Compensated dating in Hong Kong

Do you know that there is a way for Hong Kong teenage girls to make quick cash?

That is called “compensated dating”. (媛助交際)

It’s not something wholesome, though.

The concept originates from Japan. It is a practice of older men giving money or luxuries to females in exchange for some kind of “make believe dating”, or even sexual favors. Though sex is not always involved, and sometimes the role is reversed.

But the situation for that in Hong Kong is much worse. “Compensated dating” has more or less become the euphemism for teen prostitution. The girls can make excuse about how these “dating” are “helping each other”, but that will still boil down to sex in the end.

What’s terrifying is the girls don’t think this is prostitution because they “get to choose the clients” and can “decide to stop at any time they want”. The fact is some of them ended up being raped, and some were even blackmailed with their own nude pictures / videos. In some extreme cases, they got murdered, like the case of Wong Ka Mui in 2008.

Police are worried that the problem would become more uncontrollable because with the advancement of social media and smartphone apps, it is very easy for the teenagers to look for clients online.

It is very sad to see Hong Kong has become a society like this. We Hongkongers used to be proud of being civilized, educated and ethical. However, lots of people seem to see materialism more important than anything else. Even the youngsters, the future of our society, are willing to sell their bodies for money. Maybe I can’t really blame them if they are just trying to ease their families’ financial problems (even though it’s still not a good way), but those who simply want extra pocket money should definitely be criticized. Money IS important, but it doesn’t mean we should give up everything to earn it.

This reminds me of an old saying 笑貧不笑娼, when we “laugh at the poor, but not the prostitute”. People will admire you as long as you can make money, no matter how dirty your methods are.

Is this what Hongkongers believe in?

Street food in Hong Kong

Do you know that Hong Kong is called “World’s Fair of Food” because of the combination of cuisine from all over the world resulting from its historical background bla bla bla…

Who cares about that? Let’s go eat something! You have already eaten? How about some snacks then? Not normal snacks like chips and cookies, but local snacks sold on the street.

Ready? Then let’s go “street sweeping” (掃街, a slang used to express “try out every roadside food stall”)!

Where to begin? Right. Fish balls, mostly made with cod and haddock. The type you can buy from a roadside stall is the deep-fired one, and usually served with soy sauce and/or chili oil. But if you want something spicier, try curry fish balls. You will be surprised by how they fit together…

Have you heard of how Hong Kong people like shark fin soup? Let’s try some. No, not the real one, that‘s too shark-unfriendly and expensive. I mean the faux shark fin soup (碗仔翅). Instead of having real shark fin, we have imitated one made of vermicelli, while the soup mainly is composed of water, soy sauce and MSG. You can also add in some red vinegar and ground pepper if you like. Be warned though, it can make you really thirsty because of its seasoning.

How about something sweet? Like egg waffle (雞蛋仔)? It is made of eggs, sugar, flour and evaporated milk. We mix them together and have them grilled in eggs-like mold. It smells great and is “crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside”, as even the Hong Kong government suggests. I heard that egg waffle is so famous that you can even find it in New York.

And it would be a crime to not mention egg tart. The tart has an outer pastry (shortcrust or puff) crust and is filled with egg custard. Simple, yet delicate. You can imagine how good it is when even the former governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten is one of its fans…

There are still so many local snacks that I haven’t…

Did I say too much? Sorry, let’s eat.

Kindergarten in Hong Kong

Do you know Hongkongers start fighting before they are 3 year-old?

No, we are not gladiators from some proud warrior races. I am talking about the competition brought by our education system. Pre-school education here, to be exact.

People are not kidding when they said “competition in Hong Kong is fierce”. If you want a successful life, you need to study in a prestigious school; if you want to study in a prestigious school, you will need to attend a good kindergarten…With this logic, everything traces back to “what you should do for your child when / before he is born”.

What is ridiculous is that people DO follow this logic. Parents have their children attend those “play groups” to learn how to socialize with others when they are only 10 month-old.

Then the kids (actually they are still babies) have to participate in those extracurricular activities like playing violin or piano, because that gives you bonus for the kindergarten interview. Some parents even have their child learn English, Mandarin and Japanese… at 3.

