City BeatThe missing ingredient that would make Hong Kong truly attractive - hospitality
Our safe city has so much going for it, but for some mainlanders it never feels like home
There has been much talk in recent years about the city's competitiveness, and there is never a lack of surveys driving home the same message: our competitiveness is going downhill.
So when another poll came out last week by the Hong Kong-based China Institute of City Competitiveness predicting that Hong Kong, currently ranked second, is likely to be overtaken by Shenzhen in two years after falling behind Shanghai only two years ago, it was no big surprise.
But disturbingly, Hong Kong this time was kicked out of the top 30 cities in China with the best tourism attractions and features, while Macau managed to rank No 2 following Lhasa. Fortunately, it was not all bad news: Hong Kong all of a sudden is top of the "30 safe cities" list.
That was quite an interesting finding. Does it mean other cities in the country are getting less safe or does it mean Hong Kong has improved significantly in this regard? The survey was said to be based on a comparison of 358 cities in 34 provinces by measuring a number of major economic, social, environmental and cultural indicators. The institution was founded in 1998 with academics from Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Macau and overseas.
Does it look ironic that while being the safest city in the country, Hong Kong is among those with the fewest tourist attractions? Perhaps this explains it: the institute said the hostile attitude towards mainlanders was one reason.
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However, it may just well reflect the two sides of the same Hong Kong. Here's a little story which could show why the city is hated but also loved by many of our mainland compatriots.