Hong Kong on the Mountain
Just a few minutes' drive from Hong Kong Customs to Shenzhen Customs, but once you enter Hong Kong Customs, it feels like entering another world. First, your mobile phone loses its signal immediately, making you realize instantly what 'one country, two systems' means. Then the roads, landscapes, and even people's faces become different from those in mainland China. Everything is both luxurious yet quiet. I originally thought Hong Kong was a metropolis, but it turns out that mountains are everywhere, giving it more of a mountain tourism feel. Buildings are scattered here and there, all located halfway up the mountains, not at all crowded. The mountains and valleys are covered with trees, and it’s rare to see a place that isn’t green. It makes one marvel at how living in such a place, which has both urban charm and natural beauty, is simply better than being a god. However, this feeling only lasts when you first enter Hong Kong. Once you start spending money within this society, it's an entirely different experience. Here, a bottle of mineral water costs 15 yuan, and a small bowl of beef noodles costs 48 yuan. The high prices create instant pressure.
Our Hong Kong tour guide was surnamed Cai, a very snobbish woman in her forties. Her full repertoire of social philosophy and worldly experiences can be summed up in one sentence: having money is good, enjoying life is good, consuming is good; if you have money, you're the boss, if you don't, you're a loser. Although I didn't like this kind of person, I believe she represents a large portion of Hong Kong citizens. With great survival pressures and numerous temptations, it's easy for people to view money as their lifeblood. Hong Kong is a society that mocks poverty but not prostitution. Compared to other places, the commodity economy and capitalist philosophy here are more typical. This is a place where Eastern and Western economies and cultures intersect, collide, and blend most intimately. Long-term British colonial rule has left a deep imprint on it. Unthinkable and incomprehensible foreign place names like Sha Tin, Hung Hom, Hollywood Road, and Victoria showcase its Western side. But the abundance of temples and the thriving incense offerings, along with their firm belief in Feng Shui, make one feel that traditional culture here is more authentic than in mainland China. They not only check auspicious days for weddings and funerals but also consult Feng Shui masters for real estate and business decisions, almost reaching the point of calculating everything before stepping out the door. In their eyes, every object has a Feng Shui interpretation. Even buying a necklace has many time-coming luck-turning implications.
Despite being so superstitious, the sex industry is very developed here and can openly advertise in newspapers. It wasn't until I came here that I understood why public telephone directories in mainland China are called "yellow pages." I originally thought it was because the paper was yellow, but here, the yellow pages are a thick book, half of which is the telephone directory and the other half advertisements for the sex industry. There are not only texts but also illustrations—subtle ones, explicit ones, male services, female services, everything is available. No wonder there are Japanese prostitution tours coming here. The simple word "tourism" originally contained such rich and dark connotations. In this place where finance, trade, and tourism are pillar industries, I suddenly realized: above the rivers, there are green trees and blue skies, but beneath the rivers flows another world. Good and evil coexist and share the same space. The world is not all truth, goodness, and beauty, but neither is it all falsehood, evil, and ugliness.
Everyone says this is a shopping paradise. Indeed, jewelry, watches, and electronic products are cheaper here than in mainland China. But for other goods, it's different. A bottle of mineral water costs 15 yuan, and a small bowl of beef noodles costs 48 yuan. Here, McDonald's is actually the cheapest option, costing over twenty yuan for something filling enough to eat half-full. During my few days in Hong Kong, I ate just enough to be eight-tenths full every day. When I arrived in Macao, I ate until I felt my stomach would burst. Despite being so close geographically, Macao is another world, one quite different from the impressions and propaganda.