Continue: Love at First Sight : Cultural Shock for Costa Ricans in Hong Kong

Recently, Hong Kong has been ranked as the 43rd most livable city in the world by EIU, surpassing Singapore (46th) and Taipei (60th). However, if you look at the World Happiness Report by United Nations, Hong Kong (70th) falls behind Singapore (22nd) and Taiwan (35th). Although these rankings may not tell us the full picture, we can find Costa Rica ranked as the highest-ranked Latin America country in terms of happiness (14th). And from the conversation with our Costa Rica friends, we get their recipe for happiness - the positive mindset.

Hong Kong on its Way to be an Entrepreneurial Hub 

While most Hong Kong locals see the society going south after the Umbrella revolution, Juan had a different point of view.

"Some locals already left behind the pressures from peers, parents and the society. Now people are awake that they need to do something new. I feel Hong Kong is now more entrepreneurial than ever. "

Juan quoted what is happening in Mong Kok as an example. "Four years ago, you would see similar thing when you walked past Mong Kok every week. Now you can see different activities with different causes every week there"

Amazed by locals who have been running small shops for centuries and even generations, Juan believe Hong Kong has all the willingness, capital and human resources to be an Asia entrepreneurial hub but all it lacks is the execution of ideas.

"There are more than 20 co-working spaces in Hong Kong but most of them are empty. If you go to a co-working space in India, everyone is trying to something. Entrepreneurs are everywhere in Hong Kong but now it may take some time for the transition. "

"When I have social meetings with my colleagues, I feel everyone is so creative that you have some interesting ideas but they just did not execute." Veronica agreed with Juan's comment.

​Everyone has the Rights and Responsibilities to Promote Their Home

​Even though both Juan and Veronica have troubles learning Cantonese and sometime lost in translations, they don't feel being excluded and have an idea contributing to Hong Kong and their home country as a foreigner in Hong Kong.

"Few years ago, we came up with the idea of sharing more about Costa Rica worldwide. Because very few people know about Costa Rica. And I believe this gives us an opportunity to tell people about our country. We have been asking people in Hong Kong the question " What do you know about Costa Rica?" Many people can't answer  because we are not loud enough to tell people who we are. And that's why I and Veronica try to connect the dots.  There can be opportunities for both parties on travel, study or even businesses. I believe whenever we are more interested in other humans, it brings walls down and people closer."

Over 10 Costa Ricans across different countries are involved in a project named "Somos Pura Vida", a phrase in Costa Rica that locals use to say hello, goodbye, or express we feel good. With a slogan of "We are Costa Ricans and we are Pura Vida", they want to showcase their friendliness, proactivity and positive mindset in a new way.

On the other hand, although Hong Kong may have more international presence than Costa Rica, both Juan and Veronica felt locals can do more to promote Hong Kong.

"There are small places in the world but some you actually heard more about them. Maybe you have no idea about history of Switzerland but you heard about Switzerland. Why? Because they made a lot of efforts to make "Swiss made" with some values. Today if I tell you something is made in Costa Rica, it may not tell you anything but it has to start from somewhere. This is all based on actions. Every huge thing starts by an action."

A Temporary Goodbye to Hong Kong can be a Good Thing 

When asked about their opinion on Hong Kong locals, especially young people moving out from this city, Juan and Veronica don't expect many people would move forever given Hong Kong is such a gorgeous place. Juan believed escaping from a place because of the problems would make the situation worse.

"During the economic crisis in 2008, I met a Spanish girl in Edinburgh. She was unemployed at her early 30 and came to Scotland to look for a job. She mentioned most of the youths like her were leaving the country because the youth unemployment rate is over 40%. Then I asked her 'If all the youths are leaving, who is building up the Spanish economy?'  She did not have a good answer and I felt the fact that people are escaping made Spain going deeper into the hole."
 
However, Juan and Veronica believe people should definitely go outside of Hong Kong to explore and develop themselves personally. 

"Now we may have more opportunities meeting people from other countries in schools. But being in a different place, interacting with people you are not used to and having to adapt to new lifestyle are different from meeting an International student.  The experience outside can create new relationships, new perspectives and even new answers to social problems. I really encourage people to interact with humans who have very different background from themselves. But only the minority in the world is doing this. "

While there are only 5 million people in Costa Rica, it is amazing to meet Costa Ricans who are so proud of their country and even working hard to promote its culture when living overseas. In the past, Hong Kong was known as an industrial center with people working days and nights to create products exported to the world. Now we may call Hong Kong an International finance center. However,  if we ask foreigners " what do you know about Hong Kong?" 5 years from now, what would you like to hear as a local in Hong Kong? 

If you are interested in the project run by Juan and Veronica, you may visit www.facebook.com/somospv. You can also watch how they conducted interviews in Hong Kong here.

​The Rio Olympic brings people's attention to Brazil as we get to know more about this country through the related news every day. However, most people may not know much about a country nearby, Costa Rica. Two Costa Ricans came to Hong Kong as they were impressed by their first-time experience in the city. While Juan and Veronica feel Hong Kong is the center of Asia with amazing people and great mix of city and nature, they find the how locals believe is quite different from their values back home.

