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What’s it like growing up and living in Hong Kong?

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oh no!! what am i gonna do without u sweetie? no one to improve my linguistic skills then? yeah i guess that'll be right. Someone as exceptionally capable linguistically as you are should be working in the singapore propoganda department... or as some trade diplomat.

" Together, the People's Republic of China (PRC) comprising of Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia have excellent cultural ties and exchanges and often collaborate in various projects."

We also have the confidence, experience and resources to succeed in the long-term and help the developing countries by means of partnerships and official exchanges. Naturally we do also have high ambitions for ourselves and will not rest on our laurels. Thus we welcome foreign talent into our comospolitan society in our goal to ensure that we remain as a vibrant country for years to come.

After all if malaysia stops importing you water...i guess you're just one dead little island aren't u??! And yes, i don't know u and u don't know me either. so don't assume that it took me a long time to draft that insult nor did i search for any info on the net. I found out all that through experience and by talking to other singaporeans. The reason why its out there is because other people share the same opinion, thus substantiating it. So please! I invite you to correct me. why vivado, are u by nature so confrontational yet still won't jump up to reject these claims?! Am i just getting too close to the truth for your comfort?

Correct these broad generalizations so that people won't misunderstand your (and my own) country. please refute my ludicrous claims and enlighten us ignorant folk.

yeah...i disapprove of my government too here in hk. At least every july 1st, i can go out and about marching around Hk, yelling slogans and burning a poster of my chief executive. if i did this in singapore, i would be branded as a disruptive force, or even a terrorist, out to destroy the cohesive forces of this "multi-cultural, mulit-ethnic, multi-religous" society. which is why HK is better, cos Hk is expressive. U know, a country and its government will never improve itself if it can't take criticsm.

i believe u quoted me and replied "hahah...what a joke". This insult was not provoked or started by me. i simply made a geographical error which i apologized for. At least i can take your opinions and see that there is some truth in them. you made the assumption that i know nothing about asia, now u make the assumption that i know nothing about singapore. So yes, i do take it as an insult against my general knowledge.

Reply 21

renarr

you also just implied that i lack common sense, that i'm not a scholarship holder and not a straight-a student. yeah...i'm not a scholarship holder because i don't need it. yeah, I haven't done geography in the last 4 years. But I am a straight a student. i guess you would have never thought so, since unlike you, I CLearly do not have the ability to make every sentence sound excessively formal.

Reply 22

milkman

live and let live. bring on the booze and fags please.

Reply 23

No Future

Healthcare is only good if you can afford it...

Transport is excellent and cheap. Food is diverse. Things are happening all the time, no worrying about shops closing early. Fine to wander round late at night.

Nice to visit, but not sure about living there. Very crowded/small living space. Stressful, polluted..

Reply 24

superchemical

^ I agree with the thing about transport, food and shopping. In my opinion, Hong Kong has one of the best transport systems in the world.

The only thing aside from the claustrophobic environment that I find horrible in HK is the exuberant prices of books. The public libraries have rubbish selections of books so you'll be often forced to buy them instead. Bookstores in HK are pretty much monopolized - the prices are insanely high.

Reply 25

Christian87

But how do you regard the city's future? I heard that housing prices fell dramatically during the recession. And with the prospect of becoming a Chinese city, it might loose it's somewhat comparative advantage.

One thing that surprised me was that the city wasn’t more multicultural, when you consider that it’s a financial centre – only 3-4 % is not from Greater China. How, do you look at the city’s future in this sense, i.e. do you think it will converge towards London, New York, etc.? One day, with the predicted economic growth in China, westerners might be more than a minority?

Reply 26

CNN Center

This is a thread about life in Hong Kong so let's not get all offensive or defensive about Singapore here. Please, I'm sure the both of you are too old for this.

The truth is: Hong Kong has its attractions and drawbacks, and so does Singapore. As much as the two cities compete with each other, they have a lot in common. Indeed, perhaps it's due to their similarities that they so often square off against each other.

Reply 27

Né Stig

CNN Center

- The skyline? My favourite! Its tallest building - IFC 2 - was completed roughly two years ago and stands above 400 metres.

Soon to be 2nd tallest by a whopping 60 odd meters from Union Square Phase 7 for the Chineese Bank & hotel.

Has the most beautiful building in the world as well: Bank Of China Tower. Well IMO anyway!

