Hope highlights the divide between Hong Kong and Shanghai
Optimism among locals in Shanghai is palpable, especially after Beijing announced its plan for a free trade zone in the city
People always like to compare Hong Kong and Shanghai, partly due to the interplay between the two cities since the 1940s, when many wealthy Shanghai families relocated to Hong Kong.
If you ask me, the biggest difference between the two cities can be encapsulated nowadays in just one word: hope.
David and I went to Broadway Mansion, now a popular five-star hotel on the Bund, Shanghai's landmark waterfront. We went up to its top level to take in the view across the Huangpu river - a stunning skyscraper-studded skyline that symbolises Pudong's transformation from a village into a Manhattan-like metropolis in little over 30 years.
David first stayed at Broadway Mansion in 1982, when he was a Harvard graduate who had made some pocket money during an English-teaching stint in Hong Kong. He had decided to venture across the border and eventually landed in Shanghai.
David said the most common response he got from hotel waiters to his requests during that 1982 visit was " mei you", which literally means "don't have". Even ordering dishes that were on the hotel's menu got the " mei you" response, David recalled, partly because China was still a planned economy. Almost everything back then, from meat to rice, was tightly controlled by the government and supplies, even in decent hotels like Broadway Mansion, often ran out.
Today, the hotel, like any other in the city, has everything you could possibly want. Even if you can't find your favourite dish on the menu, just tell the waiter what you want and the hotel will quickly have it delivered.