Hong Kong's Hidden Struggles: Elders Collecting Cardboard for Survival 

It is Slavery of the Elderly and HK is famous for that. The very old are forced to work as slaves to keep HK clean and to recycle materials. In Singapore, the Bangladesh migrant workers earn up to US$1,000 (with overtime) do the same work, is given decent subsidised workers dormitory, access to medical care, transport to worksites, insurance, etc.

I'm in "Silicon Valley" and you can very much see wealth and poverty side by side here.

Thank you for sharing these stories. The truth is not as popular as lies on media but it connects us to the reality

I don't care about wealth. My heart goes to all aged folk all around the world.

Sad as this sight is....hats off to these seniors who are still working so hard. Respect.

Thank you 🙏🏾 very much for sharing this content. It is harsh reality of life. The rich are getting richer and poorer are getting worse.

This is only part of the truth about Hong Kong. Foreign worker exploitation is another problem. Imagine being forced to live with your abusive boss. Racism and discrimination are real in Hong Kong. These problems have only gotten worse.

It painful for me to think about it. I can't even think about if the situation where my mom would have to work in her old age.

In singapore, we have grandma collecting cardboard ,just to exercise herself and to kill time

I could not imagine. Thank you for sharing

Seeing that old grandma push that cart around reminds me of my grandmother before she passed. I know without a doubt if our family were struggling, she'd be out there gathering cardboard boxes all day every day to provide for us. Though we moved to Canada when I was young, she's a Hong Kong native through and through. I have so much respect for these people.

That's why while we are young, we must need to have savings, health insurance and memorial plan so that when we get old our life is not stressful..

I was surprised in Mong Kok, in Hong Kong to see so many elderly exercising early morning. Seems to be a culture, or realising that without being healthy there are few chances to survive and keep going … I posted also a video about it on my channel

Jesus said that the poor would always be with us. Greed is number one for many.😰

it's cruel place where human value means almost nothing, yet very low income tax rate to the upper class though, about 18%

This is just really, really sad and depressing.

In Chinese we say....Good to look at but not good to eat. While it applies to food (the Chinese loves eating), the same label is a criticism of HK... Even in Mainland China, the poor have been lifted from poverty but not in rich HK. The leaders of HK are obedient to the Beijing government. They can do a lot more for the poor and elderly, but they rather pamper to the rich and successful i.e. businesses.

This is shocking, and Hong Kong dares to lecture others about human rights. Disgusting.

At 3.08, 10 square ft area , I think it’s a mistake. A single bed will take up about 18 square ft ( 3 x 6 ft).

I am not a fan of welfare except for seniors and disabled.... All else should be required to work regardless of the excuses. But for the seniors whom paved our way, all of their needs should be met. Along with the disabled since it was no fault of their own. Maybe if society stopped paying for all the abled body individuals and forced them to work we wouldn’t have these issues

You call that poverty? Have you been to the Philippines?

Kehidupan begitu keras dan sombong, tidak ada belas kasih untuk para lansia.

same as what happened in new york or other big capitalistic cities on earth....

One of my Dutch friends from The Netherlands have asked me whether I will collect the cardboard for living when I am in old age ❓❓❗ Some stories is that the elders collect the cardboard for their interests even some of them are very rich once they died in the street street accidentally, found that there were lots of money is hidden in their home Another view of points,those elders are recycled supporters Also, some of elders are needed to be hepled All above collecting of cardboard by the old is proper in Hong Kong I have come across an old man around 70 to 80 who dressed clean & decent have waited at the MTR exit collecting morning newspapers from the people walking by And I save more papers for him as well One day in the afternoon I met him and curious asked him why he colect the papers early in the morning The old man replied that only to buy a breakfast for that As i have seen his daughter accompany with him from supermarket with many stuffs ❤❤

Welfare should be voluntarily given. State welfare is immoral

I once tried to give money but to my surprise the elderly woman refused....

Is there any statistics about the elderly poor instead of just showing of a few cases?

At least they are not a homeless living on street sidewalk like we see in California 😅

🙏 All countries should save 5% of their GDP Annual Revenue to their Community Welfare Council to planned , locate , homed & take good care of their Pioneer & Senior Citizens who have sacrificed so much to help build-up their respective modern countries of today! When there's a Sincere Will , it Can Be Done! 🙏🕯🌷🌿🌍💜🕊

As for those capsule modules, when I was an athlete and lived for a while in a dormatory setting, there used to be 2-3 people per room and it was customary to take the bed and set it up high, sleep in the bed up high at night, and below the bed was a sort of little personal area. It was kind of neat, actually.

