I would say that it's a matter of culture. Having grown up in the U.S., we Chinese kids would often get together and bemoan our strict parents, when getting anything less than an A in school would be considered a failure. AFAIK HK is that and more, ultra-competitive, super high density, etc., and the fact is, not everyone can get a 5.00 GPA. As a result, there are a bunch of people who fake it and keep themselves where they are via something other than merit, i.e. politics. It's the same everywhere, it's just magnified here because there are so many people.
Since this is my first post I'd like to introduce myself. I'm originally from HK, moved to the U.S. when I was a child, and now I'm back in HK after 20+ years. I'm looking forward to becoming an active member here!
Post anything about the evil inscrutable locals and you're certain to get plenty of support. It doesn't necessarily make it the absolute truth. It's a viewpoint from a particular perspective. Considering that the majority of expat never learn more than a few words of cantonese and have limited interaction with locals, the "expat expertise" is often based on limited local knowledge.
Maybe this thread represent what goes on in offices
[QUOTE=Mat;2316670]If you don't know then just stop speculating.[/QUOTE
Where is any speculation in my post. I think if you could read you would see I was agreeing with you - in fact it was the only post agreeing you. Nice to rat out my post.
Gilles is right. We have our own views of what is right and not right and even though Asian cultures have similarities to each other there are different than Europeans and the Anglo cultures.
Expats can be ethocentric and see everything only from our perspectives.
In HK the subordinates (a HK word used without flinching) fear their superiors and cow tow.
Where I come from anyone who thinks they are superior gets their car keyed