Shenzhen has accelerated the construction of a new cross-border transportation channel in the eastern part of Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is majestic.
Ye Wenyue
Chen Fengming
Chen Tianhui
Promoting the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major national strategic deployment. In 2019, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which made a comprehensive plan for the strategic positioning, development goals and spatial layout of the Greater Bay Area, marking that the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has entered the stage of full implementation.
Over the past three years and more, under the strong leadership and cordial care of the central authorities, the three places of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have faced the complex and changeable domestic and foreign environment, marched steadily and vigorously and orderly to promote all work. In today's Greater Bay Area, the cooperation between the three places has been deepened, and the comprehensive strength has been significantly enhanced. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its return to the motherland, with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as the stage, Hong Kong is accelerating its integration into the overall situation of national development.
"Soft" and "hard" connectivity
Cross-sea channel group + rule docking, mechanism convergence
In midsummer, the Pearl River is full of tides and the winds of Lingnan are strong.
At the beginning of June, on the vast lingling ocean, the submarine tunnel of the deep and middle channel completed the sinking and docking of the E25 pipe joint, marking the completion of this cross-sea project. According to the plan, the 24-kilometer-long Greater Bay Area mega project will be completed in two years, together with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Nansha Bridge, Humen Bridge and shiziyang channel under construction on the north and south sides of it, together to form a new group of cross-sea passages in the Greater Bay Area.
Over the past three years, with the opening of the Liantang/Xiangyuanwei Port, the New Hengqin Port and the Qingmao Port, the customs clearance facilities such as "one-stop customs clearance", "cooperative inspection and one-time release" have been implemented, and the exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao have become faster and more convenient, and two-thirds of inbound and outbound passengers can clear customs through self-service.
Behind the continuous advancement of "hard connectivity", "soft connectivity" is also accelerating. Over the past three years, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have continuously deepened the docking of rules and the convergence of mechanisms, the flow of economic factors has become increasingly smooth, and the integration of science and technology, talents and industries has become more in-depth and extensive: the cross-border use of scientific research funds has achieved normal operation; More than 85,100 Hong Kong and Macao residents have been included in the employment registration management in Guangdong, and with the continuous expansion of the scope of vocational qualification recognition and standard convergence, more than 3,000 Hong Kong and Macao professionals have obtained mainland registration qualifications...
Deep harbor shore
The eastern, central and western ports are fully laid out
People traveling between Shenzhen and Hong Kong have to pass through the port, and today, there are 7 land ports between Shenzhen and Hong Kong alone. Before 1997, Luohu Port, Wenjindu Port, Shatoujiao Port and Huanggang Port were established, and later the Shenzhen Bay Port and Futian Port were successively built and opened, and the Liantang Port was opened in August 2020, becoming the seventh land port between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
In September 2018, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail was opened to traffic, and the Port of West Kowloon Station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway, which is used as a railway port, enters the "high-speed rail speed" between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and the fastest drive from Shenzhen Futian Station to Hong Kong West Kowloon Station is 14 minutes.
Ports are the link between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Guangdong and Hong Kong, the Mainland and Hong Kong, and the continuous close witness of exchanges and cooperation between Hong Kong and Hong Kong. Before the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the annual number of entry and exits in shenzhen ports was calculated at the level of "100 million", and during the peak period of holiday entry and exit, it was not too much to describe the scene of waiting for customs clearance.
In order to cope with the growth of people, traffic and logistics, shenzhen and Hong Kong have realized the full layout of eastern, central and western ports, and many ports have been reconstructed and upgraded, and the customs clearance capacity has been different from that year. Even so, before the epidemic, the situation of "full load" and "overload" operation during the peak period still existed, which showed the frequency of personnel exchanges and the warmth of exchanges and cooperation.
Looking at the time in a long time, the inconvenience of exchanges under the influence of the epidemic will eventually pass, and the pace of exchanges and cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong will not stop. Connectivity, infrastructure first. A number of port projects are being actively promoted, and a more efficient port management system mechanism and a more convenient port clearance mode will enhance the service level of ports to promote the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, meet the new requirements put forward by the construction of the Greater Bay Area for the efficient and convenient flow of production factors, and provide strong support for the future of exchanges and cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
The reconstruction of Huanggang Port is already being implemented, and it will stand between Shenzhen and Hong Kong with a new look in the future. The change is not limited to the Huanggang port, more port projects have entered the planning stage, and we are striving to start construction as soon as possible. Included in the 2022 work plan of the Shenzhen Municipal Port Office, we will promote the reconstruction plan of Luohu Port, study the site selection and inspection mode innovation of new ports, and carry out research on the introduction of The Hong Kong East Rail Line into The Luohu Port; Strengthen communication with the Hong Kong side and deepen the planning plan for the reconstruction of the Sha Tau Kok Port; Combined with the planning of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Railway, the research on the establishment of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Railway port was carried out; Promote the planning of water passenger terminal ports such as South Australia and Qianhai and cross-border helicopter take-off and landing points.
