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The
2000s in Hong Kong
began a new millennium under the
People's Republic of China
(PRC).
Background
[
edit
]
Hong Kong Island
, 2006
After the
transfer of sovereignty
, Hong Kong faced a series of problems, both political and economical. The government carried out a series of reforms to adopt a more modern
ideology
and
democracy
, but faced many difficulties. Despite a transfer of power to China, the citizens participate in how their government is run, and the region maintains some degree of
autonomy
. Media in
Hong Kong
has not come under state control, though many citizens believe the media practices
self-censorship
. The economy would also begin the period with a rise in
unemployment rate
from 2.2% in 1997 to 4.4% in 2000, and 7.9% in 2003. The economy had gradually recovered since 2004 and the overall unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in 2008, however the overall figure rose again to 5.4% in 2009 due to the global economic downturn in the last quarter of 2008.
[1]
Politics
[
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]
The two major political camps
of the decade are the
Pro-Beijing camp
and the
Pro-democracy camp
.
Article 23
[
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]
In 2003, the government proposed an anti-subversion law titled
Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law
. Many people feared that the proposal would erode freedom of press, religion, and association. The unpopularity of Chief Executive
Tung Chee-Hwa
and his administration, combined with the dissatisfaction about economy recession and the pandemic control, prompted an estimated 500,000 - 1,000,000 people to
march on 1 July 2003
, making it the largest since the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
.
[2]
[3]
The proposal fell after the several pro-government lawmakers withdrew their support to pass the bill. The resignation of
Liberal Party
chief
James Tien
from the
Executive Council
on 6 July 2003 caused the eventual withdrawal of the legislation and the break-up of the "ruling alliance" of the Chief Executive. The security secretary,
Regina Ip
, who was heavily criticised for her arrogant and condescending handling of the proposed law, was forced to resign.
[4]
Other marches
[
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]
For the first time in Hong Kong's history, on 1 July 2006, the
People's Liberation Army
marched through the city. The display was one of power and symbolism staged by 19 pro-Beijing groups. The march was part of a celebration demonstration that began in
Victoria Park
.
[5]
Chief executive
[
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]
Many calls were made for the resignation of
Tung Chee-hwa
, a leader who was blessed by the
Chinese Communist Party
,
Jiang Zemin
. Tung remained in the office until 10 March 2005, 20 months after the march against Article 23. Hong Kong's Basic Law permitted Tung to serve another 3 years, many
[
who?
]
suspected
Beijing
forced him to resign due to widespread public disapproval and his perceived lacklustre leadership. The
2005 election
filled the seat with
Donald Tsang
who was the No. 2 ranking official, Chief Secretary, and career civil servant during British colonial rule.
Media control in Hong Kong
[
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]
A survey conducted by the
Hong Kong Journalists Association
found that 58.4% of journalists think press freedom in HK has deteriorated since the handover, mainly as a result of
self-censorship
and government's tighter grip on information flow.
[6]
Direct
Internet censorship in Hong Kong
has not been a major issue. In 2009 HK was still ranked 48 by the international
Press Freedom Index
.
[7]
This is still far ahead of the People's Republic of China. Other self-censorship events include the 2009 Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority forum where major station
TVB
was labeled as CCTVB with censored news like the mainland's
CCTV
.
[8]
The local
Citizens' Radio
was raided by the
Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA)
after being deemed illegal.
[9]
Finance
[
edit
]
The
1997 Asian Financial Crisis
caused a deflationary period that spanned 6 years into July 2004.
[10]
A few years later, the global
Financial crisis of 2007?2010
rocked the financial well-being of the SAR's financial sector. The
Lehman mini-bond crisis
was one that affected the territory greatly.
Joseph Yam
, the Chief Executive of the
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
who was the highest paid central banker in the world resigned in 2009.
[11]
[12]
Traditionally,
HK dollar
is pegged against the
US dollar
. Questions have come up on whether HK should peg to the
Chinese yuan
since it is integrated to China economically. But since the yuan is not fully
convertible
, a peg to the yuan would cause disruptions.
[13]
Building and infrastructure
[
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]
At the end of the 2000s, the
International Commerce Centre
(ICC), at 484 m (1,588 ft) high, was the tallest building in Hong Kong. The tallest building prior to the ICC was the
Two International Finance Centre
(2 IFC), at 415 m (1,362 ft) high, completed in 2003. Prior to that, the tallest building in Hong Kong was the
Central Plaza
since 1992, with a height of 374 m (1,227 ft).
Many new
infrastructure
projects had been completed throughout the territory during the 2000s. Examples of those infrastructures includes: For Railway - the completion of
MTR
Tseung Kwan O line
in 2002,
KCR
West Rail
in 2003, KCR
Ma On Shan Rail
in 2004, MTR
Disneyland Resort line
in 2005, the extension of the
Airport Express
to
AsiaWorld?Expo
in 2005, KCR
Lok Ma Chau Spur Line
in 2007, and MTR
Kowloon Southern Link
between
East Rail line
and
West Rail line
from
Hung Hom station
to
Nam Cheong station
via
East Tsim Sha Tsui station
and
Austin station
in 2009. For major bridges and tunnels - the completion of
Discovery Bay Tunnel
in 2000,
Nam Wan Tunnel
in 2007, Deep Bay Bridge (
Hong Kong?Shenzhen Western Corridor
) in 2007,
Eagle's Nest Tunnel
and
Sha Tin Heights Tunnel
in 2008, and
Stonecutters Bridge
in 2009.
