, on the western end of Victoria Harbour, to house museums, galleries, theatres and a park, as well as flats and offices. But the project met with protest; critics feared that commercial development would overtake the cultural space, while developers balked at the government’s plan to hire one company to build the entire hub. In early October, the government responded to a six-month public review of the project.

To allay critics, Rafael Hui, Hong Kong’s chief secretary, announced that the government would open half the site to other developers in an open bidding process. The company responsible for the other half would be required to invest HK$30m ($3.9m) in cultural facilities. He said that some 20% of the district will be residential, 30% cultural and 50% commercial. The announcement appeased many, though some objected to the land allocations. At the same time, Henderson Land—a developer bidding for the site—suggested the public-review process might have been rigged, following revelations that more than 12% of the 33,000 public responses were nearly identical.

A downward turn

Hong Kong’s reputation as a leading financial centre took a blow in October, when the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked it the world’s 28th most competitive city. Fears of corruption and a flagging rule of law have eroded Hong Kong’s standing since 1997, when it ranked second. The report’s mention of “increasing concerns about favouritism by government officials” outraged senior politicians, who immediately held press conferences to question the WEF's methodology and praise Hong Kong’s free economy.

The WEF is not the city’s only economic critic—Hong Kong has also slipped in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability rankings and in a recent World Bank report on the ease of doing business in various cities. The stream of criticism has highlighted not only corruption, but also failings in oversight: Hong Kong does not have a law to regulate competition, nor are there laws to prevent collusion or price-fixing, save for in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors.

Truth and light?

Hong Kong’s civil-rights groups were fuming in early October, after an anti-gay organisation won a government contract to instruct teachers on human rights and non-discrimination. The Christian Society for Truth and Light beat two other proposals—one from a Hong Kong University law professor and the other from the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor’s legal expert—for a contract to teach a 20-hour training course, starting in October.

The organisation has annoyed civil-rights groups for some time. It was the lone opponent to a September court ruling which overturned a ban on sodomy with or between men under 21. And last December, it distributed in schools leaflets that described homosexuality as a treatable mental illness, and ran a “sexual re-orientation” seminar that suggested that wearing a dress could cure lesbianism. Hong Kong’s education bureau has not explained its choice, insisting that there was no funny business in the bidding process.

Settling a $3 billion score

Nina Wang, Asia’s richest woman, has won control of her dead husband’s business empire after an eight-year legal dispute. Hong Kong's court of final appeal overturned a previous ruling by a lower court, giving the colourful Mrs Wang, known for her pigtails and wacky fashion-sense, full control of Chinachem, a large property developer believed to be worth $3 billion.

After her husband was kidnapped in 1990 and officially declared dead nine years later, Mrs Wang became involved in a dispute with her father-in-law, who claimed she had forged a will. The alleged death threats and accusations of adultery that followed, together with the huge sums of money involved, transfixed Hong Kong's media. In 2002, a court ruled against Mrs Wang, and a police investigation and an unsuccessful appeal followed.

In January, Mrs Wang was charged with forgery, using a false instrument and attempting to pervert the course of justice, and ordered to pay a record HK$55m (about $7m) bail. Those charges are now in doubt following the court of final appeal's finding that the will was genuine.

Catch if you can

October 2005

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland finally opened on September 12th, six years after Disney closed a deal with the city. The park, which cost US$3.2 billion, is Asia’s second Disneyland and China’s first. (Japan has the other one.) The opening is a victory for Disney, which has previously tried to tap China’s vast market with mixed success. Hong Kong officials hope the park will be a boon for the city’s tourism industry, attracting visitors from the mainland and elsewhere in Asia.

The 320-acre park, which China's vice president lauded as “an everlasting carnival”, is big on theme but light on thrills. Though are few blockbuster rides, photo opportunities with Disney characters abound throughout the park’s four “lands”: Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and a safari-themed Adventureland. Restaurants and souvenir shops are also ubiquitous.

The park is expected to operate close to its capacity of 30,000 guests a day for some time, so expect big crowds amid steamy weather.

Hong Kong Disneyland, Lantau Island. For more information and bookings, see the park's website.

More from the Hong Kong cultural calendar