Opinion | No wonder Shenzhen is drawing diners and shoppers from Hong Kong – it is close by, clean and food is much cheaper

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It would be a marvel of urban planning except for the flaws I spotted, such as what I view as shoddy workmanship and lack of attention to detail – visible in pedestrian passages with uneven steps.

People queue to enter the Shenzhen branch of Costco in January, 2024. Photo Getty Images

Admittedly, I’m not one of those people who go north every weekend to eat, and shop at Costco and Sam’s Club.

I hate to admit it, but for the longest time I still had the perception that Shenzhen was only good for cheap designer knock-offs and foot massages. But they’ve certainly come a long way from the days of fake designer bags and pirate DVDs.

I remember people warning me that literally everything there was counterfeit, including the food. This was when the news was full of horror stories like ink added to soy sauce, starch put into diluted milk, plastic pellets passing as rice, and rodent and mink meat substituted for pork and mutton.

Was this why people from the Chinese mainland always came to Hong Kong to buy authentic cosmetics, quality dried seafood and baby milk formula? They trusted Hong Kong’s consumer protection regulations.

Well, the standards in Shenzhen have risen. Food safety and health guidelines seem on par with Hong Kong’s now.
A shopper at Sam’s Club in Shenzhen, in January, 2024. Photo: Eugene Lee

At the same time, everything still costs less. On the last night of the conference, my partner and I checked out a bistro close to the Convention Centre. It had a tacky faux European decor, but there were lots of alfresco tables.

In terms of food, everything was well prepared and presented, tasty and delicious. We dined on a crab appetiser, some satay skewers, Iberico pork ribs and a roast duck.

In Hong Kong, that meal would have cost HK$1,000 (US$130). The bill in Shenzhen was just over 400 yuan (HK$440).
Duck can be found for much less at Shenzhen restaurants than at their Hong Kong counterparts. Photo: Getty Images

Actually, it was more food than we needed. We expected the duck to be a quarter portion of a leg or a breast because the menu listed it as just 108 yuan. What arrived was an entire roast duck.

How can you blame anyone for crossing the border to stretch their dollar? No wonder Hong Kong’s restaurant industry is struggling so badly.

Earlier in the day, our noodle set lunches in a mall food court cost between 25 and 30 yuan. In Hong Kong’s Central neighbourhood, that’s the typical price of a lemon tea.

This kind of imbalance is difficult to overcome. Either inflation in Shenzhen has to go up or the cost of living in Hong Kong goes way down. For economists, neither is a good option.

The only comparable situation I can think of is the US-Mexico border. Thousands of Americans cross over into Mexico for certain services and goods.

Plaza Santa Cecilia, a historic square in the heart of Tijuana, Mexico – a city that borders San Diego, and where many Americans go each year for perks like cheaper dental care. Photo: Shutterstock

American border cities like San Diego aren’t economically threatened by cheaper tequila and affordable dental care. However, if Tijuana, which borders San Diego, grew to double the latter’s size and became a global tech and trade hub, while housing remained half the price of that in the American city, then it might be an issue.

I really don’t know what the long-term solution is for Hong Kong, but this is the new reality. If we can’t beat them, join them?

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