Hong Kong has a population of 7 million concentrated in a very small area. Shenzhen has 22 million, spread out a little bit more, but still: that is more than half the population of Canada and more that twice the number of Bulgarians world-wide. I am not trained to think as a social scientist, but even my eyes are opened to new perspectives during this visit.
One obvious thing here in Hong Kong to notice is just how they have managed the urban density. In terms of transportation, there are layers on layers of roads, railways and pedestrian walkways:
With human population being concentrated more and more in urban environments, I guess we will all see more of this kind of infrastructure in our own cities (there are a few equivalent things in Vancouver already). I do look at the space taken up by roads for individual cars and think we would be better off with more public transportation. Maybe shared use of autonomous vehicles will be the transition to take us there.
The South University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen has a beautiful campus. It is very self-contained and quiet, with lots of green space around it. There are hills covered in Lichee trees. There is urban development very near. Apartments there apparently run $2 million for 100 square meters. It puts it into perspective why property in Vancouver seems like such a bargain to them.
I thought it was interesting that the campus was closed to the general population (there are guard posts at the entrances and a small police/army presence on campus in general). Now, it is not security like the Technion in Israel that has a serious fence around the whole campus and gate security that search vehicles: you could sneak into SUSTech through the forest if you really wanted to. The people I talked to put it in perspective: there are 22 million people nearby who would love to take a light rail trip and be in a quiet, green space. If all of them could just come in, it would be a security nightmare for university equipment and would diminish the academic environment. As a related fact, I learned that you can only buy property in Zurich if you are a Swiss citizen. Of course, I have benefitted from lifestyle protectionism like this in my life, but with my left leaning hat on, I wish we (as a global society) would spend more time and energy making life good for everyone rather than protecting our own little class advantages.
Chinese communism is interesting, but I can't say that I have worked it out. There were some of the things you would usually expect from that ideology: lots of people employed at the university in jobs that involved standing around, waiting to be needed. On the other hand, there is the free market economy in view right from campus. While I was there, there was a lot of respect given to Deng Xiaoping, the leader who initiated the economic growth in Shenzhen in 1992 (as well as being responsible for the Tiananmen Square massacre). That is another interesting perspective: Shenzhen went from basically nothing to 22 million and a high tech economic powerhouse in 25 years. Deng's famous quote is "I don't care if the cat is black or white. If it catches mice, it is a good cat."
It is not at all clear to me how Communist regimes can be dictatorships. It seems counter to the whole ideology of building a communal society that works as well as possible for everyone. Chairman Mao does not seem like a good choice as dictator. He did have some memorable quotes, like "Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy." As an academic, another especially memorable one is "to read too many books is harmful." He closed down all universities between 1966, only to be reopened after his death in 1976. At a workshop banquet I went to last night (which was great, and it was for a workshop I hadn't even attended) it was explained that there is a missing decade of Chinese academics because of this. The same guy sitting next to me predicted that the Central Government would take over complete control of Hong Kong in ten years. That's interesting...
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