Love at First Sight for Hong Kong

Being born and raised in Costa Rica, both Juan and Veronica have rich international experience before coming to Hong Kong. Juan worked for projects in Columbia, India, UK and even studied French for a short period of time in France. Veronica also studied in Spain before for her Master and spent some time working in UK and US. Even though they have been to so many places, Hong Kong amazed them during their first visit.  
 
"I wanted to get a place quite different from where I am from and be the center of Asia. In Hong Kong, I find people are open to learn our background and share us about local culture. It is also a 24/7 non-stop city that you are free to do whatever you want and reach out to a lot of people" Juan explained why he picked Hong Kong over Bangkok for his first project in Asia.  
 
"Hong Kong has the world plus the local stuff. You can choose to be very local or International. The contrast between the metropolitan city and natural scenery is also impressive" as Veronica added.
 
Eventually, Juan came to Hong Kong again in 2015 after his time working for PolyU in 2011 and Veronica moved to Hong Kong 4 months ago as she spent a week-long business trip in Hong Kong a year ago.

Majority Chose to be Silent as Changes Seem to be Unlikely 

As Juan and Veronica spent more time living in Hong Kong, they feel people are reluctant to express their feelings at work and at school.
 
"Even though I work in a US bank where culture is more open,  Hong Kong staff are usually quiet and don't complain even if they don't like something. For example, people don't say anything even though the air-con in the office is too cold. For me, I kept calling every day until it got fixed." Veronica also mentioned people are afraid of talking to senior management in the company, not to mention calling these people First name.
 
"The education system here is mostly one-way channel. The teachers give lectures and the students just listen without asking any questions. My friend working in education in Hong Kong once told me that 'If  you ask students something and they don't have any body movement, it means they don't get it. If they start moving their body then they understand. ' " Juan laughed about why this trick is so useful for him as most students would keep this ideas in mind but not speaking up.
 
Apart from being afraid to speak up, Juan and Veronica find people face a lot of pressures to challenge the status quo and make changes for themselves.
 
"I see a majority of Hong Kong people would choose a career based on job security and they believe job security would translate into higher income. I have a friend known from couch-surfing in Hong Kong. He hates working in the law firm but he does it for the money and make himself happy through couch-surfing. I heard a lot of people are pushed to do something they don't like, mostly by parents." Juan also mentioned a lot of accounting students he met actually don't like accounting at all.
 
"I also heard a lot of male colleagues mentioned the pressure from their parents-in-law. They end up working in finance because it is better pay. And I see people move to another job if they are offered a few thousand more as they don't think changing the job nature or working hours is possible. So as long as you get paid higher, they will move." Veronica added.

Education Taught HKers Be Used to Suffering in Silence

But even under these pressures from various sources, Juan and Veronica don't think locals feel miserable because of these. They guess there is something special with the locals, and the education system may be one of the reasons.
 
"The Hong Kong education system was built upon memorization and one-way communication. This not fun for the students but they have to accept it. But in Costa Rica, we encourage students' participation and our communication structure is very flat. That means you can challenge your teachers and be comfortable with it. And it creates a balance for the teacher to delivers something and students to bring inputs to create something new. "
 
Working in the education sector, Juan felt more can done in early child education in Hong Kong to encourage students to speak up and create something from scratch. On the other hand, he felt Hong Kong is becoming more entrepreneurial in recent years as we will cover it next week. Stay tuned.

Continue: A restless foreign dad in Hong Kong  

​Talking about his personal experience over last 4 years, Mustafa felt foreigners in Hong Kong can have an easy life but it is difficult to integrate into the local community.

Welcome by locals but hard to fit in 

"Hong Kong is a place that there is a prestige for foreigners. People are more patient with you and you would not be blamed for breaking some unwritten rules in the society. That's not the same case in UK. I can imagine one being treated as suspects for crime these days if they don't look like local."

During his early days in Hong Kong, Mustafa found it strange that most of the expats were hanging out with expats only. He made few attempts to build closer relationship with local colleagues but it was hard.

"After inviting local colleagues for lunch for few times, I found it not easy at all. I guess locals feel more comfortable to hang out with other locals.  Some of them may feel awkward to speak English during non-working time. The mixing did not happen as much as I wanted."

Lost faith in politics 

On the other hand, the language barrier also makes it difficult for Mustafa to understand the political issues in Hong Kong. However, what is happening in Hong Kong reminds what happened in Turkey during his youth time.

"One evening, I walked through the occupied area to see the incident for myself. Though I don't understand the details because of language barrier, I fully support the idea of making your voices be heard by the government. But I feel it is difficult to make real impacts under current regime. This makes me recall the moments that I fought for things as a teenager in Turkey."

"Turkey is a very political country where there are many protests and flights.  Most of the time you cannot change things in Turkey, you just left with the frustrations of opposing or supporting something - you seldom get what you want. After so many years, I kind of lose your faith in politics and democracy. When I left Turkey 15 years ago, I started the habit of not following Turkish news anymore because I can never find a practical solution to the issues. I know a lot of people would criticize this idea but sometime ignorance is bless."

