Chapter 6, Sadako is here too!
Although Hong Kong became a British colony very early, until liberation, Hong Kong's status in the Eastern world at that time was more focused on a military port than a commercial and trade center. It did not occupy an irreplaceable position in China's economic map. In terms of trade, Its status is far inferior to that of Shanghai. Because old China, which was in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial state at that time, was almost completely open to the Western market. Foreign personnel, funds, and goods could directly enter mainland China unimpeded, so there was naturally no need to bypass the British-controlled Hong Kong, a lot of trouble.
It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China and the outbreak of the Cold War, as the world was torn apart by the Iron Curtain, that Hong Kong became the only springboard between New China and the Western world, and gained the status of a transit point for economic and trade exchanges between mainland China and the West. This prompted The rapid development of Hong Kong's economy. Taking advantage of the special historical background of mainland China's semi-isolation during that period and relying on the huge Sino-Western re-export trade, Hong Kong became the leading transportation hub and trade center in Asia in the second half of the 20th century. Subsequently, financial centers and accompanying tourist cities were established.
However, with China's reform and opening up, Hong Kong's monopoly began to gradually disappear. Initially, Hong Kong still had some first-mover advantages and could act as an intermediary between China and the West, earning price differences and fees on both sides. However, as various parts of China make great strides towards "internationalization", the degree of opening up to the outside world has suddenly accelerated. As well as the number of "China hands" in Europe, America and the West is gradually increasing, political and cultural barriers are gradually being eliminated. More and more Chinese people can directly contact Europe and the United States, and Hong Kong's intermediary role is getting weaker and weaker. The benefits brought to Hong Kong by the mainland's isolation were quickly lost. On the contrary, the political and institutional gap that has always existed between Hong Kong and the mainland is gradually turning into the biggest negative factor restricting its economic development.
In fact, as early as the early days of Hong Kong's return, many knowledgeable people had already seen the above problems. The first-generation chief executive even ambitiously proposed a series of plans for Hong Kong's economic transformation, such as low-cost housing, a Chinese medicine port, a cyberport... and so on. Unfortunately, first of all, these plans are too ambitious and too ambitious. They are generally a little too ambitious and unrealistic. In addition, there are too many troublemakers in Hong Kong. In the end, they were all defeated by a bunch of unscrupulous real estate developers and bananas with yellow skin and white heart. People are ruined. Therefore, in the most critical years, Hong Kong closed all windows of opportunity. No matter how much capital flows in the Hong Kong market, it still cannot flow into the production link, cannot improve circulation efficiency, and cannot balance distribution. For an economy that cannot digest excess capital, having too much money is not a blessing. Take off Hong Kong's outer covering, and it's like a shell company. People who want to do things cannot do them. The active ones engage in short-term and quick business of speculating and renting money, while the rest are waiting for the savior. Without endogenous incremental space, the paper wealth in the bubble will always be a dream.
Despite this, Hong Kong at least still has the advantages of being a financial center and a deep-water port. Although it cannot be as prosperous as before, it will not become worse day by day. But the problem is that as a Chinese city that relies closely on the international business system for survival, Hong Kong undertakes a considerable part of the re-export logistics and capital flows between the mainland and the outside world - although the overall proportion is constantly declining, which is the basis of Hong Kong's external competitiveness. The premise for the operation of this model is that mainland China's global trade must continue to grow and globalization must continue to develop in order to maintain Hong Kong's prosperity.
However, no one thought at that time that history develops in a spiral, which means that within a certain period of time, globalization may also take a big step backwards. In this way, a vigorous anti-globalization counter-tide suddenly broke out, causing the world's international free trade to suddenly turn cold, and Hong Kong's financial and port businesses immediately entered an ice age. Due to geographical limitations, Hong Kong's geological conditions for serving as an entrepot trade hub are actually far inferior to those of Shanghai and Guangzhou, and even compared with many other ports in the Pearl River Delta, there is no obvious advantage - because there are many excellent ports in the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong is not unique. Guangzhou in particular is not only a port and provincial capital, but also located in the center of the Pearl River Delta and occupies the Pearl River outlet. This allows Guangzhou to rely on the Pearl River waterway to easily radiate to the vast plains and even the northern mountainous areas. Because of this, Guangzhou has been the center of Lingnan since ancient times. The political and economic center of China is also the maritime trade hub of South China. Until Hong Kong was occupied by the British, it was just a desolate small fishing village. In fact, the most suitable use of Hong Kong has always been as a military port to guard the export of the Pearl River Delta. Letting Hong Kong serve as an economic and trade center is a bit reluctant and belongs to a special situation in a very historical period. If it declines, it will be more in line with Hong Kong's historical original appearance.
