HK is ok. It is expensive. Up to 3 - 6 times more than Ottawa/Toronto. Rents are the high end, but food is the low end (ie, 3x). U can get anything u want in HK, but it costs. Sure there are the lower classes and they live cheaply, but very poorly. And, then health care, insurance.... generally it is impossible to get by without a job (read middle class right away....). And that is difficult, if not impossible here because of the chinese language barrier (like french); and the type of work available. No bus driver, waiter, bartender type jobs as they have no real minimal wage and lots of cheap labour, including 'illegal', but tolerated by govt., immigrants.
Middle class really, other than 'professional' jobs, are mainly sales, bankers and expat imports...; govt requires fluent chinese.... universities n colleges teaching, (there are 6 now vs 2.5 in the 60's) requires PhDs; and HK has money, so only the best survive.....; then there are the wealthy, who support the economy, (with the middle class minimally), of the guest workers and lower classes.... (eg, a cab or bus driver is lower class here.... as are clerks, secretaries and restaurant workers.... and just about everyone else who cannot 'flaunt' their wealth and existence.... )
so if one has no 'income tax paying job', then one is not middle class and if one has no money, then one is not upper class. And the lower classes live in bunks beds, in dormitories, without toilets.. etc... Doctors are consider middle class, as are other professionals.... Lots of money is old wealth, there is very little noveau riche or the north american success stories.....
(the only hope was to 'become a mandarin' .... as they used to say in the olden days... about how to get out of the hole of the lower class.... brilliance.... and luck.)
The population is officially 7 mil, unofficially 15 mil; salaried professionals and bankers are only 100 to 200k (taxpayers), so... u go figure the numbers....; of the official 7m, approx half are lower class!... so u know how many rich guys in the upper class there are....
that's why things are expensive and food and living expenses are very high.....
and oh yes, transport costs are also high... nobody walks here because of the pollution... so cabs and minivans are popular... and then there is the subway, 'which, is efficient.. but not effective' ...
which just about describes HKG......
besides this... people use cell phones differently, live in high rises, which is so extreme, from a lake cottage with outdoor toilets...; their idea of vacation, is... around every holiday, to extend it by a day or two.. and fly away to some resort..... it's like a drive out to cottage, only the cottage is called 'Banyan Tree Resorts' and costs US$300 a night, where you sit by your own personal pool, have a personal chef and maid and do nothing but sulk about lost luggage... about half way to the Saudis during heir prime oil money days....lol....
Dubai has a 7 out of 5 star hotel... so u figure....lol...
hedonistic? to the extreme!!! and the psychological makeup of its inhabitants..... the same....
No comments:
Post a Comment