As Mustafa left Turkey with disappointment about politics but more importantly with an urge to explore the world he lives in, he understands Hong Kong people may want to do the same. He strongly suggest people to go outside Hong Kong even it is not for the negative feelings at home

"People may decide to move when they believe they cannot change things that get them frustrated. Even if people are not leaving becuase of frustration, they should have experience in a new country, new regime, new environment to at least see what is good at home. If my kid in her 20s tells me she wants to stay in another country, as long as she can be safe physically and mentally, I would encourage her to do it. "

"You need to know what is really important to you and your family. You would face an issue wherever you go, so it comes down to how much of the problem you can cope with and how you can develop the technique to deal with the issue.  If people believe they can find a place with better lifestyle for themselves than in Hong Kong, they should definitely be brave to make that move.  "

In Mustafa's view, moving to another country is not difficult for Hong Kong locals as they can survive in any country.

"Even though most people like to retire in their home county, you can always come back to Hong Kong after working abroad for 5 to 10 years. At the end of the day, Hong Kong is a place when people come out of, they won't be a stranger to a new country because it is an International city."

No place in the world is perfect, some people decide to move out from their hometown, some stay to deal with the issues. Although Mustafa does not care too much about problems in Turkey now, at least he tried to fight against the social issues when he was young. Are you still fighting for things or already feel ignorance is bless?

​Hong Kong seems to be a safe harbour theres days when comparing to Turkey with a recent coup attempt and Britian where people face the Brexit issue. As a Turkish, Mustafa have been living in UK before moving to Hong Kong with his family 4 years ago. He did not move because he can foresee the bad things that would happen in those two countries. Rather, he moved for a new experience in life for him and his family. However, Mustafa now finds risks for his children's development as they are growing up in Hong Kong. 

​Mustafa was born in Fethiye, a small town in Turkey. He moved to UK for master program at age of 20. With his philiosophy that life is too short to spend only in 1 to 2 countries, Mustafa always felt UK was a temporary stop. But he ended up spending 8 years there where he met his wife and added two members to his family.  At the time of 2011, Mustafa and his wife were deciding among Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong as the next destination. 

"As a family man, I need to think more than myself. Since all my kids are girls, I feel Middle East may not be a good option for their development. As I and my wife applied for jobs in Hong Kong, we both got the offers. So we ended up coming to Hong Kong. I feel great since I did my exchange program in Beijing and I always wanted to come back to this part of the world."

Although Mustafa did not visit Hong Kong before moving to the city, his wife explained everything he wanted to know about Hong Kong as she spent a gap year in Hong Kong before. 

"I once thought Beijing may be a better choice in terms of the place to move but my wife told me that most of the good things I can have in Beijing, they are also available in Hong Kong.  So I formed a general impression of how our family life would be like in Hong Kong."

While Mustafa and his wife got a bit nervous as his two daughters were only one and five years old at that time, most of things in Hong Kong were up to their expectation or even better. The most stressful part for Mustafa is his daily routine to work. 

"The most stressful part is to walk along the foot bridge in Wan Chai station when I go to work everyday. How people did not know how to walk on the path annoys me a lot but there is no big stress in other parts of life at all."

When asked whether Mustafa feel Hong Kong is a good place to raise kids, he found safety in Hong Kong is a big advantage but there are few potential problems he tries to avoid. 

"There is too much emphasis on study, I see most children in Hong Kong need to spend 3 hours for homework. I think kids should have time to rest and reflect on their learning. I am lucky enough that the school does not force my kids to work too hard"

"It is good to raise kids from infant to teenager in Hong Kong. But the risk is that my daughter can now write 4 pages of brands as a 9 year old kid. She would not know those brands if she grew up in UK. When she becomes a teenager, she may want to own things from these brands.  Hong Kong can be quite materialistic when people are judged by what car they drive and what handbags they carry. But this would make people miss the meaning of life."

But based on Mustafa's observation, he does not think the expat community is affected by the extremes of captialism in Hong Kong. 

"Most of the expats I know have a different lifestyle, they value having new experience rather than owning a physical thing. If they have 20K HKD in the bank account, they would rather exploring a new country than buying something."

As a dad,  Mustafa has also been keeping track of his daughters' feeling about Hong Kong.  

"Every year, I ask my daughters several times whether they are happy in Hong Kong.  Every now and then, they said they missed home - the big room and garden but they did not come to me every day . I explain to them out of many things they like about Hong Kong, many of them are accessible because they live in Hong Kong. I just want to teach them the concept of trade-off."

Talking about trade-off, Mustafa doesn't feel his family would move out from Hong Kong easily.  

"I knew some people who left Hong Kong because of certain things. But I feel they did not consider other things that get them unhappy in the country they are from. A year after leaving Hong Kong, they started to look for jobs in Hong Kong to move back to Hong Kong.  When you go, you miss what you had."

As I had the opportunity to ask Mustafa's daughters what they like about Hong Kong. They somehow told me the same stories from his dad.

"I like the new experience that I can have, which is different from England"

"I like to live in here because it is safe"

I guess their parents must have explained to them many times why they moved to Hong Kong.  But no matter it is true or not, we can definitely feel Mustafa's dedication to his daughters and how he tried to build an environment for their development. Next week, we will cover Mustafa's opinion on the integration of foreigners with locals and few social trends in Hong Kong. Stay tuned. 

