China or Hong Kong

[Diamond]

Hi

I need some advice about either staying in China working or taking an employment offer in Hong Kong.

I haven’t ever been to Hong Kong so can anyone tell me what’s it like and how different is it from mainland China for example language, culture, people, city life-basically is it entirely different from China or there are snippets of mainland tucked in.

Would appreciate some feedback as I have nothing to lose going or staying so would like some personal opinions from other forum users.

Cheers

Diamond

[Brendan]

I suspect most people would opt for Hong Kong, but then it really depends on what your own personal outlook is. If you want to live in a more civilsed metropolis with all the amenities a city like HK has to offer, it’s a no brainer. If however you want more personal adventure and self discovery, Chengdu is probably the place for you (I assume you’re referring to Chengdu as ‘mainland’), as it’s the place that will be most challenging to get by in if you have any ambition whatsoever. I love Hong Kong, but I choose to remain in Chengdu for it’s possibility, opportunity, and the straight out unknown.

[Charlie]

I agree with Brendan. I love Hong Kong (lived there before I came to Chengdu), but they’re very different places.

Chengdu is changing quickly, but the stress level is very low compared to the opportunities available here. Hong Kong is a first class metropolis but it’s really a rat race, and it can be rough if you aren’t making 40-50k+ HKD a month. Chengdu, by comparison, is extremely cheap and laid back, but also has some rapidly growing industries (IT, real estate, etc).

Language is another big factor, in Chengdu you will definitely want to speak Chinese to take advantage of all the opportunities here. In Hong Kong, English works almost everywhere and it’s not that big a deal. Plus, Cantonese is more difficult than Mandarin and most foreigners there don’t bother.

It also depends on your offer – if you’re considering a job in HK, it should probably pay at least 2x what the Chengdu offer is. On Chengdu you can live pretty comfortably on about US $1k a month, however this is pretty difficult in Hong Kong.

[Diamond]

Thank you guys for giving info on Hong Kong,I did bit of research and don’t think I will move despite the job offer I was getting good pay but without accommodation and really don’t want to move and struggle financially.

So looks like Chengdu is home for now.

[Author]

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