It's sad that you're saying this in January.

To be fair many of us were thinking the exact same statement at the beginning of 2021...

no, they do not care. China also does not care if businesses pull out. If anything, they want them to. Hong kong is done as we knew it.

I think they would care if big businesses actually pulled out, so far that simply hasn't happened.

ummmm....ok. sure.

Sadly I think you're right. Hong Kong is done. So is CX. Very sad.

It is indeed very sad. On some levels, I think I'm still in denial that all of this is actually happening to HK, and it's hard for me to get over that I had taken for granted that HK would enjoy, more or less, self-governance until 2047. And, to see what's happening to CX, through no fault of its own, is equally tragic as we're witnessing a once great Airline reduced to whatever it may be from the rubble.

I didn't realize it then, but my biggest regret was "out of an abundance of caution" not taking that final trip to HK in 2020. If I could have a do over, I'd definitely should've ignored "them," and just said "f*ck'em," and just gone with my instincts--it would have been infinitely preferable with this where I have to live with regrets.

Agreed. I cancelled my HKG lunar new year trip in mid January 2020 because I was starting to read about a weird new virus and didn't want to bringi it home to my family. Given that my daughter and I caught it on a cruise ship two months later and were barely ill, I wish that I had just gone.

Shoud be interesting to see how the OMi rips through hong kong with a piss poor vaccine rate. Should be interesting to see china covid zero pushed to the limit. I've got my popcorn.

yup. China saw the pandemic as the opportunity it needed. And the world was too busy dealing with their own problems to care. Agreed. Sad to see CX on its deathbed. Most of my relatives have now left. Some who now regret not having left sooner.

My opinion on this - Banks and law firms will keep a presence but most likely at reduced levels. As for MNCs, the rationale to be HK based is simply not there anymore and has been declining for a number of years. Singapore already had the pre-pandemic lead of MNC APAC HQs and will only further solidify that position as there just aren't too many other reasonable choices in region. If you are looking at an APAC footprint these days, it's most likely a Singapore HQ where China is handled from regional offices within China (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc). It's looking likely that HK won't even be the Greater Bay centre...that is Shenzhen. I have HK PR but I don't think there's a job there that would get me to leave SG at this point. Will still happily travel to HK for a weekend to see friends... although I have come to prefer exploring China if thinking about a family holiday...the Mainland just has so much more to offer in terms of cultural sites or unique places to stay which is where my personal travel preferences are.

As for CX, it's indeed sad. I was a CX DM for a number of years and that will probably remain my favorite flying experience/period. Although, I think there was a group of us that would agree that the old Dragonair runs to China were the best in terms of service and food. I loved the KA A330 flights. After a few wall to wall days in China, hopping onto that A330 in F or J to head home to HK was my happy place. Those memories are safe from any politicians!
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Christopher Patton had remarked that it was a matter of honor that the UK would, at the very least, make an honest effort to ensure the PRC adhere to the deal they had agreed to in good faith. Of course, this means some sort of adjudication in the UN (I haven't the foggiest what this would mean), but I have no doubt that any world power (the Middle Kingdom has indeed arrived and taken her place as the world's 2nd power, and soon to be the only other super power along with the United States) would simply ignore the UN should any of them find their rulings unfavorable.

I agree with all of your points. Likewise, those KA A330 flatbed flights into the Mainland from HKG were fantastic, and the crew were all excellent along with the food on board. While initially hesitant, I had quickly realized they were fantastic outfit, and some of my KA experiences were better than CX's. The one thing that I'll sorely miss about CX is the comfort in knowing that anywhere in the world, so long as it's a CX flight, I will have assurances that we can easily converse in English, Cantonese and/or a mixture of both, along with never being surprised by the customs, etiquette and the way things are done on board. For me, I'm not sure that will be true of any foreign (foreign to the US, that is) other airline, ever again.
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I started going to HK regularly when I was living in GZ in the early 2000’s. Would take the thru train there for the weekend and always felt like a breath of fresh air to arrive in the relatively orderly HK, check into the Langham Place hotel and just relax for 2 days before heading back.

I started seriously using CX/KA when I moved to Shanghai and had to fly to ANZ, India and South Africa every other month. It quickly became my favorite way to travel and I basically stuck with them from 2008 to Covid. I even enjoyed the short haul economy class HKG-SHA/PVG runs managing to score a few glasses of red wine on the 2 hour flight after suffering through the endless delays in the wing/pier/centurion lounges.

Things felt different when I was in HK in 2019. Fewer mainland tourists and just a kind of sad vibe compared to Shanghai. My last trip through HKG was flying in of SQ in first from SFO and transferring to MU to Shanghai. I remember reading the FT on the SQ flight and an article about a new virus in Wuhan. I wish I’d chosen Cathay biz for that trip, if I’d known what was in store. I’d have liked to experience a bite of the burger one last time.

HK, when it reopens, won’t really have much to offer over Shanghai, Beijing or Shenzhen and that’s just the way I think they decided to make it during 2019. They just didn’t know that Covid would give them the chance to transform it so quickly.

HK will open when the Mainland opens, so probably in 2-3 years.

Some recent US-based news articles on the HK situation (with an interesting division of NYT covering immigrant workers, and WSJ covering financiers...):

Don’t know why anyone would want to live there right now.

As an aside HK has more cases now than the entire USA. Not scaled by population, just absolute numbers