Objective 1
Hong Kong is a vibrant city chock-full of people — so much so that the quality of life for those at the bottom tier is atrocious. And I’m not talking about, “Oh my goodness, I have to share a bathroom with my brother and sister.” I’m talking about up to 18 strangers being smashed into a tiny 625 square foot flat with just one toilet to share.
One such former cage-dweller is Chau Kam-chuen. Mr. Kam-chuen used to be one of over 400,000 working poor who paid approximately $1,300 HKD to live in such an environment. According to him, it’s extremely uncomfortable, especially if you get the top bunk: “You hit your head on the ceiling.”
The way it works is that a flat is chosen and then partitioned into multiple cubicles, each composed of wooden planks and wire mesh. Each cubicle then becomes home to one resident.
The cage that the woman sits in above contains all her possessions, from clothes to cooking supplies and even family heirlooms. Realistically speaking, the cage is smaller than a jail cell; yet, these cages house thousands of poverty-stricken men and women who have nowhere else to turn.
And they aren’t comfortable either. Oftentimes, the air-conditioning and heating doesn’t work. Or if it does work, it rarely gets turned on before 9m. As Lai Man-law, an employed man from Hong Kong explained, “It’s dirty and hot. There are cockroaches and bedbugs, and the air-conditioning doesn’t work.”
One wonders though why someone would choose to live like this. Most of these people have no alternative option. These are normal everyday citizens who befell upon hard times and ended up unemployed, homeless, and struggling to make ends meet. The horrific floods of 2008 didn’t help either, as it forced many into homelessness and poverty.
To bring this unfortunate situation to light, Hong Kong’s Schoeni Gallery decided to focus their annual art charity event on displaying these cages directly to the public. Their goal was to showcase the widening gap between the poor and rich in Hong Kong.
The cages displayed are real cages from real flats. In fact, the man pictured above is Mr. Kam-chuen himself. He hopes that this event inspires more people to offer a helping hand to those in need — especially the poor cage dwellers of Hong Kong.
Source from www.weirdasianews.com
Objective 4
Hong Kong tops world rich-poor gap
Hong Kong is both heaven and hell, depending on who you ask. Heaven to wealthy tourists and families of influential people; hell to poor immigrants and migrant workers. More proof that this wide gap between the rich and the poor is the latest report from the UN Development Program which ranks Hong Kong at the top of the table with the widest gap between rich and poor residents.
UNDP's basis of ranking is through the Gini coefficient, a standard measurement of inequality of income and wealth. The closer the rich-poor gap, the lower the Gini score, so a high Gini score means a big disparity. Unfortunately for Hong Kong, it possesses the highest Gini score of all countries (certain country reports may not be very accurate).
2. Singapore - 42.5
3. United States - 40.8
4. Israel - 39.2
5. Portugal - 38.5
6. New Zealand - 36.2
7. Italy - 36.0
7. Great Britain - 36.0
9. Australia - 35.2
10. Ireland - 34.3
11. Greece - 34.3
At the other end of the rankings table, Scandinavian countries, Japan and Czech Republic have the slightest of margins.
In Hong Kong's Central Business District, an array of luxury shops selling expensive bags, shoes and jewelry are a common sight. On its hilly outskirts lie tiny yet expensive residential dwellings that offer an almost uninterrupted harbor view. The territory's property market is one of the most pricey in the world; recently, a posh 5-bedroom apartment in the exclusive Peak district fetched a world record $71,280 Hong Kong Dollars per square foot, even surpassing rates at Hyde Park 1 in London.
On the other side of Hong Kong are the so-called cage people, residents living in ultra small dwellings, barely able to make ends meet and end up begging in the busy streets. Food is expensive, so are other necessities, and so losing a job is a matter of life and death. Unfortunately Hong Kong's suicide rate is relatively high and is often attributed to heavy financial losses.
Hong Kong has one of the lowest tax rates in the world. However, this news is only good to tax payers and not to poorly paid domestic helpers who still end up paying government levy -- albeit suspended for a while -- even if their salaries are way below taxable income. This is one of the reasons that keep the gap between the rich and the poor oh so wide.
Source from us.asiancorrespondent.com
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