Yes it has plenty of things going for it but surely I am not alone in coming to the grim conclusion that this place is fundamentally broken.
The roads are in almost total gridlock causing the pollution to get steadily worse and worse. The shopping choice is a joke (unless you like LV or moldy vegetables) don't get me started on the quality of the media....
Hong Kong was a great place 10 years but these days it almost makes the UK look attractive.
Great shame. It's best days are definitely behind it. Time to move on I think.
Please support our advertisers:
I'll chime in with Bruce92 and googler. If you don't like it, move on. HK is not for everyone.
"The roads are in almost total gridlock"
Have you even been to other major cities? Compared to NYC, LA, London and a zillion other big cities, HK traffic is a breeze. Sure, there is congestion, but it is no biggie for a city of its size. Stellar public transport plays a big part here.
"The shopping choice is a joke (unless you like LV or moldy vegetables)"
There are plenty of very good options if you look beyond your local supermarket. Online for example.
Please support our advertisers:
I guess it's different if you have been here a while versus people that have recently arrived and still find the place 'exiting and interesting' compared to where they come from.
I would challenge anyone who falls into the first category to put their hand on their heart and say that Hong Kong today is a better place to live than it was 10 years ago.
Please support our advertisers:
i fall into the first category and it is for me. primarily because the career is just so much better than anywhere else, i live in a wonderful place on the beach and i found my wife here.
is pollution better than 10 years ago - surely not. do we have more variety in restaurants than 10 years ago - surely yes. so there pro's and con's but HK remains attractive
Please support our advertisers:
googler - If you read my last post again I specifically compared HK today vs 10 years ago, not 25 years. In this time frame I propose that it is nigh on impossible to find a NET positive change to living in HK.
It is a huge shame. We we have been here (only!) 11 years and have looked on in dismay as the place slowly destroys itself as an attractive place to live and work.
Please support our advertisers:
boddingtons, why did you pick 10 years as the benchmark? if it's just a matter of past and present, then whether 10 or 25 years makes no big difference in this context. more meaningful would be before and after the handover I guess if a timeline is to be drawn.
No where on this planet can be exempted from changes with time, better or worse depends how you see it. Though it is actually an expression of love when people whine about a thing. Then why not do something positive to make it better than complaining?
Please support our advertisers:
not sure what the handover is related (personally I think HK was a net beneficiary), nor 'love' which has absolutely nothing to do with the original question which was a debate on how HK compares as a place to live compared to 10 years ago. Best to leave emotions out of it love.
Please support our advertisers:
How come you're still here?!
Please support our advertisers:
please explain...you think HK was a net beneficiary of the handover, yet almost immediately (in your eyes) since, HK has gone down the sh!thole...so where are the benefits?
personally, i think it is what you make of it...i don't have pre-handover experience, only being here 6 years, but my life here has PERSONALLY changed dramatically for the better, and I'm enjoying everything about the city, while not moaning about the obvious problems (pollution, corruption/collusion/general ineptitude in govt), just doing what i can (at least re pollution)
Please support our advertisers:
The pollution in HK is not as bad as it was 2-3 years ago but, admittedly, it is still awful. Nevertheless, I'd still take HK over my home country the UK anyday. If you're going back to the UK, make sure you don't get stabbed, burgled or verbally abused by some overweight, drunken female yobo. Also, enjoy the 20% VAT and 50% income tax, the under-achieving education system and having to wait 45 minutes for a clapped out bus or train. As for the weather, don't get me started.
Please support our advertisers:
boddingtons, I moved here in August 2000 and for me quality of life has improved dramatically in the past decade. What immediately springs to mind is better transportation (the Tseung Kwan O line) making my commute far easier than when the early days; huge choice of foodstuffs in the supermarkets now; many more bars and restaurants I like, and plenty more books and UK magazines available. Yes, shallow soul that I am, these everyday things keep me happy here in HK.
I also still feel safe here at all times.
I accept the negatives: pollution in the urban areas, stupid property prices and the government's appalling land reclamation decisions. But if they get too much, I have the option to pack up and go, and I'll leave feeling bloody grateful for some of the best years of my life. I definitely won't be returning to the UK because, unlike Hong Kong, I suspect everyday quality of life there really HAS plummeted down the pan these past ten years.
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1
15 yrs ago
Are you having relationship problems?...
