The days have gone when Hong Kong was the absolute centre of the region. IIn 2018, the GDP of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was overtaken for the first time by Shenzhen, its neighboring city in the Chinese mainland. Two years later, Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, did the same leap, leaving Hong Kong today only the third largest economy in the region. 香港坐拥绝对区域中心位置的日子已经一去不返。2018年，香港的GDP第一次被深圳——这座与其接壤的中国内地城市——所超越。两年后，广东省会城市广州也超过香港。至此，香港的经济总量只能屈居该区域第三。 The region that we are talking about is called the Greater Bay Area (GBA), located along the southern coast of China. It comprises the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao as well as nine Chinese mainland cities in Guangdong Province.这一区域我们称作大湾区，它坐落于中国南部沿海，囊括了香港和澳门两个特别行政区，以及广东省下辖的九个中国内地城市。 For Hong Kong, the economic rescaling in the region is an inevitable outcome of the Chinese mainland’s economic growth. And to secure its future prosperity, it is key that Hong Kong integrates itself more deeply into the Greater Bay Area, and data will tell you why. 对香港来说，区域的经济洗牌是中国内地经济增长的必然结果。为了确保这座城市未来的兴荣，香港必须更深层次地融入大湾区，数据会告诉你为什么。 First, due to the geographical proximity, the Greater Bay Area is a key node in channeling Hong Kong’s capital investment into the Chinese mainland. 第一，出于地理上的邻近，大湾区是香港资本流向中国内地的重要节点。 Statistics show that since the launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect at the end of 2016, the daily turnover of northbound trade, which is the capital flow from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, increased from 4 billion yuan (about US$ 0.6 billion) in 2017 to 52.2 billion yuan (about US$ 8.4 billion) in 2020, which was significantly higher than that of southbound trade over the same period. 数据显示，自2016年底深港通股票交易开通以来，北向资金的每日成交金额——即代表香港向深圳的资本流动——从2017年的40亿元人民币（约6亿美元）增长到2020年的522亿元人民币（约84亿美元），远远超过同期南向资金的成交金额。 This imbalance has generally reflected the economic power shift between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland in recent years, thus making the Greater Bay Area ever more important to Hong Kong’s future capital development. 南北向资金的不平衡大致反映了这些年来，香港和中国内地经济力量的此消彼长。对香港资本的未来而言，大湾区的重要性只会愈加突出。 Second, in addition to the capital market, the Greater Bay Area is also vital to Hong Kong’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy. 第二，除了资本市场，大湾区对香港向知识经济转型也至关重要。 According to statistics from the Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council, Hong Kong lags behind almost all other cities in the Greater Bay Area in regard to research and development (R&D) in local economies. 根据香港立法会的数据，香港与大湾区的其它城市相比，在科技研发领域几乎全面落后。 Take Shenzhen, the innovation and technology power house in the region, as a reference. In 2019, Shenzhen spent 4.93 percent of its GDP in R&D, and enjoyed 2,354 R&D personnel per 100,000 employees in its local workforce. In comparison, the respective two figures in Hong Kong were only 0.86 percent and 868 personnel. 以深圳这一大湾区科技创新重镇为例。2019年，深圳在科技研发上的投入占到了GDP的4.93%。并且在本地劳动力中，深圳每十万雇员中就包含2354位研发人员。与之相比，香港的这两项数据分别只有0.86%和868。 To catch up, Hong Kong must connect more closely with cities in the Greater Bay Area to share resources, talents and expertise for the development of innovation and technology. 想要迎头赶上，香港必须与大湾区的其它城市建立更紧密的联系，通过资源、人才和专业技术的共享，大力发展科技创新。 Last, Hong Kong’s future prosperity cannot be secured without investment in its future generations, for which the Greater Bay Area also has a lot to offer. 最后，香港未来的兴荣离不开对下一代人的投资，在这方面，大湾区也可以提供颇多助益。 Statistics show that over the past two decades, with the continued expansion of tertiary education, the share of degree holders in Hong Kong’s labor force rose rapidly from 12.3 percent in 1999 to 28 percent in 2019. 数据显示，在过去二十年，随着高等教育的持续扩张，香港劳动力中学位人口的比例，从1999年的12.3%快速上升到2019年的28%。 This, however, was accompanied by the falling share of degree holders in higher-skilled jobs, which declined from 88.6 percent in 1999 to 83.8 percent in 2019, reflecting a job mismatch for degree holders as not enough higher-skilled jobs are now available for them in the city. 但另一方面，学位人口中从事高技术职位的比例，却从1999年的88.6%下降到2019年的83.8%，背后反映的是学位与职位不匹配的问题——因为香港本地已经没有足够多的高技术职位来适配日益增长的学位人口。 To tackle this problem, at the end of 2020, Hong Kong partnered with other cities in the Greater Bay Area to launch a new youth employment scheme that would provide to university graduates 2,000 positions in the region. 为了解决这个问题，在2020年底，香港与大湾区的其它城市合作，共同启动了一项新的青年就业计划，旨在为香港大学毕业生在大湾区内提供2000个工作岗位。 The unstoppable trend is that the economic growth of the Chinese mainland will continue to reshape the urban landscapes of the region. For Hong Kong, the depth of integration into the Greater Bay Area will therefore determine its future prosperity for a long time to come.总而言之，中国内地的经济增长是不可阻挡的趋势，区域的城市座次也因此不得不面临重新洗牌。对香港而言，融入大湾区的深度将在未来很长一段时间内决定其兴荣的程度。