[Poll] Stay or Leave Hong Kong

[jonastainine]

We are leaving next year. The problem is I bought our flat so need to sell it first. The market is not very good so either we wait or heavily discount.

HK is full of bad vibes. There is too much hatred for mainlanders, foreign helpers, etc, when the Hongkers themeselves are worse in my eyes. At least in the mainland I see people giving up their seats on buses and the metro. I will leave these superior people and move back to the US. The vibe is pretty horrible there as well.

[Elegiaque]

Soul is what HK Is missing

The government has made very sure of that!!! Soul might mean "violence" and people imagining an independent Hong Kong. Better replace people on the streets with more cars and pollution. If ever humans were living in anthills, working long hours every day for the greater good of property developers, it's Hong Kong. What the f*** are Hong Kong people living for?! I'm continually sickened to see how the money is just handed over to the richest (New World, Henderson, Hang Lung, Sino Group, etc.), with no imagination or consideration of more immediate solutions for the betterment of all life in Hong Kong. With the kind of money they have there is no excuse. But with a growing upper and middle class in China, there is an endless supply of money to keep feeding the monster. What a sterile place to live.

[jonastainine]

The government has made very sure of that!!! Soul might mean "violence" and people imagining an independent Hong Kong. Better replace people on the streets with more cars and pollution. If ever humans were living in anthills, working long hours every day for the greater good of property developers, it's Hong Kong. What the f*** are Hong Kong people living for?! I'm continually sickened to see how the money is just handed over to the richest (New World, Henderson, Hang Lung, Sino Group, etc.), with no imagination or consideration of more immediate solutions for the betterment of all life in Hong Kong. With the kind of money they have there is no excuse. But with a growing upper and middle class in China, there is an endless supply of money to keep feeding the monster. What a sterile place to live.

I hear this a lot but this statement doesn’t make much sense. Half the people here live in public housing or government ownership scheme. So how much land is allotted to the needy? Half? There is public housing on the most valuable real estate sites in the world like Stanley. If the government is so malicious as you say then we would have Mumbai slums, gentrified YMT and land use would be purely unregulated.

[HK_Katherine]

I left after six years. If you have no intention of making HK home why wait for PR?

Because it gives you options. Options have value.

[hullexile]

Because it gives you options. Options have value.

But it is an option I know I would never take up so its value is zero.

[shri]

I don't know why but I see some analogy between a journalist being refused a visa and a foreigner on geoexpat being dealt with a heavy handed approach for sharing his views.

I see it too. One clown was responsible for organising a well moderated and presumably a high quality discussion within a peer audience. Another clown was ranting about taxi fares.

Quite frankly, it is scary how similar the two situations are.

I think a different scale but you are possible correct people have not been very nice to someone who only showed bombastic naivety.

I would have found some other way to describe Mallet.

[Mrs. Jones]

I left after six years. If you have no intention of making HK home why wait for PR?

You mean making CHINA home! Certainly not on most people’s wishlist I reckon......

[Elegiaque]

Because it gives you options. Options have value.

Well I hope long term it will be an option. I know I am beginning to wonder how much value it will really have in the next 10, 20, 30 years. For me, Hong Kong has better and cheaper health care than my home country and some potential better opportunities in terms of jobs and income. And I feel safer here (no need to be afraid of guns or rape). Need to keep that door open in case I need it in the future (if there is a future).

[mrdollars]

As far as I can see, HK is not headed anywhere good in the near to long term future. Unless you enjoy living in an overpriced suburb of Shenzen. I will finish my current work contract and be off... I do still love HK (especially my friends here) but it's quite depressing watching its transformation.

[jonastainine]

When people get nostalgic about the good old day they are referring to the golden age of HK cinema of the 70’s and 80’s. Back then HK had a thriving industrial sector and only 5 million people. By the 90’s when I arrived HK had 6 million people. Now 20 years later we have nearly 8 million people. In any narrative about the so called decline of HK no one brings up this elephant in the room. HK has too many people, placing demands on everything. Yet any limits on population growth is never discussed? Why? Taboo subject? What is the statistics on monthly immigrant arrivals to HK? Thousands?