Therefore, after being hit by the anti-globalization stick, other places could slowly recover, but Hong Kong, which was inherently deficient, was directly hit into the pit. At least, the trade share lost during this period was It will never come back, and the status of South China's financial center will disappear. Due to problems with the special zone system, the port access to the mainland is not smooth enough, and the transportation of goods is not as convenient as the mainland ports. How can Hong Kong's millions of people be supported by the remaining tourism industry? Even if the Hong Kong authorities try to lose face and play gambling, they can’t beat Macau next door!
As a result, a few decades into the 21st century, Hong Kong has become a city composed of a small number of super-rich people and a large number of poor people, similar to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The economy continues to be sluggish year after year, the unemployment rate is sky-high, and people with some ambition are fleeing to the mainland. Those who stay here are basically either the old, weak, sick, or second-rate. The SAR government has to apply for funding from the central government in order to ensure that All subways and buses will not be shut down. Even so, the SAR's finances are still stretched thin. They are often so poor that they can hardly afford to hire police officers to maintain law and order...
Not to mention that Hong Kong's economy has recently been hit by the nuclear explosion in the South China Sea and the Dementor Rebellion. Real estate and finance, which were already in a zombie state, were directly nailed to the coffin. Hong Kong's unemployment rate is naturally It is also a new high. Under such circumstances, it would be good if there were no fights and riots on the streets of Hong Kong all day long. How could there be any prosperity?
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"... I can't believe... Hong Kong's economy has reached such a dire situation. No wonder the streetscape in Central looks so outrageous!"
After listening to Wang Qiu's explanation, Marikawa Shizuka suddenly realized, "...then, can Hong Kong prosper again in the future?"
"...It's so difficult! Even gods can't save people who want to die. What's more, time will never go back. Opportunities are the most important thing for a person or a country. Once you miss it, you will never come back.”
Wang Qiu shrugged, "...Hong Kong has become the glorious Pearl of the Orient. It was originally an extraordinary state under a special historical environment. Now it is just returning to historical normality. It would be good to be able to 'obliterate everyone' in the end. Even if the central government If you want to interfere, you must first focus on the five principles of SAR autonomy and Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong. The ten-year commitment has not yet expired; secondly, even if you want to boost Hong Kong's economy, where can you find another unique profit growth point for Hong Kong? Isn't this a joke? If things are so difficult, why bother?”
"...Well, it seems that Hong Kong is indeed disappointing now, but let's talk about your next time-travel mission first."
Nan Lixiang changed the topic, "... How are the preliminary preparations for going to the plot world of "Flower Thousand Bones" going now?"
"...It is still being discussed and considered. After all, this is a world full of demons and immortals. The risk factor is horribly high, and there is even a risk of being wiped out as soon as you enter - if you unfortunately end up in some unlucky place. In order to To improve the safety rate of missions, the relevant departments have contacted the author of "Flower Thousand Bones" and will fly over tonight, hoping to provide us with some useful inspiration."
Wang Qiu smiled wryly and spread his hands, "...But I still feel a little nervous. After all, in a world like that, even dropping a nuclear bomb might not be very effective. There are also Doraemon Black films like [If Telephone Booth] involving the law of cause and effect. What kind of results technological props will produce in the end can only be determined by God. I know... I can only hope that the two people trapped there are both women, and they can use the 'pregnancy escape method' to cheat the main god system. Otherwise, if you must gain points, and you must gain 100,000 reward points, We don’t know how many people will die here!”
"...Huh? Aren't you still unsure of the genders of the two people in the plot world of "Flower Thousand Bones"?" Marikawa Shizuka asked with a frown.
"...From the "Book of Time Travel", it can only be confirmed that among the two newcomers who are trapped in the plot world of "A Thousand Bones of Flowers", one is named Yang Qing and the other is named Xu Cai. Judging from their names, I really can’t tell whether these two guys are male or female..."
Wang Qiu explained this while opening his "Book of Time Travel" and pointing out the part about "A Thousand Bones of Flowers" to Marikawa Shizuka.
"...They are all gender-neutral names for both men and women...I hope they are all female, otherwise people really don't know what to do..."
Marikawa Shizuka bit her finger and muttered, then showed a confused expression, "...Eh? But why did the writing on it suddenly disappear?"
When Wang Qiu heard this, he quickly looked at it and was shocked - Eh? The plot world of "A Thousand Bones of Flowers" disappeared like this?
This also means... that the two guys who were trapped in the plot world of "Flower Thousand Bones", whether they were male or female, just died from burping?
Then, this probably also means... Before he had time to sort out his thoughts, he was interrupted by a brutal scream.
"...Ah - ghost! There is a ghost! There is a ghost!!!
The three of them turned around and saw that in the base communication room dozens of meters away, the middle-aged man with a beer belly had been so frightened that he fell to the floor, and there was a female ghost in white with long hair covering her face and a green aura. , is slowly crawling out from the surveillance screen in the base communication room... "... Damn! Even Sadako ran out! This world is really crazy, isn't it?!"