​Hong Kong used to be called as a cultural desert but the city has actually transformed into an art hub in Asia during the past few few years. We can date back to 2013 when Art Basel launched its inaugural show in Hong Kong. And in 2016, Art Basel attracted more than 70,000 visitors from various countries in 5 days. The tickets were sold out on the last day afternoon. At the same time, Art Central logged over 32,000 visitors. This trend has helped Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze to establish his photographer career in Hong Kong and many of us to rediscover this city. 

Romain was born in Paris and grew up in its suburbs. After studying multimedia and art in France, he moved to Los Angeles and then Tokyo to work as a web designer. Romain later met his fiancée in Tokyo and that's why he moved to Hong Kong in December 2009. 

Before moving to Hong Kong, Romain's impression about Hong Kong mainly comes from movies directed by John Woo and Wong Kar Wai since he has never visited Hong Kong before.

"As a young teenager I enjoyed action movies a lot. Seeing John Woo's film gave me the impression that Hong Kong was a very dangerous place with gun fights happening every day. The 2 biggest hits in terms of HK movie in France at that time were The Killer and Hard Boiled, both with Chow Yun Fat. So you can imagine how I could be imagining about HK. Later, Wong Kar Wai's movies including the mood for love, Chungking express and 2046 made me see Hong Kong in a deeper perspective. His style is very visual, it gave me the impression of HK being an  aesthetic place full of interesting stories."
 
But the first thing hit Romain's mind is not the beauty of Hong Kong but its crowdedness. He went through a tough adaptation but picked up the Hong Kong lifestyle in a short period of time. 

" I remember that during the first months I found the place too much crowded with people and cars (especially in Jordan road). But after a while I got used to it and started appreciated the lifestyle: tasty and cheap restaurants, small street markets, close to the nature with bus to some great hiking trails and generally the street scenes are always very inspiring visually."

During the early time of his stay in Hong Kong, Romain continued to work as a web designer but was impressed by Hong Kong's density and verticality soon after.

"Hong Kong is a very "graphic" city. So when I started exploring it and taking photos here I immediately enjoyed it a lot. I bought my first interchangeable lens camera here and got more and more into photography. I started to work on my first series Vertical Horizon in 2011 and released it as a photo book in 2012."

After seeing the success of the photo book and exhibitions, Romain realized that this hobby can become his career. Even Romain seldom worked as a commissioned photographer, he manages to make a living through selling limited edition large prints to art galleries. 

"There are quite a few opportunities to sell prints in Hong Kong, particularly with the development of art fairs in the last few years. So the private sector is surely the most helpful in the photography market. The art market is rather healthy here, it is growing organically with many galleries starting up and ready to work with new artists."

And based on Romain's understanding, most of the buyers for his photo books are people who are living in Hong Kong now or who used to live in Hong Kong. He found it interesting that his customers can even be some without a bond with Hong Kong. What surprised Romain more though is the feedback he received for his work.

" I have 3 main series and each of them received different kind of feedback from locals.
The first one was Vertical Horizon. The reaction of locals could be summarized as that: ’Well I see this everyday, nothing very special for me.’ The second one, Wild Concrete was more appreciated by locals, for them it was like showing the hidden treasures from the oldest districts of Hong Kong. So it triggers a warm reaction. And for ’The Blue Moment’ , the feedback so far is showing a pride from locals toward their own city. People seem happy and thankful that I try to show Hong Kong in its most magic outfit."
 
Even though Romain felt some locals may not fully realize the beauty of Hong Kong before seeing his photos, he thought this is normal since the grass is greener on the other side. 

" Hong Kong locals who grew up here are very used to the urban scenes that looks impressive for foreigner. And because they are living here, some have the tendency of not exploring the city and the nature as much as they could. I think it is like this everywhere. I myself was not very keen on exploring Paris while I was living there."

But even Romain really appreciate the beauty of Hong Kong, he felt the government can do her job better in preserving the heritage and dealing with the income gap. 

"I started a project called "The Old Shop"  thanks to Kai Kee Mahjong parlor based in Kwun Tung. At that time their buildings were taken back by the Urban Renewal Authority to be demolished. So the Mahjong Parlor invited me to record the neighborhood and all the shops of the area. I wouldn't been able to do this project without them, and it was a very meaningful project. All the shops that I shot have now disappeared. It is tragic when you realize many of the shop owners where working there for several decades and many of them couldn't find any other place to relocate. "

The way the government in the urban planning does not make sense to Romain, as he believed that the government is more keen on destroying the old Hong Kong than preserving it, although its mission should be protecting it. On the other hand, he does not feel the government has done enough to help the poor. 

"I have been living in subdivided flats for years. It is alright for young people without kids, we spend most of our time outdoor anyway. But in these tiny flats there are also families living and this is a serious problem if not the most serious problem of this city. It should not be allowed for some people to own several apartments and that some other people can't even afford a decent place for their children to grow up. In a healthy system, the the wealth should be spread more harmoniously. The government here is very wealthy compared to many other countries. They have the means to help the poorest part of the population. So I guess it is only a matter of willpower."

