Jiangmen in search of the future
Anyone disillusioned by current affairs in Hong Kong might want to look for a salve in Jiangmen. It's a 21/2-hour ferry ride to the western side of the Pearl River Delta, but half of that is spent cruising up a major source of our water supply, the West River. Turning inland just after Macau, you quickly leave the world behind, swapping cars and gaudy casinos for buffaloes and ornamental watchtowers. It is an easy place to escape your anxiety over whether Hong Kong will ever get an accountable government.
Jiangmen has more than quaint scenery to remind us of what we once had here, and what we should have protected better. History stalks you at every turn. Reminders of tumultuous times - and those who fled them - are everywhere. About four million 'overseas' Chinese reportedly trace their roots back to Jiangmen. They include Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's better half, Betty.
Those that stayed provide a unique glimpse into the character of the people who continue to move to Hong Kong, and on whose backs this city is still being built. Like Flora Liang, a senior tourism official who goes around tucking a piece of China into the heart of every visitor she meets. Born to farmers the year the Cultural Revolution began, she was nearly sold to pay for food. Today, she has a degree, a child, and is looking forward to seeing Paris. She works too hard, but cherishes her relative freedoms and the opportunities she has had to broaden her horizons.
Admittedly, Ms Liang is hardly representative of the masses. There is a generation about a decade older with every reason to feel bitter about their lot in life. Unlike those who made their way to Hong Kong, they have already paid for their aiguo zhuyi (patriotism) several times over. Aiguo zhuyi took their most precious years as teenagers, sending them to the countryside to learn from peasants when they should have been learning from teachers. Instead of becoming doctors and lawyers, they demonstrated their aiguo zhuyi by working in factories and having only one child. These state-owned factories loved them like they loved their country - until they closed, leaving them with nothing.
Yet on balance, there is a sense in Jiangmen that the future holds more promise than it ever has before. Not everyone will be as lucky as the rest, but life is going to keep improving for the most.
This crystallised while hurtling down a highway from Jiangmen to Taishan, our driver honking all the way at chickens and bicycles that should have known better. The road was brand new, the excavated ground packed on its sides still fragrant. Jiangmen is where Hong Kong was 40 years ago, and the delta's east side, 20 years ago. It can plot its road map on their well-travelled paths, and is working hard to emulate the former rather than the latter by attracting more eco-tourists than toy factories.
Indeed, while Hongkongers search for their past in Jiangmen, the city is looking for signs of its future in Hong Kong. The big question is how far the people in this fast-developing corner of Guangdong - and everyone else from the rambunctious next-door province who shop here - are stretching their view into the future. Thanks to the individual travel scheme, there is no aspect of Hong Kong's development of which they are not aware. Jamming TVB's newscasts, and limiting the distribution of Apple Daily beyond Lowu, no longer works. The cross-border information stream has turned into a torrent.
I suspect that is the real reason why political reform in Hong Kong has to be managed by a 'gradual and orderly progress in the light of actual conditions'. Even if it proves a debilitating experience.
Anthony Lawrance is the Post's special projects editor