2024-01-05 21:38:12
Aerial view of Hong Kong and the skyscrapers of the business districts, under a twilight sky. Amazing Aerial Agency/Amazing Aerial Agency/ABACA
REPORT – Exiles of executives and CEOs, departures of headquarters… The financial center is reinventing itself to prosper again.
Special envoy to Hong Kong
The placid gaze of Queen Victoria scans the night owl guests sipping “old fashioned” cocktails, in the subdued light illuminating the wall woodwork, with its colonial patina. “God and my right”, the motto of the British monarchy, is inscribed under the statuette, above the zinc of Maggie Choo’s as an ironic nod to the former sovereign of Hong Kong, in the “new era” de Xi Jinping.
Around the tables, a clientele of “yuppies” in impeccable suits, surrounded by elegant women in Chanel suits, all with slanted eyes, wander around in this decor inspired by an old 19th century bank. The only Western faces are on stage, playing jazz, or behind the counter, in this popular establishment on Hollywood Road, in the heart of Soho, the expat district of the Asian financial hub. As a symbol of the “new” Hong Kong, emerging from the pandemic and the authoritarian rule of the Chinese president.
Also read: How Beijing’s iron fist is closing on Hong Kong, a former island of democracy
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