I think this is a pretty unique example of the type of "status consumption" we were talking about in our meeting the other night. The following is a quote from the book "Planet of Slums", and it deals with how the Third World elites live.
"Laura Ruggeri stresses the contemporary quest of deracinated third world elites for a 'real imitation life', modeled on television images of a mythified Southern California."
The book goes on to give examples of Third World neighborhoods named 'Beverly Hills' (Cairo), 'Orange County' (Beijing), and Palm Springs (Hong Kong). Upscale shopping malls, tennis courts, and Starbucks are the norm in these self-sufficient communities.
Apparently, Third World elites have decided that So-Cal is utopia (and, honestly, who can blame them...), so now elites are in a race to prove who is the most Southern CalifornIA-ized (yes, I made that term up). Given that I can't rationally explain why anyone in Hong Kong would need a "theme park where Disney comic strip characters are surrounded by mock Greek columns and neo-classical pavillions," I'll take a stab and say that said theme park is Hong Kong's elite's attempt to prove that they've now achieved status akin to the elites of the developed world.
Whether they should want to is an entirely different question.
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I didn't realize keeping up with the Joneses was international. Did the author care to ask how happy these people were?
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