Come to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Netizens said that if you have become accustomed to the priority of white people everywhere in this world, and think about the taste of Chinese priority in a foreign country occasionally, come here.

From the first day I arrived, SC Johnson felt an eerie atmosphere that he had never experienced before in a country he had never been to. All the way from the plane to the hotel, the shops on the road are full of signs with Chinese characters.

The taxi driver's stereo kept playing domestic pop songs, and when the most listened singer was called Mao Buyi, Johnson realized that the taxi driver's behavior was not surprising, and he had never heard Mao Buyi.

During my subsequent exploration of Phnom Penh, I found that the city is full of construction sites, large and small, and many high-rise buildings that do not match its economic level are rising or have already been built. And on the periphery of most of these high-rise construction sites, the names of domestic construction companies are written.

What's even more strange is that on the construction site fence of the vigorous construction, even the real estate slogans are in Chinese, and the Chinese real estate advertisements all over the city make people feel as if they are in the magic capital, without any sense of disobedience.

Come to the best university in the country, Royal Phnom Penh University. The construction of the whole university is unremarkable, and the name of the road at the entrance is interesting, it is called Russian Federation Boulevard......

Because it is the Khmer New Year, there are not many people in the school, and there is an international cultural festival in the playground of the campus, and there are many exotic food stalls on the scene.

The deepest impression of this university is that the image of China, Japan and South Korea competing for hegemony everywhere is actually more obvious in other countries in Southeast Asia. For example, Myanmar and Vietnam, which are vigorously renovating their developing countries, are also opening their arms to foreign investment and assistance, especially from East Asian countries.

However, what can be clearly seen in the cities of Myanmar and Vietnam is the fierce competition and competition between the enterprises of East Asia, China, Japan and South Korea, and China does not have the advantage, and many times it may be that the capital of Japan and South Korea is more common, and it is by no means a one-sided domestic capital like Phnom Penh.

Southeast Asian countries that are experiencing rapid opening up can see the love and killing of the capital of China, Japan and South Korea everywhere. The electric locomotive is made in China, the language of the display is Chinese, Korean printed on the bus and bus, the guide book of the National Museum, and the layout instructions for the infield are only in English and Burmese, but also in Japanese.

The entire museum was built with the help of island nations, and in relatively wealthy Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, there is less obvious East Asian capital occupation. East Asian faces come to Southeast Asia, there is still a sense of intimacy, consumption is relatively cheap, they are all Asian, and they even have a bit of a landlord feeling when they meet Westerners to talk.

Isn't it similar to how Western Europeans travel to the relatively poor backyards of Eastern Europe? Traveling more to South Asia and Southeast Asia, as an East Asian, I would be a little proud.

Walk into the street market and find that the common currency here is actually the US dollar?

An ordinary meal in a street restaurant costs US$4, which is 28 yuan, an average McDonald's meal costs US$5, or 35 yuan, a 0.33-liter bottle of mineral water costs US$0.42, or about 3 yuan, and a carton of ordinary milk with a 1-liter content costs US$2.24, or 16 yuan. This price is not much different from the magic of the capital, right?

This is the legendary poorest country in Southeast Asia?

I thought that Cambodia was as rich in fruit as Thailand, but I was shocked that fruit was the most expensive food in Phnom Penh, not only could I not find locally produced fruits, but I also had to pay a high price to buy imported fruits.

Cambodian food is imported, and fruit is no exception. A pound of bananas is 0.7 US dollars, 4.9 yuan, apples 1.6 US dollars, 11 yuan, and even 2.5 US dollars for good ones, which is 17 pieces.

Transportation is expensive, there is no subway, and the public transport system is very underdeveloped. A common bus is a stop-and-go motorcycle, which costs US$2 or RMB14 each way.

It is equivalent to the starting price of a domestic taxi, but the mileage is not as far as a taxi. Office workers use this tool to commute, and the daily commuting fee is 30 yuan.

