The Lady in the Shack

Hong Kong is a very polarized country in the fact that the rich are very rich and the poor are very poor. There is a very small middle class, but for the most part (from my observations and informal conversations with locals) the majority of the people are at one end or the other of the financial spectrum.

The village I live in has parts that look very old. When I go back in these older parts, which I have done so on very few occasions, the buildings are all very close together with alleyways that are very narrow. The sunlight between the buildings is very limited and the air is stagnant. These are just the conditions in my small village with a few thousand people living here and maybe 100 buildings. On the edge of the old part of the village is a nice new lake that is home to many Koi fish and painted turtles. On the other side of the lake, which is where I live, is the new part of the village. The homes are mainly brand new, or just under a year old, with newer homes currently under construction. These places have moderate rent to very high rent (as high as $7 million HKD for purchase of home.) I was lucky enough to be provided with a 2 bedroom, one bath, one kitchen apartment with a nice sized living room and balcony. Unfortunately, my neighbor isn't as lucky.

The shack that my neighbor lives in is on the left, and my apartment is the pink colored one in the background.

When I moved in to the apartment I saw a shack that seemed to be haphazardly put together with various types of building materials. As I passed by, I noticed the door was open and there was somebody rustling around in there. I looked a bit closer and noticed a bed and a nigh table. I said to the person who was helping me move in, "Nobody lives in there, right?"

The sad part is that the little shack is in fact inhabited by a very old lady. She travels around the village picking up cans to take in and sell for scrap metal. I have seen various people come and check on her in the early evening hours and people normally bring her food. I always make a point to take my cans and drop off next to her building so she can take them back for money. I have heard that she is so old, that she speaks the nearly ancient type of Cantonese, which most younger Chinese people can not speak or understand.

I know this is just one example of the many impoverished people who live in Hong Kong and it truly makes me feel grateful for what I have back in the United States. The government here does offer discounted living for people who make less than a certain amount per month and public housing is quite abundant out here. Most public housing is in high rise buildings that look fairly run down, but at least it is a way that people can afford to live here.

A side not about my village: All the buildings in my village are 3-story buildings. Some of the older buildings may only be two, but they are about the same height as a 3 story. It would be very unlikely to ever find a 4-story building here because 4 is a very unlucky number. In high rise apartments, there is never a 4th floor, and they may even leave out the 40-49th floors as well. Theoretically, one could live in a 60 story apartment with only 45 floors. The numbering of apartments here is different than back in the US as well. In the US we consider the first floor to be the first floor. Here, the ground floor is the first floor, then the level after that is the first floor and so on. So I live on the second level of my apartment, but my address is first floor. I know, it is confusing.