Hong Kong (places, speak, cons, citizen)

[kanthraj]

how many indians are there

[kanthraj]

is hindus population is more in macau are not plz tel me,,,?

[heeha]

I took another trip to Hong Kong the other day. I stayed on Lantau Island at a place called Silvermine Beach.

I loved the beach and the area. It wasn't very crowded and everyone seemed laid back and friendly.

The Silvermine Beach area also had all of the amenities one might need such as food, shops, banks, medical center, parks, ferry terminal, restaurants, etc.

Has anyone else on here ever been to Silvermine Beach? If so, what is your opinion?

[WK91]

I absolutely loved Hong Kong. I was there on a quick 4 day vacation about 6 months ago and I had so much fun sightseeing, eating out, shopping, etc. The people were very friendly and it was very easy to get around as I took the train everywhere that I wanted to go.

I highly recommend this city for vacationing purposes, as I liked it more than Tokyo or Seoul. But to be fair, I've lived in both Tokyo and Seoul, so perhaps living there as opposed to visiting takes some of the excitement away.

[Trimac20]

Hong Kong certainly is an amazing city, I was there 4 years ago. So much to see and do within such a small area. I heard it's hard for foreigners to really assimilate, though, maybe because in the past the British were the elites and the locals were seen as second-class? Not sure how true this is though.

[maglev101]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

I heard it's hard for foreigners to really assimilate, though, maybe because in the past the British were the elites and the locals were seen as second-class? Not sure how true this is though.

as oppose to a foreigner finding it easier to assimilate into any outside culture/place - e.g. nigeria or ecuador?

during british rule, locals were considered somewhat 2nd class citizens in their own land. i think a sort of light version of apartheid. i remember watching a ted koppel program where he recalled his trip to hong kong. he felt embarrassed during a trip to the post office there. the attendant ushered him from the back of the line to the front (skipping a bunch of people), simply b/c he was white (presumed british).

[Dereklee]

Originally Posted by NightBazaar

I think it would be fair to say that knowing the language might not be essential, but it would certainly provide a big advantage.

to be exact, a lot of Hk residents dont speak Chinese(Madarin), but Cantonese, which most of Chinese from mainland dont understand, apart from people from GuangDong province.

and its true that most of the locals just know some basic English.

[Tomboy-]

Yes, this is a main reason, because of the colonial mentality. But this has changed since the British left in 1997, Chinese in HK is no longer second class.

It is hard for foreigners to really assimilate in most of Asia, unless they are humble or came from a similar culture. The fact that many self centred foreigners look down on HK Chinese or disagree with what the locals think also mean assimilation is not wanted by both parties. An example of such characters can be seen in HK movies for example the Ip Man series.



Also, very commonly, non Cantonese speaking people are mostly excluded from the circles of most HK Chinese. Non English speaking people are mostly excluded from the circles of most westerners in HK.

This is what makes HK special, and different from Singapore. Many different nationalities, do not mingle.

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Hong Kong certainly is an amazing city, I was there 4 years ago. So much to see and do within such a small area. I heard it's hard for foreigners to really assimilate, though, maybe because in the past the British were the elites and the locals were seen as second-class? Not sure how true this is though.

[Ian_Lee]

Originally Posted by djmilf

I had been told by a man (who had spent a good part of his adult life in Hong Kong as a shipping company executive) that during the time that HK was a British possession all of the land was owned by the British Crown. In order to use the land for anything (farming, housing, hotels, factories, what have you) one first had to rent the land from the government. It was one of the reasons why the taxes were so low in Hong Kong - the colonial government got a good deal of its income from rents.

I was under the impression that after the handover to China, Hong Kong was allowed to continue operating under the British model, which would mean that now all land is owned by the PRC and still must be leased.

Has this changed? Are people in Hong Kong now allowed to purchase the land?

Before 1997, all the land in Hong Kong were Crown Land with different expiry day. On Hong Kong Island, the land one owned was good for 999 years -- perpetuity.

All the land in New Territories were only good until 1997 when the lease expired. That is the principal reason why UK had to talk with China in early '80s.

After 1997, all the land will expire in 2047 and theoretically will go back to the government.

Now the real estate in all Chinese cities copy Hong Kong model. The government owns the land while the developer leases the land and then sells the units to individual owner. The owner doesn't own his apartment in perpetuity.

This system is not unique. In Hawaii, there is also the Fee Simple and Leasehold system. A lot of land is still owned by a trust set up by the Hawaiian Monarchy. They sold the land as leasehold and when the lease expires, the individual owner has to renegotiate the fee.

[blahblahyoutoo]

was in HK recently for vacation.
top things I liked:

1. Food, top of the list by far. Amazing and cheap
2. Public transportation - CLEAN, safe, efficient, cheap
3. Safe despite being such a densely populated city