{"id":2417,"date":"2019-09-25T15:25:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T22:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2417"},"modified":"2019-09-25T15:25:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T22:25:30","slug":"michiganders-in-hong-kong-a-report-from-the-frenetic-far-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/travel\/2417\/michiganders-in-hong-kong-a-report-from-the-frenetic-far-east","title":{"rendered":"Michiganders in Hong Kong \u2013 a Report from the Frenetic Far East"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Star Ferry floats across Hong Kong\u2019s Victoria Harbor. (Photo credit Larry Olmsted)<\/p><\/div>\n

East Lansing\u2019s Dan Casey Dunn, an education consultant who studied at Michigan State University and now lives in Hong Kong, wants his parents Nan and Jim back in Lansing not to worry about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are pockets of protests and some police issues, but those areas are easy to recognize in advance. I have taken part in some of the more peaceful marches but have avoided the more rambunctious protestors,\u201d he told me via phone.<\/p>\n

Tom Watkins, advisor to the Michigan-China Initiative, explained on why 1.7 million people – 25-percent of Hong Kong\u2019s total population \u2013 have been taking to the streets and crowding the airport. \u201cForceful police responses to the original political protests have driven some of the fervor but there is, at the base, a great deal of worry that Hong Kong\u2019s freedoms are being eroded by the Chinese government,\u201d said Watkins, who travels frequently to both Hong Kong and mainline China. \u201cHong Kong is an autonomous territory but it is part of China: it is one country with two systems. It was controlled by the British for over 100 years and handed back to China in 1997.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlotte Harris, a Hong Kong-based Virtuoso network travel advisor, who is half English and half Chinese, said, \u201cThe British influence is still felt in Hong Kong in some ways. For instance we still have streets signs like Gloucester Rd\u2026but we also see Chinese influence.\u201d Harris was in the United States to promote travel to Hong Kong and said she will continue to live there for the foreseeable future. \u201cI am a Hong Konger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn said he fell in love with Hong Kong\u2019s mix of east and west cultures when he passed through on his way to his foreign study in China.\u00a0\u201cHong Kong has a completely different feel than mainland China. It\u2019s more western. It\u2019s a lot easier to have a gym and eat healthy; and the English language is spoken everywhere which makes it considerably easier because my Mandarin is quite poor,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a big reason a lot of the Hong Kongers feel the way they do: they don\u2019t want to be a Chinese city. There is a lot of racism from Hong Kongers toward the people of the mainland as some consider them to be uncouth and of lower class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dennis Lennox, a political analyst from Topinabee in Northern Michigan, said he\u2019s visited Hong Kong and thinks a lot has changed since the handover.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was regularly considered one of the best places to open a business. Its structure for taxes and regulation was very business-friendly and that\u2019s what empowered Hong Kong to be the economic success story it was until recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn said current economic conditions are also fueling the protests.\u00a0\u201cThe city has some of the highest class discrepancies in the world. It also has some of the most expensive rents and even if you have a college degree you feel like there is not much opportunity for advancement. Couple that with an encroaching Chinese government and you\u2019ll understand why we\u2019re having protests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn gets visitors nevertheless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would advise people to come to Hong Kong. It\u2019s one of the most fascinating cities in the world and though its quite busy (you\u2019re constantly walking with 10,000 people within a few steps of you cutting your off) it\u2019s quite easy to get around,\u201d he said. \u201cPrepare to eat more than you could imagine eating. And for the price, the traditional tailored suits are fantastic, but stay away from any of the tourist spots and traps that populate any major Asian city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlotte Harris can help with such insider travel advice and arrangements via\u00a0Virtuoso.com<\/a>. Delta Airlines offers one-stop flights from Detroit Metro Airport to Hong Kong for about $1,600.<\/p>\n

\n

Contact<\/em>\u00a0Travel Writer Michael Patrick Shiels at\u00a0MShiels@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0His radio program may be heard weekdays at\u00a0MiBigShow.com<\/a>\u00a0or in Lansing on WJIM am 1240\u00a0from 9-noon.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

East Lansing\u2019s Dan Casey Dunn, an education consultant who studied at Michigan State University and now lives in Hong Kong,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2834,976660,4998,998724,96,94],"class_list":["post-2417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-michigan","tag-delta","tag-michael-patrick-shiels","tag-east-lansing","tag-hong-kong","tag-china"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_image1-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2419,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417\/revisions\/2419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}