In Hong Kong in mid-December, at 26°C in the afternoon, the traffic lights on the streets of Central sound "Ding Ding Ding". Pedestrians waited quietly in front of the zebra crossing, and as soon as the green light appeared, they strode towards the office building. A couple of men in suits chatted on the side of the road, holding a cigarette or a cup of coffee.
After the hit of the Hong Kong drama "News Queen", people concluded that in the narrative of Hong Kong workplace dramas and media, women always appear as capable and independent. But for some Hong Kong women, this is not necessarily the case in the workplace.
Many women said that Hong Kong has a high degree of commercialization and a fast pace of life, and some women who love work are forced to choose to be single. Even if you get married, you have to bear the burden of family life with your husband. But there is no "35-year-old crisis" here, there is a shortage of people in all walks of life, no one interferes in spare time, and personal privacy can be guaranteed.
Between gains and losses, Hong Kong women make their own choices.
Central, Hong Kong. Photo/Jiupai News reporter Li Muxi
[1] "The escalators here are faster than in other places"
At half past five in the afternoon, Zhang Yiyi's office became empty, leaving only a few colleagues to pack their things and prepare for work. There are a few cartoon ornaments and a bottle of hand cream on the desk, the lights are off for more than half of the time, and the lights are shining outside the window as night falls.
She worked in finance in Beijing and achieved the position of director. Later, he came to Hong Kong because of the transfer of the group. Every morning, she gets up at 7 o'clock and arrives at the company in half an hour. She works a lot of overtime in the busy season, but overtime is not considered an important indicator of "volume".
"Hong Kong has a high degree of commercialization, and the per capita level of the workplace is relatively high, especially those who come to work here from the mainland, who are relatively good, and if everyone is not bad, they must be more diligent, professional and dedicated than others. ”
After living in Hong Kong for 10 years, media person Xia Yan felt invisible pressure.
"The escalators and the subway here are faster than anywhere else. She found that there aren't many fat people in Hong Kong because people walk a lot and exercise unconsciously. In Shanghai, she can take a taxi home if she is unhappy or tired from work, but in Hong Kong, she doesn't take a taxi several times a year. Because even though it's only a few subway stations away, the taxi fare is hundreds of yuan, "How can I do this, I'd better walk." ”
She is a post-80s generation who is married and has children, and she sighs at Hong Kong's high childcare, living costs and housing prices. In the past, she used to discuss topics in the Shanghai media, while the Hong Kong office was quieter, and her colleagues did not talk much and were more responsible for execution.
"Depression is a common ecology in the workplace in Hong Kong, and chatting means that you are not too busy with your workload. She sighed.
After chatting for twenty minutes, she kept carrying a small bag. "Are you going to put your bag down?" the reporter asked. "It's fine, not too heavy," she replied.
In Hong Kong, the moment a student's DES (Hong Kong College Entrance Examination) score comes out, it basically determines how much money they can earn after graduation. Xia Yan said that a high score means that you can study a major that makes money.
"Why do the champions in Hong Kong go to study medicine, they may say that it is to cure diseases and save people, but the reality is that when doctors receive more than 10 million yuan in the next year. She further explained that lawyers and doctors are becoming more and more popular in Hong Kong as they get older, and finance may be laid off when they reach the age of forty or fifty.
In the hit Hong Kong drama "News Queen", media people were gilded. However, Xia Yan commented that he was "out of life", because the salary in Hong Kong's media industry is generally not high, and the admission score of media majors is also very low.
"TVB's own people say that which one can be so rich in journalism, they are more about driving vans, not BMW SUVs, and TVB's news department will lay off employees in the near future. She said that some of the plots in the play are very unprofessional, such as the anchor threatening others during the live broadcast.
[2] "Either marry a rich man, or marry and have no children"
Of course, more dissatisfaction is focused on salaries.
Xia Yan said that in her company, the starting salary of new graduates is 16,000 Hong Kong dollars, and the starting salary of Phoenix Satellite TV is only about 14,000 Hong Kong dollars. She noticed that one of the highest-paying positions was the English editor-in-chief of the radio station, which required 5-10 years of experience and could earn up to 70,000 Hong Kong dollars per month.
In the view of Li Yu, a young man from Beijing who lives in Hong Kong, if you want to seek a life here, instead of "living", you have to earn at least 25,000 Hong Kong dollars a month, because you have to spend 10,000 Hong Kong dollars to rent an extra 30 square meters of house and have a more comfortable living environment.
