Shanghai and Hong Kong

My flight was at 0820. I didn't realise how far the airport was from the city when I picked this flight. It could have been worse; I could have picked an earlier one. Fortunately for me, the hostel's front desk was open by 0600, so I was able to leave just after. It was cool and relatively quiet walking to the metro. I don' t often get to see sunrise. Since line 2 runs all the way to the airport, and the first Maglev train from Longyang Road terminus was at 0645 I thought I would stay on line 2 instead of transferring to the Maglev. And it would provide a little variety instead of riding the Maglev again. This in retrospect was a slightly unwise decision that resulted in wracked nerves. It ate up almost all of the safety margin I had allowed because of the many stations in between and the long delays in opening and closing carriage doors. I arrived at just about the 45 minute deadline. By the time I reached the gate, they had just started boarding. That was close, whew!


But we ended up waiting an hour on the tarmac anyway. Perhaps some connecting flight was delayed. I suspect punctuality suffers on internal Chinese routes. I was happy when we finally took off. We arrived in Hong Kong 35 minutes late. The pilots probably stepped on the pedal a bit, but I think the airline also schedules some leeway for this sector.


There isn't much to write about my 1 day stopover in Hong Kong. I did the usual things: I shopped, I ate, I saw. And I didn't take any pictures, so I won't bore you with a verbal description. I did notice that pedestrians in Hong Kong are more polite, they give way if it looks like you will collide with them. In Shanghai, people tend to barge their way around. Manners were improving in China, but could be better. I saw people, mostly older folk, spit in public. Someone once coughed in my face. A young woman washed her corn cob with bottled water in a station waiting room, letting the water drip to the floor, assuming that the cleaners would mop it up.


It was quite appropriate for me to end the trip with a stopover in Hong Kong. Shanghai and Hong Kong are ports that were prised open by European powers in a time when China had fallen into decay. It might have been a national humiliation but in the long term, these and other ports became hubs for the industrialisation of China. Hong Kong and Shanghai are sisters and were meant to be allies and rivals. (Remember what HSBC is an acronym for.) When the communists won in 1949, the lights dimmed in Shanghai, and Hong Kong went it alone. Gone was the vice, but also the entrepreneurial energy. But the industrial capability was latent. I remember back in the 70s looking at Seagull cameras, and film made in Shanghai. Now Shanghai is aiming to become a world city and financial nexus. It's interesting that the city has set itself a goal of having 5% foreign residents, to inject diversity and energy. At the moment Hong Kong holds the lead in sophistication, but in time the greater population and vast hinterland of Shanghai will be inexorable advantages.