Summer Sale

30 June 2010 - The Summer Sale has started in Hong Kong and Tsim Sha Tsui is buzzing with mainland shoppers emptying Louis Vuiton, Prada and Gucci if they are on Ladies Market in Mongkok. Putonghua is now widely spoken and the money comes from across the border. How things have changed in the last 30 years!!?. In the early 1980s a 250 meters long and just four meters wide Chung Ying Street in the border town of Sha Tau Kok was the only place where mainland shoppers could buy much sought-after products from overseas. At its peak, it attracted 120,000 shoppers per day. Its fortunes changes over the years and the border town is now a sleepy backwater. However, Shenzhen authorities have launched a grand plan to restore some of Chung Ying Street's old glory, however it is unlikely that shopper numbers of the 1980s will ever come back. The good news is that some of the Lingnan style buildings will be restored. Maybe those will attract another type of tourists?