So Cheap, It's A Steal!
The ironic twists that made Shenzhen a hotspot tourist site for Hong Kongers
In 2015, CNN reported a story on Hong Kongers’ discontent with Chinese shoppers with the headline: Hong Kong to Chinese shoppers: ‘Go home.’
“Go back home!”
“Locusts! You’re not welcome here!”
These were just some of the insults hurled at Chinese shoppers Sunday as hundreds of Hong Kongers surged through through the old neighborhood of Yuen Long, an area close to the city’s border with China.
It was the latest in a series of angry protests that have seen brawls erupt in humdrum shopping malls, with demonstrators singling out the “parallel traders” who crowd into Hong Kong to purchase tax-free products and then resell them for a profit back in China.
“I’ve grown up here, and ever since a lot of the Chinese started coming into Hong Kong, things have changed,” said Suen, a law student who only gave her surname.
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Local residents say the traders are not only disturbing the peace, but are driving up the price of food, rent, and gutting local neighborhoods of their character - the city has become a blur of jewelers, pharmacies and other businesses that cater primarily to Chinese shoppers.
“Previously there were a lot of indigenous places like restaurants, but all of them have closed,” said Suen, standing across from a store selling baby milk powder - the top item on many Chinese tourists’ shopping lists.
Many Hong Kongers, especially those living near the border in Yuen Long or Sheung Shui, are frustrated by the negative impacts of mainland Chinese have brought. Dirtier streets and rude mainlanders talking loudly with one another on the MTR are just some of the complaints filed by locals on how irritated they are with mainland tourists. As mentioned in the quote above, to cater the tourists, shops have turned into catering businesses for Chinese shoppers, parallel trading has become a nuisance as special shoppers seize the panic and distrust in products like baby formula to earn a quick buck, and not to mention the impact it has on local residents being disturbed in their daily lives.
The tension between local Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese shoppers has waged on for years but gradually diffused as the 2019 protests that rocked the city have dissuaded many from coming. And from 2020, the pandemic halted any travelers from coming to the city, unless they are willing to go through quarantine. Since 2023, after mainland China eliminated nearly all of its COVID rules, Hong Kong followed suit, and hoped tourists from mainland China would return to the jewel of the East.
And here is the twist in the story. Instead of seeing mainland tourists visiting the city in droves, many Hong Kongers are heading towards Shenzhen, the city up north. Even with the “deterrence” of the health black code that is mandatory for everyone to fill in before crossing the border, or the added metal barriers limiting visitors to follow a meandrous and time-consuming path before letting customs check everybody’s bag or luggage, there are no signs of any of that stopping the travelers.
I am a frequent traveler through the Futian Checkpoint between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and I can see massive droves of visitors coming from Hong Kong, passing through customs before venturing into Shenzhen. Some bring their own luggage, preparing to stay for a few days in a hotel. Others join tour guides waiting outside in the public area, holding flags and ready to guide the tourists through the complex streets of Futian.
During the holiday period for Hong Kongers that just ended, immigration figures show 1.38 million people left the city between Friday and Sunday, including 989,071 residents. What is the lore that attracts the Hong Kongers?
For some, it is the relative distance that matters.
Housewife Elaine Tsang So-kwan, 52, spent three nights in Shenzhen with her husband on a short break and forked out about HK$6,000 (US$769) on accommodation, food and massages.
“We thought about going to Taiwan but it seemed a bit rushed just going there for four days. Shenzhen is a no-brainer for a short break where you don’t need to plan a thing to just relax and lie flat,” Tsang said.
For some, it is the experience.
Also spending three nights in Shenzhen with his family was father-of-two Lucas Mak Yung-keung. Mak, a safety officer on construction sites, who took the chance to bring his five-year-old son and four-year-old daughter to Happy Valley, an amusement park at Overseas Chinese Town, as well as the Shenzhen Safari Park, both located in Nanshan.
“We spent about HK$4,000 just for tickets as well as food and drinks. We saved quite a bit of money because we stayed at my cousin’s home. We want to take our kids to see something different from time to time,” the 38-year-old said.
For some, it is a low-priced luxury.
Hongkonger Cindy Wong Chin-yu has decided to forego the usual Shenzhen staples such as feasts and spa sessions for the long weekend spanning Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, instead opting for a shopping spree at a members-only grocery warehouse.
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“Massages, manicures, hotpots and KTV have always been available in Shenzhen for the past 20 years. They are not new at all. Shopping at a huge warehouse like this is something that I haven’t had a chance to experience in Hong Kong,” she said.