Energy is also imported, with an average monthly utility bill of US$85 for an 85-square-meter house, or RMB590. The Internet here is not developed, the network speed is slow, if you connect to the Internet, the Internet fee is 32 US dollars per month, 200 yuan.

Housing prices are even more staggering. This infrastructure is also at the level of China's fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and the housing prices are on par with the first- and second-tier cities in China, even if they are not as high as the magic capital of Beijing, they are comparable to Hangzhou.

One square meter sells for 15,000-30,000 yuan, a single apartment rents 3,500 yuan per month, and a family-style three-bedroom apartment costs nearly 10,000 yuan. The capital of this least developed country has a very high degree of internationalization and a well-developed community of foreigners.

No wonder some people say: Phnom Penh is the cityscape of a fourth-tier county in China, the price of goods in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and the international environment of Hong Kong Island.

The French population is the largest, which has something to do with Cambodia's history as a French colony, the educated upper class can speak French, many tour guides can speak French, there are many French restaurants and coffee shops in Phnom Penh, and many French people are engaged in cultural and educational industries.

There is a large community of islanders and Koreans, and the retail and consumer industries are spread all over Japanese companies. Phnom Penh is also home to a number of investment companies in Treasure Island, Singapore and Malaysia, most of which are Chinese owners engaged in real estate development.

However, the majority of foreigners are still mainlanders, and various enterprises contract most of the infrastructure, and some private enterprises are engaged in real estate development in Phnom Penh, and buyers from all walks of life flock to Phnom Penh.

The local per capita income is only one or two thousand yuan per month, but the house is often 20,000 yuan per square meter, and the price is comparable to that of the magic capital.

First of all, there is a shortage of materials, most of the daily necessities rely on imports, and how expensive imported products are can be imagined, especially agriculture, the most important industry related to the national economy and people's livelihood, even though most of Cambodia's population is in rural areas, agriculture can not meet the demand.

At the restaurant, I met several employees from the island countries, who only ate seafood from the mainland and did not eat local seafood from Cambodia. As he spoke, the Cambodian waiter served the seafood and said in Japanese: This was just shipped from Japan this morning!

With a flattering smile on his face, the members nodded with satisfaction after seeing it with their own eyes.

Completely dependent on the US dollar, prices in US dollars also drive up prices. Cambodia is in charge of US dollars, and the local riel is dispensable, and it is usually paid with riel for less than 1 US dollar.

In fact, the currency has only been in use in Cambodia for nearly 20 years, and in the mid-seventies of the last century, the country did not have a currency and banks were wiped out. This was the so-called agrarian socialist radical economic policy implemented by the Khmer Rouge, which completely suspended market transactions, abolished the currency, and expelled the urban population of Phnom Penh to the countryside for forced labor.

After the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1979, the puppet regime of Han Sam Lam was established, and the currency began to emerge slowly, and in 1993, with the aid of the United Nations, the US dollar was introduced in Cambodia. This kind of paper with Franklin's face is the master of Cambodia.

Plus an over-reliance on international trade. Almost all of Cambodia's core industries are open to foreign businessmen, and the common dollar is to facilitate international settlement, and the entry and exit of foreign exchange is not controlled, which also explains the phenomenon of extremely high prices in Phnom Penh, especially housing prices, and real estate has a clear investment value, including accounting in US dollars, and there is no control over the entry and exit of foreign capital, which can not only maintain value, but also be a money laundering shelter.

Phnom Penh has a large expatriate community as potential consumers, and the influx of hot money has accelerated the city's growth potential, some have even compared it to the next Shenzhen, and Cambodia's younger population is also considered to be the driving force of the housing market.

But where do the real young people of Phnom Penh live? Is it really like the real estate developer said, buying a high-end apartment in order to get married and start a family?

In fact, it is foreigners who live in luxury houses in the center of the city, locals live in the suburbs because they cannot afford high housing prices, and the outskirts of the city are where the locals live.

Walking on the streets of Phnom Penh, I can't help but wonder when I see a large number of foreigners haunting the city center, while locals are doing low-end services such as maids, drivers, vegetable sellers, and tour guides

Who is the master of this city?