Hong Kong, looking for Info Options

[prettz]

Is there any info on the city on Hong Kong in the Shadowrun books? Also is there anywhere where I can find a map of the Hong Kong metroplex?

[Demonseed Elite]

Don't think there's even been a map printed of the Hong Kong 'plex, but it's gotten plenty of mentionings in books.

Brainscan, Portfolio of a Dragon, Blood in the Boardroom, Survival of the Fittest, Sprawl Survival Guide, Year of the Comet, I think all of those books have at least some info on Hong Kong. There's probably others too that I'm forgetting.

[littlesean]

For a map of Hong Kong, I would check Borders or any other decent bookstore in the travel section. Then take a marker to it and go nuts, or maybe not so nuts, depends on how you want your view of HK to be reflected.

[otaku mike]

Hong Kong (or Macao or Singapore for that matter) hardly qualifies as a "Metroplex". Being geographically limited by their location on a island or an isthmus, their development options are not limitless. So, there may be a lot of people there, but I won't call a city of less than 100 km² a metroplex.
That to say, when you play in such place, have your players remember it's a small place, where people tend to remember other faces (or notice new ones) and everything eventually gets to the wrong ear...

[Demonseed Elite]

It's a geographically tight city, but it's not really small. At least population-wise. Hong Kong has roughly 6.8 million people right now, compared to Boston's 5.8 million. But yeah, HK isn't a sprawl, in the common sense of the word. It tends to grow vertically, instead of grow across the land.

[Pistons]

There's some bits and pieces about it in Dragons of the Sixth World, as well.

[Cynic project]

By the 2060s you would have building sticking out of the sea measured in the kilometer range.

[prettz]

It figures that I only have one of those books mentioned (Year of the Comet) but I have some questions if they could be answered, thanks.

-Anywhere on-line I can get a map of the city?
-Is the city similar to Seattle in its standard of living or is it different?
-I'm figuring the triads own the place, but do other groups like the yakuza (sp?), the Rings and other underworld groups hold sway?
-Is their a war of somewhat between the groups for control (or even between the various triads)?
-Wuxing is probably the biggest game in town but anything on how the other AAA's treat or affect the City?
-What about the AA's who's who and how are they in the city?
-Does Lung take a major interest in the city or is it a passing thing, and what if any other dragons are part of the Hong Kong life?

[CyberPenguin]

[otomik]

Hong Kong's Octopus Card is a great example of what a credstick should be like. Anonymous and Wireless, makes it faster than a credit card and yet as anonymous as cash.

[Kanada Ten]

That is exactly what a certified credstick is like other than the totally wireless aspect, which its weakest link to theft.

[Young Freud]

[FlakJacket]

I've got some information on Hong Kong culled from some of the books. Give me a couple days to get back home and recover and I'll post it. Also, if I remember rightly there was talk of Hong Kong getting a section in the possibly forthcoming Shadows of Asia. Not sure what the status of that book - still ongoing, scrapped, submission stage, being wrtitten etc. - is though.

Edit: And why is it threads like these, and ones on Hong Kong in particular, always seem to come up around GenCon? :/

[PBTHHHHT]

The HK Octopus card is an awesome card, I used it to buy stuff from vending machines, at some of the small stores located inside the metro stations and also for the various buses, trams, and ferry.

The buses are cool, they have the double decker buses and the smaller light bus that holds only sixteen people. But all of them (well it seemed like 95%) have small flat screen tvs that constantly bombard the passengers with ads, the RoADshow they called it... ;)

Hey Young Freud, you're correct in the speculations.
They are constantly working expanding outward from HK and the Kowloon side and the land are slowly moving towards each other in the land reclamation projects. That said, some of the taxi drivers are saying what used to take 20 minutes for the ferry to get across now only takes 10 minutes (or something sort like that). Actually I looked at one of the guide books and they stated this temple, Tin Hau station) that was several city blocks inside the HK landscape right by one of the metro stations used to be at the waterfront. My mom used to live in this one area on the Kowloon side (Tiu Keng Leng) that used to be a large harbour area) and it is has now been reclaimed and all sorts of developments are made.

