Do you regret moving to Hong Kong?

[dear giant]

OK, shorter version: "[Person] loves [field/hobby/pursuit] so much and is so passionate about it that they [activity that does not result in any short-term or even long-term reward]."

[Mat]

US universities are filled to the brim with foreign students studying STEM majors. Overseas students studying STEM subjects in Asian universities are much, much rarer. As for the quality of US employment in STEM fields or the quality of the graduates (unclear what you're referencing), you and I live in a world where most of the technology that we use every day was created in or pioneered in the USA and other Western countries, so I suppose that the quality of whatever it is you're thinking of must not be too poor.

Einstein, that the US has a dominant position in the Uni sector is again stating the obivous BUT and interestingly you choose not to mention this: Asian Unis have year after year climbed up the rankings..... The US (and europe) is so far living on their past dominance, let see in the future.

[Mat]

OK, shorter version: "[Person] loves [field/hobby/pursuit] so much and is so passionate about it that they [activity that does not result in any short-term or even long-term reward]."

Sorry but if Photography is a passion or teaching is a passion and you live of it, I do not think you are a robot. Hence they are not.

Sorry to disappoint you, not all Hongkie are robots.

4800 ppl took part in the 100km Trailwalker this weekend - no reward at the end, only their passion to walk against poverty and to push their physcial abilities - that's at least 4800 non robots then

and I can give you more example if you want...

Just admit you have grossely exagerated the portrait you made of HK student and we will agree.

As I said, I totally admit there is too much pressure and it is hard to get in the top schools. It is also true that many parents would prefer their kids to be banker and lawyer than photographer. The same applies in the West, except that the proportion is maybe a bit lower. But claiming that if the OP moves to HK her kid would end up like a robot and would have no future is plain exaggeration.

[dear giant]

Mat, I thank you for replying.

I'm satisfied by the details that you gave and was not asking for personally-identifying info like your relative's Flickr account URL -- just that those things existed. We could dig further (i.e. how extensively cited by other workers in the field are your wife's papers, which journals she's published in, etc.) but you're right that we could go back and forth forever.

Given what you've written, I think that some of your relatives probably do break the mold. Congrats to you and kudos to your wife and the photographer in your family. The housewife gets a pass and the doc gets a wait-and-see.

I think that living in HK and the school system do turn most people into robots (i.e. rob them of much of their empathy, creativity, and capacity for abstract thought) because I can see it every single day when I interact with HKers (I live in a very local area, have local in-laws, deal almost exclusively with locals, etc.). There are exceptions. I think that you see the exceptions and think that they're the norm.

[MovingIn07]

Every society has a mix of brilliant innovators and mindless robots. And everything in-between. I think we can possibly agree that the distribution of innovators and robots is different in HK and that, on balance, there are more robots and less innovators (that the distribution is shifted somewhat to the robot end of the scale).

No place is every entirely uniform and there are always exceptions to every rule. For the OP, the issue is that they may need to work harder, or pay more money, to give their children experiences and education that they need to break the mould. Similarly, in the US, the kids could equally just get into trouble, join the wrong crowd or overdose on drugs (all things rarer in HK). Only she can know what she values most.

[threelittlepigs]

Whilst in no way am I suggesting the Japanese camera manufacturers are not all excellent (it is striking that you miss Olympus off the list though?), the very top end of the camera market is european. You missed Leica (German) and Hasselblad (Swedish).

As for lenses, IMHO the best lenses are made by German manufacturers - Zeiss (as you mentioned) and, again, Leica.

Oh, god, I would give a few limbs away for a hasselblad!

Would it surprise you to know that Hassies use Kodak sensors in their most recent digital cameras. The Kodak sensor was made by a company called Leaf which was then bought out by Kodak. Hasselblad has worked with Fuji to develop their new line of medium format cameras. Leicas depend on Panasonic for its electronics and also uses Kodak sensors. Kodak just sold their Leica sensor business to a private equity firm. If you take a Leica P&S and a comparable Panasonic it is essentially the same camera except for the software processing algorithms and the extra warranty from Leica in exchange for a hefty price tag and the little red dot. Kodak actually started the entire digital camera revolution using a Nikon body but never managed to get a commercially successful venture up and running and now continue to operate on the fringe. They thought film would still be relevant. Most camera bodies these days are Japanese inners. The lenses are a different matter. Lens design has not changed much over the years - the Euros got it right and continue to improve their designs. But current improvements are now to do with lens coating and lens elements. All the tech in modern lenses (eg image stabilisation, AF) were invented by the Japanese.

The foundation of the current digital sensor that has revolutionalised photograhy was based on the CCD capture device - this was invented by Boyle and Smith (2009 nobel prize winners). One was a Canadian and the other was American. Also in 2009 Nobel Prize winner was Dr Kao, a Chinese with ties to HK, who invented fibre optics which gave us the internet age. I guess Dr Kao must have taught a few robots in his day

[MovingIn07]

I know our threads have a habit of going off track, but "do you regret moving to Hong Kong" ends up as a serious (and quite interesting) discussion on camera manufacturers??????

[threelittlepigs]

Off the top of my head... The same company that made the robots used in Fukushima, IIRC, makes the Roomba and Scooba vacuuming and floor-washing robots. AFAIK they aren't readily available in HK and aren't popular in Asia generally. How many digital cameras, for example, make a point of mentioning somewhere on the casing that they use Carl Zeiss optics? Etc.
.

Your point just emphasises that the world is becoming smaller. Best products, no matter where they are made, are selected for the task at hand. BTW, Carl Zeiss optics is nothing more than a licensing entity. It's Contax line was made by Yashica (Japanese). The Zeiss Ikon was made by Cosina (Japanese). And the Zeiss lens in Sony camera, yep made by Sony (Japanese). I am sure these are still good products, just that the old German reputation is a distant memory.

[threelittlepigs]

I know our threads have a habit of going off track, but "do you regret moving to Hong Kong" ends up as a serious (and quite interesting) discussion on camera manufacturers??????

Good point M07. Moving to HK and worrying about education is fine, but education should be beyond school walls. Just arguing which school system is better is not really relevant as being exposed to new cultures, food, way of life is also an education. The OP should not just discount this. I just think saying a HK education means more robots is a cop-out - btw most HKers speak three languages (english may not be native level but fluency is there, mando and canto) - beyond some Euro countries like Switzerland, Sweden, Holland, etc, not a lot of places can make that claim.

[Morrison]

Sweden? haha, whom would they talk to.
Switzerland and Holland, agreed on.
In addition to that I would say Belgium,Luxembourg, many Germans, some Italians from Tyrol.
C'est ca.