I had a interesting chat with RayAlome tonight regarding the Bus Uncle post I posted yesterday.
So what made that video interesting and spread crazily on the internet. Why did it warrant to be on the news? People scream and argue at each other all the time. What makes this so special?
As the news report said, the most interesting phrase mentioned in the video is: 我有壓力. 你有壓力. (I’m under stress. You’re under stress.) Hong Kong is a very stressful city to be living in. With a very high population density, unstable economy, high cost of living, and jobs moving to mainland China, Hong Kong is trying to find new ways to generate income. I’ve heard they’re trying to become a world wide business hub where financial districts are built upon and where companies headquarters are located like New York City and Shanghai. From City Mayors: Cost of living – The world’s most expensive cities, Hong Kong is ranked as the 8th most expensive city to live in in 2005, falling from 5th place in 2004.
I think a good indication of how stressful a city/environment is the suicide rate. Hong Kong’s suicide rate has been increasing with 17.6 suicides / 100,000 people in 2004 and 18.6 suicides / 100,000 people in 2005. From Wikipedia’s List of countries by suicide rate, Hong Kong is ranked #23 (though the data is a bit old – 2002). According to 2005’s data, this would’ve bumped them to #15. The average suicides / 100,000 people is currently 14.5 suicides.
RayAlome then questioned from a cultural psychology point of view, if any of the stress were caused by internal pressures. Not sure what internal pressures were exactly, he explained external pressures were things like population, economy, and/or politics/government. Internal pressures would be pressures created not by the enviroment or place you’re living. I said most definitely. Asians tend to put a lot of pressures on themsevles to succeed, usually along with very strong pressures from the parents. I mean Asian parents are disatisifed with their kids getting even B’s and anything lower meant a good beating to reflect on what went wrong. RayAlome then asked about Eastern cultures tend to be more harmonious and strived for agreement. I agree that this is very much the case. Asian people tend to be very humble and do not like to cause dissent (maybe that’s why it takes forever for a revolution to occur in China, even when many people there know how wrong the current Communistic government is. Chinese people aren’t dumb, though often times they lack the courage to speak out. Many people may think Chinese people are brainwashed, but I like to think otherwise, where many are just waiting for a leader to appear.) Well, that was sidetracked. Haha. Anyway, back to the harmony discussion. I mean many people would argue about the smallest tidbit that has gone wrong or find some way to release or channel that anger or disatisfaction, but Asian people like to avoid disagreement so much, they bottle every little thing inside. What this ends up is there’s so much anger and rage trapped inside, it’ll eventually pop and blow up. Asians are good at acceptance and tolerance, though they tend to lack the skill to channel or release their anger.
So our discussion got to the point of how terrible living conditions were in Hong Kong for many people. Sometimes, a family of 6 could be living in a 1 bedroom apartment. I mean, whole families sometimes live in what are known as cages. From Residents of Hong Kong ‘cages’ await handover – But, for some, home is a literally a cage — a cramped six-foot (2 meter) cube where four or more people may live because it’s all they can afford. In America, this would be considered as an unacceptable living condition. So how does such a major city like Hong Kong get away with something like this?
I also found some interesting photos I’d like to share:
(source: Pok Chi Lau Photography)
(source: Hong kong cage people)