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Hong Kong: ‘The Pearl of the Orient’, the ‘Fragrant Harbour’, the ‘Barren Rock’

This Chinese city by the sea has many guises, the result of constant reinvention. It has variously been a prehistoric settlement, an imperial outpost and a British colony—and always a city in flux.

Brutal wars have been fought over it, bizarre contagions have struck its terrified population, local society has teetered on the edge of revolution, and financial disaster has been imminent. But each time it has trumped the odds to emerge stronger and better than ever before.

My family moved to the city in 1980 when my father took a job with the Hong Kong Government, a short-term contract that was meant to last only three years. I was a one-year-old infant when we left behind the winter snow of England for the exotic climes of Hong Kong.

The then colony was very different from the city you see today. For instance, the MTR had yet to cross the harbour, the tallest building was the 178-m-high Jardine House (today there are 112 buildings that are taller), and Chek Lap Kok was still a small, uninhabited island off remote north Lantau. There were also more colonial buildings around, though Hong Kong has never been a city overly concerned with the past. However, in the three decades since, there are some things that haven’t changed.

Visitors are still wowed by one of the most electrifying skylines in the world, there is an indescribable energy always in the air, and Hong Kongers themselves remain some of the most driven people on earth, never stopping to waste a moment, or—more importantly—miss an opportunity. While we once looked to the West, now all eyes turn north.

One of the first trips we took after we arrived in Hong Kong was a train trip across the border to China. Stepping off the train in Guangzhou, Mao suit-clad Mainland Chinese swarmed to touch the blond hair of this little gweilo in their midst, while our fellow passengers delivered ‘luxury’ goods such as TVs and fridges to their relatives who lived on the China side of the border.

Nowadays, it’s the Mainland Chinese who are courted for their money, and the Mandarin now spoken on the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui and Central was non-existent when I was a child.

Things change, the city always moves on. It’s fascinating, infuriating, indescribable and overwhelming all at the same time. It makes you nostalgic about the past but excited for the future. It’s a city you’ll never forget.