Hong Kong

China and Hong Kong : An Overview of the Politics of Decline

Hong Kong has long since been a city that has had a tumultuous existence that has alternated experienced having times of great financial stability and growth and other periods where it has stagnated . At one time , Hong Kong was a colony of Great Britain . In 1997 , Hong Kong returned to the control of China , although China did grant Honk Kong several additional decades where the city would be allowed significant autonomy over its domestic affairs with particular consideration as to allowing

Hong Kong the ability to have freedom over its economic affairs

While on the surface , this would seem like a very positive thing , Hong Kong has not always seen its own economy existing at an optimum level This is , of course , the way things go ' when it comes to a free market economy . Sometimes it does better certain years than it does during others as a variety of factors can lead to a significant impact on the city 's economy . Regardless of the commonality of an expectation of there being economic trends going up and down in any city , there has been many pundits who have been putting forth the belief that Hong Kong has been a city that has suffered an unusual amount of decline in recent years While there is truth to this , there also needs to be an examination of the merits of such a claim

The Decline of Hong Kong

On a baseline level , much of Hong Kong 's financial problems derive from problems stemming out of the drastic decline of the value of currency as depicted in the following Yahoo Finance report

China and Hong Kong : An Overview of the Politics of Decline Pg 2

Hong Kong shares declined Thursday after economic data issued

overnight suggested a possible slowdown in the key U .S . export market

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 162 .07 points , or 0 .9 percent , to 17 ,096 .44

The index is finding it hard to climb much further after breaking through the 17 ,000 level . Investors are still focused on the issues of inflation and interest rates (in the U .S " said Francis Lun , general manager of Fulbright Securities

Expectations for further U .S . monetary tightening grew after the U .S Labor Department said unit labor costs rose at a faster-than-expected 4 .9 percent in the second quarter , stoking inflation worries and raising concerns about the ability of companies to keep increasing profits

When it comes to the issue of Hong Kong declining , there needs to be an understanding that such rhetoric needs to be backed up by concrete impartial facts . Often times , such statements are not made with any merit , but rather designed to invoke a specific reaction out of people in to advance a specific agenda

That is to say , there will be those people who need to advance such a belief and ideology and base the proof of their ideology on data mining That...