When Romain was asked whether he would like to stay in Hong Kong for long term, he felt he would do so but the property price and rents are the major issues. He also understood the current trend that locals may want to move to another country. 

"Surely I can understand that people are willing to try different lifestyle around the world. Foreign countries can look tempting from the outside. But after living there for a few years people might discover that the grass is not necessarily greener. Then it is just up to everyone to decide what is the most important for their lifestyle."

It is always easy for locals to form a perception of a place when they have lived there for some time. Hong Kong may be a concrete jungle from the outer but there is a lot of natural scenes and historical sites unseen to many, part of them are also disappearing. Maybe we should take some time stepping back to appreciate where you live. 

If you are interested in the projects by Romina, you may visit his website rjl-art.com,  facebook page www.facebook.com/rjlart or even instagram ＠romainjacquetlagreze. Romain will also show his work from  "Wild Concrete" in Hong Kong Contemporary Photography Exhibition 2016 from 2nd to 24th in July (L0 Gallery, JCCAC, 30 Pak Tin Street, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon), everyone is welcome!

May is coming. If you live in Hong Kong, you may notice a set of events for Le French May in Hong Kong. In fact, Hong Kong is now the hottest spot for French expats. While Americans and Canadians, two of Hong Kong's largest expat populations have dropped more than 10% over past 4 years, the French community in Hong Kong grew at a rate of 5% annually. The French population in Hong Kong is estimated to be at least 25,000 people. Matthieu is a member of the community but he did not come to Hong Kong for an easy life. Instead, Matthieu came here to realize his goal.

Matthieu is a French native and spent most of his time in France until he moved with his family to attend high school in Beijing. Before officially moving to Hong Kong in 2012, he came to Hong Kong to intern in a consulting firm in 2009. Matthieu now helps organizing Startup Weekend on a regular basis, assists the setup of French Tech Hub in Hong Kong and runs a start-up he co-founded. All these initiatives were Matthieu's footprint in Hong Kong.

When I asked Matthieu why he wanted to move to Hong Kong at first, he said it was the good vibe in Hong Kong - everything is possible in Hong Kong. "People are open and willing to help. If you work hard, you will find someone who can help you or point you to the right direction or people." as Matthieu explained further.

What's more interesting about Matthieu's journey in Hong Kong is that he used to work as a salesperson for a luxury watch brand.

"I went through the high school in Beijing as a foreigner and went to an elite university in France. I felt like a king of the world when I was young. When I later read the biographies of successful people, many of them have gone through tough experience for at least 2 years. And this makes me realize I cannot assume everything works in the way I thought and I need the tough experience as well."

Matthieu thought being a salesperson for luxury watches would be good way to experience the tough situations. He accepted the job even though the hiring manager warned him the job would be extremely harsh. And as a foreigner, the job was even harder since some potential customers who avoid speaking in English would just turn away from Matthieu when they saw him. But Matthieu stayed feeling positive.

"But on the hand, there is a group of customers who prefer buying watches from me. They may assume I was sent from the headquarter and even took pictures with me after the purchase. People who buy luxury watch do not only buy it for the time, they also buy it for different reasons. Buying a watch from a foreigner is a special experience for them. And I was the only foreign salesperson in that mall. I went through hell but my colleagues were amazing. I have changed completely in the way I see the world after two years as a salesperson. It really makes you grow when you faced complaints from customers and seeing potential customers walking away from you. And the experience helped me a lot to be a more mature person. For example, I met a lot emotional people as a mentor in the Startup Weekend, I was able to help them to calm down and led them to the right direction."

Meanwhile, Matthieu started to involve in the startup scene in Hong Kong by helping organizing the Startup Weekend. He found the profile of Startup Weekend participants is changing over time.

"It used to be the case that the majority of participants are foreigners. In the past, 75-80% of them are foreigners, now 60% are locals and even 80% are locals for Startup Weekend university sessions. People become more aware of Startup Weekend. People are more cautious when something is new, but when they hear people say the program is good, they will join it. I would say Hong Kong locals are in general less risk-taking compared to foreigners."

And Matthieu found it quite rare for young local graduates to start their companies right after college. "I am not sure whether they are pressured by parents or social trend. Even though I understand the high living cost in Hong Kong, they can stay with their parents for two years and have a try. If it fails, they can move on but at least they have tried. "

Matthieu felt it is a pity for aspiring locals who had business ideas but decided not to pursue the entrepreneurship path, especially when the environment for startups is actually quite good in Hong Kong.

"Based on what I know, the process of setting up a company is much simplier in Hong Kong compared to in France. One big advantage in Hong Kong is that it is easy to find your first customer. If the sector is present in Hong Kong, it is not hard to find someone who can introduce you to people in the sector based on your alumni network or nationality. Given Hong Kong is so concentrated, it is quite likely that you can get to meet and pitch to your potential customers. When you compare to Paris, the city is quite spread out that you may not have the chance to do the same. "

What Matthieu mentioned so far about Hong Kong is a bit different from what I heard from other locals. He is more positive about things in Hong Kong. He later explained why this is the case.

