Rant: Hong Kong Ferris wheel, an eye for eye's sake
Jenni Marsh
Oh, the irony. Hong Kong - a city that has demolished many of its historic relics (the old Hong Kong Club, the former Foreign Correspondents' Club on Conduit Road) - is reviving a Victorian fairground ride: the Ferris wheel.
From September, behind Central Ferry Pier 8, this rotating hamster wheel of yesteryear will cower before hi-tech high-rises that form one of the world's most spectacular skylines.
The ICC stands at 484 metres, Two IFC is 420 metres, the Hong Kong "Eye", meanwhile, will spin a pathetic 60 metres above ground.
Who can we blame for this dizzying madness? The renaissance of the Ferris wheel can be traced back to former British prime minister Tony Blair. The London Eye was part of New Labour's millennium celebration package, and from Calcutta to Las Vegas, it's been an eye for an eye's sake ever since.
China, of course, has built five of the world's 10 tallest Ferris wheels in the past decade. Perhaps Zhengzhou and Suzhou need a wheel to spice things up. But often local authorities deem these rides a city essential, akin to a library. When eye fever swept Britain, the ancient walled city of York - too small to squeeze the ride in close to anything you'd actually want to see - plonked its wheel in a car park behind the train station. What a view.
Hong Kong and York are hardly twin-cities but the principle still applies. Singapore is about to sling out its wheel - the Flyer, also surrounded by tall buildings, is going bankrupt. Melbourne's Southern Star shut down 40 days after it opened.
Frankly, I can't imagine looking at Hong Kong's skyline - sleek, sexy and modern - and seeing a Victorian Ferris wheel dumped in the middle. The Star Ferry is enough nostalgia for me. I'm saving my HK$100 ticket fare and buying a cocktail at Ozone.
