A Muddy 6-Square-Mile Piece Of Chinese Land Has People Wondering If Hong Kong Has A Future

REUTERS/Bobby Yip

A stone bearing the Chinese name of Qianhai is displayed on top of a slope overlooking the Qianhai area in Shenzhen, May 28, 2012.

Just about an hour’s drive northwest of Hong Kong, in a corner of the bustling Chinese city of Shenzen, there’s a roughly 6-square-mile piece of muddy reclaimed land known as Qianhai that has morphed over the last three years into a busy construction site. The thrum of activity comes as Chinese officials are working to turn the district into a laboratory for long-awaited currency and interest rate reforms. Qianhai is slated to be built-out and fully operational in 2020, with the hope that it then becomes a thriving financial services center. Such is the excitement about Qianhai that people are already calling it a “mini-Hong Kong” or “Manhattan of the Pearl River Delta.” But the rise of a Hong Kong 2.0 right next door to the original isn’t necessarily an existential threat, Credit Suisse says. In fact, if all goes according to plan, it’s probably good news for Hong Kong.