"Probably it is more related to my personality. There is a lot of social influences nowadays. But I am not so influenced by social pressure, my parents and other friends. I think independently. In Hong Kong, if you are from a conservative family, and let's say you have a dream to become a professional dancer, you may face opposition from parents and you are against social norms too. It is quite common that you need to prove it works first before you can really work on it in Hong Kong. But proving one thing can work is already a big part to begin with. It is hard to pursue your dream if everyone around is telling you that you will fail"

After that, we also discussed why French would like to stay in Hong Kong. Matthieu mentioned there is a group of large French corporations with strong presence in Hong Kong, especially for retail and service sectors, for example, luxury goods, wines and hospitality. On the other hand, there are several factors encouraging young professionals to explore Hong Kong, including the student exchange program (schools requiring students to spend 6 months outside of France), working holiday visa that allows French to work in Hong Kong and more media coverage on successful French people in Asia.

When I asked Matthieu whether he would like to stay in Hong Kong for long-term, he is quite sure he want to do so but does not attribute the decision to a particular factor.

"Four years ago, it was about the opportunities that attract me to come to Hong Kong. Now it is the life that I enjoy and excites me. Some people would talk about convenience, the exposure to Chinese culture and few other factors to keep them stay in Hong Kong. But you can say it is very convenient in London and you can have more exposure to Chinese culture in other Chinese cities like Beijing. What keeps me stay in Hong Kong is the combination of everything offered in Hong Kong. Everything is possible here."

However, Matthieu also pointed out there may be some other personal reasons that would end his stay in Hong Kong, for example, if his girlfriend does not want to stay in Hong Kong anymore. The social and political disputes, on the other hand, are not unlikely to make Matthieu move away from Hong Kong in short-term.

"It is too complex for foreigners like me to understand the whole situation. But for the people that I care about , they feel deeply troubled by these disputes. Those disputes do not affect me directly but affect me indirectly. Whether those disputes will make me move, I am not sure. We probably will not see big changes shortly but there should be more and more disputes. The systematic changes will likely happen in few decades."

Having been in Hong Kong for 4 years, Matthieu understood there are more and more people planning to move out from Hong Kong. He supported the move and thought living abroad experience is a good thing for everyone.

"Everyone should have a chance to live abroad for a couple of years. That's the best way to understand yourself and what you want to do, and even get a closer tie to your country. It took me 4 years to do something for my country as I now help on the French Tech Hub in Hong Kong. Having 4 years living away from France, now I started to cherish my country again. You can also have the reflection of how different you are, in a positive way. Whenever my friends told me they are planning to move abroad, I will always say 'do it and go wherever you want'. Maybe you will or will not like the place but the experience will have a big impact in your life. "


As the last note, Matthieu encouraged everyone to try and go for their dream.

"My last note in one sentence: Go for your dream and live life to your fullest. In current societies, this may not be that simple. But once you have tried on pursuing your dream, it would make you a better person. Never give yourself too many excuses. That's what I am telling people I met in Startup Weekend. They may have a business idea for months but never put in enough to have a try. So let's do it today!"

Matthieu demonstrated the positive mindset that is rare to be seen in stories Hong Kong media these days. He has gone through the ups and downs in Hong Kong but did not give up on his goal. No matter Hong Kong or elsewhere is a better place for you to realize your dream, we should never stop trying.

​Korean culture has been very popular in Hong Kong. Recently, the drama " Descendants of the Sun" caught the attention of many Hong Kong locals. However, behind the K-pop culture around the world, the situation in Korea does not look good to many young people there. And Mr. Oh is one of the locals who decided to move to Hong Kong because of the dissatisfaction with the society.

While spending most of his time in Seoul, Mr. Oh spent few years in US with his family when he was 9 years old. And during the time in college, Mr. Oh had some experience in China including 6 months in Jilin to improve his Mandarin skills and 6 months in Beijing for an exchange program in Peking University.

The first time for Mr. Oh to come to Hong Kong was during a business trip in April 2014. He had a good impression on Hong Kong and felt Hong Kong is not a typical Asian city given the cultural diversity. While he was planning to move out from Korea back then, Hong Kong was one of the options in his mind.

When I asked Mr. Oh why he was so determined to move out from Korea, he quoted the term "Hell Chosun" - an infernal feudal kingdom during nineteenth century and it is now used as the popular term to describe the life in Korea. (Related - Young South Koreans call their country hell and look for ways out)

In details, Mr. Oh mentioned few things why people would like to call Korea 'hell'. "The work culture is a big problem and 80% of stress at work is from the interaction with your boss and colleagues. You have to 'create' another personality that will make the bosses satisfied and make yourself adaptable to the office atmosphere, and part of that is hiding your personal feelings. You will feel stressful when you become another person who is not you. The situation can be even worse in domestic companies where drinking and showing up at after work gathering are mandatory. If you don't join the gathering, you will easily be left out alone in the company, colleagues will think you are very unsociable and you won't be promoted because of this."

Apart from work culture, Mr. Oh said the soaring housing prices and the some deep-rooted values caused the life in Korea unpleasant. He explained why these values caused problems to the society.
 
