Who benefit from Hong Kong's success

Initially during the late 40s, Chinese from Shanghai made good money by forming textile factories in Hong Kong. They bought with them their expertise in management, money and skills. They exploited the cheap labor of the desperate refugees escaping from the communists and desperately they wanted to be exploited. Many of these products were exported to the US (to provide cheap stuffs for the poor) and also drove some US factories out-of-business.

After the takeover, Hong Kongese moved the factories to Southern China under Deng's special economical zone policy. Some factory area became ghost town for a short while. From then on, most big money are made in real estate in Hong Kong due to a supply and demand reality.

The Brits made good money by governing HK. The street sweepers in London could get high official jobs in HK, plus many 'loots' were sent to Britain. All the big projects including the then new airport hired British firms to make big money. There is a general misunderstanding why the slave's GDP per capita passed the master as written by the Stanford professor. It is not the colonial governance but the proximity to China.

Americans never made big money in HK except the Hollywood movies initially; it provided vacation destination for the army during the Vietnam War (remember Suzy Wong). However, it is the HK connection (and Taiwan too) to make China the global factory for American companies. Wal-Mart benefit itself, its customers and the Chinese factories. Now, the growing Chinese middle class is making Americans rich and actually had saved some American companies such as GM.

China benefits a lot. However, the status of HK will decrease when Shanghai takes over.