Hong Kong won’t see a bright future by constantly looking to its past
Successful global cities are defined by their ambition and measure themselves against the world’s best rather than their past
Earlier this month, the first batch of 14,000 free tickets to visit the People’s Liberation Army’s naval vessels during their stopover in Hong Kong was claimed within minutes of being released. Families queued online for the opportunity to step aboard the ships, and the open days quickly became one of the most talked-about events of this year’s handover anniversary. The scenes stood in contrast to those of July 1997.
Whether one sees this as growing familiarity, curiosity or a stronger sense of national identity, it reflects an undeniable reality: Hong Kong has changed.
Twenty-nine years is a long time – long enough for an entire generation to have known no other Hong Kong. For much of the past three decades, Hong Kong has understandably measured its progress against its own history. That made sense during a period of significant transition as the city adapted to new constitutional, economic and social realities.
Today, Hong Kong is entering a different phase. The challenge is no longer simply to demonstrate how far it has come since 1997. It is to demonstrate how far it can go during the next 29 years, and that requires a different benchmark.