It never ceases to amaze me how many people seem genuinely surprised by the pollution in HK. If you moved here in the last 5-7 years you would have to have had
some clue what it was like. Maybe you did your interview on one of the (rare) days it was fine, but anyone with a modicum of intelligence must, nay SHOULD, have done something resembling research before they upped & moved their progeny into this environment.
Kudos for deciding to leave, but spare us all the "martyred for a family cause" histrionics many here seem intent on telling us.
One wonders whether the Middle East thread is littered with posts titled "gaaaawd, it's so bl00dy hot here. Who'd have thought it would be so hot?".
Perhaps the Nordic forum is filled with self-congratulatory types bragging about their decision to move to warmer climes "for the sake of the family".
So, as many of you move back to ex-pat origins various: take a note of those cheap goods in the mega-malls, the low cost sneakers (from the Chinese sweatshops) you buy at the outlet centers, little Billy's latest Lego toy and all the other products you feel it is your god-given right to have access to at low, low prices and wonder - just for a second - where those goods come from? If you connect those dots, perhaps it won't seem so odd that there is a serious pollution problem here. If the Amazon rainforest is regarded as "the lungs of the world", then the Pearl river Delta is clearly "the factory of the world".
At the risk of belittling a far more serious issue, anyone who has seen the movie "Blood Diamond" will remember the scene where the fermale journalist berates Leo's character for his particpation in the evil trade that is conflict diamonds. Danny Archer's retort is priceless: her jingoistic view of the process that results in the conflict diamonds trade demonstrates how grossly ignorant the first world has become: it is the Madison Avenue (to borrow a HK term) tai-tais and their thirst for pretty baubles, ferociously fed by a consumerist-based media that is the true reason for the trade.
Anyway, rant over. Sorry the pollution got to so many of you - next time, open a book or make a phone call. It'll save you much heartache in the long run.