Looking at the "14th Five-Year Plan" and even longer, under the vision of the Shenzhen Port and Shore Economic Belt and the Northern Metropolitan Area of Hong Kong, the "article" that the port can do is even greater, and the image of the port in people's minds may be iteratively upgraded in the future. Shenzhen's "14th Five-Year Plan" and the outline of long-term goals for 2035 propose to take the shenzhen port and the neighboring areas and transit plots as the core, and coordinate the construction of a deep-port and shore economic belt integrating scientific and technological innovation, high-end manufacturing, cultural tourism consumption, and medical education, so as to create a new platform for cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The port will become an important node for full integration into the development of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong twin cities, and the role of serving regional development will be more prominent.
One hour of life circle
From goods to services, cross-border market demand is "too big"
Miss Lam, a Hong Kong citizen who graduated from mainland China, has long been accustomed to buying and buying online. Affected by the continuous impact of the epidemic, many Hong Kong citizens, like Miss Lam, feel the convenience between the cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the "finger".
"Masks, disinfectant wipes, these online shopping is cheap and fast." Mr. Shu, who is old and young, has a deep understanding of the advantages of online shopping in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. He told reporters that as long as there is a warehouse in Shenzhen, even during the epidemic period, it will take two days from order to receipt. He even buys rice online, "the round pearl rice in the domestic real estate tastes good, and Hong Kong often can't buy it during the epidemic period."
"I have always hoped to invest in mainland RMB products, and the Cross-Border Wealth Management Connect has allowed me to truly experience the convenience of financial interconnection in the Greater Bay Area." On 19 October 2021, Ms. Kwong, a Hong Kong citizen, with the help of ICBC Nansha Branch, contacted the ICBC Asia Quarry Bay Branch near her home, becoming the first customer of the "Cross-border Wealth Management Connect" business.
"The cross-border market demand in the Greater Bay Area is too big." Speaking of the Greater Bay Area market, Chen Wen, General Manager of personal finance and wealth management at BOCHK, is very excited.
"In order to meet the market demand, BOC requires 'all employees to do cross-border business', including the front desk service staff at the end of the business. We have a total of 187 branches in the Greater Bay Area, 3500 colleagues, must understand cross-border business. Chen Wen said.
Chen Wenshen has a deep understanding of the "one-hour living circle" that has emerged between Hong Kong and the mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area: "I sometimes go to the mainland because of work needs, but in recent years the mainland has developed very rapidly, the degree of electronicization is very high, and going out to take a taxi, buy things, and eat are all electronic payments."
To this end, BOCHK launched the "Easy Account Opening" service in the Greater Bay Area, where Hong Kong customers bind the mainstream mobile phone electronic payment applications in the mainland, spend in the mainland, take taxis, etc., and travel unimpeded, effectively solving the diversified needs of Hong Kong customers in the Greater Bay Area such as convenient payment, online shopping, transfer and remittance.
Educational cooperation
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) was officially established
Recently, the Ministry of Education approved the formal establishment of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) in accordance with the law, and the school was the first to open 3 undergraduate majors and 15 master's and doctoral majors.
So far, there are three mainland-Hong Kong cooperative universities approved by the Ministry of Education, all of which have settled in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The first two are the Joint International College of Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University, established in 2005, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), established in 2014. In addition, the City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan) has also been approved for establishment recently, and will apply to the Ministry of Education for formal establishment after the completion of the preparatory work.
According to incomplete statistics, in the past two years, 20 new universities in the nine cities in the Greater Bay Area have been established or started construction, of which 8 have cooperated with Hong Kong and Macao universities to run schools.
The Shenzhen Campus of the University of hong kong Chinese, which officially enrolled in 2014, has become one of the universities with the highest admission scores among institutions in Guangdong Province for many consecutive years, setting a good example for higher education cooperation in the Greater Bay Area. Last year, the school fully launched the comprehensive evaluation enrollment of the six provinces and cities of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Fujian, and Suzhou in 2021, adding chemistry, pharmacy, biological sciences and other majors.
Mainland universities are also interested in opening new campuses in Hong Kong and Macau. Li Qingquan, president of Shenzhen University, said in March last year that higher education in the mainland and Hong Kong should "flow in both directions" and that Shenzhen University should be the "first to eat crabs" and plan to set up campuses in Hong Kong.
The way of educational cooperation in the Greater Bay Area is also innovating. The Department of Vocational Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education announced at the press conference hall of the Shenzhen Municipal Government last year that it would rely on the "credit bank" to carry out the identification, accumulation and conversion of learning achievements in academic education and non-academic education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and promote the mutual recognition and exchange of credits, academic qualifications, degrees and skill levels.
In addition to cooperative education, universities can also build laboratories. The laboratories jointly built by 8 universities, including Shenzhen University, Guangdong University of Technology and Southern University of Science and Technology, and Hong Kong and Macao universities, were approved as the 2020 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory.