He moved to Hong Kong with his parents as a child, returned to Hong Kong after graduating with a master's degree in the UK, and is currently working in a Chinese-funded financial institution. Commenting on the job, he said, "Foreign income is high, but there is a possibility of layoffs. Compared with "Hong Kong Drift", he does not have to pay the mortgage and rent, and there is a sense of relaxation.
Zhang Yiyi found that after the Indian and Pakistani workers came to Hong Kong, the men went out to work, the women gave birth at home, and more than 10 people lived in a space of 10 square meters. And she has friends who are rich, and the residence is like a "labyrinth".
Chen Zhiwu, director of the Hong Kong Institute of Humanities and Social Studies at the University of Hong Kong, told the media in 2022 that he had come to the University of Hong Kong from Yale University for six years and had not seen any signs of loosening the social class solidification in Hong Kong. He hoped that the current term of the HKSAR government would be able to promote real and substantive changes.
The life experience of the past six years has made him feel that young people born from ordinary families in Hong Kong society basically have no possibility of becoming the next Li Ka-shing, Li Guobao, and Lee Shau-kee.
Zhang Yiyi compared wages and prices in Beijing and Hong Kong and concluded that it was more comfortable to live in Beijing. "When I graduated, my salary in Beijing was eight or nine thousand, and I could eat enough for a bowl of rice for 20 yuan in Beijing, but it was not enough to eat bread here. She said that although her annual salary in Hong Kong is 70-1 million Hong Kong dollars, "this income does not guarantee the quality of life, it can only be regarded as a mixed income". She was a little envious of a friend in Guangzhou who was transferred back to Changsha, "don't be too happy".
She used to live in Fortress Hill on Hong Kong Island, and her family was crammed into an 80-square-meter 80s old house with a monthly rent of 40,000 Hong Kong dollars, and now, she no longer lives with her family and has changed to a 50-square-meter house, but the monthly rent is also 20,000 or 30,000 Hong Kong dollars.
She feels that Hong Kong women's choice of mates has entered two extremes, "either marry a rich man and have a lot of children, or fight for a career without marriage or childlessness", and she is surrounded by a large number of single sisters in their forties and fifties. In her view, this is caused by the fierce competition in the city, "There are also many women in the big cities in the mainland who have been single, are they willing? Who doesn't want to have a good family and career, but their life is stressful and they haven't met the right person." ”
She believes that women now have the right to work, they can directly access social resources, and do not need to rely on marriage to depend on men, "This is a double-edged sword, men may become more feminine and unwilling to take responsibility, women take the risks and pressures of the workplace, but you become a person."
In Hong Kong, where land is at a premium, maternity leave for women is particularly precious. Currently, Hong Kong women are entitled to 14 weeks of statutory maternity leave for childbirth, up from 10 weeks previously. Maternity leave in first-tier cities in the mainland ranges from 158 days to 178 days.
"10 weeks of maternity leave means you can come back to work just after you have a wound. You apply for a longer leave, but everyone doesn't, do you dare to take it? That means you're not important to the company. Your employer cannot fire you while pregnant, but they can fire you after giving birth. Zhang Yiyi said.
On December 7, according to the Hong Kong Economic Times, HSBC announced a new holiday arrangement for Hong Kong employees, starting from January 1, 2024, paid maternity leave for full-time employees will be increased from 16 weeks to 20 weeks, and paid paternity leave will be increased from 10 days to 40 days. HSBC said the move is to help employees strike a balance between work, family and personal life, while enhancing HSBC's competitiveness as an employer.
"It's a pity that companies that extend maternity leave are in the news because there are so few of them. Ten years ago, Xia Yan was entitled to more than 20 weeks of maternity leave when she worked in the media in Shanghai, and in Hong Kong, she often saw pregnant women still working at the counter of shopping malls. ”
According to a survey, the proportion of female executives in the Asia-Pacific region will reach 32% in 2023, surpassing North America for the first time since 2018. According to HSBC's data this year, the number of female executives in Hong Kong is around 38 percent, far more than the rest of Asia. Xia Yan noticed that most female executives are unmarried or divorced, and "women take care of their families a lot, but they can't be promoted." ”
"If you are very focused on work, tell your boss that you will not get married, will not have children, will not shirk business trips, and work hard like men, and your ability is not bad, you will naturally have the opportunity to be promoted. Zhang Yiyi believes that women's right to speak in the workplace must be won by themselves.
Recently, Zhong Shujia, the director of "News Queen", told the media that Hong Kong dramas have good workplace drama genes, which may be because "Hong Kong people love to work very much". This caused Xia Yan to resist with his friends around him, "We are all crazy, why do Hong Kong people work so hard? Because of the high prices and housing prices, life is difficult, everyone in the subway is very tired, is it because they like to work?"