"Koreans in general are too dichotomous, not open to discussion, and very close-minded. They would attack others who have different opinion from themselves. Rather than listening to them, people force their thoughts to others. Koreans also get easily affected by other people's assessment. People can't really pursue what they want to do because they or their parents care so much about what others think about them, specifically whether or not others will appraise them as a successful person. And Korea has one of the worst job discrimination in the world. In this environment, it's hard to focus on the things which you really like. There's so many worldly factors that bothers you, making yourself more and more snob, and make you less happier. Some people might like to be advised and leaded, but for some people who has very different opinion it could end up being a big stress" 

Since people in Korea are judged mostly by 'absolute' measures and most people cannot show their real feeling,  Mr. Oh feel it makes sense why Korea has the highest suicide rate among developed countries and the lowest child happiness rating in the world. (Related - Why Korean children rank below England as the worst nation for child happiness; South Korea suicide rate has been the highest in the developed world for over a decade)

After one year since Mr. Oh first visited Hong Kong, he moved to Hong Kong through internal transfer and feel it is a better environment to work. 

"In Hong Kong office, it is more autonomous. You get to make more decisions on your own and it is less hierarchical compared to the Seoul office. The relationship with colleagues is totally different. I did not think any colleagues or managers in the Seoul office are friends of mine outside work. However, I made few good friends in the Hong Kong office and had a good relationship with my manager outside work - we play tennis together almost every week. If I play tennis with my manager in Seoul, it will make me feel a bit uncomfortable but it is a fun thing to do with my manager in Hong Kong."

Mr. Oh also added that the atmosphere in Seoul office is not productive that people pretend to work hard whenever the senior manager is in office, even they don't have much to do. And colleagues seldom talked about their off-work life in the office.  

As Mr. Oh has been to Hong Kong two times before officially moving in, I asked him about the new discoveries as a resident in Hong Kong. 

"I later found out there are a lot more to do in Hong Kong apart from the tourist places. A lot of great places for hiking, running, water sports, drinks and dinning out. On the flip side, the cost of living is much higher than what I expected. And the amount of work is actually more compared to Seoul, even though my time staying in office is less since face time with the manager is not a requirement in Hong Kong."

The utilization of space in Hong Kong and the crowd of maids during Sundays also surprised Mr. Oh as he spent more time in Hong Kong. 

"Everyone knows Hong Kong is a really packed city but I am amazed by how people utilize the limited space. For example, it was surprising for me to find a little secret bar in between buildings. On the other hand, I once wonder why the maids like to protest every weekend, but I later realized they were just having fun. I heard from other colleagues that hiring a maid in Hong Kong is much cheaper compared to places like Japan and Singapore."

But Hong Kong is perfect in every aspect. Mr. Oh was not satisfied with the taxi drivers' service, the passive smoking in public areas, the limited number of blue sky days and the cleanness in certain area of Hong Kong. (Related - Passive problem: Like banning idling engines, Hong Kong’s campaign against smoking in public is an embarrassing flop; Surge in complaints against Hong Kong taxi drivers as passengers complain of rudeness, overcharging and hire refusals)

Weighing the pros and cons of living in Hong Kong, Mr. Oh is quite pleased with Hong Kong, but he does not think he will stay in the city for long-term. 

"If I am given the opportunity to move to New York, I will take it. I value the diversity of my life experience more than everything else. It is not saying Hong Kong is not a good place to stay, but I want to try on new things at this age."

When I asked Mr. Oh how he thought about young professionals in Hong Kong are planning to move out of the city, he pointed one thing that is better in Korea than in Hong Kong. 

"Hong Kong is a good place to stay unless you have the money. In Korea, even though it is also expensive to live, most people find it affordable to look for a place to stay near where you work. But this is not the case in Hong Kong. There are a lot of good stuff about Hong Kong, but you need the money to enjoy them. "

As the last note, Mr. Oh highly encouraged other Koreans to come and stay in Hong Kong. He think will they be happier living in Hong Kong compared to Korea.

Even though I traveled to Korea as other Hong Kong locals did, I never expect the word "hell" would be linked to the country. It is reasonable why people would call it hell after learning more from Mr. Oh. It is glad that 'hell' is not commonly used to describe Hong Kong as a city even the life is not easy in general. Hopefully Korea will not be associated with this word anymore in the near future. 

Hong Kong and Singapore are often referred as two of the "Four Asian Tigers".  It is common to see comparison between Hong Kong and Singapore as both places are metropolitan and expensive to live in.  While some people feel the life in both places is similar, we often see comments that Hong Kong lagged behind Singapore in both economic growth and living qualities. (Related: Hong Kong ranked 70th in world for quality of living - way behind rival Singapore). So how different Hong Kong is compared to Singapore and in which part Hong Kong is doing better than Singapore? Let us learn from a Singapore local, Adrian, who recently moved to Hong Kong.

Adrian has been in Hong Kong for more than half year. As a Finance professional in his early 30s, he was contacted by a headhunter for a role in Hong Kong and ended up coming to Hong Kong for that role. For Adrian, coming to Hong Kong is more for career progression.

"I feel the work experience in Hong Kong would be a great add-on for my resume. It is not so common to find Singapore locals with few years of overseas work experience, and our labor chef also encouraged locals to gain overseas work experience to be more competitive. ”(Related: Chan Chun Sing: Stay competitive in Singapore's job market, get out of Singapore)"

It came to my surprise that Singapore government actually encouraged citizens to spend some time working overseas. And interestingly, it is the first time Adrian spent over a month in another country.

