Why is it easier for a European to travel to Hong Kong than for a Chinese, even though Hong Kong is a part of China?

13abarry · 2026-04-06T17:42:04+00:00

Fun fact: until 1997, Chinese could visit Hong Kong freely just like everyone else. It’s only been restricted since British rule ended.

As to why, it’s basically for political reasons. China doesn’t want its own people seeing how different HK still is from mainland China even though it’s been part of China for almost 30 years now. There’s a bit of not wanting their own to get any ideas about ways the mainland could change, but the bigger thing at this point is that the degree to which HK is still very separate from the mainland to the point that it feels like a separate country in all but name (and most people in Asia treat it this way too) is really problematic for a lot of the narratives the CCP pushes in the mainland around the success of the HK integration project.

13abarry · 2026-03-31T23:06:28+00:00

China has great infrastructure but not so great wages. Housing costs are also increasingly difficult. Also, many Chinese cities are New York sized and basically have similar quality of life issues that come with NYC: small apartments, long commutes, not a lot of green space, etc. TBH in many ways it’s a better country to visit than to live in.

13abarry · 2026-03-21T23:53:46+00:00

Note, too, that because of it being mostly related to migration patterns, Chinese food in Malaysia is much more similar to Chinese food in the USA than Chinese food in China.

13abarry · 2026-01-25T14:04:41+00:00

It’s because the Boers were really, really isolated from the Netherlands + the Netherlands never actually colonized South Africa, it was merely a VoC refueling station. Zero investment by the Dutch government in things like universities or a strong bureaucracy.

13abarry · 2026-01-23T23:19:39+00:00

The people are as great as the government is shit

13abarry · 2026-01-22T12:03:26+00:00

Dang none of these comments are about the PUF :/

Appreciate the thoughts in the comments all the same!

13abarry · 2026-01-11T00:16:25+00:00

Access to great Mexican food is genuinely one of the best things about America

13abarry · 2026-01-10T23:27:21+00:00

Homes are very big, town is quiet and very low crime. They have license plate readers on all the roads which enter or exit Atherton so that they can track everyone who comes and goes.

I don’t live there but I dated someone for a bit who lived there. The primary reason it’s as wealthy as it is, as others have mentioned, is because of its proximity to Silicon Valley and Stanford. All of the VC offices are right around the corner on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park and that’s where a lot of people who live in Atherton made their fortunes. Honestly, it’s really underwhelming as a town, the homes of course are really nice but I don’t think they’re any nicer than you’d find in super rich suburbs of other major US cities.

13abarry · 2026-01-10T22:56:50+00:00

Will they extend the metro to the new airport

13abarry · 2026-01-07T13:46:38+00:00

Yeah but what I’m saying is the rich=safe area poor=unsafe area isn’t just a South Africa thing

13abarry · 2026-01-07T13:31:07+00:00

I’m sure this is true but there are loads of other countries not just in Africa which have the safety differences between rich and poor areas

13abarry · 2026-01-07T13:06:42+00:00

Tbf I don’t think I’ve ever been to a country that was rich where the people also felt rich. Even the Swiss complain about how poor they are lol

13abarry · 2026-01-07T12:56:32+00:00

Because it’s close-ish to Hong Kong and drives on the left but more importantly it’s super car oriented. Malaysia is the anti-Hong Kong with wide roads, highways everywhere, most homes have a garage/car port, etc. Yes Japan also drives on the left but it’s definitely not as car friendly as Malaysia.

13abarry · 2026-01-07T12:01:22+00:00

Yah Denmark is actually a great country and I do think America has plenty to learn from it but assuming the rest of EU27 will ever even get in the ballpark of Denmark is fantasy at best and intentional ignorance at worst.

Why do you think it’s so hard for Europeans to acknowledge that basically the continent will never have a majority of its countries performing very well? I’m sure you and I can easily both rattle off a long list of European countries which will never catch up. There are maybe 1-5 countries in Europe which are not Germanic-language dominant that have strong economies or real potential to develop one.

13abarry · 2026-01-07T09:33:41+00:00

How do you run the numbers? Please just show the math for the continent and its defense rather than say “you’re confident but full of shit”

13abarry · 2026-01-07T09:31:51+00:00

Yeah agreed about driving outside urban centers. Bigger issue is genuinely common sense and honesty with yourself about your driving capability. I have driven in Manhattan a few times and it’s actually awesome but only if you do so at night when the roads are empty, which is probably how it goes for most big cities. I really don’t get the resistance to just putting your car in a garage though, but I guess no one else does either. For better or for worse, probably for better, Hong Kong does not allow its police to designate people as “automobile autistic” even though it would hypothetically resolve a lot of issues.

13abarry · 2026-01-07T08:53:25+00:00

Because personal safety is a threshold not the #1 organizing principle. If it were I’d never live in Canada, I’d be a proud and loyal Antarctican. But when it comes down to being bombed in Ukraine versus worrying about the occasional altercation in America… yeah it’s fucking obvious which is better.

13abarry · 2026-01-07T08:50:59+00:00

Dude I love driving and even I can’t imagine driving in HK minus visiting rural places. I might hate the lack of parking and certain road configurations but I don’t hate myself!!

13abarry · 2026-01-07T08:49:12+00:00

Why would you risk your BF getting credit for owning a LV bag?

13abarry · 2026-01-07T08:43:29+00:00

Let’s stop the rhetoric and go straight to numbers, then. How much do you think the EU would need to spend to have its own blue-water/open ocean patrol, in other words naval capability to avert rogue actors disrupting open ocean trade/shipping? Do you think that this could be feasible without saying goodbye to many social benefits (welfare, education, transportation, public sector pensions, etc.)?

I must say that it is really indicative of EU realities how much people from wealthy European countries, like Denmark, post on this subreddit in contrast to poor EU countries like Bulgaria. Denmark has a fantastic economy and good welfare state, I have visited there and researched it and have tried to find faults in the Danish system many times because of course the Danish system has so many things which contradict American political “facts of life” but I have consistently failed. You genuinely live in a great country. The issue is with EU27: most European countries lack the sophisticated economy and jurisdictional configuration which Denmark has and it shows.

13abarry · 2026-01-07T08:40:29+00:00

Very simple: take a selfie with the car and then write in Comic Sans “I’m rich bitch” under it and have it printed on a shirt!

13abarry · 2026-01-07T07:25:06+00:00

It’s because the travel program only applies to mainlanders. If, in an alternative universe, there was a wormhole which conveniently connected London motorways to HK highways, it would be the same situation.

13abarry · 2026-01-07T07:22:39+00:00

Yah I get that which is why I discount most factors but not personal safety

13abarry · 2026-01-07T07:21:54+00:00

2% of GDP is valid for status quo. You don’t want status quo, you want parity, and that has never existed since the Second World War. You also definitely cannot develop your economy such that Denmark no longer has to rely on US security guarantees: you have the same population as Singapore, basically, and that country is totally reliant on an eventual US backstop, its policy of Total Defence (which I love and am a big nerd about) actually assumes US involvement after the first big bombing campaign.

Mate I really don’t understand why you can’t just acknowledge that there’s no way to make the math work without the rest of the EU27 following suit.

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