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Research Proposal Social Work Essay Document 1 of 1 Southern China talk fest a hot air blow-out Author: van der Kamp, Jake ProQuest document link Abstract (Abstract): Yes, they had plans, 30,000km of new superhighways fanning out from Guangzhou and 10,000km of new railway lines with trains speeding at 200km per hour to {hellip} well {hellip} ahem {hellip} but let us have no talk here of the mbarrassment Shanghai has suffered with Just a short hi-tech line to its airport. Not to worry. AsiaWorld-Expo is not being built to showcase Hong Kong products or designs. It will tout mainland wares in competition with several even bigger centres in the mainland. There is one Just across the border, big and empty and hungry for business. Clearly there was a call on AsiaWorld-Expo here to Justify its existence and it has heeded the call. In the first year of operation the centre will contribute a $2. 8 billion economic return, says the advertorial, again and again, in headlines, captions and testimonials. I think I have warned you before that economic return is pure magic. Take a number, any number, wave your wand, and you can have any other number you want, in this case 3. 67. Research, yes, diligent economic analysis, has proved to AsiaWorld- Expo that every dollar spent at its facility will, poof, create another $3. 67 spent elsewhere in Hong Kong. Links Linking Service Full text: ON PAGE 3 of this newspaper yesterday we discussed the hopes of 1 1 aspirants to a crowning achievement of commercial success and career satisfaction. No, I am not referring to the photograph at the top of the page of 11 Miss Hong Kong ontestants pictured in swimsuits at a waterfall in Kenya, although it was definitely more absorbing and probably more meaningful. I had in mind (when that mind could be distracted from the photo) a wodge of print underneath about a hot air blow-out from nine mainland provinces plus Hong Kong and Macau in what is termed the Pan- Pearl River Delta forum. It was the third day running in which we provided this evidence of why some trees should be left to grow in the forest rather than be turned into newsprint. Did you know that Guangdong party boss Zhang DeJiang would like to see his rovince turned into a key world manufacturing base, Hong Kong into an international business services centre and Macau into a gambling tourism hub? I understand that Mr Zhang also wants Marco Polo to visit China and hopes that Christopher Columbus will soon discover America. You probably saw some of the television coverage with one blue- suited lookalike after another taking turns at the podium to tell us to great applause that the sea is wet and the desert is dry or messages of equal revelation. Interspersed was so much self-praise that you would think this was Delia School of Canada. But yes, they had plans, 30,000km of new superhighways fanning out from Guangzhou and 10,000km of new railway lines with trains speeding at 200km per hour to {hellip} well {hellip} ahem {hellip} but let us have no talk here of the embarrassment Shanghai has suffered with Just a short hi-tech line to its airport. Stop me, however. Did not the word come down from Beijing recently that a halt must be called to big infrastructure projects in order to prevent the economy from overheating? I fully recognise that the further south you go in the mainland the less weight that Beijings edicts carry and I now that these big plans are still meant only to occupy time at talking shops. But surely a nod to central authority was required here. If we were to be so cavalier in Hong Kong about central government directives, they might call it subversion. Here is an idea for you, fellows. If you really want southern China to prosper, then implement all the promises Page 1 of 3 you made when entering the World Trade Organisation and do it as soon and as fully as possible. Stay off the podiums, spend no money but open your provincial economies and success will come your way. It is all you need to do and if you do not o it, then the story will continue to be what it has been so far Hong Kong and the Ten Dwarves. And as to that photo, fourth from the left for the crown and second from the right for Miss Photogenic. There you nave my picks and let us be gratetul that those 1 1 not in the picture stayed fully clothed. HOT AIR MERCHANTS are not only to be found across the border. On Tuesday we carried a full-page advertorial for AsiaWorld- Expo, the new airport exhibition centre that is scheduled to open in December next year. You know the story. This was something first mooted for construction by the private ector at a cost of less than $1 billion. The fgure has now risen to $2 billion and it is to be picked up by the public purse. No, pardon me, the private sector can put in another $2 billion if it wants. Uh-huh. The people who run the big exhibition centre on the Wan Chai waterfront are none too happy with all this. They worry that there is not enough business to go round and that we are cannibalising earlier investments in the exhibition trade. Not to worry. AsiaWorld-Expo is not being built to showcase Hong Kong products or spent elsewhere in Hong Kong. It may be true. Here I come to spoil the magic, owever. If we instead spent that dollar on something else, it would create this same multiplier effect and, if we spent it to better use, that multiplier would be higher than 3. 67. The advice that your mother gave you has not been improved by voodoonomics. Spend your money as wisely as you can if you want the greatest benefit to yourself. The appeal to voodoonomics should only confirm to you that the money is not well spent. Publication title: South China Morning Post Pages: 18 Number of pages: O Publication year: 2004 Publication date: Jun 4, 2004 year: 2004 Publisher: South China Morning Post Ltd.