Torn mosquito nets, cockroaches in Shenzhen, but Hong Kong engineer Raymond Ho was among those happy to share knowledge with mainland Chinese officials
- Hong Kong played key role in mainland’s economic transformation in the 1980s, says engineer Raymond Ho, who witnessed early years of China’s opening up
- Officials, businessmen learned from city’s experts, but Hong Kong continued to thrive as Beijing never wanted it to be ‘just another typical Chinese city’
Dr Raymond Ho Chung-tai vividly remembers visiting mainland Chinese cities in the late 1970s and 1980s to meet officials and businessmen eager to know every secret to Hong Kong’s success.
One trip to Guangdong province in 1979 remains etched in his mind.
“There were six beds in a room, with six mosquito nets that were torn, with large holes in them. There had to be a lit mosquito coil on the ground or you would get bitten all over your body,” the former president of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers recalled.
“There were spider’s webs, cockroaches and all kinds of insects all over the walls.”
Taking a bath was an adventure too. “The water pressure in the shower was so weak that no one dared to use soap, as you would never wash it off,” he said.
The rundown guest house in Shenzhen was called The Fishermen’s Reception and Ho was there to advise mainland officials before the area known as Xiangzhou was renamed Zhuhai and declared a special economic zone.
