Hong Kong's pathway to becoming a global city

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511550799.009

7 - Hong Kong's pathway to becoming a global city

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2009

Alvin Y. So

Edited by

Josef Gugler

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Alvin Y. So: Affiliation:
Professor of the Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science
Josef Gugler: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut

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Summary

Hong Kong, like Singapore, seems to be quite different from the other cities that we discuss in this volume. This is because Hong Kong is not just a city, but also a quasi “city-state” (Kirby 1997, p. iii). Even in the colonial era, the Hong Kong government was highly autonomous in determining its own political, economic, and social affairs, and Hong Kong was an independent member in such a global organization as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. In addition, Hong Kong is a rich city. Its gross domestic product (EDP) per capita of over US$24,211 in 2001 made it one of the richest territories in the Asian region. Furthermore, unlike the other cities in this volume that aspired to be a global city, Hong Kong has already attained the status of a global city. Hong Kong is ranked the ninth largest trading entity in the world. It operates the busiest container port in the world in terms of throughput, and it is the world's ninth largest banking center in terms of external banking transactions (Hong Kong Government 1999).

Hong Kong resembles Singapore in some aspects, but it had a different path of development. In Singapore, independence took place before development, and it was the independent city-state that elevated Singapore to the global city status. In Hong Kong, development took place before decolonization. It was the colonial government that elevated Hong Kong to the global city status in the 1980s and the 1990s.

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Type: Chapter
Information: World Cities beyond the West
Globalization, Development and Inequality
, pp. 212 - 239

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511550799.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

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