A joke popular among disciplined officers patrolling the border tells of how some illegal immigrants botch their attempts to sneak into Hong Kong because of the SAR's deceptively rural look near the fence.
Under the cover of darkness, the immigrants manage to climb over barbed wire and dodge border surveillance. Guided by the lights of gleaming tall buildings in the distance, they make their dash for prosperity, only to run into the cold embrace of mainland public security officers. For the bright buildings they think are symbols of prosperity are actually situated in socialist Shenzhen, not capitalistic Hong Kong.
The joke is a satire on the rural character of the SAR's border areas vis-a-vis their equivalent on the Shenzhen side. Hong Kong's long-standing policy of preserving farmland and fish ponds along the border is an integral part of measures aimed at combating illegal immigration. Despite massive urbanisation of the New Territories over the past decades, there is no plan to turn the border areas into new centres of population growth.
By contrast, in order to reap the full benefits of proximity to Hong Kong, the Shenzhen authorities decided to develop areas close to the SAR when it became a special economic zone in the late 1970s. That explains why the most built-up areas of Shenzhen are a narrow strip of land along the border.
By proposing to develop Chung Ying Street in Shataukok, a village at the eastern end of the border, Cheng Yiu-tong, a member of the Commission on Strategic Development and a local deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), is making yet another call for a rethink of Hong Kong's policy of not developing the border areas.
In fact, the policy has been challenged from time to time over the years. For example, one proposal involved turning parts of the border areas into special industrial zones where mainland workers would come over to work during the day and return home to Shenzhen at night. The idea, championed by industrialists a few years before the handover when Hong Kong experienced a severe labour shortage, failed to materialise as officials were keen to maintain the integrity of the border.
Literally meaning 'Sino-British Street', Chung Ying Street is bisected by the line of demarcation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Hong Kong law bars access to Shataukok, except by indigenous residents and visitors with a legitimate purpose.