Please support our advertisers:
190k
15 yrs ago
48 years here and still loving it. Move out of the city and enjoy free flowing traffic beaches and organic food. There is more to HK than the city and plastic wrapped food
Please support our advertisers:
crikey even I wouldn't be that negative - but the observation on what drives HK is fundamantally one of the reason why I believe it is breaking. The lack of social respionsibility in the government of the place comes with a price and I believe we are now starting to see the impact of this.
The comparisons between HK and other places in the world in some of the other replies are interesting (and accurate) but not what the original question was about.
Please support our advertisers:
To the original poster: 10 years ago HK was barely out of its old colonial master's cloak. Wake up and face the reality. And stop whining. As one of the responders wisely pointed it out, HK's traffic is a breeze compared with NYC, LA, and many other metropolitans. Where have you been to?
Please support our advertisers:
Were you posing your question to the OP, MJ1? Why?
Please support our advertisers:
Ed
15 yrs ago
Like any city HK has its advantages and disadvantages... I like it for its vibrancy... great public transport system... compactness... low taxes... stuff works like nowhere else... proximity to so many cool destinations...CX airline rocks compared to any western airline... I completely disagree on the restaurant comment - HK has some top notch dining experiences both high and low end... and last but not least... it gives you the chance to escape suffocating suburbia and live an interesting... strange... and foreign place... cherish that opp cuz most people dont and they are less interesting because of it...
And like any big city there are negatives... pollution... pollution.... pollution... and it would be nice if we could get some of the big concerts that play tokyo and singapore eh...
I've removed a couple of insulting comments... lets try to keep this constructive...
Please support our advertisers:
But again my original post was specifically about whether HK is a better place to live today compared to 10 years ago. I am not questioning how it compares to other locations.
Given the deterioration in the air quality, traffic congestion and the significantly higher cost of living (due to ever increasing rentals/house prices) I still believe the trend is downwards.
Please support our advertisers:
In answer to your question boddingtons, IMHO yes and no. The pollution compared to 10 years ago is DIRE and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. Cant say I notice an increase in traffic congestion, I think it has always been bad at certain times of the day. If we are talking about the standard of driving on the roads today, OMG! too many people blatently break the law and it is soooo much worse now. The cost of living has certainly gone up but that I think in most cases has been off set with salary increases, although not in all cases. In regards to appartment rental it is worse and if it continues the way it is going it could indeed have dire consequences. In regards to provisions eg. supermarket choice or general consumer choice it is soooo much better as is customer service.
Other than the absolutely DIRE POLLUTION and the quality of road users I would say not a lot of difference to 10 years ago although the filthy air is a huge consideration.
Please support our advertisers:
I know it's a bit of an aside but how many years do people think they have knocked off their life expectancy by having lived in HK for (say) the past 10 years ?
Please support our advertisers:
Not a lot. I live on the Clearwater Bay Road - about 30 minutes (though I have done it in under 13 on a good day) to the metropolis - and pollution doesn't affect me until about five minutes after I emerge from the eastern island tunnel.
Please support our advertisers:
madtown, you make some good points, especially about projected China growth.
Interestingly, at this stage in my wife's career, we would do better to move to London or New York. However we chose to stay here for quality of life. But that's just us,
In any case the fact that one wouldn't stay if the money weren't so good could be said for a lot of places. A large portion of people migrate for economic opportunity all over the world.
"service at restaurants (and elsewhere) is terrible. "
I disagree. Compared to my native Scandinavia, the service is stellar. Compared to the US, it is often less arrogant. I describe it as "helpful but often a bit clueless".
Please support our advertisers:
"if you and your wife could do better in NY or London, why choose to have your family breathe this air? If its not money, than why would you live in a tiny flat surrounded by some of the worst air on the planet? Please give me the specific day in and day out benefits that increase your quality of life here. I'm just curious."
- Very safe in HK.
- Possibility to hire a helper.
- Excellent schools.
- We don't really mind the smallness of the apartment, and it's not THAT small either. Personally I never really liked living in a house anyway.
- Great hiking close to home.
- Easy to make friends with all the other expats. In London and New York we found making friends harder. Maybe that's us but there it is.
- As k-gwai, we ride motorbikes. Very easy to commute.
- Didn't like taking cars everywhere in the US.
- Excellent public transport.
- My wife finds that her colleagues work hard and well.
