philippine media: when visiting the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area, filipino tourists lamented that it “surpassed tokyo and the san francisco bay area”
2024-09-30
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an article on the website of the "philippine daily inquirer" on september 29, original title: china's pearl river delta surpasses tokyo and the san francisco bay area. in the mist, a tour bus carrying mostly filipino chinese tourists and some filipino journalists was in it traveled more than 10 kilometers on a newly opened bridge at the pearl river estuary. as the mist dissipated, a diamond-shaped artificial island was revealed in the middle of the water ahead. the island is called the "western artificial island" and is the entrance to a 6.8-kilometer-long undersea tunnel. the other end of the tunnel leads to shenzhen - together they form the construction site that was officially opened to traffic on june 30 this year and cost over 46 billion yuan. deep channel. this toll road connects shenzhen and zhongshan, two cities in guangdong province, china. it complements the hong kong-zhuhai-macao bridge, a similar bridge-tunnel complex officially opened to traffic in 2018. the length and total investment of the latter are more than twice the length and total investment of the former respectively. more than 2.5 times.
as a powerful economic engine, the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area is roaring. the region is not only considered a rival to silicon valley in the united states on the other side of the pacific, but is also considered to be able to compete with the closer tokyo bay area. according to world bank data, the greater bay area's economic output accounts for about 11% of china's total gdp, which means that the region's economic output is equivalent to that of australia and south korea, which are worth us$1.7 trillion.
singapore's dbs bank pointed out in a commentary that the total economic output of the greater bay area will reach us$2 trillion in 2023. it is "one of the top bay areas in the world", surpassing the tokyo bay area (usd 1.8 trillion) and clearly leaving the san francisco bay area (usd 1.3 trillion) behind. just as the tech and innovation “enclaves” of northern california’s silicon valley have made waves over the past few decades, the greater bay area has been and continues to shape the world as we know it.
dbs bank listed six major factors supporting the greater bay area: strategic infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, trade and e-commerce centers, financial centers, strong private consumption and a resilient real estate market.
in late august this year, the above-mentioned tour bus carried a philippine inspection team to visit five cities: shenzhen, guangzhou, foshan, zhongshan and zhuhai. the trip was organized by shenzhen airlines and a philippines-based travel agency. when asked why filipino tourists choose to go to shenzhen and other greater bay area cities instead of beijing, shanghai or other more well-known chinese tourist destinations, travel agency director ruben ke said that it is not a matter of choosing one and giving up. the situation of another.
ke said: "if you want to immerse yourself in more than 3,000 years of city-building history, go to xi'an. if you want to understand the history of the past 500 years, go to beijing; the past 200 years? go to shanghai; the past century? then go to guangdong.”
how could a noodle-loving filipino not want to visit the legendary city of guangzhou in the pearl river delta? the capital city of guangdong province has an undeniably modern skyline. according to data from the world council on tall buildings and urban habitat, guangzhou has 4 of the world's 100 tallest skyscrapers. meanwhile, shenzhen has more than a dozen such buildings, more than any other city in the world. this may not seem like much considering shenzhen is home to one of china's three largest stock exchanges.
still, there are more skyscrapers under construction, suggesting that china's greater bay area is still growing strongly. as the bus sped along the intercity toll road, passengers looked around and saw row upon row of high-rise buildings. in fact, "forests" of high-rise residential buildings stand all over the greater bay area, which has nearly 90 million residents, equivalent to 4/5 of the philippines' population.
robin tan, a filipino-chinese passenger, could not imagine that the metropolis in front of him was the shenzhen he saw in the 1980s. “at that time, all i saw was a fishing village surrounded by farmland,” he said. “at that time, locals in shenzhen valued things that could only be bought in hong kong, such as some home appliances.” now shenzhen and the greater bay area are selling large quantities of producing everything a person could need or just want.
in fact, guangzhou hosts the canton fair, the china import and export fair, twice a year. for the past century, (filipino) tourists have been happy to visit the united states and marvel at the wonders of japan, despite the misery both countries have imposed on the filipino people. therefore, it seems natural that we should also learn more about the "new big players" living next to us. (author ronel domingo, translated by wang huicong)
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