Standing in Exchange Square staring up at the glittering Two IFC tower, a visiting New Zealand business executive observed yesterday, 'Hong Kong wasn't like this the last time I was here.'
That was in 1986. On his return here this week, the visitor had tried to find his way around the city by looking out for well-remembered landmarks like the Tamar basin and the Star Ferry pier. Of course, within minutes he was hopelessly lost. 'Things change more slowly where I live,' he mused.
He was right. In fact, leisurely New Zealand moves at less than one-third of Hong Kong's hurried pace, according to a piece of research just published by Standard Chartered.
This intriguing study is an attempt to capture and portray the dizzying speed at which the Chinese economy is changing, by comparing it with rates of change elsewhere in the world. In it, Standard Chartered's Shanghai-based economist Stephen Green introduces the concept of 'China years'.
Time measured in China years expresses how long it takes the mainland to change as much as another country changes in 12 months. For example, things move pretty quickly in Hong Kong, but not as quickly as they do on the mainland. According to Mr Green's calculations, China changes at twice the speed of Hong Kong, so 12 months in Hong Kong equals just half a China year. In other words, it takes China six months to experience the changes that Hong Kong sees in a year. Just think: on the mainland, the Queen's Pier demolition would have been wrapped up before lunch, instead of taking all day.
To calculate his China years, Mr Green worked out the average annual growth rates for gross domestic product per capita (in constant local currency prices) across 60 countries for the period from 1980 to 2007. The results told him the speed of growth of the average person's income for each country, which he then compared with the figure for China as a proxy for the relative rate of change.