- Closeness to many nice vacation destinations.
- Warm climate. Neither of us likes winter (NY) or grayness (London) very much.
Finally, of course money is involved somehow. I mean she might do better in London or NY but not THAT much better.
Please support our advertisers:
""The shopping choice is a joke (unless you like LV or moldy vegetables)"
There are plenty of very good options if you look beyond your local supermarket. Online for example.""
And the vegetables are not moldy if you buy them at streetside stalls or wet market. They are also cheaper there....
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1
15 yrs ago
Most of the negative comments regarding shopping, restaurants, nightlife, culture etc are through the eyes of an expat. To the average expat, shopping is Times Square, Pacific Place, Taste; restaurants are limited to SOHO and Central/Wanchai districts; nightlife is limited to LKF and Wan Chai pub area; Culture is limited to Cantopop and Bruce Lee. You can't bag a city (due to lack of knowledge/language ability) when in reality you've only experienced a very small portion of what it has to offer...
Please support our advertisers:
I agree withMJ1. Shopping - HK is the shopping mecca. The choices offered here are phenomenal. Except if you're a larger woman because large sizes are hard to find, especially for shoes. But then there are many custom services that are cheap options. Fresh fruits and veggies from any local wet market. If you like nice clean markets, there were no 360, Taste, P&S International 10 years ago.
Sports - OK no footie, ice hockey, baseball, but then in USA you won't be able to watch a 5star badminton tourney or a world cup level Rugby7s. Sports here is geared towards the market.
Culture - depends on how you define culture? Western broadway shows, western symphonies, ballet, opera - not that much here. But a lot of Chinese opera (free too), chinese musical ensembles, cantopop, and if you want a western concert, just head over to Macau to catch beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Sting, Linkin Park, Cirque duSoleil, etc.
Transport - everyday I was in Toronto last year - 1 hour commte everytime I went anywhere. I wasted half the day travelling. In HK, I rarely ever spend more than 1 hour in a car as everything is close. The trams here are more convenient than streetcars in Toronto and the subway is way cleaner, more efficient (Octopus vs tokens) in HK. Buses take you directly to your locale and no need for transfering from one bus to another. Airport is fast and efficient (i am usually off the plane and luggage in hand in less than 1/2 hour, and then 30 min later I am already downtown. Airport is Top 3 in the world. When was the last time you could say that about Heathrow, O'Hare, JFk or any other major western airport.
Clubbing - ok there are no mega venues but there are so many times when you walk into a club and every woman in the place is at least a 9 or better. Miami may be better, but I am not too sure about LA and NY especially if you are constantly worrying about getting shot.
Space - this is where we are falling behind. Tamar site should have been left as open space and now is another office tower. Reclaimed land in Central to Wan Chai is a shame. Wan Chai rejuvenation was just building more instead of leaving space for park. I think this is the area where we are falling behind.
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1
15 yrs ago
Regarding the litter problem, maybe you could do your part next time and pick some up instead of walking past it. I know I rather put up with a little litter when I go out at night than having to deal with drunks/thugs who want to belt the living daylights out of you just for fun!
Food supply being tainted by steroids, pesticides and other chemicals, it happens everywhere in the world, not just HK. In the big scheme of things, who cares? when people all over the world are stuffing their faces withsh*tloads of junk food and killing themselves with obesity (e.g. have you seen the crap that US school cafeterias serve up?)
Re the divide between rich and poor, again, happens everywhere, atleast ordinary HK people have access to timely healthcare, unlike US citizens who unless they have private health insurance, go without or go to Mexico.
A lot of people are just making mountains out of a molehills...
Please support our advertisers:
oops, what a hot post! could anybody give a summary of the discussion so far?
Please support our advertisers:
"The wet markets are disgusting. Can you really accept getting food from a rat infested cockroach ridden wet market?"
According to my knowledge, food grows in places like fields, gardens and stuff and there's a slight possibility that mammals, insects, bugs, birds and stuff like cr@p or pee on those vegetables you buy in supermarket, too.
Please support our advertisers:
Why is that car drivers constantly complain about the pollution? Do they unconsciously feel guilty being a larger than average cause of pollution? Why not live near a MTR, that is what HK has going for it, and in the last 10 years it has expanded a lot. No gridlock - two problems solved immediately!!!
