Living Working Hong Kong: The Complete, Practical Guide to Expatriate Life in China's Gateway - Softcover

Wright, Dr Rachel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184528013X ISBN 13: 9781845280130

Publisher: How To Books, 2004

Synopsis

This book is for anyone planning to live and work in Hong Kong. You may be a young single expat planning to come to Hong Kong to work and play, or a couple with a young family needing to address safety, health and education issues on top of everyday living, or people looking to put away savings for their retirement. The book is organised into three main sections: Living, Working and Leisure, and gives flavourful descriptions of what to expect from life in Hong Kong. It covers all you need to know to make the most of your time there. Each chapter includes up-to-date information, and well-informed opinion and comment. Quotes drawn from interviews with a broad cross-section of the expatriate community in Hong Kong provide useful insights into life there and invest the book with the colour and authenticity of personal experience.

About this title

About the Author

Rachel Wright has lived in Hong Long for years and works as a writer, researcher and teacher. Before that she obtained a PhD at Oxford University and spent some time living and working in Beijing. She has written on educational issues for the South China Morning Post.

From the Inside Flap

Sunday Morning Post, Sunday March 6, 2005

In the expat fantasy, every day is an adventure, and dealing with a new language and culture a joy. After living in Hong Kong for five years, Rachel Wright begins with a reality check for those tempted by exotic dreams and seemingly generous expat packages." Foreign talent and expertise is still in demand, but the extravagant salaries of the 1980s and 1990s are no longer common and many expats are now being offered local contracts."
On the cost of living "Life is not fun if you are living on the breadline, the pleasures of dining out, drinking and dancing don't come cheap. Singles should aim to earn $30,000 - $35,000 a month before tax to live in reasonable comfort." On accommodation, she says "If you don't want to live in an apartment don't come to Hong Kong."
With unrealistic expectations out of the way, she offers comprehensive advice to newcomers, covering everything from arriving at the airport to getting around, finding accommodation, socialising, finding schools, starting a business and traveling further afield.
"Driving" she says, is "reasonably safe", although there are frequent complaints about reckless drivers. She quotes Automotive magazine: "The common mistakes by Hong Kong drivers are related to signaling. The main one is turning with no signal. Next one is signaling without turning. Third is signaling half-way around the turn."
Wright is clearly a fan of the local lifestyle. She recommends Chinese restaurants for dining lower down the price chain, and praises the ubiquitous lunchbox: " They usually cost around $25 and are extremely good value and tasty." Mooncakes also get the thumbs-up:" A meal-in-a-cake, it's built like a fortress. Once you breach the heavy brown pastry walls and wade through the viscous melon paste, you are rewarded with the golden treasure-a hard boiled, salty egg yolk. Irresistible."
Wright urges taking care with cooked food or snacks from street stalls, and says that anyone who lives in Hong Kong for any length of time is bound to succumb to at least one bout of food poisoning.
There's advice for trailing spouses who may find it hard to settle. Getting involved in volunteer work is one solution. Another is to invest in your own personal development. One expat wife took courses in Pilates instruction and sports nutrition when she couldn't find work, and says that "Hong Kong is a great place to reinvent yourself."
Wright finishes with a candid chapter on sex in the city. Not all expat marriages survive the strain of "the rising executive in the oriental sweetie shop" syndrome, and spouses are advised not to spend long periods apart. The dating scene for expat women is limited, especially if they are not interested in Chinese men: Once you've cut out the local men, the gay men, the married men, the men only interested in Asian women, you've pared the field down quite a bit."
Although most new arrivals will figure this stuff out by themselves eventually, Wright's guide will pay for itself in the time saved.

Edition details

• Publisher: How To Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184528013X
• ISBN 13: 9781845280130
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352