Hong Kong is #3! (....in airports and livability)

[wushijiao]

On random internet searches and news today, I found that HK recently did fairly well in two rankings: the airport ranked #3 in the world, and the city was ranked third most livable city in Asia. In terms of airports, Seoul was #1, and Singapore was ranked #1 most livable:

Hong Kong has jumped from the fifth to the third most liveable city in Asia, according to the latest Location Ratings for expatriate living conditions published by ECA International, the world's leading knowledge and solutions provider for international HR professionals. However, this is a result of changed circumstances in other cities in the region rather than any significant improvement in Hong Kong's liveability score.

.....

Of the 49 Asian cities assessed, Hong Kong comes third after Singapore and the Japanese city of Kobe. It has overtaken Tokyo and Yokohama, which both dropped one place in the regional ranking as a consequence of the fallout from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in north-east Japan last year.

Globally, Hong Kong is ranked 11th, up from 14th position last year. Tokyo and Yokohama both fell from joint 6th to joint 17th place.

http://www.eca-inter...0/#.T5fCE7PrpBw

For many in HK, pollution is the key concern. As the WSJ notes:

Pollution is Hong Kong’s “big Achilles heel,” says Lee Quane of ECA International. For the last 13 years that ECA’s conducted the current iteration of its survey, Singapore has consistently outranked Hong Kong. Mr. Quane says “the main reason is basically air quality,” an issue he says has become especially

apparent

in the last five years.

[jbradfor]

And #2 in "Ease of doing business": http://www.doingbusiness.org/Rankings

[wushijiao]

Yes...HK does pretty well on these rankings, and deservedly so.

I do think that they need to invest more in education, expand housing (and make it cheaper), and really tackle the pollution problem. If I end up leaving, it's probably be because of one of those three issues.

[skylee]

How does the investment in education affect you? Why do you find it insufficient?

[roddy]

Hong Kong's a fantastic place. I wouldn't enjoy the summer heat, and the cost of accommodation is prohibitive, but give me a well-paid job there and I'll be packed in fifteen minutes.

It's maybe just the people I know, but it seems to me Hong Kong folk seem to view the place as in some kind of terminal decline, when it's actually still one of the finest cities on the planet. I saw a picture of an overflowing litter bin posted the other day, with the comment "is this our so-called civilization?"

A while back the same person (actually, you know what? It's probably just her) posted a picture of orange peel that had been left under a bus seat as if this was some kind of terrible event. If that's the worst thing your city shows you on a daily basis, you haven't got too much to complain about.

I then showed the picture to a friend from Hong Kong here in London: "So what?" Then I told her it'd been taken in Hong Kong: "Oh my God, that's really bad!"

[imron]

It's maybe just the people I know, but it seems to me Hong Kong folk seem to view the place as in some kind of terminal decline

They've probably all been watching too much 天與地. The city is dying don't you know.

[skylee]

imron, I love that. Thank you.