迷你倉 A Sha Tau Kok rural organization wants the closed-area restriction lifted and aggressive development of cross-border retail business opportunities, in line with the major direction of Hong Kong's tourist reception capacity expansion. But as it involves complicated border control arrangements between the mainland and Hong Kong while a solution different from the current ones has to be negotiated, there will not be any results in the near future. Building commercial complexes in non-closed areas close to border crossings, however, will make things happen faster and easier. Mainland visitors come over for a shopping spree, congesting Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok. Areas in Sheung Shui are entrenched by a large number of parallel goods traders. Whether it is the government or private think tanks, they are all racking their brains trying to have facilities such as discount stores in areas close to border crossings to help divert shoppers from Sheung Shui and urban areas. Compared to developing a new shopping area, Sha Tau Kok's Chung Ying Street has an edge in itself already being a shopping hot spot for mainland tourists. For over a century, one side of the street is under mainland's rule while the other side under Hong Kong's rule. It has long since been an important relic for witness of history. As mainlanders only have to spend an hour in Shenzhen to apply for a permit to join a "Chung Ying Street one day tour", it has become a shopping spree paradise for tourists in recent years. The street is dotted with thriving goldsmiths and pharmacies.Business opportunity gigantic, so is political resistance However, as the Hong Kong side of the street is a closed area, only allowing the entry of Hongkongers who live, work or are visiting relatives there. They also have to apply for a closed-area permit in advance, which keeps business development in Sha Tau Kok under severe constraint. Especially for mainland tourists who can only go as far as the street and cannot cross the control point to enter the Sha Tau Kok Market, it seems "so near and yet so far". The organization estimates that if the current primitive control points between the two sides are upgraded, allowing visitors to enter or exit and Sha Tau Kok's closed-area restriction lifted, the number of daily visits to the area will expand from the present 8,000 to 100,000. For the beautiful dream to come true, political and technical problems have to be overcome. The border closed area is a legacy issue. It acted as a buffer in those years for Chinese and British governments in fighting smuggling and illegal migration. Such roles have largely faded in recent years. The SAR government earlier shrank the closed area coverage to release their development potential. But to further lift the restrictions and make it easy for mainlanders to come over have become a sensitive political issue that requires high skills to deal with under the current sentiment of some organizations and citizens against a "HK-China merge".Tourist diversion depends on shopping area orientation Moreover, the current feature of Chung Ying Street is that mainland tourists do not need to go through formalities to enter and shop on the Hong Kong side. How will this feature be preserved if border crossing is upgraded? Is there enough space for border-crossing infrastructure to deal with the flow of people? To solve these problems, the governments will have to negotiate to find an innovative concept. Mainland's attitude in this aspect is most critical. If the Chung Ying Street and Sha Tau Kok Market are to be developed as the rural organization conceives, it will certainly become a parallel goods traders' paradise. Will the mainland be willing to let the