Get out of Park n Shop and join the rats n cats and buy from the wet markets. All the restaurants do (where do people think their food comes from?), so find out why it is better. You are allowed to wash it!
Never been to LV, are you seriously suggesting the 5-10 LV stores (maybe fewer) are all HK has...
The last 10 years has seen a lot fewer of the money is everything morons. Of course there are still lots - how many years can I gamble of my kids life vs the money I can earn? I would leave if I thought that, yesterday. While not ideal, there are issues everywhere, and people dying of stuff everywhere. While we can argue about why and if will be the same in 50 years, currently HK people have the longest lives (or 2nd longest, whatever) and that's pretty compelling to me, we have had rats for many years.
So sell the cars, use public transport, live more conveniently, shop local. And anyone who has walked Ocean Terminal would never complain of not enough stuff to buy (I guess there is LV there, but there isn't 500 shops - how many in Ocean Terminal, it must be close to 500). Goodness. While HK doesn't have Toyko's small shop mania, it has nearly everything else, except for Gap and Banana Republic and AnF. What are you looking for that you can't find - ask a question, you will get a reply (Asiaxpat38 knows nearly everything as does Cara), or just buy online or go on holidays.
As for food, try the local food. Jasmine Place in Jardine House is having a Canto special. Quite amazing stuff. Sure the veges aren't off some organic farm 2kms away (we don't live in Northern England), but I thought China is supplying more and more of the West's food supply, so they are eating what we are - how can the outcome be better?
Maybe you are just unhappier, sorry. Pissed sitting in traffic destroying our planet and then blaming poor ole HK for your rich little polluting bubble. Maybe you have a real issues, but LV and gridlock surely can't be it.
Please support our advertisers:
One of the biggest issues with the pollution is the inability of the government to actually do anything about it - hence my original question that the place is fundamentally broken unless there is a complete change in the way it is run.
Take the cross harbor tunnels as an example. The toll in the central tunnel is kept artificially low which means that al the traffic heads for that tunnel which means that all pollution is pumped into the surrounding areas and then the other 2 tunnels raise their tolls to try and increase revenue which means that even more traffic pours through central which causes more pollution etc etc etc
And what can the HK govt do about it (even if they wanted to) ? absolutely diddly squat. I find it almost impossible to come to the conclusion that a country (territory) that is operated on such a basis has any long term future in terms of global or regional influence.
short termism is alive and well and rife in Asia World City.....
Please support our advertisers:
Fixer
15 yrs ago
Yes HK has problems like everywhere else; it doesn't take a genius to work out that if everything was hunky dory perfect, there'd be no room to live because everyone will want to come here legally or illegally.
Last time I was there, Central London's traffic situation has improved many folds since the congestion charging was introduced thus making it less of congested car park. The upside is probably cleaner air, yet you can't realistically move about town like you would in HK. The buses and tube are dirty and don't run on time, and depending on what time of the day or postal code you are in, there's a exponentially greater chance of you getting mugged, stabbed or shot for a packet of cigarettes. Taxi's too expensive all over or take a minicab and get raped. Trains decide to run when they want to and if they do, just hope that the track maintenance company has done it's job well enough so there's not another derailing Pay higher taxes on just about everything else, except petrol but then again, you don't want to contribute to the pollution levels do you. You do get a democratically elected government who again does pi** all about their social problems.
Yes nice place to move to and hope you will be very happy there.
Please support our advertisers:
Mrssmith - not sure what your point is - if you take the MTR, surely the only congestion problem is getting onto a train. I live on HK Island and can get into my office in Central by bus in less than 1/2 hour. I'm sure if you live in Shek O or South Bay then your commute is longer - but that is the price to pay for exclusivity.
Not sure the traffic is worse off now than 10 years ago. 10 years ago I used to commute from south side through the Aberdeen tunnel every day.
Please support our advertisers:
"I can't imagine how people can tolerate the morning and evening traffic jams and the packed public transport"
In our case, we learned the times to go and the times not to. Also, if I am on a bus I can read and on two wheels you can drive right through a lot of the congestion. My wife gets from Repulse Bay to Sheung Wan in 15 minutes in the morning. It's all about leaving before 07:30.
Please support our advertisers:
Leaving the house in Clearwater Bay Road at 09.00 I am at IFC2 within 50 minutes in the morning (usually with a seat on both MTR trains), and it takes around the same amount of time to get home of an evening. Certainly not the highlight of my day, but massively more tolerable than the expensive commutes I endured in the UK.
