Personal reflection:
Skylines,financial centre,luxury shops, all these are the first impression of Hong Kong for foreigners. However, is it the fact of Hong Kong? Only in part. On the other side , more than 14% people in Hong Kong are living under the poverty line, some of them are living in subdivided flats,with the lack of food supply. Both situations show the stark contrast and a problem of inequality.
In this assignment, we got the chance to figure out the the problem of inequality in Hong Kong. We are required to understand the scale of income inequality in Hong Kong through the anthropology of luxury by comparing 5 most expensive and 5 least expensive products in Hong Kong. After discussing with my group mates ,we decided to use shoes as the target as it is a necessity for both the poor and rich people. To investigate which location have the highest price difference in Hong Kong , we covered Hong Kong Island ,Kowloon and New Territories and we found out the the biggest price gap in Hong Kong were $5(Tin Shui Wai) to $61200(Admiralty) (what a huge gap!). The map below shows the distribution of shoes’s price that we found in Hong Kong. (I discovered Mong Kok and Tsing Yi)
The result shows the most expensive shoes that we found were mainly in tourist area and relatively high income, which means people there have higher purchasing power and they can afford a higher cost for their needs.Because of the depreciation of Hong Kong dollar against renminbi ,more mainland china people would like to buy luxuries ,even necessities in Hong Kong. As a result , most of the price of the product in those area will much higher than living districts.Besides, with the higher shop’s rent in those tourist area, the price of shoes should set in a high level for covering the expenditure of the rent. Of course, the quality of those shoes must in a higher standard ,with hand-made craftsmanship and crocodile skin. This can explain why the shoes found in Admiralty can cost $61200. However, Does it worth it…..?My answer is NOT.
In the same case, because suburban area have a lower demand of luxuries, with a higher proportion of low-income family, so that shoes sold there should be set in a low price , which most of the family can afford the price level. The demand of high-class necessities are relatively low in those district since the there are a huge impact of food prices due to the inflation. As a result ,money saved should used to maintain their own life of quality instead of buying expensive products, especially the one who live under poverty line and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme recipients. I found out high proportion of public estate in the same area , cheaper products could be found .Take Tin Shui Wai as an example,there are more than 70% of housing are public estate. New immigrants and low-income family are mainly grouped together. Under this circumstances, lower price can be set for helping those poorer to fulfill the basic living condition.
To sum up, it is nearly impossible to solve the problem of inequality in Hong Kong.However, the seriousness of inequality is noticed after doing this assignment. The prize gap between downtown and suburban is extremely huge.
Lastly,I think it is a wonderful experience to explore Hong Kong and understand people's living conditions by checking out the shoes’ price. I hope I can choose a more specific subjects for comparison if there is another chance for me to do similar work, which can improve the accuracy of the data,and I think it is one of the improvement that our group can consider.
Particular contribution:photos taken in Mong Kok and Tsing Yi,
presentation and data analysis of the cheapest shoes.
Skylines,financial centre,luxury shops, all these are the first impression of Hong Kong for foreigners. However, is it the fact of Hong Kong? Only in part. On the other side , more than 14% people in Hong Kong are living under the poverty line, some of them are living in subdivided flats,with the lack of food supply. Both situations show the stark contrast and a problem of inequality.
In this assignment, we got the chance to figure out the the problem of inequality in Hong Kong. We are required to understand the scale of income inequality in Hong Kong through the anthropology of luxury by comparing 5 most expensive and 5 least expensive products in Hong Kong. After discussing with my group mates ,we decided to use shoes as the target as it is a necessity for both the poor and rich people. To investigate which location have the highest price difference in Hong Kong , we covered Hong Kong Island ,Kowloon and New Territories and we found out the the biggest price gap in Hong Kong were $5(Tin Shui Wai) to $61200(Admiralty) (what a huge gap!). The map below shows the distribution of shoes’s price that we found in Hong Kong. (I discovered Mong Kok and Tsing Yi)
The result shows the most expensive shoes that we found were mainly in tourist area and relatively high income, which means people there have higher purchasing power and they can afford a higher cost for their needs.Because of the depreciation of Hong Kong dollar against renminbi ,more mainland china people would like to buy luxuries ,even necessities in Hong Kong. As a result , most of the price of the product in those area will much higher than living districts.Besides, with the higher shop’s rent in those tourist area, the price of shoes should set in a high level for covering the expenditure of the rent. Of course, the quality of those shoes must in a higher standard ,with hand-made craftsmanship and crocodile skin. This can explain why the shoes found in Admiralty can cost $61200. However, Does it worth it…..?My answer is NOT.
In the same case, because suburban area have a lower demand of luxuries, with a higher proportion of low-income family, so that shoes sold there should be set in a low price , which most of the family can afford the price level. The demand of high-class necessities are relatively low in those district since the there are a huge impact of food prices due to the inflation. As a result ,money saved should used to maintain their own life of quality instead of buying expensive products, especially the one who live under poverty line and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme recipients. I found out high proportion of public estate in the same area , cheaper products could be found .Take Tin Shui Wai as an example,there are more than 70% of housing are public estate. New immigrants and low-income family are mainly grouped together. Under this circumstances, lower price can be set for helping those poorer to fulfill the basic living condition.
To sum up, it is nearly impossible to solve the problem of inequality in Hong Kong.However, the seriousness of inequality is noticed after doing this assignment. The prize gap between downtown and suburban is extremely huge.
Lastly,I think it is a wonderful experience to explore Hong Kong and understand people's living conditions by checking out the shoes’ price. I hope I can choose a more specific subjects for comparison if there is another chance for me to do similar work, which can improve the accuracy of the data,and I think it is one of the improvement that our group can consider.
Particular contribution:photos taken in Mong Kok and Tsing Yi,
presentation and data analysis of the cheapest shoes.