region develop into a "free trade area" in a different form? It still has to be pondered upon. Whether it is the development of Sha Tau Kok or developing large shopping centres in the surrounding areas, Hong Kong will have to assess in detail its effect on diverting tourists. Will mainland tourists who go to Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui for a shopping spree at brand name shops or for food and entertainment go to border shopping centres instead? It depends on the shopping centres with branding attraction. If the shopping centres are aimed at the general public, when diverting visitors in Sheung Shui, they may create an effect of drawing more people into the parallel goods trading. Hong Kong needs to design the most effective diversion arrangements in the orientation of the shopping centres.Published in the Sing Tao Daily on February 25Vocabularyrural (adj) —— 鄉村的entrench (v) —— 盤踞relic (n) —— 遺物primitive (adj) —— 簡陋的legacy (n) —— 遺產sentiment (n) —— 心態formality (n) —— 正式手續critical (adj) —— 關鍵的ponder (v) —— 深思orientation (n) —— 定位Useful Termsborder control —— 邊境管制shopping spree —— 瘋狂購物think tank —— 智囊團closed-area permit —— 禁區紙innovative concept —— 創意構思Did you know? The Heung Yee Kuk wants a huge mall built in Sha Tau Kok, saying such a complex could divert cross-border shoppers from crowded areas on Hong Kong Island and Tsim Sha Tsui and ease anti-mainlander sentiment. Besides the mega shopping centre on border-crossing Chung Ying Street, it also wants hotels, exhibition facilities and offices in the vacant Lok Ma Chau Loop area. Hau Chi-keung, a leading member of the kuk, offered the thoughts on easing strains caused by droves of mainland visitors. "We hope the need for Hong Kong people to obtain police permits will be abolished so that residents with return permits can enter the northern side of the street, which is part of Shenzhen," Hau said. "There are already retail stalls in the street. We can build a giant shopping mall that can help divert some tourists looking to buy daily necessities like milk powder."Q&A1. The word _____ in the first paragraph is the opposite of "half-hearted".2. A rural organization wants the closed-area restriction in Sha Tau Kok _____.3. In the passage, the word _____ means "surely".4. Mainland visitors congest Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok because they _________________________.5. According to the last paragraph, Hong Kong needs to design the most effective _____ arrangements for the proposed shopping centres.Answers1. aggressive2. lifted3. certainly4. come over for a shopping spree5. diversion翻譯︰George拓中英街「自貿區」關卡重重 沙頭角鄉事組織希望解除禁區限制，大力拓展跨境零售商機，配合本港擴大接待旅客能力的大方向；不過，由於涉及內地和本港邊境管制的複雜安排，需要兩地商討出一個有別於現時關卡的方案，不可能在短期內有結果，反而在其他靠近邊境口岸的非禁區設立商業城，可以較快和較易成事。 內地旅客來港瘋狂購物，逼爆銅鑼灣、尖沙嘴和旺角，上水一帶則有大量水貨客盤踞。無論政府還是民間智囊，都在絞盡腦汁，設法在靠近邊境的地區設立特賣場等，協助疏導上水和市區的購物人潮。 比開發新購物區，沙頭角中英街的優勝之處，是本身已經是內地旅客購物熱點。中英街百多年來一邊是內地管轄，一邊是香港管轄，早已成為見證歷史的重點文物。由於內地人只須在深圳花一小時即場辦證即可參加「中英街一天遊」，近年這�已經成為旅客掃貨天堂，金鋪藥房滿街，生意滔滔。商機巨大政治阻力不少 不過，由於香港這邊屬於禁區，只容許居住、工作和探親的港人進入，而且要預先申請禁區紙，令沙頭角拓展商機受到嚴重掣肘，尤其是內地旅客只能去到中英街而不能過關進入沙頭角墟，更令沙頭角墟興「蜑家雞見水」之歎。 鄉事組織估計，如果把現時兩地簡陋關卡升格至容許兩邊旅客出入境，並且撤銷沙頭角禁區限制，估計每天出入這一帶的人次，會由現時的八千擴展到十萬。要美夢成真，需要克服重重政治和技術困難。 邊境禁區是歷史遺留下來的問題，當年作為中英政府的緩衝，對付走私和偷渡。近年這些功能重要性大減，政府早前已經大幅縮窄禁區範圍，以釋放這些地方的發展潛力。不過，要進一步解禁和方便內地人來港，在現時部分組織和市民抗拒「中港融合」的心態下，成為需要有高度技巧來處理的敏感政治議題。分流旅客看購物區定位 此外，中英街現時的特色，是內地旅客不需要辦理進入港境的手續，已經能夠在香港這邊的商店購物。如果通關升格，這特色如何維持？有沒有足夠地方進行可以應付大量人流的關卡基建？解決這些問題，需要兩地政府商討出一個甚具創意的構思。 這方面中央的態度至為關鍵。中英街連沙頭角墟要是如鄉事組織構思般發展，勢必成為水貨天堂，內地是否容許這一帶發展成一個變相的「自由貿易區」，還須琢磨。 無論是發展沙頭角，還是在接近邊境的其他地方發展大型購物中心，本港都要詳細評估其對旅客的分流作用。去銅鑼灣和尖沙嘴名店掃貨，或者飲食娛樂的內地旅客，會否轉投邊境商場，視乎商場能夠有多少品牌吸引力。如果商場走大眾化路�，為上水分流時，又可能產生吸引更多人投入水貨客行列的作用。本港需要在商場定位方面，設計出分流效益最大的安排。刊於二月二十五日《星島日報》迷你倉將軍澳
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