Please support our advertisers:
So news that the Eastern Harbour Tunnel are planning to increase prices whilst the (government owned) central tunnel keeps its prices artificially low meaning that even more traffic will now pile through central/wan chai/CWB increasing congestion and pollution.
People - stop focusing on how HK compares to where you came from and take some time to consider how it is going downhill !!!
This place is breaking and looking to the future there is absolutely nothing that is going to stop this.
Please support our advertisers:
bruce, i think you're missing the point...it's not about how much you have to pay for the tunnel, it's the fact that the price imbalance (which is about to get MUCH greater) is causing tremendous pressure on the CHT, which leads to traffic backup, which leads to increased engine idling all along the north side of HK Island and Hung Hom, which leads to a deterioration in air quality, which is a problem for EVERYONE here, including you...
Please support our advertisers:
Fixer
15 yrs ago
Bods,
easy as pie solution, just move nearer to where you work and cut down on the commute.
Stop whinging or move out to another country where you will, no doubt face the same problems, apart from some remote island in the miidle of the Pacific that will be swallowed up in 2 years time by the rising tides- there easily sorted!
I would like to have a nice big house on the peak with a nice sea/harbour view. Really unfair this thing called life.
Please support our advertisers:
Fixer
15 yrs ago
Bods,
easy as pie solution, just move nearer to where you work and cut down on the commute.
Stop whinging or move out to another country where you will, no doubt face the same problems, apart from some remote island in the miidle of the Pacific that will be swallowed up in 2 years time by the rising tides- there easily sorted!
I would like to have a nice big house on the peak with a nice sea/harbour view. Really unfair this thing called life.
Please support our advertisers:
Of course why didn't I think of that - all those cheap empty apartments in mid-levels.
Please support our advertisers:
Wow, enough negativity in the replies to this thread. Boddingtons wouldn't have made a thread on the topic if he didn't care about the place. Like any big city, it's got its ups and downs. The trick is how you handle the downs.
Personally, I think the Hong Kong Government is a farce. And people care too much about money in this city... but when you see the living conditions that an average salary can buy you, can you blame people for being money-focused?
Please support our advertisers:
Well put, mrsmith: that "move somewhere else"- suggestion always appears if someone criticizes this place in order to change/improve the city he/she is living in.
And it's not a good solution unless the person is not completely dissatisfied with some fundamental issues like climate, location or population.
Changing other issues is something that an active citizen/resident would do.
Please support our advertisers:
Hear hear mrsmith!!! HK is my home too. I dislike some aspects but in general I really like living here.
Please support our advertisers:
Excepts the OP talked about "fundamentally broken", "best days behind it" and "time to move on".
If someone talked about anyone of us like that we'd tell em to take a hike. People have been relatively reasonable.
Nothing is fundamentally broken here. Us expats aren't even involved enough (typically) to even know how the govt works - then we say it doesn't. Who here votes? I don't. Can I? Don't know. We are as a group fundamentally relatively whiney and lazy and rich and heavy polluters and wasters, and did I say whiney. Whining about pollution instead of whining about cars (how many have 2! that other post talking about 4, seriously, no one called the poster on that?). Whining about the govt when there are street protests every week - care to join one? I am not saying I am doing any of this, but there are options if you want to try to fix things. Of course, like locals say and think all the time (if you know any that is), expats are here for the short term. Like SARS, most of the spouses and kids were packed off pretty quick. It isn't home for most, why pretend. So for people who have made HK home it is, fair enough, I think, to say (respectfully) on your bike/plane/boat, as that person will be soon enough anyway. Not nice to push them though...
So how about those who know giving some positive suggestions. I for one would love some positivity comments about HK.... I will try to go first....
1. I love the realness of some of the festivals here, currently there are a bunch going on for Mid-Autumn Festival. Buy a paper lantern and support a culture.
Please support our advertisers:
I disagree. I honestly believe the HK system is fundamentally broken hence the original post.
I have been here for 11 years - a lot less than some granted, and a lot more then others. It is my home. It is where my kids were educated. It is the place I care about (certainly more than where I came from).
Mate - go to the beach on Thursday, light your lanterns, enjoy the festival and watch the moon come up. And then when it's all over don't forget to stick your head back into the sand.