Then the parents enroll in the kindergarten like crazy. They don’t just enroll in 1 or 2 schools, but as many as possible. Like, 12, as suggested by some parents on the news.

It’s not over yet. When you have enrolled in that many schools, you have to prepare for and participate in all the interview. Overwhelmed by the stress and workload, some kids even refuse to speak to the interviewers, rendering everything pointless.

Poor kids… They are only 3, and this is only the beginning of their suffering.

All those work and preparation really put my job applications to shame. I guess that is why my job sucks and why I am so underpaid.

Internet in Hong Kong

Do you know that Hong Kong has the highest internet access speed in the world, with the average peak connection of 65.4Mbps? That’s even higher than the one in other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore!

And around 73-74% of Hongkongers, meaning 5.5 million out of 7.3 million, are internet users. The mobile internet usage is even higher, with 96% smartphone users using mobile internet service on a daily basis. Again, that’s highest within the Asia region.

“Yay, we are so modern. Now envy us,” is not what I try to say, though. While the easy access to internet benefits us a lot (mostly in terms of leisure), this kind of convenience has altered our lifestyle and habits as well.

Like your friends and families prefer looking at their phones instead of your face; people prefer sending you chat messages instead of calling you directly; the overwhelming amount of information on the internet makes you feel like more alienated and detached, instead of more connected to the society; and when you have nothing to do but you don’t get to browse the net, you start feeling uncomfortable…Any of you find these situations familiar?

Technology is a good thing; it’s our over-reliance on it that is bad. The most important thing is that we don’t let “part of our lives” becomes “our lives”.

But I am posting this thing on the internet myself, so I guess I am not being really persuasive here…

Gweilo in Hong Kong

Do you know that westerners are usually being called “gweilo”(鬼佬) by Cantonese speaking people? Where does the name come from?

The nickname got popular during Sino-British Opium War era. Because of the, um, “not-so-happy” confrontation between the Chinese and British, Cantonese speaking population came up with this name to insult the westerners. The name is made up of “gwei” (鬼) and “lo” (佬), where “gwei” means “ghost” or “demon”, and “lo” is a Cantonese slang referring to “man”.

Chinese always use “ghost” to derogate the “foreign outsiders”, probably because the westerners are pale when compared to Asians (which makes them looks like dead bodies), or because their physical appearances are so alien to the Chinese that they look “otherworldly”, hence the name gweilo (ghost people).

That’s a really insulting name…in the past.

The derogating connotation simply faded away soon as Hongkongers started to understand more about the westerners, especially when people realised that the foreigners’ culture and behavior is not “ghostly” at all.

Nowadays, the name has more or less become a neutral, or even friendly nickname to refer to foreigners (ok, I admit that it’s still somewhat rude to call others “ghost”). What’s interesting is that even some foreigners happily call themselves gweilo as well. You can see that on newspapers, internet, books and even theatrical performances.

Of course there are still foreigners who find the name offensive, and they have all the reasons in the world to, but at least they are nice enough to not set up some “Anti-Insulting Westerners  Alliance” and go on demonstration…As a Hongkonger, I am really thankful of that.

In my opinion, insult comes hand in hand with intention. It is the intention that defines offensiveness, not words. When the intention is no more, what used to be an insult is nothing more than just words. Then what exactly is being insulted?

You think this sounds cheesy and hypocritical?

I deem that as an intention to state opinions, not an intention to offense.

So I don’t find that insulting.

What about you? Is that “supposed” to be an insult?

ICAC in Hong Kong

Do you know that the Independent Commission Against Corruption (廉政公署, ICAC for short) of Hong Kong has been cleaning up corruption in many departments of Hong Kong Government since its establishment in 1974?

During 1960s, while Hong Kong was experiencing economic growth, civil servants’ overall salaries were low. Together with the lack of restriction on the officials’ behavior, officials from many departments tried to take advantages of their post to make “extra money”. Even the police would demand “protection fee” and the firemen would ask for money before turning off the water.