Life in Hong Kong for the average child: watching TV on the 100th floor of their apartment block :rolleyes:

alright then - the 50th then!

Reply 28

tangsiuje

Christian87

One thing that surprised me was that the city wasn’t more multicultural, when you consider that it’s a financial centre – only 3-4 % is not from Greater China. How, do you look at the city’s future in this sense, i.e. do you think it will converge towards London, New York, etc.? One day, with the predicted economic growth in China, westerners might be more than a minority?

From a European point of view, Hong Kong is far from being multicultural.

As someone wrote above, ethnic minorities (such as Indian or Bangladeshi) are not seldom discriminated against. The largest group of foreigners is probably university educated Filipino/Indonesian maids, working very long hours for very low wages. A foreigner who cannot afford putting his or her children into an international school will most probably see them ending up in a very bad local school.

I used to be an exchange student in a (good) local school. Apart from the Canadian NET (native English teacher), I was the only one who was not Chinese. If you walk into a classroom in Europe or the US, you'd probably meet people from a wide range of cultures.

Foreigners in Hong Kong have a strong tendency to stick together quite closely. An American friend of mine dubbed Discovery Bay (daaih-baahk-waan) "Little America." Stanley (on HK Island) gave me the feeling of "Europetown." Where I lived (Sheung Shui), I saw foreigners (only Caucasian) twice in 7 months.

All this mentioned, Hong Kong is a lovely place. If I'd ever got a job offer there, I'd book my flight ticket in 10 minutes.

If you seriously consider living in Hong Kong, I definitely agree with the above poster: make sure you learn some Cantonese. Many foreigners in Hong Kong don't, and I think this might be a reason why they remain just foreigners. It's a very beautiful and expressive language. (I would argue it is a language of its own -- a spoken language -- with different vocab and different syntax from Mandarin). It's great fun to learn and not as difficult as some people claim. In addition, it will be a true mind-boggler. :wink:

Every new language you learn will teach you a new way of thinking.

Reply 29

Christian87

The vast majority of Caucasians in Hong Kong are mostly couples in their 30’s staying on temporary basis, right? Is marriage between Caucasians and people from the mainland normal?

From this thread I’ve gotten the impression that there aren’t many Caucasians in Hong Kong, who pursue next to their whole career there, and wish to live and work there permanently. Is this correct?

And again: Do you think that globalization will change the scenario, and that Westerners might constitute more than 10 % of the population within a period of 10 years?

Update.

Update.

The future of HK depends on the future of the mainland - so whether foreigners will ever make up more than 10% of the population is pure guesswork.

There aren't that many westerners in HK - there are enough though to make a westerner feel more than at home. Most people move there on a temporary basis for work. A few will move there for work, meet a local girl and settle down and stay in HK.

Reply 33

Monteferro

vivado

Hong Kong is not even part of South-east Asia.

LadyNamibia

nightlife is overrated. nothing compared to london but probably one of the best in SE ASia.

So it was this supposed "error" that began a bitter argument? Hong Kong is considered by many to be part of Southeast Asia as well as Northeast Asia. Technically it is legitimate because Hong Kong is at the same latitude as Northern Vietnam and North-central Myanmar. Also, many businesses (i.e. United Airlines) categorise it under the Southeast Asian region so LadyNamibia hasn't even made a mistake.

And vivado, I cannot see how the post below is in any way inflammatory:

LadyNamibia

my bad...the whole of asia then..

yeah...i think they do make assumptions about westerners coming to hk being rich. but aside from the passport, its also partially the culture here...there are lots of skin whitening products on the market..

my chinese friend's grandma told her to marry a westerner so that their eurasian kids would look better! while i definitely don't agree with that, it does show what kind of mindset some hk-ers have.

I live in Hong Kong and I can validate that what LadyNamibia has said is true. It is not a joke and I would like you to consider the fact that Hong Kong culture and Singaporean culture are very different before you make snide remarks and incredibly crass assumptions about people's knowledge and backgrounds when you don't even know them.

Reply 34

Possession

It really depends on which parts of Hong Kong you live in.
I never like living in Hong Kong whenever I go back there - the climate and the place my parents grew up in I never liked. It's strengthened even more now due to recent bad memories. When I was a child I loved it because I was with all my cousins, though we never spoke a word of Cantonese to each other.

However, these are my own personal views, other people's on the other hand may differ.