"When I made the decision, the biggest trade-off was being away from my girlfriend, family and friends. It is like testing whether my relationships would still exist when I don't get to see them. Somehow I gain new perspective on this part after the move. For instance, I didn't talk to my parents so much when I lived with them in Singapore. However, I now talk to them at least once every week and I cherish the time talking to them. "
 
He once expected the settlement would be easy enough but ended up spending more time in things like like house hunting, setting up the bank account and other stuff just to settle down. It is a brand-new experience to him. 

When I asked Adrian the key question: How different Hong Kong is compared to Singapore? He listed few tangible aspects like living condition, income gap and use of electronic payment. But he pointed to bigger differences on intangible things.
 
" One key thing is on freedom of speech. I read some news about leaked tape of HKU council (Related: Leaked tape emerges of HKU Council meeting at centre of academic freedom controversy). In Singapore, if something similar happens, the major media will not be brave to report on the incident. On the other hand, as many things in Singapore are set by the government, I see less creativity in Singapore compared to Hong Kong - the environment just does not cultivate creativity. Last but not least, the work culture is a bit different too. In Singapore, if I stay till 7pm in the office and my manager or colleagues pass by, they will ask why I am still in office. This does not happen in Hong Kong. I guess people assume you to work late in Hong Kong. "

When Adrian mentioned the most interesting thing about Hong Kong, he pointed to the tram system in Hong Kong Island

"I was really impressed by the tram system in Hong Kong Island as it offers a cheap and quick option for short distances. I take tram to go to work everyday"

It is glad that the tram system is not cut so far. (Related: Staying on track: Hong Kong town planning board rejects "laughable" proposal to remove trams).

While Hong Kong and Singapore are open economies that welcome talents and capital from everywhere in the world, we touched on what role a government should play in local job market.
 
"Protecting local jobs is a double edged sword and the government have to walk a balance between attracting International talents and protecting local workers. In Singapore, the government has already implemented some local first policies. For example, the government has tighten the quota for foreign workers that a firm can hire." (Related : Singapore Immigration: A Fair Consideration Framework?)

As Adrian shared his opinion on the Umbrella movement and the trend of young Hong Kong locals moving out, I started to realize the biggest difference between Hong Kong and Singapore.

"The movement and trend may have been politically driven but I think they mostly stem from frustration with economic and social circumstances. Put it this way, I bet Hong Kong people think they are not taken care by the government as most people cannot afford to have some basic things like a good living condition.  That's why some people moved out just to seek for better living quality. As a Singaporean, I feel I have been taken care by the government for things like education, healthcare and housing."

He hope these phenomenons will send a strong signal to the government about the underlying frustrations and tensions in the society. 

Given Adrian spent most of his life in Singapore and most of his friends and family members are still in Singapore, it is more likely for him to move back to Singapore for long-term rather than staying in Hong Kong. However, Adrian would imagine the situation may be vastly different if he moved out from Singapore earlier.

"I wish I could have my living abroad experience earlier. Even though I am staying in a new country right now, most of my time is occupied by work. It would be different if I came to Hong Kong, say as an exchange student. I would have quite different experience and probably appreciate the life in Hong Kong more as I got time to experience more stuff here. "

Although Hong Kong may not be the final destination for Adrian, he enjoyed the time spending in Hong Kong and discovered the differences between Hong Kong and Singapore. It was great to learn from a Singaporean about how Hong Kong is unique compared to Singapore - for the good and the bad. 

So are what people think and do consistent? According to Immigration Department in Hong Kong, there were 21,709 residents applied for a certificate of no criminal conviction in 2014. The certificate is a common requirement for an immigrant visa for some countries. The number is more than double the year before and the highest in the past century. It seems like more and more Hong Kong locals not only think about moving out, they have already started their plans.  

But is Hong Kong really that bad to stay long-term? My foreign friends share a bit different opinion.

When I asked some of my foreign friends, most of them are quite satisfied with their life in Hong Kong.  And based on some data, Hong Kong is still ranked as one of the top destinations for expats. According to HSBC Expat Explorer Report 2015, Hong Kong is ranked as 11th out of 39 popular destinations for expats. 68% of respondents staying in Hong Kong think Hong Kong is a good place for career progression and 80% of expat parents state that the quality of education is better than at home.

Indeed, I could see more and more foreigners when I walked pass streets in Hong Kong. The number of work visas issued through General Employment Policy, which targets at skilled labor from countries other than China to work in Hong Kong, is on the rise. There were over 29 thousand visas issued in 2014 compared to 22 thousand in 2009. In particular, the French population in Hong Kong is growing at 5 percent over past 5 years to about 20 thousand.

Given the different views held by locals and non-locals, we’d like to explore how these groups feel about life in Hong Kong vs. in other parts of the world. There will be interviews on various topics about living in Hong Kong. Though the information may not help answer whether Hong Kong is right place for you to stay long-term, we hope to provide some new perspectives about this city. Hope you enjoy the site and we welcome any suggestions and feedback for future improvements. ​