Other major infrastructures includes the opening of the
Hong Kong Disneyland
in 2005, which was the fifth
Disneyland
opened in the world and the second opened in Asia after the
Tokyo Disneyland
, and the completion of the
Ngong Ping 360
in 2006, which was a
gondola lift
system that connects
Tung Chung
New Town and
Ngong Ping
Market.
Demographics
[
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]
Population
[
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]
In 2000, the population of Hong Kong was 6,900,000.
[14]
The population in the summer of 2006 was 6,994,500, though the majority of population increase is mostly contributed via immigration from
mainland
citizens. Also in 2006, the
birth rate
of 7.29 is ranked lowest among the list of countries surveyed by the
CIA
.
[15]
Towards the end of the decade, Hong Kong's population had slowed further to a growth of 0.5% in 2009 with the city having a total population of 7,055,071 as of 2009.
[16]
Other new
immigration topics
include the
Right of abode issue
,
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme
or the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme.
[17]
Culture
[
edit
]
Anita Mui
in her final concert
Entertainment
[
edit
]
The passing of idol legends like
Leslie Cheung
and
Anita Mui
rocked the
cantopop
industry. Their deaths in the early 2000s further sank the people's morale. The 2008
Edison Chen photo scandal
was also dubbed Asia's biggest scandal.
[18]
Other cultural phenomenon include the rise of young female
Liang mou
models.
Charities
[
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]
The HK government and entertainment industry pursued a number of major charities in the decade. The
1:99 Concert
was held for the
SARS outbreak
. In early 2005, a major relief campaign concert was held for the victims of the neighbouring
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
.
[19]
[20]
This was followed by one of the largest assembly of celebrities in the territory in the
Artistes 512 Fund Raising Campaign
for the
2008 Sichuan earthquake
. In 2009 the
Artistes 512 Fund Raising Campaign
was held for
Typhoon Morakot
in Taiwan.
Sports
[
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]
Hong Kong was the site for the
2008 Olympics
and
paralympics Equestrian events
. The events were held at the
Hong Kong Sports Institute
in
Fo Tan
,
Sha Tin
. The
torch relay
also
passed through both the Special administrative regions of HK and Macau
. Various stars and celebrities were also present at the
opening ceremonies
in
Beijing
. At the end of 2009, HK also held its first ever
East Asian Games
. It opened up with a performance on the water of
Victoria Harbour
.
[21]
Society
[
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]
Beginning in 2008, the
Mong Kok acid attacks
began a series of
acid
throwing incidents from tall buildings. The government also stepped up effort against many incidents of throwing any random objects out of skyscraper windows and roofs. The
housing department
began installing
closed-circuit television
systems to monitor these throwing activities.
[22]
Other incident involve the creation of a mass-suicide
Facebook
group called "I want to practise suicide" (我要(練習)自殺). The group was shut down before urging 190 members to kill themselves.
[23]
[24]
Spread of SARS
Health
[
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]
Flu pandemics
[
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]
Health officials made the
Bird Flu
crisis a top priority beginning in 1997. To control the spread of the virus, millions of chickens were slaughtered in an extreme measure to prevent
the global spread
of the
H5N1
virus. The crisis would lead to a series of panic that continue well into the 2000s. The volume consumption of poultry was significantly reduced for a period. Beginning in 1997, over 1 million birds were slaughtered, followed by 860,000 in 2002. Another batch of 300,000 and 200,000 chickens in 5 farms in
Kam Tin
New Territories
were also included in the quarantine process.
[25]
China also had series of outbreaks, and the pandemic have left both regions strained in trade relationships.
[26]
Controversies of the handling of the crisis has been criticised by radio programmes, TVs and newspapers. Both Hong Kong and China were the center of international attention during the early 2000s. Specifically, the
Health, Welfare and Food Bureau
were constantly bombarded with questions about the effectiveness in the decision to slaughter in large numbers. Wild dogs, rats and cats preying on bags of uncollected dead poultry also made the whole procedure a public relations disaster for the government.
[27]
In 2009 a
Swine flu pandemics
followed, but citizens were more prepared this time.
SARS outbreak
[
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]
The first suspected case of
severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) was recorded in February, 2003. Hong Kong remained on the
World Health Organization
's list of affected areas until 23 June 2003. The city was gripped by fear of contagion and panic throughout the epidemic. Children stayed home, while schools were halted. Economic activities were greatly disrupted. Restaurants were empty, and tourism ground to a halt. The epidemic infected more than 1,700 people and claimed 299 lives.
[28]
As director general of the World Health Organization,
Margaret Chan
faced some tough issues.
International
[
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]
Protesters occupied
Gloucester Road
at the
2005 WTO conference
The
World Trade Organization Conference of 2005
was held in
Wan Chai
. With 148 nations participating at the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
, it was one of the largest international event ever held in the area. A series of protests broke out in the designated protest zones and
Hong Kong Police
were resorted to using
tear gas
and
pepper spray
for crowd control. Numerous sources proclaimed the conference as the
"Siege of Wan Chai"
as the world class city became the hosting site of the event.
[29]
References
[
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]