HONG KONG: More than half of Shenzhen's residents have visited Hong Kong in the past year, though nearly 40 percent of the neighboring city's residents still have never visited Hong Kong.

The figures emerged from a poll of 508 Shenzhen citizens in February by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The survey, investigating the ties between the two adjoining cities, is part of the CUHK's ongoing research project on "Inter-city Competition and Cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in the 11th Five-year Plan Period".

This compared to the CUHK's previous findings that more than 90 percent of Hong Kong residents visit Shenzhen at least once a year. Some 20 percent of Hong Kong residents identify themselves as frequent visitors, meaning they visit at least once a month.

Although the ratio of border-crossers is lower in Shenzhen, Shenzhen residents showed stronger interest in the neighboring city, said CUHK Department of Geography and Resource Management professor Shen Jianfa, who led the research project.

About 30 percent of Shenzhen residents professed they pay frequent attention to Hong Kong affairs and only 5 percent said they never paid attention, according to the poll.

The poll also found the "Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis" is well accepted by Shenzhen residents.

Eighty-eight percent of the Shenzhen respondents support the development of a Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis.

"The general attitude toward the two cities' integration into a mega-metropolis is favorable, both in Shenzhen or Hong Kong. But people expect the integration will happen gradually and take more than a decade," said Shen.

He pointed out that though the integration is seen as a general direction, it will depend on the acceptance level and on the needs of both sides.

The cooperation between the two cities started with factories' moving into the Pearl River Delta region to exploit the lower cost of labor, resulting in Hong Kong's boom in service sector. But as the mainland develops its own service sector, it's important to identify new areas where Hong Kong and Shenzhen complement each other, Shen said.

High technology is one example. With better Intellectual Property Rights protection and strong international connections, Hong Kong often houses the high-end research units of technology firms, while Shenzhen serves as the manufacturing and support center, Shen said.

Also worth tapping into is the higher education sector. Hong Kong has some of the top-ranking universities in the world and has the potential of extending its services to Shenzhen, he said.

"The point is finding what Hong Kong has and Shenzhen doesn't," he said.

(HK Edition 11/04/2009 page1)