It appears – though the numbers published vary a bit – that our government is bleeding money on such a scale that the reserves will be run down in five or six years, placing us in the same boat as all those debt-addicted governments we have been looking down on.
A bejewelled panda installation displayed in the window of a luxury store in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on January 15, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Of course, this will not happen. Economies will be made, new sources of income discovered, the real estate racket revived. Or something.
A quick perusal of the pro-government papers suggests that thinking among supporters runs along some ominous lines: tinkering with the HK$2 travel concession; selling parts of public housing, the MTR and the airport; a new sales tax; automatic car-parking penalties administered by artificial intelligence…
Some odd omissions: Nobody wants to increase salary or company tax; few takers for blanket reductions in civil service salaries.
There is also no interest in my two favourites. First, abolish the whole “political appointment” nonsense. There is nothing policy secretaries have to do these days which could not be done by the permanent secretaries of their bureaus, and in most cases done better.
Second, put up parking penalties to the same level as those for such trivial offences as spitting on the pavement or travelling in First Class on the East Rail line without beeping your Octopus. This would involve multiplying the present parking fine by a factor of three, or six, depending on which current Mickey Mouse offence you were catching up with.
These are hard times for a financial secretary. Obviously the public coffers would benefit if the economy was prospering, but this is difficult to arrange.
An An, one of the pandas gifted to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, on Monday, December 2, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
‘Panda economy’
Let me, though, help in the discussions now taking place behind the scenes by eliminating one alleged possibility: the “panda economy.”
Some people are putting an awful lot of hope in our rising panda population, which has multiplied from two to six. One writer said that Hong Kong was enjoying “pandamania.” This sounds suspiciously like pandemonium.
I have nothing against animal tourism. When travelling, I am a sucker for animal experiences of all kinds. I have petted dolphins in San Diego, fed deer in Nara, cuddled koalas and fed kangaroos in Brisbane, charmed a pigeon in Perth, and enjoyed a whole flock of sociable doves in Dalian.
My most memorable experience in Canada was when I was selected, as the guest who had come furthest, to feed a bear as big as me. This was safer than it sounds: You do it by poking a hose through a chain link fence.
Ke Ke, one of the giant pandas gifted to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. Photo: Ocean Park.
This enthusiasm for animal experiences is probably a result of being brought up in an age when attitudes to such things were different.
When I was a kid, feeding the pigeons in London’s Trafalgar Square was a regular treat and vendors had stalls selling split peas for the purpose. This is no longer allowed so Admiral Nelson is no longer up to his knees in pigeon poop.
In those days, London Zoo offered rides on camels and elephants. Nowadays they only offer donkeys. Other zoos were quite happy to have visitors getting up close to harmless herbivores, which only happened if you had something to offer. Dried pasta was a popular choice. So I fed giraffes, elephants, and a variety of variations of the antelope.
This sort of thing is no longer allowed.
A newspaper stand sells panda products in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, on December 12, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Certainly, you will not be allowed any meaningful interaction with the panda population. Corporate Hong Kong seems to be doing its best to make up for this. My petrol station sells panda tissues and panda LED camping lanterns. The local supermarket is offering panda buns – white with black spots.
But these efforts are likely to wilt when the public discovers that pandas do not really perform. They sit and chew a bit of bamboo. If you’re lucky. If you’re unlucky, they just sit.
So I fear having pandas is not going to inspire any great improvement in local productivity. Judging by their notorious lack of interest in sex, it is not going to do much for our distressing reproduction rate either.
And the idea that people will come to Hong Kong from miles away to look at a pretty but rather boring bear seems a bit of a stretch.
Also, our leaders should be careful what they wish for. The panda may not do much for tourism but it is a potential gift to political satirists. Fat, lethargic and confused about sex: Could that be the Hong Kong government?
Help safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team
HKFP is an impartial platform & does not necessarily share the views of opinion writers or advertisers. HKFP presents a diversity of views & regularly invites figures across the political spectrum to write for us. Press freedom is guaranteed under the Basic Law, security law, Bill of Rights and Chinese constitution. Opinion pieces aim to point out errors or defects in the government, law or policies, or aim to suggest ideas or alterations via legal means without an intention of hatred, discontent or hostility against the authorities or other communities.