Hong Kong. Photo/Jiupai News reporter Li Muxi
[3] "Enjoy the feeling that no one is looking for you after work"
At a time when Hong Kong women are actively or passively becoming "strong women in the workplace", "lazy girl work" is becoming popular in Europe and the United States.
A standard "lazy girl job" should be able to work remotely, pay well, be in a non-technical position, do repetitive work, and performance can be achieved without hard work, and it doesn't require much interaction with colleagues. On social media, some girls said they had found such a loose job, and that there were men who wanted to get it.
Jiani, a post-95s girl, is trying to find such a job in Hong Kong. She currently works for one of the Big Four accounting firms in Hong Kong and can work remotely, but she can't be a "lazy girl".
Compared to clocking in, her end time is not clear. I work at 10 a.m. every day, until seven or eight p.m. in the off-season, and until eleven or twelve in the peak season. She was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work. For this reason, she plans to jump to a virtual bank to do internal audit, and her salary will be raised by about 10%.
After graduating from the University of Hong Kong, she entered the "Big Four". After working for 6 years, she has reached the manager level, and her current monthly salary is more than 60,000 Hong Kong dollars, and her income can cover her expenses in Hong Kong. She bought a 35-square-meter property, repaid a mortgage of HK$30,000 per month, and other living expenses were around HK$15,000.
She likes the weather in Hong Kong, the sense of boundaries between people, and the fact that it is less difficult to work than the first-tier cities in the mainland, and which can offer a higher salary. As a "Hong Kong drifter" with a mainland background, she feels that she is very needed in the Greater Bay Area.
"Due to the differences in geographical location, language and culture, Hong Kong has a small threshold, which leads to Hong Kong not being as roll as the mainland, and I feel that the colleagues in the Beijing office are more hard, humble, and the treatment is not as good as ours, and the salary at the same level is 5-7% off. ”
After working for 6 years, Jiani still doesn't know the age, marital and parental status of some colleagues, and she will not write this information on her resume during the interview. Xia Yan believes that the commuting time in Hong Kong is relatively long, and everyone enjoys the feeling that no one is looking for them after work, "Some of our Hong Kong colleagues contact him after work, and they will not return to you until the next day." ”
Her parents have a pension in the mainland, so they don't have a lot of burden. But she believes that if she gets married and has children in the future, she is not sure whether she will be able to maintain her current status. She hopes to find a partner to live with in Hong Kong, "it's hard to think far alone these days".
There is no 35-year-old age crisis, Xia Yan feels down-to-earth. She found her current job at the age of 39. "Hong Kong has only 7 million people, and there is a shortage of people in all walks of life, and the government is calling for the release of domestic labor and creating conditions for women to go out to work and not be tied to their homes. She said.
Zhang Yiyi was still hesitant to live in Hong Kong for a long time, and she quipped, "If I can be worth more than 100 million, I will stay." Li Yu has calculated that if you want to retire in Hong Kong, it is best to have 5 suites, and "supporting the house with a house" can ensure a worry-free life in your later years.
"Hong Kong's welfare is super poor, low taxes in exchange for low welfare, high taxes in Northern Europe or Canada have high benefits, no pension, pension is a worry," Xia Yan said, "We have MPF, but very little, it is difficult to support the life after retirement, and Hong Kong people live a long life."
According to the Human Development Report released by the United Nations, Hong Kong's average life expectancy is 85.5 years (the average female life expectancy is 89.6 years), ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years. Hong Kong, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Chinese University Hospital, said that the continuous ageing of Hong Kong's population has brought severe challenges to Hong Kong's economy and the entire medical and health system.
Jiani didn't think that far, "If it is unrealistic to retire in Hong Kong, it would be good to return to the mainland with the money earned here."
Victoria Harbour at night, with a gentle sea breeze. Pedestrians stop in front of the Christmas tree at K11 Mall. The star-studded 15-Midio Christmas tree went viral on social media. Every Christmas, Hong Kong's major shopping malls do their best to decorate Christmas trees. "Hong Kong's Christmas trees are rolled up like this!" exclaimed one tourist.
A few migrant workers sat alone, or stared at Victoria Harbour in a daze, or swiped their mobile phones. On Friday night, they chose to be alone so that the sea breeze could blow away the "smell of class" for the day.
Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. Photo/Jiupai News reporter Li Muxi
Jiupai News reporter Li Muxi sent from Hong Kong, China
Edited by Zeng Jinqiu
[Source: Jiupai News]
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