Seeing the uselessness of the original Anti-Corruption Branch, damaged done to the society by the notorious Peter Godber Case and Hongkongers’ disdain toward corruption, the British government started to study different anti-corruption laws and decided to set up an independent institute to deal with the problem.

The ICAC was finally established by Governor Murray MacLehose on 15, February, 1974. ICAC, as suggested above, is an independent department that answered only to the Governor of Hong Kong (now answer to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong), with the aim to deal with and prevent corruption through law enforcement and community education, even after the handover to Mainland China in 1997.

It’s a good thing that Hongkongers have ICAC, isn’t it?

Technically speaking, yes.

But what if the officials from ICAC got corrupted? Or, even worse, the Chief Executive, which ICAC is accountable to, got corrupted?

If you have paid attention to Hong Kong’s news, you will find that the “what ifs” are more than just worries.

Two out of three Chief Executives’ (Donald Tsang and CY Leung) seeming involvement in some shady bribery cases; Expense scandal about Commissioner of ICAC, Timothy Tong, granting himself the authority to use entertainment expense which exceed the internal guidelines; Sudden removal of Rebecca Li Bo Lan, the head of ICAC investigative unit, from her post without any reason; the drop in Corruption Perception Index of Hong Kong in the recent years…

Should we Hongkongers be worried? Yes.

But should we lose faith in integrity? Definitely not.

Numbers in Hong Kong

Do you know that numbers can carry different implications because of their pronunciations in Chinese / Cantonese? Let’s go through 1 to 9.

1 – Nothing really special, but it’s usually considered as a lucky number because of the Chinese idiom 一元復始. It’s an idiom we use during Lunar New Year. “一” is one, and the idiom more or less means “a new beginning”, so it’s good.

2 – Usually, even numbers are considered as lucky numbers in traditional Chinese culture because if there are 2, there is a pair, and thus 好事成雙 (good things come in pairs).

3 – Cantonese speaking people (like Hongkongers) love this number, because its Cantonese pronunciation [saam1] sounds like 生 [saang1], which means “alive” and “lively”.

4 – It is somewhat considered as an ominous number today because its pronunciation (whether it’s in Cantonese, Mandarin, Min Nan or Hakka) sound like “death”, and of course it’s a big no. What’s funny is that this taboo seems to originate from Japan, and my teacher once said that four is not a bad number until a few decades ago.

5 – We have an idiom 五福臨門 (“五” is five), which literally means “five fortune reaching the door (of your house)”, so it’s good.

6 – We also have 六六無窮 (“六” is six), which means “endless” or “limitless”. Moreover, since its pronunciation is the same as “祿” [luk6] in Cantonese, which means “salary” or “prosperity”, it’s good again.

7 – While seven is considered lucky in the west, it is a really bad number in Cantonese culture because of the traditional funeral practice 食七 (literally “Eat Seven”). Back in the old days, when wealthy people died, their families have to treat their neighbors to “funeral banquets”. There would be seven dishes for each table, and the banquets would be held every seven days, until 49 days (seven “seven-days”) were passed. Funeral nowadays is not like this, of course, because of the time and resource required. So the number starts to lose its ominous connotation, and the younger generation probably won’t know what is so bad about seven.

8 – If you know Cantonese, you will know that eight (八 [baat3]) is a really good number because it sounds like 發 [faat3], which implies “to get rich”. Lots of numerical combinations involving “eight” carry good meanings, like 18 (sounds like 實發, “bound to be rich”) and 168 (sounds like 一路發, “continue to be rich”).

9 – Last but not least, we have 長長久久, where 久 and九 (nine) sound exactly the same as [gau2], and the proverb means “longevity”. So, of course the number is good.

Why are there so many good numbers?

Well, I guess you could say…We are good at comforting ourselves?

Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong

Do you know that there are over 300,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong in 2013?
Nearly half of them are from Philippines, another half from Indonesia, and the rest are from Thailand.

Well, I am not rich enough to hire any foreign domestic helper (you need to have a monthly income of at least HK$15,000 by law), so I can’t say I know much about them. But based on the rights they have, it seems their lives as domestic helpers aren’t bad.

