There is an extremely sensitive issue, and i am by no means an expert or proclaiming to know all about this issue, so what I am writing are my initial observations and thoughts only, so no offence is intended. No doubt I will learn more about these issues the longer I am here.

It used to be that Hong Kong, much like other large Asian cities was a place you came to to buy cheap copies and fakes of designer goods. Think Louis Vuitton Bags and those cheap Rolex’s that used to roll out of Asia in their thousands. While you can still get copies of many designer brands, by far and away Hong Kong is now a destination for designer goods and their main customers are Chinese mainlanders who come in their millions to Hong Kong to shop. Fifty five million mainland Chinese visited Hong Kong last year, mostly to shop. That’s over a million people a week. A million people in a tiny already crowded part of the world. The new middle class rich of China no longer want copies, they want the real deal and they are prepared to pay, they come to Hong Kong because there are no sales taxes and they have confidence that what they are buying will be genuine.

Near us is, in Tung Chung is a large luxury goods outlet stores, you have all the big names their selling their wares. You name it, Armani, Coach, Burberry, Prada, Calvin Klein and many other luxury European brands i have not heard of. Thing is, even though they are outlet stores they are by my standards incredibly expensive. We were looking at a pair of shoes that were 70% off and still over $NZ600 a pair, good grief who would pay $NZ2000 for a pair of shoes? Apparently many people do. And when they buy, they buy in bulk. You can see mainland tourists with large suitcases that they are filling with goods as they go store to store. I saw one woman buy three $3000 handbags in one purchase. So malls in Hong kong often feel like big airport shopping malls, all big brands and for me, very little personality. It is a bizarre economic outcome.

The local Hong Kong people really resent the presence of the mainland Chinese. They see the mainlanders as uncouth, unsophisticated or rude. There is almost an elitism to the way they talk about mainlanders. A fear that they will “invade”. Disgust at their behaviour, when they spit, or heaven forbid when a mainland tourist got her child to pee in the gutter rather than take them to the toilet. ( It’s not uncommon for Chinese toddlers to not have nappies and to toilet on command).

If the mainland Chinese were not ethnically the same as Hong Kong Chinese you would call their attitude to mainlanders racist. But I suspect that is just a simplification and their is a lot more to this, fear perhaps also being part of the concerns that Hong Kong people harbour?

From time to time things erupt. This happened over the weekend

<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-31483476?OCID=fbasia&gt;

>Hong Kong Protests<

Clearly tensions are simmering. I think that some of this sentiment has also fuelled the Occupy Central movement, a fear that the Hong Kong way of life. That the systems, processes and freedoms(?) that the British instilled here are under threat.

It’s fascinating and scary at the same time. China is this huge nation with what enormous strength and control and yet Hong Kong is this little island of difference? Where will it all lead?

I will write about the Occupy Movement as well, I have managed to miss most of it and in some ways it is in hiatus, but again a fascinating and interesting element to life in Hong Kong.