The sun is rising from the west

‘Excuse me for saying so but the mainlanders have really made our lives tough.’ These days it seems that none of my Hong Kong Chinese girlfriends can resist raising this subject in our conversations.

A decade or so ago the most common view of their Chinese cousins was that they were all big spenders, splashing money on gold jewellery and luxury brands. I countered it by explaining that for the majority of Chinese, a visit to Hong Kong, or anywhere outside China for that matter, was a financial commitment and a bureaucratic hurdle. Those who made it were no ordinary visitors: besides needing to buy presents for the people to whom they owed, or hoped to owe, a favour, they were saddled with a long shopping list from their extended families and colleagues. Hong Kong was the shopping heaven next door for all goods exotic or ‘high end’, and although the mainlanders were generally looked down on for their uncouth behaviour, they were also the most sought after by retailers of luxury brands and travel agents.

And while the mainlanders were supporting the Hong Kong economy through conspicuous spending on luxury products, more and more Hong Kong Chinese were regularly crossing the border to take advantage of the lower mainland prices in housing, transport, food, clothing and various everyday items. In Shenzhen, there were ‘mistress villages’ where the affluent middle-aged men of Hong Kong kept their second and even third families.

The recent complaints from my friends have been rather different. While the big spenders continue to flow in, the humbler mainlanders are flocking to convenience stores to snap up everyday items, with baby’s milk powder the most popular purchase, especially since the toxic powder scandal. In fact, top quality milk powder is in such high demand that a quota system has been introduced. In recent months, residents from Shenzhen have been crossing the border for their daily supply of vegetables. Suspicious of Chinese food health and safety controls, mainlanders are taking advantage of the relaxed access to Hong Kong and the strong Chinese currency to safeguard their health, and have thus added to the territory’s inflation rate, stretched its resources, and put a strain on the conduct of everyday life.

The story doesn’t end there. Increasingly, mainland women are taking up beds in maternity hospitals because of their better facilities and services, and in so doing they are putting Hong Kong’s health care and financial system under great strain.

In the old days, the most popular programmes on Hong Kong television featured tips on where to get a good bargain in China. The other day when I was waiting for a friend in his office, I found a glossy magazine which was published in China but offering shopping guides to Hong Kong. And when I stayed with my sister, I overheard a conversation: ‘You shouldn’t have asked my dad why he’s buying batteries in Hong Kong. If he wants to, let him’. The old perception in mainland China that the grass is greener in Hong Kong is persisting, especially after the scandals surrounding the quality of some of its products.’