So the economy in Hong Kong is supposed to be bad – people were getting laid off, no salary increases, some got salary cuts, no bonuses. So then why were people flooding the malls during Christmas, filling restaurants for Christmas and Chinese New Year, flooding Victoria Park for New year’s eve “lien siu”? People weren’t even bargaining for the stuffed animals or the blow-up funnies. Vendors raised prices and people were still buying. Plants were sold out.

 

Compared to last year, I was walking down Victoria Park at 10 pm for Lien Siu, it was cold and drizzling. People just walked and “window shopped”. No one bought anything. No one bought any plants, vendors were screaming for businesses. They slashed prices and no one was buying.

 

Why is it more different this year, with the economy worse than a year ago? What I think is that Hong Kong people went through the worst, realized that they could lose all of their lifetime savings in a day. So why still try to save as much as you can? Spend some of it to make yourself happier. You don’t have to spend all you have, but at least enough to enjoy life.

Another reason was that everyone in Hong Kong realized that you need to spend to help everyone out. It’s like charity. You donate to make other people happy, Karma wise it will come back to you. So why not spend that extra $100 to help others out? If one person thinks that way, then others would too, because HKnese can influence one another so easily.

 

I’m proud of the HKnese……at least they have a different mentality than Americans!