Mart-deBlog

Everyone knows about the big future of China. Hong Kong is no exception. But, expectations weigh heavy on the shoulders of the present worker bees.
As some might already know, Hong Kong has a special status, it is called a SAR (Special Administrative Region) due to the recent colonial past. Hong Kong is not China. However, there is a huge influx of people from mainland China and this feeds the lurking "China taking over Hong Kong." Business slowly turns into Mandarin, and the Cantonese speaking people from Hong Kong are straining themselves to learn Mandarin, everything with a view to job security. Mandarin will be the new language of money.
In general, people move from the countryside to the already bursting cities; pursuing their dreams of wealth. Huge flats house many many people on minimum amounts of space. The majority only have a bedroom and go home to sleep. This is the reason that all these supercheap restaurants swarm the streets. The city provides the kitchen. And then, all these people need work. Like ants the less-fortunate are devoted to the most tedious and ridiculous jobs. Some examples: on 4a.m there are streets full of men sitting on the ground folding newspapers; randomly there are cabins with "24 hr guards", my own hall being an example; every 200 metres of the mountain parks has a "gardener" continuously sweeping the paths etc. etc. Work has a different meaning. Surviving has a real meaning. They seem to draw their amazing motivation from the hope and expectation provided by those economic figures. And these numbers do work their magic: money is spend, shops thrive and buildings grow. Really, there is no suffering in the air, the gardeners sweep with a smile, the guards always wave back and every single restaurant is filled with a lively melange of voices.
With all my heart I hope their golden future will bless them all!