@nytimes reporter covering China and Asia, but mostly China. Got a tip? alexandra.stevenson@nytimes.com GPG
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Hong Kong is one of the most unequal places to live in the world. Anger over China’s influence in everyday life has fueled the protests but there is an undercurrent of deep anxiety over people’s economic fortunes — and fears that it will only get worse https://nyti.ms/2YgyJj7 1/7
When protesters complain that the govt isn’t listening, this has been a long time coming. Rents in HK are higher than NY, London or SF for apts half the size. Nearly 1 in 5 people live in poverty. Min wage is $4.82/hr. The govt favors private development over public housing
Ken Leung, 55, has participated in recent protests. He should be thinking about retirement but he can barely make rent despite spending most of his waking hours (12 hours 6 days a week) working as a security guard. Photo by @lamyikfeipic.twitter.com/f5OHZpLtxW
Mr. Leung lives in an abandoned building in a space that totals 100 square feet. “My place is small,” he said, pausing for a moment. “It’s dreadful, the living situation there,” he added more quietly. He is one of some 1.3 million people who live in poverty in Hong Kong.
Philip Chan, 27, is another protester. He’s nurse who still lives at home w/ his family — he shares a bunk bed w/ his adult sister. “I keep saving parts of my salary in order to buy a flat in the future but right now I cannot see the future,” he told me.
One politician told me HK people are “spoiled” — that they should move to China where there are more opportunities. Regina Ip, an adviser to Carrie Lam, went as far as to say that “the current restless mood on the part of the young people is not conducive to universal suffrage.”
But protesters like Chan say that misses the point. “I don’t want to live in China because the Chinese gov‘t cannot guarantee us anything. Take for example freedom of speech. How can we live?” Read story & see excellent data visualization by @jwf825https://nyti.ms/2YgyJj7
The chief executive promoting public housing Tung Chee-hwa was protested out of office by them, and they oppose sea filling. They want to have the cake and eat it too. HKers are mostly not grown-ups mentally and, in former president Jiang Zemin's words, simple and naive.
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