Hong Kong is one of the most popular places for tourists from all over the world to visit. Even though Hong Kong has a beautiful skyline and a huge economy, it has a terrible side that only people who have lived there can understand. Here are some of Hong Kong's darker sides that many people outside of the city don't notice:
Problems with tiny apartments and housing
It's a well-known Hong Kong cliche that families sleep on one small bed. There are a lot of people who do live in apartments that are "mosquito-sized." And this pattern won't end as long as house prices keep going up. Hong Kong is one of the most crowded cities in the world, with almost 7 million people living on about 2,700 square kilometres of land. But only 7% of the area is zoned for people to live there. Since there aren't enough houses, and there's a huge demand for them, prices keep going up every year in ways that have never been seen before. The land-bidding policy of the Hong Kong government also has an effect. Since land in Hong Kong is sold through open bidding, only big real estate companies can afford to do well. As a result, property prices have never stopped going up. In the past few years, developers from mainland China have joined the race, hoping to make money off of the sky-high profits. This has caused property prices to reach new highs every few months. In January, for example, a home in Kowloon was sold for HK$28,531 (US$3,635) per square foot, making it the most expensive piece of land ever sold in the city. Because their wages can't keep up with the rising cost of housing, many Hong Kong residents see nano flats as their only option. There are now "coffin apartments," which are flats that have been split up. Each unit is less than 24 square feet and looks like a coffin. In crowded places like Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, it can cost up to HK$3,000 per month.
What about housing for the poor?
Even though the Hong Kong government tries to build more public housing, the number of units never meets the demand. The Hong Kong Housing Authority says that more than 2 million people already live in public housing. However, there are still about 280,000 people on the waiting list, and the average wait time as of December 2017 was 4.7 years. Many people who are still struggling on a basic income have no hope of getting help soon.
Overtime as a Way of Life
"People don't want to leave the office early, even if they're done with their work. It's all about video calls "HSBC investment banker Leslie Yang (not her real name) says. She means 8 p.m. when she says "early." Whether or not the people of Hong Kong like it, the custom of working overtime (OT) is here to stay. A jobsDB poll found that 89 percent of Hong Kong employees work overtime, and most of them don't get paid for it. 39% of people work four hours each week, 22% work seven hours, and 3% work more than 16 hours. Worse, a UBS survey found that Hong Kong has the longest working hours in the world, more than any other Asian capital. Compared to Paris, which was the least crowded city in the poll, people in Hong Kong work about 20 more hours per week. This culture of working until you die has many causes, some of which are mental and some of which are physical. At night, you can feel how busy Central, Hong Kong's business district, is, where the headquarters of hundreds of international companies are. A lot of people work nonstop at their jobs until 9 or 10 at night. It's also important to keep busy throughout the day. There are more problems for subordinates to deal with: Yang says, "It's just rude for juniors to leave early." It's common to leave after your boss has left; it's all about how people see it. She adds, "You don't want to look too free." Young professionals' lives are still made hard by structural problems that lead to too many low-wage jobs. Hong Kong, which has the world's freest economy, also has to deal with income inequality, which is a big problem that makes people more divided (more of which later). Due to the low minimum wage set by the government and the skyrocketing rents on the market, many blue-collar workers have to work more shifts and longer hours to make ends meet.
13 окт 2024
