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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) released the results of a research project ‘Inter-city Competition and Cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in the 11th Five-year Plan Period’ today. Funded by the Public Policy Research Grant of The Research Grants Council, Prof. Jianfa Shen of the Department of Geography and Resource Management at CUHK, principal investigator of the project, has initiated a 2009 public opinion survey among the people in Shenzhen on inter-city competition and cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen (see full report at http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~b890706/hs.html). The survey was conducted from 15 to 25 February 2009, covering a sample of 508 respondents aged 18 or above. At a 95% confidence level, the positive or negative percentage error is 5.12%. The major results are as follows:

(1) Hong Kong and Shenzhen have close social ties. Over half of the Shenzhen respondents visited Hong Kong in the past year whereas nearly 40% of the Shenzhen respondents have never visited Hong Kong. About 30% of the Shenzhen residents pay frequent attention to Hong Kong affairs, while over 60% pay attention to Hong Kong affairs occasionally and only about 5% pay no attention to Hong Kong affairs. In comparison, Shenzhen respondents are more interested in Hong Kong affairs than Hong Kong respondents in Shenzhen affairs. Nevertheless, Shenzhen residents are still not familiar with Hong Kong.

(2) The idea of a ‘Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis’ is well accepted by the Shenzhen residents. 88.3% of the Shenzhen respondents support the development of a Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis, exceeding the level of support as recorded among the Hong Kong residents. 65.3% and 61.8% of the Shenzhen respondents consider that this plan will bring positive effects to Shenzhen and Hong Kong respectively.

(3) As many as 87.1% of the Shenzhen respondents support/strongly support Shenzhen government’s heavy investment in cross-boundary infrastructure. Generally speaking, Shenzhen respondents are satisfied with the transport facilities linking urban areas and boundary crossings in both cities. However, the four most urgent problems that need to be solved are: the long boundary-crossing time, inconvenience in transportation, inadequate boundary crossings and the strict control on cross-boundary license for private cars. Regarding boundary-crossing improvement measures, Shenzhen respondents prefer co-location of boundary crossings and multiple-entry permits to Hong Kong. 33.6% of the respondents support the construction of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Railway and 18.1% support the construction of Airport Passenger Railway linking the two international airports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

(4) One fifth of the Shenzhen respondents have used the Hong Kong airport. 40.7% of their main travel destinations are overseas countries or regions while 30.8% are mainland cities. Most Shenzhen respondents support/strongly support the establishment of a joint Airport Company for the two airports.

(5) Shenzhen respondents consider that there is more room for cooperation than competition among 11 out of 12 areas, particularly in movie and culture, airport, and education. The main areas of competition are: financial industry (37.8%), hi-tech industry (27.9%), real estate (25.2%), tourism (24.0%), logistics (23.1%) and sea port (23.0%). On the other hand, the most possible areas for cooperation include financial industry (46.1%), tourism (44.7%), hi-tech industry (38.3%), logistics (35.1%), education (27.2%), sea port (24.0%), and movie and culture (21.7%).

(6) Shenzhen respondents believe that the differences in economic system (47.2%), political system (42.7%), social value (40.7%), history and culture (34.3%) and the different levels of economic development (32.5%) are the major obstacles in the establishment of a Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis.