Free Market System, Hong Kong
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2005
1
6
354
Trip End
Ongoing
Hong Kong,
Hong Kong
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
How has this city done it?
Aside from skimming from the top of just about any transaction, Hong Kong has "done it" by attracting commerce. It has an excellent port over in Kowloon. Container ships never cease to sail back and forth from this port. The British Pound and, more recently, the American Dollar have propped up its currency, which is currently fixed to the US Dollar at $7.798 HK per U.S. dollar. Its history of commerce and the growing industrial areas of Shenzhen continue to prop up Hong Kong. It's not the huge banking skyscrapers that impress me, however; it's the city markets--the Wanchai market, the computer market, the bird market, and the flower market.
In Hong Kong, stores are grouped together into markets
Men and Their Birds, Mongkok
. There isn't a florist in every neighborhood. Instead, there's a couple of blocks of florist shops in Mongkok. Flowers line the streets: orchids for $3 US, a bouquet of cut lilies for $10. The free market is at work here: if you're quoted a high price, just walk next door to check out the competition. Nearby is a bird market, which made me think of Stella, our bird friend on Martha's Vineyard. Stella has many sisters, brothers and cousins at the bird market. Bird owners bring their birds back to the market so that they can have some company and sing with other birds.
At the Wanchai market, dinner is the object. Street butchers chop meat or kill chickens. It's all fresh. Customers like it better if the animal is still moving, even if it is cut in half. Frogs, turtles, pigs, snakes, pigeons, fish, shrimp, veggies, fruits--it's all here.
Indoors at the Wanchai computer and video market, electronics are sold in small stores packed tightly together. All the latest laptops and other technology is sold here, and you can get deals. Many electronics are significantly less than in the U.S.
But if you want to buy the latest fashions, the hottest computers, or an expensive liquor or perfume, you're out of luck: Hong Kong is not the place to get a deal as the market puts a premium on hot and sinful items.
Despite the huge new skyscrapers continually being built, many old traditions still hold in Hong Kong. Buildings are built using fung shui and geomancy techniques, scaffolding is constructed out of bamboo, and the small markets prevail over larger "Wal-mart" type stores.
Comments
now that's a slice of vegetable
i love the veggie market, love all your pics...
and love the idea of how the buildings are built.
me