Shuen Chun Wah, 81, and her husband rushed toward a green bus with 20 other Hong Kong residents, dragging their empty suitcases. They had purple tour stickers on their jackets and were planning to go shopping in Shenzhen, a bustling Chinese city north of the border with Hong Kong.
It was Xuen’s second trip to Shenzhen in a year to look for bargains. Last time, she received dental implants. “Count how much I have to pay,” she said. She paid $9,000 for the surgery in Shenzhen, which would have cost $25,000 in Hong Kong. “I don’t have any money. So I went to Shenzhen.”
Since China opened its borders in January 2023 after years of pandemic isolation, Hong Kong residents have been able to use Shenzhen as a weekend destination to shop, eat, and, of course, even go to the dentist.
Fed up with high prices, poor service and limited options at home, Hong Kongers are traveling to Shenzhen to buy groceries, eat out and discover new bubble tea shops. Masu. Hong Kong remains one of the world’s cheapest cities, and its battered economy and plummeting stock prices have made everyone more money-conscious. China’s economic slowdown has led to a steady decline in prices, the steepest decline since the 2009 global financial crisis, and the country is approaching a phenomenon known as deflation.
This shopping migration is a reversal from the days when mainland Chinese flocked to Hong Kong to buy everything from luxury bags to baby formula. Now, for Hong Kong people, the slowdown in China has led to a rare drop in prices.All you need is a short trip across the border by bus or subway To the mainland.
On social media and chat groups, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers are talking about Shenzhen’s new foods, including pastries stuffed with seaweed and pork cotton. They share tips on where to find bubble tea. That includes a place where tea is made by robots. Travel companies that once focused on package tours to Japan and Thailand are also arranging buses to shopping centers in Shenzhen to visit stores such as Sam’s Club.
On some weekends, Hong Kongers flock to shopping malls in Shenzhen in such large numbers that locals joke that they are being “occupied” by tourists.
Their presence is visible everywhere in Shenzhen, a city of 17 million people. Some stores tailor their advertising to use Cantonese, Hong Kong’s local Chinese language, to draw tourists into their stores. The restaurant is offering discounts to customers with phone numbers that include the Hong Kong area code 852. In large shopping malls near border crossings, opticians and dental clinics promise cheaper services than in Hong Kong, where the journey is only a short journey away. “Cross the border and get your teeth checked at zero distance,” a giant neon pink ad beckoned.
Goodfeel Dental Clinic may receive more than 100 customers from Hong Kong on a busy day, Lan Xinghua said. GoodFeel Dentist Sales Director. He said the company’s revenue doubled when Hong Kong’s border opened last year. To further expand its business, the clinic has set up a stall near the Luohu Port border crossing. Employees are expected to speak Cantonese and Mandarin, China’s official language.
“Hong Kong customers spend more extravagantly and usually don’t haggle as much,” Lan said. Sometimes the whole family comes in for teeth cleaning and straightening.
The two cities are separated by the border that separates mainland China from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Chinese territory that has long operated with some degree of autonomy, but has increasingly come under the influence of the Chinese government.
Many Hong Kongers who visit the mainland to shop had not been there since 2019. Around that time, a pro-democracy movement engulfed Hong Kong, and the government responded with repression, eradicating the political tolerance that had distinguished Hong Kong from mainland China.
Currently, people in Hong Kong are using online forums that are censored or inaccessible on the mainland to make it clear that people who disagree with the Chinese government are safe and political in visiting Shenzhen, even just to shop or eat. We are debating whether it is permissible or not.
For many people, the answer is yes.
“Life and political opinions can be separated,” said Chak Yong, 31, a Hong Kong resident who works in the technology industry. Although he has been involved with student groups that have participated in protests in the past, he sees no contradiction between his political views and what he does for fun on the weekends.
Hong Kong has a separate currency from China, and Hong Kong merchants still rely heavily on cash for payments. The main payment format in China is digital. His two main payment apps, WeChat and Alipay, have only recently become available to Hong Kongers, and not everyone is familiar with them. To assist visiting shoppers, posters have been put up in stores and subway stations in Shenzhen explaining how Hong Kong residents can use his WeChat and Alipay. Tourists can also pay in Hong Kong dollars without converting to Chinese yuan.
But payments don’t always go smoothly. On her recent trip, Ms. Shuen paid cash to buy dandelions and dried shrimp for her son to use in his Chinese medicine practice in Hong Kong. However, she said it is difficult for her to pay in cash.
Getting around Shenzhen can be difficult. Two women from Hong Kong had to ask Kristen Lu, 28, from Shenzhen, how to use a local navigation app on her phone. They didn’t realize that Google Maps doesn’t work in mainland China because the company is blocked.
Mr. Yen, who works in technology, has visited Shenzhen twice in the past year. He likes to eat hotpot and sports entertainment.He likes to play archery and basketball at the complex. He said the workers he met in Shenzhen were more pleasant.
Service in Hong Kong is more shoddy and rushed, he says.
For Iris Yui, 29, a student pursuing a master’s degree in Hong Kong, going to Shenzhen is all about the food. She loves spicy food, which is a staple in parts of southern China, and went to Shenzhen with two of her friends in November, where she “ordered like crazy” at the famous Sichuan chain Tai’er Sauerkraut Fish. he said. They weren’t finished yet. Next they stopped at Bobo Chicken, a restaurant that serves small portions of vegetables and meat on sticks. Price is 14 cents each.
Local patrons watched as they grabbed as many sticks as they could, Yu said. Someone at a nearby table said, “This is the Hong Kong style. It’s like they don’t need money!”
Snow Wong, 28, learned about Shenzhen when a friend and colleague returned from a weekend trip. After receiving so many rave reviews, Ms. Wong decided to check it out for herself.
She visits arcades and karaoke bars and finds that this city has more interesting escape games than Hong Kong, her past favorites. She paid for her visit to a spa near the Luohu border crossing in Hong Kong dollars.
Above all, Snow said, Shenzhen offered a “slower pace” that Hong Kong was known to lack.
“The pace in Shenzhen and Hong Kong is completely different,” Wong said. “Shenzhen is the place I go to relax.”