8/11/2019 Tiffany Wong: Reframing Hong Kong Reflection

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Reflections

As my graduation date looms closer, people increasingly feel the need ask questions regardingmy future plans. What are you doing afterwards?, what plans do you have?, do you think youcan earn enough money to support yourself with a lieral arts degree?, is a political sciencedegree really worth it? why didn!t you go to law?, are you scared of the future? are some of the

choice e"amples amongst the myriad of nettlesome inquiries. #hese questions, however, can easilye answered with a succinct $ don!t know, a moderately long answer involving %.& e"ams anddesire for a successful career in poverty development and conflict management, or a deep sighheaved under the gripping e"istential crisis of an early twenty'something. (et when asked thequestion of why are you not going ack to )ong *ong?, $ cannot offer an adequate answer thatcould satisfy either party. #his prolem is not unique for students who have een studying aroad,and in the Reframing )ong *ong conference $ realised the numer of us who face the conflict ofreturning or staying aroad. #here are of course a good numer of students who have decided to go

ack for family, for +o prospects, andor for the fact that they couldn!t imagine themselves einganywhere else ' ut for those who face the conflict of staying versus returning, it is not easy groundto navigate.

#he easy way to answer the question of why are you not going ack home? is to mention theavailaility of +os that a political science student who is not too interested in consulting, anking inany form, law, medicine, or usiness -hint there is not a lot/. A known +oke among )ong *ongstudents is that if one enters a university in )ong *ong, one studies in the following five fields law,medicine, usiness, engineering, or accounting. While this +oke is grossly generalising andoverlooks the many other field of studies that could ensure a satisfying career, its facetiousness isnot unfound there seems to e a feeling among the general pulic that if one fails to e enrolled insomething pragmatic and practical, one!s following +o prospects remain to e limited and one!seconomic staility will e uilt on shaky grounds. )owever, this answer could also e counteredwith the claim that in order to change the status quo in thinking aout +o prospects, the )ong *onglaour force needs to e in+ected with the thinking of creative, right young students who hold out'of'the'o" mindsets. #he )onorary 0harles 1ok, in his keynote address during the conference,made a call for people to e more involved in technological startups in )ong *ong to revitalise theattraction of )ong *ong as a innovative workplace for aspiring entrepreneurs from )ong *ong.#here are also an inherent worry if fresh graduates find )ong *ong to e a difficult place to findwork ' if )ong *ong suffers through a localised rain drain due to the monotonicity of +o offers,the monotonicity will continue on its cyclical tra+ectory.

$ can also tell my persistent questioners that the housing market also discourages overseasgraduates to return, with )ong *ong ranking first as the place with most unaffordale housing inthe world for four years in a row. A personal anecdote my cousin got married in 1arch 2345, utwas unale to find an affordale place to rent along with his wife until eight months later. #heir

comined household income is a little under the median annual income of 6273,333, ut they had tostay in their separate family homes eight months after their marriage. 8ut as the personal anecdotesuggests, the housing prolem for fresh graduates could e easily mediated y living with parents aswe have done efore leaving for university, even if it means giving up a certain level ofindependency and freedom that we have y having lived aroad.4

$n order to give this question its proper due answer, then, it is necessary to point to the growingan"iety and fear towards the political future that lurks in the current )ong *ong'mainland 0hinadialectic. $t is fair to say that when referring to the 9:ne 0ountry, #wo ;ystems! concept that is sofirmly held y oth parties, the mainlanders emphasise 9one country!, while the )ong *ong people

1#his is not to say, however, that $ am going to give up the chance of paying 633 sq ft. flat in

)yde ark, 0hicago, with water, heat, gas and internet included. #he soundproofing may e prolematic at times ut $

have my own room, athroom with a shower and tu, a living room, a fairly spacious kitchen with a connecting pantry,and a ack porch. $ must admit $ am unsure what 6

8/11/2019 Tiffany Wong: Reframing Hong Kong Reflection

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