By Parag Khanna and Thomas Sevcik Ever since the handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China in 1997, land reclamation on both the island itself and from Kowloon peninsula have shrunk the breadth of Victoria harbor to a perpetually narrowing strait. This geographical trend turns out to serve as a useful metaphor for the island’s changing politics and economic orientation as China’s control deepens.
Indeed, Hong Kong is quickly becoming the hub of a new version of the "one country, two systems" motto used by the mainland to characterize its relationship with Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The cluster of cities around (and including) Hong Kong forming the Pearl River Delta – from Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the north to Macao and Zhuhai to the west – are becoming an archipelago of inter-locking hubs with varying policies related to visiting, immigration, business and political freedom. Call it "one mega-city, many systems."