Following a boom in infrastructure projects linking the 11 cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it is a top priority for the city cluster to create a group identity by reconciling different professional standards and cultural gaps, said James Chang, managing partner of regional economic clusters and south markets at PwC China.

"The Greater Bay Area has made good progress in the hardware that unifies the cities, but it has to connect in terms of the soft power, or 'soft connections', and ultimately better facilitate a flow of people," Chang said in an exclusive interview with China Daily during the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2023 on March 29.

As a key strategic plan in China's blueprint, the development of the Greater Bay Area naturally came under the spotlight during the four-day economic event.

Given its diversified industrial structure in finance, technology and manufacturing and unique geographical location that combines three distinct jurisdictions, the integration of the 11-city cluster dovetails well with the nation's drive for high-quality development — a goal of making the economy more efficient and sustainable, which is also the first and foremost task in building a modern socialist country by the middle of this century.

Officials and businesses normally see the sweet spot of the GBA's integration amid the linguistic, cultural and physical ties through which cities are closely bonded — Cantonese is widely spoken while a shared cultural landscape is shaped by the love of Cantopop, Hong Kong movies and television series.

Among the pieces of an increasingly sophisticated jigsaw of interconnected infrastructure binding the GBA cities is the 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge — the world's longest bridge-tunnel system — which opened in 2018. Others include express rail links, massive real estate projects and special cooperative zones.

However, an invisible "identity issue" is still urgent to tackle as many from mainland cities in the GBA can't find a good sense of belonging in Hong Kong and Macao, and vice-versa, Chang said.

"People in Guangzhou going to Hong Kong to live and work still feel incompatible in many ways when compared with moving to Zhuhai or Zhongshan," Chang said. "And you don't expect people from Hong Kong Central coming to work in Shenzhen will feel the same way they do going from Central to Kowloon."

Under the grand GBA project, Guangzhou's Nansha district, Shenzhen's Qianhai and Zhuhai's Hengqin, have been earmarked by the central government as three key cooperation zones, aiming to build the areas into mainland homes for Hong Kong and Macao residents and businesses.

More measures should be introduced to increase mutual recognition of professional qualifications and standards between special administrative regions and the mainland region within the city cluster, according to Chang.

Additionally, Chang said Hong Kong could consider a pilot program in the GBA for issuing special working visas for mainland residents who are willing to work in its Northern Metropolis — a region that the special administrative region government strives to turn into an innovation and technology hub near its border with Shenzhen.

"Facilitating the flow of professionals could be a starting point for changing the mindset. Hopefully, by doing so, people from different parts of the city cluster will gradually accept and embrace the GBA's culture and value, though it may take a long time," he added.