Ah, Shenzhen...the border city between Hong Kong and China. While Hong Kong is technically a part of China nowadays, after the handover in 1997, it is still a different world from China. Hong Kong is a city that has been immersed in capitalism for decades. China, on the other hand, is still sampling the delights and pitfalls of capitalism.

Stepping into Shenzhen from Hong Kong is a bizarre experience. I remember stepping off the train, passing through the border guard, and thinking I had stepped into another world. At first glance, Shenzhen is similar to one of the downtown areas of Hong Kong. It is filled with stores and people bustling to and from while clutching what seemed to be a dozen plastic bags after a day's shopping. Appearance-wise, the people looked the same, and they spoke the same language - Cantonese. There were large billboards plastered against skyscrapers, advertising everything from jeans to food.

I was crossing the bridge to the shopping mall when I heard a commotion below, and noticed the traffic. It struck me as highly amusing - a passenger had told a taxi driver to stop, and the taxi driver followed his directions to the very letter! While I laughed at the scene below, something about it disturbed me. I wasn't sure why, and brushed it off.

At the shopping mall, I realized the people in Shenzhen were hungrier than they were in Hong Kong - both shoppers and sellers alike. Maoist austerity had given way to strong urges to consume. The shoppers wanted to snap up as much as they could, while the sellers were like sharks that could not stop moving and were ravenous for money.

I finally realized the fundamental difference between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Shenzhen wanted to be like Hong Kong, with its comparative wealth and comfortable living standards, but instead became a parody. Like the taxi driver, people in Shenzhen have become selfish in their desire to do, and have, 'what they want'. They have forgotten that the world consists of other people.

The frightening thing is, the rest of the world are becoming like Shenzhen. It seems the world is becoming more selfish, and has become obsessed with the urge to acquire. Shenzhen is not a strange, twisted version of the first world. Rather, it is simply a reflection of the dangers of capitalism. The main aim of capitalism is to acquire as much as we can. Theoretically, we are not supposed to impede the rights of others as they do the same, the urge to gain often takes precedence over our consideration for others. Our world is becoming more egocentric and materialist by the day.

Perhaps we could learn by visiting places such as Shenzhen, and perhaps we can be grateful our parts of the world have not taken capitalism to heart as they have. Well, yet.

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