Three Greater Bay Area Stories

Distinguished guests, friends, 

After the meeting in the morning, I believe you have learned more about the Greater Bay Area. 

In today’s China, the GBA is not only a buzz-word, but also a social media star. There are a huge amount of short videos about the GBA, and the number of their hits once reached 40 billion a month. 

Why is the GBA so attractive? Let me share with you three stories.

The first story is about DreamWorks for innovation and entrepreneurship. 

I’m not referring to the DreamWorks Animation Studio in Hollywood, but the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub in Qianhai. 

In this hub, Hong Kong youths with entrepreneur dreams could receive tailored policy and service support. From low-rent but cozy offices, to fully-furnished apartments, from the one-stop service platform for authorization of setting up a company, to real-time legal and tax policy advice on WeChat Mini Programs, the hub offers strong software and hardware support for Hong Kong youths to realize their dreams. 

Six years ago, a young entrepreneur from Hong Kong entered the hub with his R&D results, and now his company values more than 100 million RMB. 

He said that before going to the mainland, he was worried that he may not adapt to the new environment. However, to his surprise, he was deeply impressed by the openness and tolerance and had no sense of alienation after he went there. In particular, the real benefits and convenience the hub provided for him and many others like him make them focus on running their business. To date, the hub has incubated over 260 Hong Kong start-up teams. President Xi Jinping also praised it as a “place to make dreams come true” when he visited the hub three years ago.

In the GBA, there are thirteen innovation and entrepreneur bases for youths in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. The Shenzhen-Hong Kong hub in Qianhai is just one example.

The bases provide preferential support policies and sound working and living environment for Hong Kong entrepreneurs. 

More and more Hong Kong youths are stepping onto the GBA, a development hot-land, and they now have another identity—“GBA youths”. These young talents are pursuing their ideals by seizing opportunities in the GBA and integrating into the overall national development.

The second story is about a new channel of wealth. 

Last month, the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Scheme in the GBA went public. The scheme became a celebrity in the GBA financial market as soon as it went on sale. Just in the first month, nearly 8-thousand people bought it with the value amounting to more than 130 million RMB. 

Why is it so popular? 

The secret is that under this Connect Scheme, residents in the mainland as well as in Hong Kong and Macao could invest in the wealth management products of each other’s banks. In other words, Hong Kong and Macao residents can buy financial products from mainland banks at local banks. The economy of the mainland is resilient and the value of RMB is stable, so for them, RMB assets are very attractive. 

On the other hand, mainland residents could buy finance products from Hong Kong and Macao banks at local banks, and even those from other countries through Hong Kong’s open financial system.

This scheme may seem to be a simple arrangement, but my colleagues in Guangdong told me that all the funds flow through closed-loop channels established by banks in the GBA, which involves the complex aligning of rules and mechanisms among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. In this process, many issues need to be properly solved, such as the cross-border remittance and transfer of funds, cross-boundary cooperation of banks, and investors-protection in the three places.

The Connect Scheme, which has delivered great benefits to foreign banks, is one of the measures of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to speed up their “soft connectivity”, and is a key step for China’s two-way financial opening up. Standard Chartered, HSBC and DBS have all become the first group of banks to take part in the scheme. 

In the future, as the three places further build up connected mechanisms, promote the flow of all factors, and jointly create a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment, the GBA will bring more opportunities for foreign investors.

The third story is about a green landscape. 

You must have heard a pop song about Hong Kong called “Dong Fang Zhi Zhu” or “the Pearl of the Orient”. Some of the lyrics are “the winding river flows to the south, carrying me to Hong Kong to have a look”. The “river” here is the Shenzhen River, which connects Hong Kong and Shenzhen and nurtures the two cities. 

From the industrial development of Hong Kong in the 1950s, to the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in the early 1980s, the river witnessed the rise of Hong Kong and development of Shenzhen. However, it was also polluted by the domestic and industrial wastes from the two places. Gradually, the issue of environment pollution stood out, such as water quality deterioration and fishery resource reduction. 

Later on, Hong Kong and Shenzhen joined hands to tackle this problem, and a number of water projects have been up and running, yielding remarkable results. 

Especially in recent years, under the GBA initiative, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have stepped up cooperation in water treatment, and the focus has shifted from pollution prevention to ecological conservation. Universities and professional institutions in Hong Kong have leveraged their scientific research advantages to support the mainland in areas of environment monitoring and wetland restoration. 

Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, the Shenzhen River is now clean again. Shenzhen residents often come to the riverside for a walk and enjoy the picturesque scenery of clean water and green banks. 

Shenzhen Bay, the estuary of the Shenzhen River, has become an important habitat for migratory birds and we could often see them flying above the water. On two sides of the river, the Futian Mangrove Ecological Park in Shenzhen and the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong stand facing each other, a great pleasant view.

The change of the Shenzhen River is a model of environmental protection cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. It is also an epitome of the mainland’s achievements by putting emphasis on ecological conservation and green development. 

In the GBA and the whole mainland, there are many more  stories like “Shenzhen River”. In China, the concept of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” is being widely practiced. The same is true of the GBA. The eleven cities in the area are working closely to advance ecological civilization and build a “beautiful bay area” so as to make the GBA a great place with blue sky, green land and clean water for visitors from all over the world. 

Distinguished guests, friends,

The three stories I have just shared are an illustration of the vitality and charm of the GBA, and a portrayal of China’s continuous progress in a new era. 

Today’s GBA is a liveable place and favorable destination for business and tourists, and today’s China is an open and inclusive country that makes progress every single day. 

We sincerely hope that all of you will take an active part in the promising GBA and seize emerging opportunities in the thriving China. Thank you!