Hong Kong high-speed rail

People in Hong Kong can now get to the mainland Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou in less than an hour, thanks to a new high-speed rail link. But it’s more than just south China. The link integrates Hong Kong into China’s massive high-speed rail network – the longest in the world. Check out our video to find out more.

Hong Kong’s new high-speed railway opened on Saturday. The line is advertised as whisking passengers from Hong Kong to the southern Chinese provincial capital of Guangzhou, 80-plus miles away in a straight line (and with a border checkpoint in the way), in 48 minutes. But how much time does it shave off the existing ways to get to Guangzhou? The South China Morning Post sent a team of five reporters on five different kinds of transport, to see how long it took them to get from central Hong Kong to one of Guangzhou’s biggest malls. Check out our video to find out how they measured up.

In the early years following the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, Beijing chose to respect the city’s semi-autonomous legal system and its mini-constitution, the Basic Law. But in recent years China’s central government has increasingly emphasized its “comprehensive governing power” over Hong Kong.   So my biggest worry about co-location is that Beijing’s hidden agenda is to use the arrangement to establish absolute control over Hong Kong. Hong Kong is part of China but has its own legal system. But under co-location, mainland Chinese officials will enforce mainland Chinese laws within a designated area of Hong Kong’s West Kowloon terminus, known as “the Mainland Port Area.”

We are delighted to see that the co-location arrangement bill has been duly approved in the legislature. Having spent several months on discussion and debate, we can finally complete the legislative procedures. The plan for a joint customs and immigration checkpoint in Hong Kong’s rail terminus is consistent with the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, and will maximize the efficiency of the new high-speed rail line. It is of paramount importance to Hong Kong to speed up transportation to the mainland, given the clear social and economic benefits for the city. The link means people will be able to travel from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in just 15 minutes. The joint checkpoint plan, or the “c