@ChinaBeached I know an ex CHIEF pilot of Cathay and have talked to him about pay, conditions etc. He said that living in HK and flying with Cathay was the best experience of his life, and it was hard to leave (he left due to personal reasons).
If you think the conditions in HK are bad, then try living in Australia! Everything is so much more expensive in Aus than anywhere else in the world, yet people live in good conditions on far worse pay than is quoted by CX.