Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Hey guys,

Anyone interested in knowing more about Hong Kong and the surrounding Pearl River Delta region? Let me help!

About me - I've lived in Hong Kong for most of my life except for when I went to the US for university. I am a local Chinese person and I am familiar with things. I can provide more information about myself if you want, but I would like to keep the focus on the area instead!

Hong Kong is a metropolis of approximately 7 million people, around 97% of which are Chinese. It is currently the logistics and financial hub of the PRD region. The PRD includes areas such as Shenzhen, Macau, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Panyu, etc. I know about these areas too if you are interested.

Here are the topics regarding Hong Kong that I feel I am qualified to talk about:
Economics, finance
Business (I know a lot about most industries)
Politics (internal and external)
Food
Culture
Tourism
General lifestyle

These things I am not qualified to talk about:
Music
Television
Art
Religion


imo

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

tailors tailors tailors. which ones do you really like have a new york presence?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

How have things changed since the Chinese takeover? Do you feel like there's less freedom (economic/political/social) for the average Hong Konger?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Also, would you say it's more or less crowded than a big U.S. city like NYC?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

my wife and i wanna take a weekend trip to hong kong and also see shanghai soon. we live in San Fran. Is this a good idea? We could stay up to a week over there.

Indy

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

New York is to Shed OR as Tokyo/HK are to NYC. HK is the only place i've been to that can approach Tokyo.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

You have to seriously do your homework and plan your trip. my wife and I have taken 3-4 day trips to tokyo and hk (I work for united, so the cost thing was negligible) and we had a great time at both, but we'd have been completely lost except for the fact that we had her cousin in HK and my cousin in Tokyo as almost 24/7 tour guides.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

How easy is it to get by if you only know english?

What is the longest tourist visa an American can get?

How westernized are the residents of Hong Kong?

How are Europeans and Americans regarded by the residents of Hong Kong?

How do you refer to the residents of Hong Kong without using the cumbersome phrase 'residents of Hong Kong'? (e.g., Hong Kongians?)

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Long shot, but here goes...

You said you know a lot about most industries so - How much demand is there for football coaches in Hong Kong? Could you direct me to anywhere I could find info on this or provide me with some yourself?

To clear this up, it's coaching for recreational playing, not professional.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

how much can you make teaching english there?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
How do you refer to the residents of Hong Kong without using the cumbersome phrase 'residents of Hong Kong'? (e.g., Hong Kongians?)

[/ QUOTE ]

I have heard "HongKonger". I will defer to garcia1000 for verification.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Hey guys + tl;dr

[ QUOTE ]
tailors tailors tailors. which ones do you really like have a new york presence?

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not familiar with tailors as I don't require their services. The main cluster of tailors used by expatriates is in Tsim Sha Tsui. From what I have heard they provide very good cuttings at an affordable price (~$400-800 or so)


[ QUOTE ]
How have things changed since the Chinese takeover? Do you feel like there's less freedom (economic/political/social) for the average Hong Konger?


[/ QUOTE ]

The main change since the handover is the political goings-on at the top. Instead of the top guy being a colonial governor flown in from the UK, it is now a person hand-picked by the central (i.e. Mainland China) government. The first chief executive was very incompetent and turned the public against him with his incompetent style. He resigned in the middle of his second term and was replaced by a locally trained technocrat. Public opinion of the new person is favourable. He does show worrying signs of megalomania and delusions of grandeur, but nothing too serious at the moment.

In daily life, there has been a slight positive change due to closer integration with the mainland. Now it is more convenient for people to visits areas on the mainland. In economic terms, the closer integration will lead to a pressure on wages for unskilled and semi-skilled labour, but an upwards effect on asset prices.

Socially, it seems to be the same as before. After the political reforms introduced by the last British colonial governor, people are generally more politically aware. However, this is not usually expressed by direct active political participation, but more through civic acts (e.g. pressure to reduce air pollution, environmentally friendly consumption habits, heritage conservation)


[ QUOTE ]
Also, would you say it's more or less crowded than a big U.S. city like NYC?