They get to live in their employers’ house, they have their own room, and they have free medical treatment, which will probably make lots of Hongkongers jealous (especially the “get a place to live” part); they get one rest day per week, which should be no less than 24 hours, something the overworked wage slaves in Hong Kong deem luxurious; and their minimum wage rate is HK$4,110 per month (the figure in 2014), but since they don’t have to worry about their rent, bill, or food, this net income is a number even a university fresh graduate in Hong Kong can’t hope for…

However, there are people who think this kind of job is so inhumane and barbaric because the domestic helpers look like nothing other than modern slaves. And the news about how they are exploited for profits and abused by their employers intensifies this thought. Even the United Nations Humans Right Committee criticised some of the terms in their employment contract for being too outdated and discriminatory.

…But, but, but they get food! They get a place to live, and, and they don’t have to worry about the bills! And more importantly, they get paid! And holidays!
What have the society done to me…?
Why I am finding a HK$4,000 job appealing?

Country Park in Hong Kong

Do you know that 40% of Hong Kong land is preserved as country parks and nature reserves?

This figure is probably pretty surprising to those who think Hong Kong is nothing more than just a concrete jungle, but Hong Kong really does have that much green space!

If you are not persuaded, you are free to visit on your own. May I suggest Tai Mo Shan Country Park, with Hong Kong’s tallest peak? Or maybe famous Mai Po Wetland Park, where its mangrove boardwalk and bird hideouts will fill you with nothing but awe? And you just can’t miss the Lion Rock Country Park, which holds the symbolic Lion Rock Mountain of Hong Kong, and is also popular for its story and hiking trail.

Does this sound like some kind of eco-tour ads to you?

Well, maybe. But they obviously worth being advertised. Can’t believe some government dude actually suggest “let’s ditch these lands and build some houses here instead”.

So that the land developers could build some over-priced housing by sacrificing such valuable land of pristineness? Yeah, that’s a wise idea, Mr. shortsighted-government-official.

McRefugee in Hong Kong

Do you know that the global fast food chain, McDonald’s, is the second home to Hongkongers…literally?

We all know that Hong Kong’s house price is ridiculous, and lots of Hongkongers can’t afford them. So…where do they live? What could be better than the 24-hour fast food restaurants?

The term “McRefugee” first came from Japan, which describes unemployed people who can’t pay for the high rent staying overnight at McDonald’s. And not long later, the phenomenon spread to Hong Kong.

In some areas, while the restaurants operate normally during daytime, they become the shelter to 30 – 40 homeless at night. Since the homeless do buy food or drinks, and it’s the company’s policy to “not disturb the customers”, they are basically free to stay no matter how that upset the employees.

The employees (and probably other customers) may find that appalling, but the scene is also heartbreaking to people who thoroughly understand Hongkonger’s hardship, especially if you get to listen to the homeless people’s stories: a businessman, who got cheated by his business partner, broke and exhausted after a few years of legal battles, had to run away from his relatives because he thought he betrayed their trust; an over 60-year-old security guard, who lost his job because of his suffering from stroke, could barely paid for his medical treatment and medicine even with government welfare, let alone paying for rent.

And there are many more unfortunate people like them. When interviewers tried to approach them, their first responses are usually “you must think I am lazy”.

No, I don’t, even if you call me hypocrite or wishful idealist.

As if staying there is not pathetic enough, there were even people dying there. In 2015, a homeless woman was found dead in a Kowloon Bay McDonald. What’s sad is that she lost unconsciousness at around 1 am, but no one cared about that and simply assumed she was just sleeping. It wasn’t until the morning business hours next day that people found her to be more than “just sleeping”.

Suddenly I think of what Chris Patten said during his visit to Hong Kong these few days.

He told Hongkongers to “hang in there”.

Was he talking to these people?

But how much longer can they “hang in”?

Horse Racing in Hong Kong

Do you know that horse racing in Hong Kong is a sport which can only be enjoyed by the upper class and wealthy people in the past?

Well, not anymore. It’s now a famous gambling activity. And even if you don’t like the gambling part, the horse races are still interesting to watch.

