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The rise and fall of Hong Kong’s ‘begpackers’

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  1. #31

    If begpackers want to travel the world, that is fine but they should pay themselves. They should not ask the public to fund their lifestyles. There are plenty of genuinely needy people in Hong Kong who would benefit from a good meal or medical/dental treatment. I have seen a family with several young children on a couple of occasions. The children were rolling around in the dirt which probably is not too bad (but could be harmful) but they were sweltering in the heat.


  2. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Edwardstorm:
    Who cares. If you don’t like them begging just ignore them. Live and let live. Seriously, there are much bigger issues in the world (and Hong Kong) than a few folks begging or busking.

    Bringing your child with you is dubious although I dare to challenge the happiness of those children, travelling the world with busking parents, compared to the pathetic children living in Hong Kong (or other competititive asian countries) with their tiger moms, loaded with ridiculous amount of useless “academic” homework and their parents drilling them to become non thinking 9 to 9 work robots scrambling 20 years to save enough money for a downpayment on a tiny shoebox.
    We are all entitled to our opinions on a range of topics. The begpackers are not begging out of necessity but want the average Hong Konger who works 9 hours a day to pay for their holiday. If Western ‘beggars’ want to travel the world, they should pay themselves.
    Everything is relative and children in Hong Kong do work hard but they are not robots. They live in a very competitive society and, unfortunately, the system is partly to blame. Most of the local children are trilingual and excel at maths on a global scale. Thank goodness Chinese parents do not believe that intelligence is fixed like it used to be or still is in the West. Tigers mothers set high standards for their children to ensure their children will not have to beg or be beholden to others in the future. Admittedly, living in ‘shoeboxes’ is not that great but all places have advantages and disadvantages.

  3. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bernadette J W:
    We are all entitled to our opinions on a range of topics. The begpackers are not begging out of necessity but want the average Hong Konger who works 9 hours a day to pay for their holiday. If Western ‘beggars’ want to travel the world, they should pay themselves.
    Everything is relative and children in Hong Kong do work hard but they are not robots. They live in a very competitive society and, unfortunately, the system is partly to blame. Most of the local children are trilingual and excel at maths on a global scale. Thank goodness Chinese parents do not believe that intelligence is fixed like it used to be or still is in the West. Tigers mothers set high standards for their children to ensure their children will not have to beg or be beholden to others in the future. Admittedly, living in ‘shoeboxes’ is not that great but all places have advantages and disadvantages.
    What racist nonsense.
    Gatts likes this.

  4. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by Bernadette J W:
    We are all entitled to our opinions on a range of topics. The begpackers are not begging out of necessity but want the average Hong Konger who works 9 hours a day to pay for their holiday. If Western ‘beggars’ want to travel the world, they should pay themselves.
    Everything is relative and children in Hong Kong do work hard but they are not robots. They live in a very competitive society and, unfortunately, the system is partly to blame. Most of the local children are trilingual and excel at maths on a global scale. Thank goodness Chinese parents do not believe that intelligence is fixed like it used to be or still is in the West. Tigers mothers set high standards for their children to ensure their children will not have to beg or be beholden to others in the future. Admittedly, living in ‘shoeboxes’ is not that great but all places have advantages and disadvantages.
    I can’t even begin to counter this nonsense

  5. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by East_coast:
    What racist nonsense.
    How open minded and accepting of you...yet another person that needs to demean and insult because of a different opinion, I guess DeletedUser is rubbing off on others. Sad, sad, sad. There might be some personal interpretations that are exaggerated and the bit about intelligence is odd but it's her view of the situation.
    civil_servant likes this.

  6. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by Golem:
    How open minded and accepting of you...yet another person that needs to demean and insult because of a different opinion, I guess DeletedUser is rubbing off on others. Sad, sad, sad. There might be some personal interpretations that are exaggerated and the bit about intelligence is odd but it's her view of the situation.
    The opinion just referenced race. Hence my point to suggest it was racist nonsense.
    Gatts likes this.

  7. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by East_coast:
    The opinion just referenced race. Hence my point to suggest it was racist nonsense.
    One possibly misconstrued line in the paragraph hardly warrants the insulting personal attack. At worse, she seems to imply that western parents think that intelligence is fixed whatever that means. I would accuse most western parents of far worse when it comes to educating their kids.

    Also noticeable that when other posters make similar blanket remarks about the way chinese people live in HK, I don't see anyone jumping in to say it's racist nonsense. Typical of viewing things through narrow biased lenses
    Bernadette J W likes this.

  8. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by East_coast:
    What racist nonsense.
    Edwardstrom seemed to be criticising Tiger mothers who I assume are Chinese and referred to Chinese children as robots. That sounds rather racist to me. In general, educators in Britain tended to think intelligence was fixed and some still do today. In my experience, followers of Vygotsky and Feurestein think intelligence is modifiable with intervention. When I came to China, I saw many parents intervening in their children’s education. They believe hard work can bring successful. Some western parents feel the same but when I was doing my teaching practice many educators used to label children as clever or not early on and this had an effect on the children involved. The self-fulfilling prophecy!
    Tea addict likes this.

  9. #39

    I am talking about intelligence and different views about it in different cultures. If you find my comment about intelligence unusual, I suggest you read about Piaget’s, Vygotsky’s and Feurestein’s theories on child development and intelligence. If I were racist, I would not be married to a Chinese. By the way, I would consider myself to be closer to a Tiger mother (Amy Chua’s type of parenting)
    even though I am British. Please do not call me a rascist.


  10. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bernadette J W:
    Edwardstrom seemed to be criticising Tiger mothers who I assume are Chinese and referred to Chinese children as robots. That sounds rather racist to me. In general, educators in Britain tended to think intelligence was fixed and some still do today. In my experience, followers of Vygotsky and Feurestein think intelligence is modifiable with intervention. When I came to China, I saw many parents intervening in their children’s education. They believe hard work can bring successful. Some western parents feel the same but when I was doing my teaching practice many educators used to label children as clever or not early on and this had an effect on the children involved. The self-fulfilling prophecy!
    This makes little sense. The UK has generally moved away from banding while HK it is still core policy.

    It is not an issue of race it is an issue of policy.

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