China’s Cities: Understanding Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen

In little more than a decade, mainland Chinese attitudes toward Hong Kong have changed from admiration to condescension. 

Opinions about the city of Hong Kong vary widely in mainland China. Before 1997, mainlanders admired what Hong Kong had to offer were heavily influenced by Hong Kong’s cultural exports to China – such as TV dramas, pop music, martial arts novels and fashion. 

After 1997, the year the British handed Hong Kong back to China, attitudes toward Hong Kong began to shift. China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 accelerated the nation’s already fast-growing economy. Mainlanders were getting rich. The city of Shenzhen, located right next to Hong Kong, was growing in importance. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s economy was slowing down. When China began allowing mainlanders to visit Hong Kong as individuals, tourists flooded into Hong Kong for shopping sprees at designer-label stores. Conflicts intensified between mainland visitors and Hong Kong residents – the latter viewing China’s nouveau-riche as uncouth and arrogant. Chinese media heightened tensions by playing to mainlanders’ emotions with words of nationalism.