There is currently some public outcry about the continuing expansion into the water that fills up the gap. You can use this for possible runs with environmentalists and corporations having runs for/against the expansion projects.
Additionally on the Kowloon side they are leveling the mountains so that they can have more land. I kid you not, it's a sight to see as they cart off the tons of dirt. When I visited Guangzhou six years ago, they were doing similar projects, driving by these projects are awesome (in terms of the construction/manpower and it makes the engineer in me all giddy. well, not really, but close. :P )

If you ever see the skyline, this city has a huge amount of skyscrapers, it's a great view since it's a double skyline, one on each side of the waters.

One cultural aspect of the city:
Most of the inhabitants of the city live in cramp apartments, many of them living with their folks until they are married whereupon they finally move out. Often times you meet your friends out for tea at the many diners/restaurants/etc... throughout the city. HK has one of the highest density of eating establishments I have ever seen. They hardly ever invite each other into their homes, only those who are really close and it's considered an honour. Other than that only those who have a nice large pad would consider inviting other folks.

HK is a modern city, but the average native HK person doesn't earn that much money as compared to the US equivalent, thereupon food and such is cheap for the local restaurants, but luxury items are really expensive.

One of the coolest sight to see is on the southern end of the island near Stanley, it is a very touristy spot, but there is an old british barracks that they had dismantled from the city and rebuilt there (but now houses restaurants instead of troops). There's a hotel built right by the mountain overlooking the coast, it has a large 'hole' in it. The reason is that local rumors is that there is a mountain spirit (dragon) that dwells in that particular mountian and the hole is to allow for that spirit a way pass the building. So remember folks, the whole geomancy stuff if VERY important in this city.

Man, I should take the time and write out what I've experienced of this place, there's just so much!

[toturi]

I have heard that some of the government buildings are designed with geomancy in mind, not just the private civillian ones.

[BIG BAD BEESTE]

Of course, what thread on Hong Kong would be complete without a mention of film director John Woo. Check out the multitude of cop/triad action films made there.

As for Shadowrun, Dunkelzahn's Secrets: Portfolio of a Dragon had a good chunk of game info about Hong Kong as a location. Mostly characterisation and several distinct neighbourhoods, nothing as in depth as the original Seattle sourcebook. No maps though.

Shadows of Asia is currently a "work in progress" and will most likely include Hong Kong. But don't expect anything too soon. I'd reckon next year at the earliest.

Oh, and Lonely Planet is a great source for information to adapt for your campaign. Lots of flavour and detailed information if you've got the willpower to trawl through the data and add a little creative sweat.

[PBTHHHHT]

[prettz]

Wow, thanks for the replies there loaded with gems of info, please keep them coming.

I noticed that a couple of people bought up expansion projects, so the question is, would HK have expanded over the years or would city have remained the same size?

Also on the cultural side: How would HK have dealt with VITAS, UGE, Globinization, natural diasters and the other things that changed the world?

Note: The reason I'm curious is the characters in my game might become Company Man for Wuxing and they will be re-located to HK if they accept the position so I need a crash course in HK. Also theories and conjecture about all the questions are welcome and probably needed sense I doubt that my 1,001 HK questions are all answered in canon.

[Bigity]

You could always just have them assigned to some Wuxing site in the current area of the game or something. I'm sure that there are several sites along the Pacific coast, for example.

[PBTHHHHT]

[prettz]

Bigity
"You could always just have them assigned to some Wuxing site in the current area of the game or something. I'm sure that there are several sites along the Pacific coast, for example."

Well the Corporate Download says that Wuxing takes it Company Men to HK so they can learn the "family way" or something similar to that. That being said I actually like the idea of re-location, I have used Seattle for a while and I think HK would be a good change of pace.

Also any idea on the first set of questions I mentioned earlier?

[MooCow]

Edit.

[FlakJacket]

On population, it's generally been the rule that VITAS and the like decreased the population so that they're only back up to current levels by the 2050/60's, unless it's mentioned a country or area was really devastated. At least that's what SoE worked from from what I can vaguely recall. Hong Kong's got a very good medical system that's equal to western equivalents from what I've read so whilst you've got this concentration of people, should balance out as it were.

One thing to keep in mind is that with China splitting apart into warlord states, I could see people trying to make it to Hong Kong or one of the more stable states. You've got a whole new set of Vietnamese boat people. Might get some from south east Asia but the books can't seem to make up their minds about that area.

[Bigity]

[Nath]