Newsletter (2017-2018) November 2017 Newsletter | Page 14

Pricey Living Condition
Some Hong Kongers don’t want to work. But for them, what are
the other options? We need money to pay bills and rent.
Interests? That’s too much to yearn for.
Today’s society pressures us to work by draining our money
fountain again and again. The high cost of living eats away the
working and middle classes. For an average part-time job, one
hour at work equals to a lunch set in a cha chaan teng (local
diner). ($50 wage and $50 lunch)
Transportation? You’re lucky if you pay less than $10 to
commute. For most of us? Although I was not working, the
stress substantiated when my student Octopus card (which
halves my train fare) was invalidated. I paid $20 (plus $20 for
the return) to travel from far north, my home, to the heart of
Hong Kong. Simply put, lunch and travel equal to two hours at
work.
The fare and lunch may seem inexpensive but they add up in
the long run. Plus the rent, utility bills, things for our children
and so on, the burden is already so heavy that makes Hong
Kongers working like sheep.
Pragmatism
In the following section, I’ll explain this unseeable mindset by
using these photos taken in Kwun Tong.
Badly-maintained one on the left and polished one on the right.
Industrial buildings.
In the photos, there are some posh-looking and slum-like
buildings. More importantly, they are RIGHT NEXT TO EACH
OTHER.
But well, that doesn’t quite prove anything, Mr. Writer.
Hold your horses, readers.
Just think: any normal being probably won’t put these old and
new things randomly together. Take designing an album as an
example. You just won’t put songs from the 20’s and 90’s
together. however, Isn’t it even more bizarre to randomly
squash unmatched buildings in the place in which we wake up
NOVEMBER 2017
|
14