Primary and secondary schools in cities across the Greater Bay Area are also experimenting with new forms of cooperation. Guangzhou No. 2 Middle School signed a contract with 8 pairs of Schools, including Macao Peizheng Middle School, Guangdong Huaqiao Middle School and Macao Lao school, as sister schools, and joined the big family of "Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Sister School Conclusion Plan". As of August last year, Guangzhou has concluded 279 pairs of sister schools (parks) in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao.
Towards the future
Numbers show confidence Deliver on promises to create surprises
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as the stage, Hong Kong is accelerating its integration into the overall situation of national development.
Lee Ka-chiu, chief executive-designate of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has set his sights on the "Northern Metropolitan Area" adjacent to Shenzhen. It is expected to become the new "cover" of Hong Kong's international city.
Li Jiachao said that in the future, the SAR government will use the "northern metropolitan area" as a link to jointly build a high-quality bay area, develop and promote a diversified economy, including actively participating in the development and construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and increasing exchanges with other mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area in terms of people flow, logistics, capital flow and data flow.
A set of numbers that show confidence.
By the end of 2021, the number of Hong Kong clients opening mainland accounts with BOCHK rose by 41% year-on-year to nearly 170,000. Loans to enterprises in the Greater Bay Area increased by 9.8% year-on-year, and loans to science and technology enterprises increased by 8.3% year-on-year. At present, the number of BoC Pay (e-wallet) customers has exceeded 1 million.
"These sharp growth figures are enough to illustrate the market prospects of the Greater Bay Area and the recognition of the Greater Bay Area by Hong Kong residents." Chen Wen, General Manager of Personal Finance and Wealth Management, BOCHK, said.
The Qianhai Sea, once covered with wilderness mudflats, is now bustling; The three-dimensional transportation network covering 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area is becoming more and more dense, and the "one-hour life circle" is forming; "Hong Kong people Hong Kong tax, Macao people and Macao tax" landed and implemented; Dozens of Hong Kong and Macao professional qualifications, such as lawyers and physicians, have been recognized by the cities of the Guangdong Greater Bay Area, and the Greater Bay Area has become a hot land for young people in Hong Kong and Macao to pursue their dreams, constantly injecting new momentum and expanding new space for the development of Hong Kong and Macao, and boosting the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall situation of national development.
Over the past three years, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been in the process of fulfilling its promises and creating surprises again and again, making more and more people believe that the Greater Bay Area has a great future!
Harbor Youth is in the Bay Area
Using Hong Kong identity to help Hong Kong youth integrate into the Greater Bay Area
Graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Ip is now a Project Officer at the Mainland Advisory Services Centre of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, working as a youth worker. He came to Guangzhou from Hong Kong in June 2021, and it has been 10 months since then. Looking back on these 10 months, he said that from consideration, decision to personal experience, to try to walk the path of a person, to now harvest friendship and happiness.
In his view, Hong Kong is an international metropolis, in line with international standards, the mainland also needs talents in this regard, "At present, the Hong Kong SAR government also vigorously advocates Hong Kong youth to work in the mainland, so there will be room for Hong Kong youth to play." He believes that for Hong Kong people who intend to develop in the mainland, they should have the courage to try, jump out of the past circle of life, expand their contacts in the mainland, and cultivate their ability to live independently.
"There are many opportunities for the Greater Bay Area to be unleashed"
Chen Fengming worked as a designer for a company in Hong Kong for 5 years. In 2015, he went to Shenzhen alone to start a business, founding inDare, an integrated innovation service organization, to provide products, brands, and even space experience design services for enterprises. Many well-known mainland companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, NetEase and Huawei, are inDare's customers.
For Hong Kong youth who are interested in starting a business in the bay area cities, Chen Fengming suggested: "The Greater Bay Area now has a very good business environment and strong support from the government to shape such a huge urban cluster in the future, there will be many opportunities to be released, the key is to see if you can seize this opportunity, and what value can be created under this opportunity."
Outstanding Hong Kong students in the Greater Bay Area have been stationed in Yaozhai for 4 consecutive months
Chen Tianhui, a master's student majoring in social work at Sun Yat-sen University, was one of the top ten outstanding Hong Kong students in the greater bay area, and he also won the "Social Responsibility Award" in the competition. He said that he had met many outstanding Hong Kong youths in this competition, who were not only outstanding in their profession, but also had family and country feelings, and he looked forward to working with this group of Hong Kong youth to serve as a bridge for the friendly transmission of information between the two places.
After coming to the mainland to study, he went to Zhaoqing, some urban villages in Guangzhou and other places to investigate. From July to October last year, he worked as a social worker in the village at the Zhaigang Town Social Work Station in Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province, where he ate and lived with his fellow villagers. Chen Tianhui said that social workers do not go to the countryside to give charity or assistance, he remembers that the teacher told him at that time, do not think of it as "going to the countryside", but "stationed in the village", "if you go to the countryside, it may be that college students take a questionnaire to ask the peasants who are doing farm work' 'the sun is not sunburned, hard work is not hard' and other issues, but if you are stationed in the village, our relationship will be more equal, follow them to farm, experience how difficult it is for them, and I will be more empathetic."