Happiness and Prosperity in Hong Kong – My 8 Favourite Things About This Great City

I live in Sydney now, which itself is a beautiful city, but at this time of the year 'Lunar New Year', I miss the red lanterns of Hong Kong. Gong Hei Fat Choi to all my friends and former colleagues and may you and the City enjoy happiness and prosperity in this coming year. I have reproduced an article I wrote last year about 8 great things living in Hong Kong and 2 things that aren’t, albeit from a Gweilo’s perspective.

Has anything changed? Probably, in Hong Kong change is a constant, but I would love to know your thoughts and impressions and especially whether the indomitable lion rock spirit remains.

Hong Kong is my all time favourite city in which to live and to work, it’s addictive and a mini Manhattan that assaults your senses 24x7 as soon you leave the confines of the impressive Hong Kong International airport at Chep Lap Kok on Lantau Island.

My 8 greatest things about living and working in Hong Kong are:

1. The relentless pace and scale

Everything about Hong Kong is go go go, all day and night, every day and night. It is a symphony of sights, sounds and smells as people strive to make things happen. It has a breathtaking scale too, with nearly 8000 high rise buildings and 1300 skyscrapers over 150 metres tall, creating an impressive skyline during the day which is illuminated by night. It is a city with a massive pulse.

2. ‘Live to work’

As one of the leading financial and business centres in the world Hong Kong is a great place to do business. The focus of the city is hard work and therefore it is easy to network effectively and take advantage of the opportunities that abound locally and regionally. There is no work-life balance in Hong Kong, which contrasts sharply with Australia where, although people work hard, the emphasis is ‘work to live’. Everyone is focused on achieving happiness and prosperity … through hard work.

3. It is a safe place to be

Hong Kong is an incredibly safe place to live and work, free from the fear of fights and muggings, rapes or personal attacks are unheard of. There is never a sense of danger whatever the time of day or night. I have always felt that amongst working visitors there is a universal and underlying sense that Hong Kong is a special place and as a result people don't behave badly as they might in London or Sydney.

4. Pay less tax

With an income tax top bracket of 17.5% the tax benefits of Hong Kong are amazing, especially when compared to Australia’s top rate of 50+%. It is also not PAYG, which for those who shop or party too hard means paying your tax bill with your credit card post year-end.

 5. An outdoor life

Hong Kong isn’t just a concrete jungle and in fact over 75% of its territory is countryside containing awe-inspiring hiking trails, stunning blue seas, secluded beaches and sweeping views. You can easily and quickly get away from the city and into the country wherever you are in Hong Kong. Walking the Dragon’s Back Trail you feel happiness and prosperity of another kind.

6. An incredible public transport system

Hong Kong has the best and cheapest transport system in the world for a city of this size. You can reach your destination, underground or over ground, in a variety of ways; MTR (mass transit rail), taxis, buses, the rattling trams (my favourite) or ferries and you can walk across Central under cover through a maze of walkways. The MTR is surely the best in the world, it’s fast, modern, clean and reliable and reaches almost every part of the territory. Can we have one in Sydney please?

7. The bright lights beckon

Hong Kong has the most restaurants in the world per capita with many families eating out every night because their apartments are too small. The Chinese restaurants have very bright lights, no subdued lighting here. The choice of cuisine and price is varied and always changing and for those with a more expensive palate it boasts the second highest number of Michelin starred restaurants in the world. After dinner, or instead of dinner, you can drink or party till dawn to suit all preferences including mine. With it being 7 hours ahead of the UK it’s perfect for watching the English premier league football, live on a large screen, in a partisan bar of friendly but raucous football supporters.

8. Hong Kong’s close proximity to the rest of Asia

If you need to get away, Hong Kong is perfectly located. For business it is close enough to Singapore, KL, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. For that long weekend away, Hong Kong is only hours away from the cities and beaches of the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Sydney and London are also only overnight flights away. That is a long list even without mentioning the shopping.

However no place is perfect and two things that I complain most about Hong Kong are:

1. The weather and pollution

Coming from Sydney the first thing one notices about Hong Kong is that grey skies not blue skies dominate the calendar and that summer brings the oppressive 98 per cent humidity mixed with a 30 plus degree heat. If you have a range of meetings in different locations you’re easily prone to colds as you hop between the external heat and humidity and internal cold air conditioning. Add in the “scary” black rain and the pollution blowing in from the mainland factories across the border and it can often feel like a scene from the movie, Blade Runner, without Harrison Ford and the replicants, of course.

 2. Nobody queues

I accept it's a byproduct of everyone being in a hurry but being first in the queue for an elevator or the MTR is absolutely no guarantee that you’ll get in, as you get swatted aside by the heaving mass around you. And that experience is coming from a solid 6 foot 3”male.

Paul Lyons assists leaders and organisations to improve their performance and wellbeing by measuring and developing their mental toughness, mindset and resilience. He is an experienced CEO and an expert in mental toughness and you can find him at www.paullyons.com and www.mentaltoughness.partners