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Has Hong Kong Technology Transformed China?

Posted by Cliff on from the did-those-predictions-come-true dept.

nbruinooge asks: "I just reread Neal Stephenson's profile In the Kingdom of Mao Bell in Wired, Feb. 1994. In it Stephenson speculates about what will become of Hong Kong in '97, and predicts a Chinese backlash against Western technology in the next couple of decades. Hong Kong shifting hands is old news now, and it occurs to me that other Slashdot readers must know more than I do about how things have been going there, from a technological perspective. Is Hong Kong transforming China, or is it the other way around? Was Stephenson his good ol' prescient self when he wrote this article, or have things taken unexpected turns? And how does that China-Linux announcement from a while back play into it?"

4 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. I think the answer is clear by karma_policeman · · Score: 4
    Honk Kong hasn't influenced China much, and China hasn't influenced Hong Kong much, at least not yet.

    I don't think there is much chance of Hong Kong seriously affecting China as a whole for a LONG time. China is large geographically, and has a huge population, the greater part of which is rural. Hong Kong is relatively tiny, and it is ridiculous to think that Hong Kong will greatly influence China in the short term.

    So far, China has largely left Hong Kong alone. This is mainly because China knows the world is watching and it doesn't want any more bad publicity. However, if it decided to, China could do pretty much whatever it wanted to with Hong Kong.

  2. I'm from Hong Kong... by aliebrah · · Score: 5

    Being from Hong Kong, I can probably offer a different perspective as to what he situation is - and that is that Hong Kong and China are developing both technologically and economically independent of each other. Remember that Hong Kong is for all purposes separate from China, and what happens in one place does not necessarily affect the other.

    I cannot think of one example of how Hong Kong is shaping China technologially, or vice versa. But one thing that I can tell you all is that China is advancing amazingly quickly technologially. They may be communist, but that does not at all mean that they are slow at adopting new technology - cable modem is now slowly sifting into big cities, mobile phones are becoming more common, and so on - its an irreversible trend.

    Hong Kong on the other hand is just about as technologically advanced as you get. Internet technology wise, cool widgets wise and all. 6.7 million people, 4 million mobile phones, 2.5 million land line phones - that says it all.

    1. Re:I'm from Hong Kong... by mamahuhu · · Score: 4

      A word from the wise (or not..... I live on Hong Kong island near where the annual Fire Dragon festival is held) - listen to these people who actually live in Hong Kong and China.... there's a lot of misconceptions about this part of the world.

      1. China is huge but it's not monolithic (or monoglotic) there are 5 major languages (don't believe the notion of dialects they're mutually unintelligible) and many more ethnic groups. Northerners are different from Southerners, Easterners from Westerners and even within regions there are different Languages and people. China is more like Europe.

      2. Some parts of China are incredibly advanced producing cutting edge components for the West others are producing bulk comodity technology.

      3. Some parts are dirt poor where there's no running water, sewerage system, malnutrition and desease - it's tough dragging a huge diverse country into the 20th century - let alone the 21st.

      4. Hong Kong is Chinese but it's not China. In a way it's more Chinese than the Mainland - no cultural revolution. In fact the whole issue of what China is so problematic take the Taiwan issue for instance.

      5. Hong Kong is one of the richest places on the planet with a significant minority of people able to afford the latest toys - but it is much less techno savvy than Singapore.

      6. Hong Kong makes nothing but it is one of the largest exporters in the world. Huh? Yep Hong Kong provides the management, finance, know-how to the factories in Guangdong where everything is made - it then re-exports the products through the Hong Kong ports.

      The point of all this is that the picture is not cut and dried - you can probably make any point you like that proves or disproves Stephenson's thesis as the variables are so many. The whole issue is complicated merely by the fact that no one really understands what China is - much of it is myth devised by the Emperors and The Communist Party to maintain the idea of 'China' when in fact there is only the Empire of China(s), or the Federation of China(s). The myth of one language is typical - one language implies one people implies one state to rule them - but remember it's a myth a convenient mutual lie.

      So to answer the problem - Hong Kong and 'China' (the Guangdong bit of it)have already merged in terms of business and the business of technology. Singapore have set up a "Franchise" in Suzhou near Shanghai - (now that is a much more interesting question) and Taiwan owns large numbers of factories in Fujian - so Greater China is merging and the whole thing is becoming really dynamic.

      Hope this enlightens the discussion. :)

  3. Re:Is the technology the problem? by mOdQuArK! · · Score: 5
    Typically, Asian people are a lot more self-sacrificing and willing to work for a group; they don't have the "looking out for number one" attitudes that most Western geeks do...

    My mother's Korean, but I'm pretty much culturally US, so take my observations with a big grain of salt :)

    From what I can tell by observation of my relatives & their associates (many Asian non-Koreans), it isn't so much that Asians are self-sacrificing & willing to work for a group.

    Asian individuals are just as willing to jockey for power & stab each other in the back as their Western counterparts. There's a couple things that make Westerners feel uncomfortable though. First, there's definitely a touch of xenophobia in native Asians - even my mother, who has lived in the US for 30 years, feels more comfortable working with a complete Asian stranger than she does working with a Westerner that she might know a little better.

    Second, there's the all-important concept of "face". It is a highly undesirable thing for one's self to "lose face" (look bad). One's "face" is often attached to the actions of family members as well, esp. if you are a family member of some importance. Also, by corollary, it is EXTREMELY bad manners to make someone else lose face.

    So, what ends up happening, is you have a whole bunch of people being polite to each other so that they don't cause offense by causing the other to look like they're being disrespected. Most of the time, they won't even flat-out disagree with you, even if they think you're being an idiot, because that would imply that they are questioning your judgement (trying to make you look bad).

    This drives most Westerners I know nuts, because they're getting signals that everything they say is being agreed to, then later on they'll get some kind of impersonal, vague message politely suggesting that the matter be looked at more closely.

    Amusingly enough, from the viewpoint of many of my older Asian relatives, many Westerners are considered charmingly "naive", unable to control their emotional responses during a simple conversation or discussion. (Unfortunately, from their viewpoint, this includes me :( - I'm just glad I'm family.)