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Atlanta's Weekly E-Magazine
Sept 28th -Oct 5th, 2001
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IMAGES: Hong Kong & Guilin
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World News
Market News
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With the registration to become a mayoral candidate closed, we find ourselves with five declared candidates. The campaign is on and yard signs have been posted all over Midtown. Shirley Franklin seems to be the front runner on TV commercials with her famous slogan "Make Me Mayor and I'll Make You Proud."
Although all candidates have pledged to reduce wasteful spending by the city government, what separates the top three candidates Robb Pitts, Shirley Franklin and Gloria Bromell-Tinubu is their individual characteristics. Robb Pitts offers an extensive knowledge and experience in city government, promising to deliver the same quality of leadership, as he has delivered as the President of the City Council. Shirley Franklin, who has been endorsed by former Mayor Andrew Young, promises to expand the Homestead Exemption for seniors to \$40,000, along with a commitment for an open and honest city government. Gloria Bromell-Tinubu makes the same commitments as her co-candidates, in addition to promoting excellence in education and improving on the delivery of city services.
All three candidates have their individual web pages. We invite our readers to visit each one respectively and familiarize themselves with their campaigns.
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Editor's Corner
HONG KONG
We are resuming our trip to China from where we left off two weeks ago. Our group arrived in Hong Kong at night and we checked into the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hilton for a good night's rest. The next day, we were out early in the morning to explore this magic city, known as the mecca for shoppers.
The Chinese in Hong Kong speak Cantonese and a good majority of them English, the latter coming from the legacy left by the British who ruled the colony for 99 years, until it was handed over back to the People's Republic of China in 1997. British influence is still evident everywhere, from its schools to its free market economy. Hong Kong has a population of six million and attracts an additional ten million visitors every year,
thanks to its duty-free shopping. Tourism is one of its largest industries. In addition, Hong Kong is the world's third largest financial center, following New York and London. Hong Kong is usually referred to as the "Wall Street of Asia", with banking, free trading, insurance, advertising, publishing and exporting of electronics.
Our first stop this morning was to go up to Victoria Peak and view the city from the top of the hill. The view was absolutely magnificient and stunning. On the way up to Victoria Peak, one cannot help but admire the architectural landscape of towering buildings, one next to the other, built on virtually impossible slopes. Yet, each building had its own character and its own distinctive design. On top of the Victoria Peak, we met groups of tourists from Greece, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Austria, Spain and many other countries. Anyone visiting Hong Kong should never miss Victoria Peak. It is worth visiting.
The next day we took the Star Ferry across the harbor (citizens of age 65 and over ride free) and then a bus ride across the Hong Kong island which took us to one of the world's largest flee markets. Over 500 small stores retailing from art, paintings, dresses, to jewelry, souvenirs, and more. The afternoon was devoted to more formal shopping, in upscale shopping malls. Our hotel, the Hong Kong Hilton was connected to a shopping mall of some 800 upscale stores spread over two levels. One can spend an entire day eye-shopping
and there will still be stores left unvisited. One interesting trip the next day was taking the boat down the harbor and visiting an entire generation that lives on wooden boats. Hong Kong is one of the those rare cities that boasts extreme poverty with extreme wealth. You find wooden boats floating along side multi-million dollar luxurious yachts; crumbling buildings with brand new high rises; old people pushing wheelbarrows while Roll-Royces drive by; vendors selling dried squid in the streets while talking on cellular phones.
Next week, Bangkok, Thailand.
James C. Stathis
Associate Editor
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