China Droll

I love Guangzhou. Many people who frequently go there on business, from the airport to a hotel, then back, tell me they can’t see why this should be. They have decided Guangzhou “Is just a big ugly city full of skyscrapers.”

Oh, but it’s not! In this old and gallant town, you can see what HK could have looked like if its leaders have had any vision and pride. Take for example a new feature of Guangzhou, already full of trees of all types and ages: all concrete flyovers are groaning under bougainvillea.

Going by taxi from the AiQun Hotel on the banks of the Pearl River to GZ East station was like driving through a lush garden with some elements of concrete in it, the concrete being only the road itself; everything else was green, green green with the trees some places forming a canopy above the road and the bougainvillea-covered flyovers weaving in and out of the trees like lawns in the sky.

Lovely! Then there’s the promenade on both sides of the river - no gimmicks and star walks and Hollywood this and that, just benches, trees, little watering holes and restaurants, just like river walks (and harbour walks) should be.

Outside the main thoroughfares and away from the shopping centres and banks, the street-life is hopping with, well, life.

It’s funky, wild and village-like yet with a big city edge; just brimming with all the stuff the HK government egged on by their good friends the property developers and aided and abetted by URL have almost succeeded in removing: Markets, geezers walking around in their pyjamas, people having a shave on the pavement,

shops without doors, cycling vendors, hawkers, bicycles in general, streets of tong lau (traditional tenement buildings with overhanging fronts resting on columns), enormous, ancient trees, laundry hanging to dry above front (beautifully crafted) doors,

people doing what they want (Yes! Lying down on park benches!!!) - in short, humane, fit for human life and always unpredictable.

But it’s not to be expected that our administration will take a leaf out of Guangzhou’s book where whole streets of old buildings are actually renovated and restored to former glory. Our glorious geezers, now “masters of their own home” are still living in 1972, proud of being owned body and soul by Hong Kong property developers. These relics’ heroes are the urban “planners” of for example Beijing who are mostly former Red Guards and still hellbent on destruction for the sake of it and whose idea of natural beauty is a flower bed with “Resolutely Fight For National Harmony” spelled out in carnations. Our administration will not rest before every last inch of our city is taken up by buildings at least 50 storeys high and each pesky pedestrian has been made to see the light and get a car to choke up all the gleaming new four lane highways hurtling forth between the tower blocks. Or rather, power blocks. Only then will they know we have finally entered the future.

And as for covering concrete flyovers in luscious blooms - dream on! Greenery belongs firmly in manicured sitting out areas and you know it.
But do swing around the areas just north of Shamian Island in Guangzhou when you have the time. Then you’ll see what Hong Kong could have looked like if our leaders weren’t so terribly proud of never having been elected.