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Opinion | What Hong Kong needs to do for successful rebranding as global cultural hub
- Post-Covid Hong Kong has struggled to redefine itself as it faces challenges to its past identities as a finance and retail centre
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One of the strategies put forward by the Hong Kong government for post-Covid economic recovery is to turn the city into a global cultural hub, with pledges to support international exchanges and art projects.
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The new positioning would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, when Hong Kong was referred to as a “cultural desert”, even though it was a global leader in manufacturing, trade and finance.
But in recent years, Hong Kong has struggled to redefine itself as it faces challenges to its past identities. It lost its place as the world’s third largest – and Asia’s top – financial city to Singapore in 2022, though it still holds on to fourth position.
Hong Kong also fell off the list of the world’s top 10 busiest ports last year. Six of those spots went to mainland ports, with Shanghai at No 1 since 2010, according to shipping data from Alphaliner.
And in a sharp turn from Hong Kong’s heyday as a shopping and dining paradise, public holidays now see residents flock to neighbouring Guangdong province for the variety and cheaper options on offer.
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Excessive pessimism, however, is unwarranted, as all cities worldwide face ups and downs. What is more important should be strategies to remake the city.
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