Oh....and the reason why most of us don't vote or join the 'weekly' protests is because we know it wont make a blind bit of difference.
I agree look at the positives of living in HK and enjoy them, but I urge not to ignore the bad changes that are taking place in this city.
Please support our advertisers:
'Perhaps you are not the kind of person that wants to live in a big city' (anymore)
Perhaps you are right googler. Reading your post has seriously made me question this.
But that does not change the fact that there are things taking place in this city that are seriously affecting the value of living here - and as I have said before the most worrying thing is that looking to the future I cannot see anything that is going to change this trend.
How many more (mainland) cars and buses are there going to be on the roads in 5 years time. How many more (commercially driven) government decisions will there be that will directly increase the level of pollution in the central areas. How many years will our (and our kids) life expectancy be reduced by living here.
Yes bad changes. Yes it was better when I arrived 11 years ago. Yes I am being honest
Please support our advertisers:
[pedant] Actually Bod, if you knew (or cared) a bit more about local culture in this city you love and call home, you'd know that going to the beach this Thursday would be a waste of time, since Mid Autumn Festival is on Wednesday, and the holiday is 'the day after Mid Autumn Festival ;-) [/pedant]
Please support our advertisers:
merm
15 yrs ago
I think 11 years ago that was before the crises. Life hasn't been easy for many families here and now we have half a generation of people who joined the workforce these few years. These people grew up thinking about getting out of one crisis and then another. They're imho quite limited even tho there are always the better ones who are willing to learn. The government's constant talk about the stock market and the economy as if this was how to build a city has really poisoned the mentality of the population. Donald Tsang has no vision, he's just a civil servant. Listen to how he speaks, no depth at all, unlike Chris Patten.
Service in many restaurants has improved especially in the lower end and i love the young local waiters and waitresses who speak to you really nicely like CX stewards and stewardesses or aromatherapists! Quite the opposite in the mid range but expensive places in LKF or Soho where slow and lethargic Southeast Asian waitstaff predominate and reign. Many of them really shouldn't be in the service industry at all much less expect a tip.
Please support our advertisers:
I think Hong Kong is a wonderful place to call home. I've traveled the world and lived in many other countries. But in the end of the day, Hong Kong is the best I have ever known (and I grew up in one of the most beautiful cities in the world).
How does HK today compare to 10 years ago? Hard to say. The big change for me is that my friends tend to be like me in that they have lived in HK for many years, own their own homes and are permanent residents. Within my wide range of friends, I don't know anyone who doesn't absolutely love Hong Kong.
Please support our advertisers:
Fixer
15 yrs ago
"moving somewhere else" is the only pragmatic solution if you seriously believe the place is "fundamentally broken". In fact it smacks of laziness not to move. I can't go to a place where things already work and start critizing the government to bend over backwards to tailor to what I want. Things work here, progression therefore you're bound to have pollution. Which industrialized city doesn't have polllution? The UK's pollution city centre pollution is still bad, though yes better than here. Greenland would be a better choice. Stop whinning, lifes too short to moan about.
Please support our advertisers:
Fixer
15 yrs ago
Madtown,
You are naive in the simplest sense of the word. I don't disagree that the air pollution is bad; and I am sure as you've pointed out that other cities have better air quality. They aren't as densely populated as we are and thay don't have the world's largest manufacturing plant on their doorstep do they? And how would you so cleverly fix this problem of ours? Upping the the whole of HK and planting it in the middle of the Pacific perhaps, or tell China to stop sending their bad air our way.
Mrssmith, yes HK has a lot of possitives going for itself, notably Octopus and public transport. Internet is good though not cheap. More could be done for recycling, but HK doesn't have the system in place. Where would you put the recycling plants though? It's easy to say HK has so many problems and why can't they be more this and that; HK lacks space. On the whole, I and a lot of people would agree that inspite of all this, HK has done remarkably well for itself.
"Problems Within a City like HK" yes.
"Broken HK" no.
Please support our advertisers:
"Broken HK" yes.
You are missing the big difference between HK and other cities. In other cities these problems would be looked at and resolved by the local administration (ref. LA Pollution). In HK they are not due to the imbalance between social responsibility and commercial interests.
Do you honestly think that pollution levels in HK are going to get any better in the foreseeable future? Be honest. And before you answer don't forget that our local administration is making decisions ( tunnel charges / diesel buses) to actively encourage the build of congestion and roadside pollution in Hong Kong.