Horse racing in Hong Kong is actually a tradition left by British. Hong Kong Jockey Club, founded in 1884, was established as some kind of “upper class exclusive club”, with strict rules of membership where women and people with unsuitable background were not allowed to join. The club became a professional institute in 1971, and started organizing gamble of horse races, bets and lottery.

There are now around 700 horse races per year in Hong Kong, and are held at the Shatin Racecourse and the Happy Valley Racecourse. These two racecourses are not only heavens to the horse racing fans, but also two pretty famous tourist attractions. You are more than welcome to visit them during horse racing days, as the carnival-like scenery will surely impress you…if you like crowded place, that is.

It’s fun to see how an originally upper class exclusive sport now becomes such a universal event in Hong Kong.

…OK, I’ll be honest. It is the gambling that makes it popular. No debate here.

Still, the horses, the races, the audiences, the atmosphere, when everything combines… there is just some indescribable charm in it.

Income in Hong Kong

Do you know that the average monthly salary in Hong Kong in 2016 is around HK$15000 (around US$1923)? Not bad, isn’t it?

Not really. It’s just a nominal income. When you have taken the inflation rate and the standard living cost, like rent and cost for food, into account, Hong Kong become one of the most expensive cities in the world.

According to a recent survey done by Mercer, Hong Kong is the second most expensive city among 207 urban centers in the world, “losing” only to an oil-rich city in Africa.

How expensive, you ask? Well, so expensive that even a 350 square foot flat in a remote area will cost you HK$10000 a month; eating in a working-class restaurant chain can cost you up to HK$45, and around HK$60 for dinner; and if you have to travel to work, be prepare to pay for at least HK$10 a day, or HK$20 if you have to travel further.

Let’s see, the minimum wage rate we have now is HK$32.5/hour…You don’t even need calculation to see that half of a Hongkonger’s daily income got drained before that day even ends. By the way, that HK$15000 up there is just a yard stick. Lots of people are earning less than HK$10000 a month.

You can even look up the increase in general price level over this decade to see how the price got doubled yet our salary rose by less than 50%.This results in something interesting: the higher our income, the lower our living standard…figuratively speaking.

Some international city Hong Kong is.

LGBT in Hong Kong

Do you know that the laws in Hong Kong are severely lacking in protecting the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) rights?

It’s true. The only legal things LGBT Hongkongers can do are having same-sex sexual activity, having the same age of consent as non-LGBT residents and changing their legal genders.

That’s all. They are not even protected in their workplace, where their employers can CHOOSE TO NOT PRACTICE the Anti-discrimination Laws on that issue (unless their employer is the government).

The public opinion on this matter is not supportive either. Even though a recent survey has over 70% of people agree that same sex couples should enjoy the same right as heterosexual couples do, lots of Hongkongers are still against same-sex marriage, according to surveys done by some other universities and political parties.

It’s pretty disappointing to see that lots of Hongkongers are still so conservative about this issue, even though we always claim to have “modern and international visions”. People still cannot accept something because they are “not mainstream” and thus “not right”. What’s hypocritical is that Hongkongers always try to fight for those universal values like democracy and human rights, but when it comes to things they don’t agree, they could be completely silent, or even join the suppression in some cases.

Luckily, there are still Hongkongers who can tell the difference between “right or wrong” and “one’s acceptance”. There are even celebrities like singers, artists and lawmakers who are willing to support LGBT rights or admit their homosexuality in the public. In my opinion, they are brave.

To deprive someone of some basic civil rights simply because of their sexual preference is never fair.

Something’s rightfulness doesn’t come from how many people accept or support it.

People who grow up in a shame society really should learn that.

Escape the Room in Hong Kong

Do you know Hongkongers pay money to escape from jail?

No, don’t worry. Not the real jail. Hong Kong’s judiciary system is not that bad…for now.

I am talking about the “jail” from real life escape game.

For those who don’t know what it is, it is a physical puzzle game which is based on the “Escape the Room” videogames, where the players are locked inside an unknown room and have to search for the clues in the room to find a way out. While the earliest real life escape room was created in 2006, the game (physical one) didn’t get popular until a few years back.

