From: pkk36438@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Polygon)
Subject: Re: Economy of Hong Kong and China.. No more running dogs please!
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 04:41:34 GMT

chiu@pyramid.unr.edu (Edward S.N.Chiu) writes:


>	Recently there were numerous articles talking about communism 
>and captalism. Some people even used some offensive wordings like 
>"running dogs" or "arrogant Hong Kongites". This article tries to
>analyse the economy of Hong Kong and China as SOME people might always
>think that Hong Kong people are just running dogs for British.

>	Hong Kong's economy is far more better than China's. The
>reasons behind are:
>	
>	(1)	The flow of money and expertise from China, especially
>		Shanghai, during 1930s.
>	(2)	Influx of immigrants from China, especially Southern
>		China, during 1940s to even 80s.
>	(3)	Hong Kong has been a free port ever since British took
>		over.
>	(4)	Hong Kong has been serving as a middle man between
>		China and other countries. 
>	(5)	The tax system is simple and the government seldom
>		interfere with the business.
>	(6)	Hong Kong people generally are hard-working
>	(7)	[T]he establishment of ICAC

	May I add the eighth point?  

	(8)	The British government always treats Hong Kong people as
		orphan.  If Hong Kong people  don't help themselves, no
		one will.  The poor welfare system certainly forces people
		to work as hard as they can in order to survive.
 
>	From the above observations we can see that the success of
>Hong Kong is a result of the people of Hong Kong. And I do have to
>give credits to the British as it happens that British created such an
>environment for the people of Hong Kong. 

	That is the magic of British politics.  They treat you like shit
	but you still have to thank them a thousand for that.  I guess 
	evil can always be excused if it is done in a beneficial manner.


>	It is indeed that  China's economy has been growing very fast 
>during the past years. It is the result of Deng's reform, but it is
>also because of the 'foreign' money and expertise. The economic growth
>rate of course is amazing, but we have to see the real economy of the
>country and the living standard of the people, both in cities and rural
>areas. Now there is a very unbalanced living standard when comparing
>the cities along the coast and those inland cities, especially rural
>areas. There are still lots of room to improve. Comparing the economy
>of Hong Kong and China AS A WHOLE is still not very sensible.

>	When asking why China is still a very unstable market to
>business people, I have an immediate answer: corruption. It is a fact
>that most CG officials are practising corruption. If you want a deal,
>you would better give the officials some 'presents'. Too many such
>government's involvement is really not nice. Too bad there is no ICAC
>in China. Those top officials just abuse the beautiful word
>"communism" and uses their rankings for power.

	I totally agree with the above argument.  In fact corruption is
	nothing but the product of an inefficient market mechanism. When
	the demand of a certain good or service is very high but the
	supply is very low, the potential buyers are willing to pay more
	to get the good or service before others do.  If the sellers 
	take advantage over this situation, they can simply make a living
	by collecting those extra profit, or bribe.  As a result, the
	sellers (the government officials, merchants, etc.) will no longer
	try to improve their product or service, nor will they speed their
	production or service rate to satisfy the demand.  I guess this
	line of thought coincides with communism's famous the-poorer-the-]
	better philosophy.

>	It looks like there are many problems in China while Hong Kong
>is perfect. It is absolutely true that if China wants to be a
>superpower again in the world she has to do a lot. Now Hong Kong is
>facing the change of sovereignity and now people of Hong Kong realise
>that as we don't even have a say in the talks between the CG and BG on
>the future of Hong Kong, we need a democratic government, with least
>influence from BG (now) and CG (after 97). It is really stupid to see
>that the new airport project has to be OK'd by both BG and CG for a go
>ahead. Also, Hong Kong Chinese don't want to be run over by tanks.

>P.S. 	Flaming people by calling "running dogs" are not nice. Every
>person has his own polticial view and if somebody is really stubborn
>on something it is senseless to shout at him/her again. 
>Edward Sung-Ngan Chiu      +-----+  Internet: chiu@pyramid.cs.unr.edu
>University of Nevada, Reno |     |  BITNET: chiu@equinox.bitnet
>Work Phone: (702) 784-6037  \    |  To sound TKRGSS from land to land!
>Film Library & CS PC Lab      \|~'  "STUDIUM ET OPERATIO" 

	I agree.  In general, people are making beautiful arguments until
	they call names and make comments like "don't make me laugh" or
	things like that.


						Peter, UIUC