During the trip, Wong and her boyfriend spent about 1,000 yuan on snacks, including supersized bags of chips and chocolate, boxes of cakes and some fruits. The couple also bought a robot vacuum cleaner.
But a common theme many are attracted by is the price and variety. Take food for instance. In Hong Kong, most people decide to eat in chain stores like Café de Coral or McDonalds if they want a relatively decent-priced meal without getting a tab reaching $80 or god forbid any number with three digits. But in Shenzhen, for about the same amount of price, you can get a lot more food for your money’s worth. And there are a lot of different cuisines for you to try. Since it’s in mainland China, you can try and taste a variety of food and drinks popular with people of all ages. In my humble opinion, I will argue the food you taste even in chain stores in Shenzhen is much better than the chain store food from Fairwood or Meng Wa.
In addition, the size and scale of shopping malls are completely different from those in Hong Kong, and it is less saturated by the same few brands you see too many in the smaller local malls. For many malls, they are seeing revenue boosts thanks to Hong Kong visitors. Some even provide shopping vouchers for anyone who can show a HKID card, hoping tourists with itchy fingers can boost their revenue.
It is not just restaurants that are benefiting from Hong Kongers, from the SCMP:
Liao Yusheng, 26, the manager of a massage parlour near the Shuiwei night market in Futian, said the company enjoyed at least a 40 per cent increase in the number of customers because of the influx of Hong Kong tourists.
“We are just a small massage parlour operating 24 hours with more than 40 masseuses. All of them have worked overtime since Friday with a shift extended to 15 hours just to handle the demand,” Liao said.
“But we don’t have enough massage beds and chairs so people need to wait outside.”
He said there was fierce competition among small massage parlours and many of them had started waiving tips from customers, making them more appealing to Hong Kong tourists.
Not to mention, Shenzhen provides a more convenient way of life compared to that in Hong Kong. For example, food ordering. In Shenzhen, you can easily order takeout and get it delivered to your doorstep in less than an hour, and when you pay for the meal shops give discounts based on what you have ordered and delivery fees are shockingly cheap. A luxury that Hong Kongers have never experienced in the city. As one told the SCMP in a different news report:
Stanley Yuen, 62, a retired teacher who arrived in Shenzhen on Friday, said he wanted to enjoy a staycation with his wife and found the price of accommodation and food much cheaper than in Hong Kong.
“We booked the Futian Shangri-La in Shenzhen, which is a five-star hotel that is easily five times cheaper than in Hong Kong. We paid just 1,380 yuan per night,” Yuen said.
“Thanks to my wife who is familiar with the Meitun app, the rate is 300 yuan lower,” he said. Meitun is a Chinese on-demand food delivery service app that also takes bookings for some hotels, attractions and other tourism-related businesses.
All of this is certainly great news for the Greater Bay Area. Shenzhen is reaping the rewards of a tourist economic boom from Hong Kong, and this all transpired after years of advertising the benefits of the megalopolis. Conveniently for Shenzhen citizens, as my inner Hong Konger populist might note, the civilized quality and good manners displayed by Hong Kong tourists mean far less annoyance and trouble for residents, which means far fewer complaints except for overcrowded malls and long waiting lines for restaurants.
But will this tourist spike be a short-term trend or a long-term change? We have seen Hong Kong adapt and cater to mainland Chinese tourists in the past, will the influx of Hong Kongers to Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area encourage businesses and politicians to change their tactics, providing better services to Hong Kongers than their local counterparts?
And let’s not forget poor Hong Kong, which has struggled to gain the attention of tourists even after multiple initiatives hawking discounts and vouchers. They obviously cannot dissuade anyone from going to shop in Shenzhen, this city is part of the Greater Bay Area too! The government is now in a very tough spot with the economy. Foreign tourists are not coming to the city in fear of the NSL and perceived repression, mainland tourists are not coming to the city for various reasons, while locals don’t perceive any rewards from economic growth which leads to less spending in the economy which leads to an economic “death spiral.”
Honestly, I do not see a way for Hong Kong to get out of its depressing state, because there is no policy that can suddenly change minds and boost the economy. Whilst Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area reaping the rewards from Hong Kong tourists, I am not confident the goodwill will last forever. Based on the tension brewing between Hong Kong locals and mainland tourists during the last decade, sparks can rise and cultural divides can be revealed once again.
I can, and I will devote an entire article to Hong Kong’s diminishing appeal in the future. But before that, my nerdy sense is telling me, there is more to this story in the months to come.