The few filthy riches r the main culprits! Billionaires 1. Li Ka-shing. $39 B ; 2. Lee Shau Kee. $30.3 B ; 3. Henry Cheng & family. $28.9 B ; 4. Lee siblings. $19.3 B ; 5. Peter Woo. $16.9 B.

Haaah .. same in my city Jakarta.. trush collector its called in my country “ pemulung. 😊

this is eactly same like Skorea. 1st world in elderly poverty rate

Honestly...i'm SAD...

Same like singapore lot of poor n old people but everyday tell the whole world there are most expensive city

It appears to me this person is saying there are no elderly proverty in his beloved country. Tell me where this heaven is.

What's the problem. They are actually working. Stores had goods delivered leaving a lot of box. And these people go there to collect the box and sell them . I am sure every country has this recycling mechanism. They are just not driving a truck to pick up the boxes.

Where ever there is wealth there is poverty.

Hong Kong got tones of super rich. They will help

How come they are not eligible for public housing? After 65. People gets 4000hkd a month… having lived in 6 different countries. This problem is everywhere. Even in Japan. Lots of Elderliew can’t retire . You can hear hkers laugh at western countries of easy welfare systems. Yet,when some of them moved to the UK, they would take advantage if they can. It’s not just a government thing.

Hong Kong is a capitalist city, ie good for capitalists but not so good for others. There is no pension system for the elderly, so poor old people have to keep on working to survive. Unfortunately for no-skill or low-skill seniors, there ain't much they can do to get a buck, and collecting empty cartons and other rubbish is one of only a few options, and there are stiff competition for that too.

So sad. Human is so greedy.

Pay gap is everywhere. You should report cases of homeless people in US and AUS where GPD per captials are the top of ranking. I don't think the poverty you are sharing here is merely singular regional or political factor. As far as I am concerned, individual circumstances should be taken into account. For sure, health, working ability and employability foundamentally influence your pay and life quality. I know what you are convincing. It might be governmental, social stuctural, and even domocratic problems. But no, it might be a small group which is considered demographically reasonable, when we stress "normal ditribution" of wealth.

Old must make way for new …. Perhaps HK gov idea 😢

This is really old (years). It is definitely not 2020 or later.

The only reason we have Social Security in the US is that we almost had a Socialist revolution in the 1930s. As bleak as this looks in Hong Kong, it looks very nice compared to the US where the violence and filth, drug use are off-the-charts compared to HK. Also, it's rather remarkable you have so many older people, as in the US most people don't live long enough to have these problems. In the US, life expectancy is going down rapidly.

Compare HK with Singapore. One can only conclude it's the result of poor governance by successive SAR Administrations since 1997. They have failed the HK people miserably. Their administration and legislative council talk alot but achieve little 🙄

U.s. dollars goes a long way

Not so different from the US, no?

Sad. In wealthy HK.

Failure of capitalism and inept successive HK SAR governments since 1997. Compare HK to Singapore

😢

I love HK and visit often. There is nothing I can do when I see that most Hong Kongers will not care for the needy. It is indeed a very selfish society under the veneer of prosperity. I cherish my lifestyle in Singapore...far, far superior to that of HK. Spacious apartments, generous government hand-outs, free or heavily subsidised medical care for the retirees. Singapore is far superior to HK... Clean, Green, Very Safe. Food is still affordable in Singapore. The amount of edible fresh food thrown away at markets can be healthy for the needy if anyone wishes to salvage them.

Why are their children/grandchildren allowing this? I thought elders were referred in this culture?

welfare

There's a lot of cardboard collectors in Singapore too

That is a lie. Cos so many individuals have to pay their taxes !!! Unless you are saying that it is the foreigners or hk id card holders with foreign passports that taxes to support such people ! How could hk doesn't have a proper structure to deal with this !?!?!?

A legacy from the times of the British Rule

Revered.

นั่งดูตั้งนาน ไอ้เราก้อว่าใครน้อหน้าคุ้นๆ

Capitalism is a dirty business - Niko Bellic-

did u pay the old actor actresses😭

Move to another city, China is only in hongkong.use your head

yes its true,,, but then theres also some grannies collecting cardboard and she owns a few flats!!! its a sad life.. but at least not like in the Uk where people who can work choose not to work and claim benefits, which in turn increase our taxes for those that do work!!!

Has Democracy ever existed in HK under British colonial rule? 英国学者：回归前的香港有民主吗？Martin Jacques https //ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L7BEGpfuVi8.htmlsi=-9szK7WVKTXnMwAc