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Rasheeda Bhagat

HONG KONG, Nov. 28

FROM Shanghai, the commercial capital of China, to Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of China, a British colony till 1997, is a leap in... well, the demand on your purse.

To give a simple example, the two-storeyed Internet café opposite our hotel in Shanghai is a 24-hour-affair teeming with people. It has over 100 Internet connections on offer and charges just three yuan (Rs 18) an hour. The locals pay only 2 yuan.

Cross over to Hong Kong and this cost multiplies several fold ... to HK$20 (Rs 124) an hour. This huge difference in cost roughly translates to all consumption items in Hong Kong such as services, food or clothing.

Incidentally, against Shanghai's average annual salary of 14,000 yuan (about Rs 84,000), the median monthly wage in Hong Kong is HK$10,000 (Rs 62,000). By the way, housemaids in Hong Kong earn a monthly salary of HK$3,600 (about Rs 22,320), which is the minimum wage.

Having been in Hong Kong in 1997 during the handover and then in 1998, and re-visiting Hong Kong after four years, I find not much has changed here, at least on the surface. It is the same mad rush you see on the roads to reach wherever Hong Kongers are rushing to, be it morning, noon, evening or night.

Very few people just walk leisurely on Hong Kong streets, they are either darting across or actually running, and more so towards or out of MTR (Hong Kong's equivalent to the London underground network, and as efficient) stations. This city hardly has any room for hangers-on.

Another major difference, at least for those who do not speak Cantonese or Mandarin is that almost everybody in Hong Kong speaks English. Whether it's a westerner or a person of Chinese origin you accost for help with directions — and somebody with my sense of geography needs it all the time — he/she will immediately stop running, to patiently explain to you how you can get there.

You are left to figure out for yourself whether this courtesy and politeness is an original Oriental value or culture left behind by the British, because you see not even a whit of it in Shanghai. There you get the sneaking feeling that the person you ask for help understands what you want, but is in no mood to help, perhaps because you don't speak his language.

Looking at Shanghai's development, its most modern infrastructure, its mind-blowing network of flyovers and motorways, the investor confidence it is obviously inspiring with investors battling the language barrier, an Indian visitor to China is bound to feel sad and depressed that despite the huge English language capability we have, we're not able to match this "communist" country in its mega "capitalistic" initiatives.

"We might have the English language advantage at the moment," said M. Arunachalam, Chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, in a chat with Business Line, "but make no mistake about it. China is catching up fast." The Chinese Government is determined that at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the city will present an entirely different face to visitors. "All taxis will be upgraded to mid-sized air-conditioned cars, and any taxi driver who has not learnt English by then, will lose his registration. Already English language classes have started on street corners."

Arunachalam said that thousands of Chinese students who have completed their courses in the universities in the US and the UK, are being brought back to China by its Government which is offering them a nominal salary, accommodation and food. These youngsters, in their early 20s, are being roped in to teach English to the Chinese for a few hours a day, with freedom to further pursue their education at a Chinese University. "They are also improving their knowledge of Mandarin, and after a couple of years, they will become eligible for well-paying jobs in MNCs which are coming into China in a big way. Today, China realises that it has lost 20 years in encouraging its people to learn English, but it is catching up with a vengeance. So if we want to leverage on our English language skills, we will have to do it fast, as we won't have this advantage forever," he added.

Returning to Hong Kong, though many businessmen do not think that Hong Kong has changed much after the handover, Ian K. Perkin, Chief Economist at the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, said that now with the "free border" concept being put in place for divided Chinese families, 53,000 such people are allowed to cross over to Hong Kong each year. "With our natural increase of 20,000 a year, this will mean a big strain on Hong Kong's economy and put a tremendous pressure on its social security system."

But for the moment, Hong Kong remains one of the most affluent and costly places in the world, with one of the highest per capita income of US$24,000.

Providing ample evidence of this is the massive nine-storeyed Time Square shopping mall atop the mammoth Causeway Bay MTR station. You name the designer and it is here, beckoning customers for the Christmas shopping.

But even if you dare to enter one of these posh shops, you are bound to trace your steps back in a hurry, bravely, though unconvincingly, telling the saleswoman that this is not exactly the kind of handbag or footwear you are looking for. After all who needs (or can afford) a handbag with a price tag of HK$2000 (Rs 15,600) or sandals which cost upward of HK$500? Give me a Thailand mall any day, where you can feel rich with the modest amount in your purse. But when it comes to the palate, it is something that needs to be pampered, once in a while at least. Now, in Shanghai, you'd find that difficult — unless you are dining in a five-star hotel — because if you can't understand what the menu says, they will promptly give you five or six pictures of what the finished dish looks like. As though that will tell you what creeping, crawling thing lies embedded in the dimsum!

But Hong Kong is different. Even in as humble a joint — that is by HK standards — as a Delifrance bakery that you'll find at most MTR stations, you can pick up soft, creamy and heavenly mango cakes, or strawberry or peach rolls, or a soft and flaky chicken curry puff upward of HK$10. If you yearn for true Indian fare, you can sniff your way to the tandoori chicken stall at Chungking Mansion on Nathan Road, where the Punjabi woman heats up your order and serves it with much love.

The relief in knowing that the meat is actually chicken and not dog's, or crow's or frog's, is nothing short of heavenly!

Incidentally, a reader, B. Krishnan from Coimbatore, has volunteered to give future Indian visitors to Shanghai the address of `Indian Kitchen', which serves "good dosa, rasam, tamarind rice with appalam (papad) and curd rice, if you give them some advance notice. And while you enjoy the food, you can relax chatting in Tamil with the restaurant manager, who is from Triplicane in Chennai," he adds.

Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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