We all agree commercial interests rule in this city which is why short termism will always overpower long term social interests. That will lead to one thing and one thing only. A Broken city.
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1
15 yrs ago
Commercial interests rule in HK, it's just the nature of the beast, it's not going to change overnight, but I think progress is being made on the social/environmental front.
Boddingtons, is pollution really a major issue for you? If yes, why are you still here? Isn't the health of you and your family more important than $$? Plenty have decided that HK is not their cup of tea and have packed up and left. You might as well do the same, because HK is not going to fix itself anytime soon.
Please support our advertisers:
The 'It's the way HK works - take it or leave it' attitude of some people on this thread is unfortunately another clear example why this place is finished.
In 20 or 30 years time I clearly see the international press full of stories of significant increases in the cases of lung cancer, emphysema and other lung/respiratory diseases amongst people who were unfortunate (fortunate ?) to live in HK during the early part of the 21st century.
It's easy for us all to be blase about it today because we are not yet seeing the long term consequences of our lifestyle choice.
But our kids will.
Please support our advertisers:
merm
15 yrs ago
Speaking of health, there's a lot of wifi pollution here. With how residential blocks are like here - us living on top of each other and so close to the next buildings, we're increasingly and inextricably living in a round the clock wifi radiation web. You can't see wifi so people tend to think it 's not really there and never turn it off. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, every single second we're being bombarded by wifi. It drives me crazy. I can feel the wifi from my neighbours when i sit in my own living room. It gives me headaches that don't go away even when i take something, it wrecks my skin, it even gives me these sharp pains in my body in the middle of the night.
I rang up the building management to ask them to post a notice asking the residents to try to turn it off at night, in the mornings when they leave home and when they go away on business. Was ignored. Wifi pollution is still too new for HK which in many ways is really backwards. I'll try with the management again.
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1
15 yrs ago
OK OK we get it...you really believe that HK is broken and finished, so what are you going to do about it apart from ranting and raving on this forum?
How about next time you attend your organisation's management meeting, you share your "HK is broken" views and ask management to put some Corp policies in place (e.g. environmentally friendly lighting, using less airconditioning, reduce commercial waste, get everyone to take public transport to work) or join HK Greenpeace or get a petition going or organise a mass rally...do something about your extreme views man, don't just whinge about it on this forum.
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1 :"or join HK Greenpeace"
That day will never come, my friend. How dare you even suggest it???
Some moron circulated a petition by Greenpeace earlier this week in our office like "tomorrow I walk or take public transport to work". I mean honestly, that's what I do every day - I don't need any corrupt fraudsters to tell me when I have to jump....Needless to say, my signature is not on that paper.
"The Greenpeace Fund—widely known for its environmental and conservation goals—is among the least efficient of environmental charities. It commits upwards of 82 percent of its fundraising to overhead costs. Costly tree-hugging."
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/5/15/corrupt-charities-pstrongcorrection-appended-see-belowstrongp/
http://www.highnorth.no/Library/Movements/Greenpeace/ge-ar-gr.htm
Please support our advertisers:
MJ1
15 yrs ago
The majority of HK locals get by on misely wages and are uneducated without access to channels/networks/connections that expats have.
Come on mate, expats are in very senior positions in large organisations/MNCs across HK, don't tell me expats can't have a material influence on these issues and play their part. Expats have the power (through seniority within their organisations) to make a change by embracing CSR etc, furthermore, they manage many local employees, perfect way to get the message across to a mass of people.
At the end of the day, maybe it's just too hard or the employer/organisation's commercial interests are just too important, so just stick with taking the loot and whinging on forums such as this...
Please support our advertisers:
merm
15 yrs ago
One of the problems of hk is that it's got the money, both the government and many hkers, but not the expertise/knowledge. The people made their wealth from commerce, buying and selling, not very professional i'd say. Many decisions are made based on how much and not sense, greatness, beauty.
One good thing about hk is that to a certain extent, the people are open to criticisms and are willing to try again to do better, even though often they don't know how. The openness and willingness to try is the only guarantee that the future can be better. This as opposed to some countries in the west where an i don't care attitude is really common.
Please support our advertisers:
< Back to main category
You must be logged in to be able to reply.
Login now
Copy Link
Facebook
Gmail
Mail