During an afternoon chat with a friend living in Hong Kong today, the city of billionaires, the discussion eventually turned to its current situation and future. While it is not shocking to know about the gap between haves and have-nots widening, a familiar story around any capitalist society, it was rude surprise to find there is more room for shock, it is also number one in many other rather unflattering categories. It is the most expensive place to live, least hopeful city in the world! And slowly going up the ladder of most youth suicide rates. For the city with diamond like night sky, it also has a very rotten underbelly, literally. People living in worse than third world like shoe box rooms with leaking roofs, three generations living in three rooms, no sanitation, power or running water. Its quite astounding to know that almost half the people live this way.
Government spends hundreds of billions on welfare, but not on providing cheaper hosing to the have-nots. A place where a two bedroom apartment costs ten million Aussie dollars, I don’t know what hope the young people would have. No wonder they are leaving Hong Kong in droves, similar to South Asian youths flocking to rich Arab nations in the Middle East. The net result is same. Another consequence of this is the old ones ending up in streets or living in literally rat holes.
It seems almost that this city, built by the British Empire and handed over to the Chinese as the goose that lays golden eggs, wants you to become rich, nothing else. Nominal taxes, lax business rules, world class infrastructure at fraction of cost of other developed nations.
But what if you don’t? Or what if you failed? If you are not rich, it appears it does not know what to do with you. So basically, if you want to make it this is the best place. But with current generation losing hope at this rate, and things don’t improve, how long before it turns into a junk yard of billionaires?
Ravi Tandukar 