Hong Kong is one of the most interesting cities on earth.

It is the most modern and cosmopolitan of all cities I have been to, with every convenience one might be accustomed to. The nightlife is great, the public transit system is expedient, delicious food is abundant, grand shopping malls are ubiquitous. And yes, I did indeed grow up there, so I cannot help being a little biased. But I'm talking about something more than that.

Everywhere, freewheeling capitalism collided with China's state-run central plan. Consider the typical $20 Hong Kong note. Except that you can't, since there is no typical $20 bill. Many banks are authorized to print currency, and their bills don't look alike. They are about the same size, but the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's twenty is different in colors and has a very different pattern from the twenty from the Bank of China or the Standard Chartered Bank. This does not bother anybody, and they are all honored as legal tender. Have you ever seen such a monetary system anywhere else in the world?

Multiply this concept by every layer of the economy, and you begin to imagine how entrepreneurial you might become. Mainland China, however, provides a stark comparison. There, where entrepreneurism has met its match, the rules and customs for doing business are so convoluted and arbitrary that it will sap the spirit of all but Hong Kong's most persistent capitalists. There is no way to know how much money has to be spread around, no quoted price on bribing certain levels of bureaucrats. A deal is not a deal. Maybe your factory will get built, maybe not. There, the system must be worked continuously to have any chance.

An example is a recent headline story about how the municipal government in Beijing defied the mandates of the central government regarding a case involving a Hong Kong real estate company. The HK company bought a piece of land about a decade ago. Its plan was to construct a commercial building there, and it has remained empty till now. Apparently, the HK company was not familiar with the corrupt Chinese system and failed to bribe the appropriate members of the city government. Henceforth, it was forbidden to begin any construction on its own land; its CEO was prohibited from even stepping on it. The Prime Minister of the central Party became aware of this incident, and he personally ordered the city council to resolve the issue immediately. Even that didn't work, for the city openly defied the mandate.

Sigh... China still has a long way to go.