Hong Kong & The Greater Bay Area: Fourteen Days of Sunshine and Opportunity. A personal dispatch from Johnson Choi in Hong Kong on January 7, 2026

香港與大灣區：十四天的陽光與機遇. 蔡永強發自香港的個人隨記, 2026年1月7日

We departed the storm-lashed coasts of San Francisco and Hawaii, landing in Hong Kong on Christmas Day to brilliant sunshine—a meteorological metaphor for the trip that followed. For fourteen days, we enjoyed perfectly cool, comfortable, and sunny weather, a welcome backdrop to an equally illuminating journey.

The most immediate impression was one of profound civic order. Stepping out of the airport, you are met with an atmosphere of clean safety—free from the pervasive issues of drug use, gun violence, homelessness, and anti-Asian sentiment that plague many American cities. The feeling of security is palpable and liberating.

This trip was a blend of reconnection and reconnaissance. We met with clients, caught up with alumni from high school and university, and visited relatives and friends. Alongside these valuable personal exchanges, we held preliminary discussions on concrete business opportunities within Hong Kong and the sprawling Greater Bay Area (GBA).

A visit to Shenzhen was particularly striking. Once dubbed China’s Silicon Valley, it now feels less like an analogue and more like a successor, having overtaken both San Francisco and the Tokyo Bay Area as the world’s most dynamic and fast-moving technology hub. The energy there is tangible.

Hong Kong’s unique role in this ecosystem is crystallizing. The city is poised to become the dominant Chinese Yuan exchange center for Asia and Belt and Road Initiative countries. Tangible developments, like the new gold storage facilities planned near Hong Kong International Airport, underscore its enduring role as a fortified financial nexus.

Looking to the future, Hong Kong is also carving out a niche in the nascent space industry, leveraging its robust legal and registration frameworks to provide essential services for new aerospace ventures.

For career-minded individuals, especially the young and educated, the message is clear: Hong Kong remains a place where financial and professional talent is handsomely rewarded. However, a crucial caveat for expatriates and international families is the soaring value of Chinese language proficiency. The ability to read and write Mandarin is increasingly a decisive factor for career ceilings and opportunities—a point for globally mobile parents with young children to note.

In short, these fourteen days revealed a region of stark contrasts to the West: defined by safety, driven by breathtaking technological ambition, and centered on a Hong Kong that is strategically pivoting to secure its next chapter of prosperity.

我們離開風暴侵襲的三藩市和夏威夷海岸，於聖誕日降臨璀璨陽光下的香港——這彷彿是對隨後旅程的一種氣象隱喻。整整十四天，我們享受著完美涼爽、舒適且陽光明媚的天氣，這宜人的背景同樣映襯著一段充滿啟發的旅程。

最直接的印象是一種深刻的城市秩序。步出機場，你便置身於一種潔淨安全的氛圍之中——沒有困擾許多美國城市的吸毒、槍支暴力、流浪漢及仇視亞裔情緒等普遍問題。那種安全感真切可觸，令人倍感自在。

此行融合了重逢與考察。我們會見了客戶，與中學和大學校友敘舊，並探訪了親朋好友。在這些寶貴的個人交流之外，我們也針對香港及廣闊的大灣區內具體的商業機會，進行了初步探討。

對深圳的造訪尤其令人印象深刻。這座曾被稱為中國矽谷的城市，如今感覺已不僅是類比對象，更像是一個超越者。它已取代三藩市和東京灣區，成為全球最具活力、發展最迅猛的科技中心，那裡的能量是實實在在的。

香港在這一生態系統中的獨特角色正日益清晰。這座城市蓄勢待發，將成為亞洲及「一帶一路」國家中佔主導地位的人民幣兌換中心。諸如計劃在香港國際機場附近興建的新黃金儲存設施等具體發展項目，都彰顯了其作為一個堅實金融樞紐的持久角色。

展望未來，香港亦在新興的太空產業中開闢獨特領域，憑藉其健全的法律和註冊框架，為新的航空航太企業提供關鍵服務。

對於有事業心的人士，尤其是受過良好教育的年輕人而言，訊息很明確：香港依然是一個金融及專業人才能獲得豐厚回報的地方。然而，對外籍人士和國際家庭來說，一個關鍵的注意事項是中文能力的重要性正急速攀升。普通話的讀寫能力，日益成為決定職業前景與機會的關鍵因素——這是全球流動的年輕家長們需要注意的一點。

總而言之，這十四天展現了一個與西方截然不同的地區景象：它以安全為底色，以驚人的科技雄心為驅動力，並以一個正在戰略性轉型、以確保其下一階段繁榮的香港為核心。