And Hong Kong is a latecomer on this matter. Freeing HK (逃出香港) is the first escape room game we have in Hong Kong. It was founded by 4 youngsters in 2012. As “outdated” as it may be, the game got so popular among Hongkongers (especially the younger generation) and received wide media coverage. The founders were even interviewed by some oversea media like BBC news, CNN and AFP.

The founders think that the game is not only about escaping from a physical room, but also symbolizes Hongkongers’ way to escape from daily stress and boredom. They hope their success can encourage the public to archive their dreams.

There have been more real life escape games in Hong Kong since then, with the fees ranging between HK$80 and HK$120. Though I have heard complaints from participating tourists because some puzzles are written in Chinese and they can’t read them…

Yeah, I can imagine the frustration.

At least they will let you out once the time limit (45 minutes) is over…

Jiangshi movies in Hong Kong

Do you know that Hong Kong was once flourished with “Jiangshi movies”?

OK, a little back story first.

Jiangshi (殭屍, [Geong1 Si1] in Cantonese, literally “stiff corpse”), usually referred as “Chinese Vampire” for easy reference, is a creature originated from Chinese folklore. They were reanimated corpses that wear officials’ garments from Qing Dynasty, with both arm stretched out and move around by hopping (because of rigor mortis). They had sharp fangs and claws, but were unintelligent and mindless preying machines which would suck the life essence from their victims.

And these horrible (or hilarious?) hopping creatures contributed a lot to the Hong Kong film industry during 1970 – 1990. They inspired the movie-makers in Hong Kong to create a bunch of Jiangshi movies. For example, “Encounter of the Spooky Kind” (鬼打鬼), starred and directed by Sammo Hung, is the progenitor of Hong Kong’s Jiangshi-related horror action comedies; And the famous “Mr. Vampire” (殭屍先生) series have a powerful Taoist priest using his spiritual power and Kung Fu skill to fight against the Jiangshi armies with his friend and apprentices.

While the stories may sound cliché nowadays, they were some groundbreaking concepts by that time. Combining the western horror (vampires) and the Hong Kong martial arts elements, these films are huge success. The movies are not only popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, but also in Southeast Asia regions like Japan and Vietnam. Oh, and I heard that even the westerners like this genre so much because the Jianshi folklore is both “similar to and different from” their own one.

Hong Kong film industry may have died down, but I hope that, one day, it will come back to life (or reanimated?) and hop around like these Jiangshis did.

Death is only the beginning, no?

#Movie #HongKong #Hongkongers #Culture #Vampire #Chinese #Jiangshi

Hong Kong Marathon

Do you know the Hong Kong Marathon’s history can be traced back to 1997?

Technically speaking, it can be traced back even further. There had been a Hong Kong Shenzhen Marathon since 1981, but that was suspended a few times due to the lack of funding and technical difficulties. It’s not a “fixed” event until Standard Chartered Bank became the title sponsor in 1997.

The marathon, held annually in January or February, is the biggest road running competition in Hong Kong. While the full course is of 42.195km, it also provides a half marathon and a 10 km run. The number of entrants has grown from just 1000 in 1997 to over 70000 in these few years.

It is not only recognized as a “Brand Hong Kong Event” by the government, but also an “M” Mark Event.

While the competitors get to run along some of the busiest roads and see the other side of urban’s scenery in Hong Kong, they definitely won’t have the leisure to enjoy it as the competition is fierce. The course record for both men (2:11:27) and women (2:30:12) were set by two Ethiopian runners in 2012 and has not yet been broken. Not to mention the humid weather and occasionally poor air quality makes the race more challenging…

So, those who aim to get a good result, or even challenge the record will have to try really hard.

I don’t get it, though. Just how could any human being finish a 42km race within 2.5 hours?

Does that mean those people could run at around 20km/hr, non-stop, for 2 hours straight?

…Wow.

Don’t push yourselves too hard if you plan to enter the race, ok?  

#Hongkongers #HongKong #Marathon #Running #Race