Five years of Bay Area construction, Hong Kong people are pursuing their dreams together

　　China News Service, Hong Kong, February 17th: Title: Five years of Bay Area construction, Hong Kong people are pursuing their dreams together

　　China News Service reporter Dai Menglan

　　When she met Li Nan, music director of the Greater Bay Area Orchestra, she was rehearsing nervously with the musicians. This Spring Festival, the Greater Bay Area Orchestra participated in cultural pop-up events at the five major ports in Shenzhen and Hong Kong hosted by Bauhinia Magazine and Shenzhen Tefa Port Services Co., Ltd. to send musical blessings to Spring Festival travelers. The band is currently preparing for two pop-up performances to be held at Futian Port and Liantang Port.

　　"As an orchestra named after the 'Greater Bay Area', the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area nourishes the growth of the orchestra." Li Nan said in an interview with reporters that although the orchestra has not been established for a long time, it has integrated and developed various projects in the Greater Bay Area. Driven by the initiative, it has attracted outstanding musicians from many cities in the Bay Area to join; in addition to Hong Kong, the orchestra also holds concerts in cities such as Shenzhen and Zhuhai, becoming a platform to showcase orchestral music in the Greater Bay Area.

　　In 2023, customs clearance between Hong Kong and the mainland will be fully resumed, and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong port will witness people from the Greater Bay Area rushing north and south. According to statistics from the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, 53.34 million Hong Kong residents traveled to the mainland last year. Yang Bo, who visits mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area every one or two weeks, is one of the Hong Kong people who "go north".

　　Yang Bo told reporters that he had been to Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Foshan in the past year, but the one he visited most was Shenzhen. Nowadays, the transportation is convenient. After get off work in Hong Kong, it is completely realistic to go to Shenzhen to have hot pot and barbecue and then return to Hong Kong.

　　He recalled that he went to Shenzhen last year and wanted to avoid the crowds of Hong Kong people, so he chose the relatively remote Pingshan Art Museum. When he arrived, he found that there were many Hong Kong tourists there. He lamented, "Nowadays, it is more and more obvious for Hong Kong citizens to visit Shenzhen. I personally feel that the level of integrated development of the two places is getting higher and higher."

　　In February 2019, the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" (referred to as the "Outline") was announced. Over the past five years, more and more Hong Kong residents like Li Nan and Yang Bo have lived, studied, worked, and started businesses in the Greater Bay Area, opening up more possibilities in life.

　　11 years ago, when Hong Kong young man Mak Chi-hang took the Guangzhou-Kowloon Express from Hung Hom, Hong Kong, to report to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, he never expected that the two-hour drive from Hong Kong to Guangzhou would now be shortened to just 48 minutes at the fastest. And this is just a microcosm of the construction of the Greater Bay Area.

　　Mak Chi-hang said that after graduating from his undergraduate degree, he returned to Hong Kong Baptist University to complete his master's degree and stayed in Hong Kong to work. In September 2021, he returned to Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and studied for a doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine under the tutelage of a famous traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Guangdong Province. Making such a life choice is not only a recognition of the level of Chinese medicine industry, academia and research in Guangdong Province, but also a hope to take advantage of the development of the health industry in the Bay Area and carve out its own world in the wave of entrepreneurship.

　　In September 2022, Mai Zhiheng established Shenzhen Tongdexin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in Guangming District, Shenzhen, mainly engaged in the development of traditional Chinese medicine health foods using new ancient prescriptions. Benefiting from the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), the company's products produced in Hong Kong factories can be imported to the mainland at zero tariff, quickly opening up in the Greater Bay Area market.

　　Mai Zhiheng said that Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are now his home. Last year, he was hired as one of the first batch of "Greater Bay Area Workplace Mentors" in Shenzhen. He hopes to share his experience with more Hong Kong young people and help them pursue, build and realize their dreams in the Bay Area.

　　"Although the outline has been disrupted by factors such as the 'extradition bill' and the epidemic in the five years since its release, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has continued unabated." Huang, deputy director of the Proposal Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong SAR, and chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions In an interview with reporters, the country introduced that in the past five years, the service areas of the five service centers established by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area have greatly expanded.

　　He said that before the outline was announced, the service center received mostly emergency requests from Hong Kong people during their short-term "trip north". Now the service center's business scope has expanded to cover all aspects of Hong Kong people's cross-border elderly care, mainland medical insurance reimbursement, and home purchase. . He expects that in the next five years, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will become more integrated and developed in terms of social and people's livelihood, and the flow of people, logistics, capital, information and other elements will become more convenient, and it will be built into a world-class bay area and a world-class city cluster at an early date. (over)