[/ QUOTE ]

Hong Kong is much more crowded, it generally doesn't compare. When I was in NYC it felt like I had so much space due to the huge, wide roads and large apartments.

For comparison, an average apartment in Hong Kong for a family of four is around 600 square feet gross area, or around 450-480 square feet usable area. A luxury apartment would be around 1000 square feet gross. A median price in an average location would be around US$450/sqft for average apartments, and US$1100/sqft for luxury apartments. More details regarding land politics available on request!


[ QUOTE ]
my wife and i wanna take a weekend trip to hong kong and also see shanghai soon. we live in San Fran. Is this a good idea? We could stay up to a week over there.


[/ QUOTE ]

It will be stressful for you if you are not used to jet lag. The time difference is around 9 hours. What kinds of things do you enjoy doing on vacations?


[ QUOTE ]
How easy is it to get by if you only know english?

What is the longest tourist visa an American can get?

How westernized are the residents of Hong Kong?

How are Europeans and Americans regarded by the residents of Hong Kong?

How do you refer to the residents of Hong Kong without using the cumbersome phrase 'residents of Hong Kong'? (e.g., Hong Kongians?)

[/ QUOTE ]

You can easily get by in all tourist areas knowing only English. Taxi drivers will know the English names of major tourist destinations. Any restaurants you visit will have English names for everything. All public signs are in English. This is because of its history as a British colony.

I am not clear about tourist visas for Americans.

Re westernization of residents - It is a difficult question to answer because there are several classes of residents. For example, the professional class is very Westernized, because many of them went abroad to study, and those that did not have colleagues that did. People in the tertiary industries are generally aware of the world, but maintain strong Chinese cultural roots. Recent immigrants from the mainland usually are not Westernized.

Europeans and Americans are regarded as foreigners, unless you speak Cantonese. Then you will be treated as a local. Generally, Chinese people are very deferential to white people and will show more respect and help than they would to another Chinese person. This can work to your advantage. Chinese people look unfavourably on brown-skinned people. They fear black people. Racism ban imo

Residents of Hong Kong are generally referred to as "Hongkongers". "Hongkies" is another term used, but this can have negative connotations.


[ QUOTE ]
Long shot, but here goes...

You said you know a lot about most industries so - How much demand is there for football coaches in Hong Kong? Could you direct me to anywhere I could find info on this or provide me with some yourself?

To clear this up, it's coaching for recreational playing, not professional.

[/ QUOTE ]

The demand for football coaches is low. Sport is not emphasised in Hong Kong. It is true that Hong Kong has its own local football squads, but they are not up to standard and mainly exist for other reasons, not for football.


[ QUOTE ]
how much can you make teaching english there?


[/ QUOTE ]

The education department tried running a Native English Teacher scheme a few years ago, to entice NETs from other countries to go to Hong Kong and teach. Schools only want white people as NETs though. There was a minor conflagration regarding some Indian NETs that couldn't find anyone to employ them. Here's the short wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_...Teacher_scheme
Here's the governemnt site: http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?lan...amp;nodeid=262

You will generally find Hong Kong to be a more hospitable place to be an English teacher than other countries in the region such as Japan or South Korea. Although, I believe mainland China is also a good place to be.

I am not familiar with the salaries for English teachers. I know that local teachers make around US$3500 per month on average.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
You said you know a lot about most industries so - How much demand is there for football coaches in Hong Kong? Could you direct me to anywhere I could find info on this or provide me with some yourself?

To clear this up, it's coaching for recreational playing, not professional.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most Hongkongers don't play football (soccer) recreationally.

Instead, they GAMBLE on football, particularly the English Premier League (EPL), and the World Cup.

Due to the time difference, the Saturday lunch time EPL special (1245 GMT or BST) airs live on TV during evening prime time in Hong Kong (at 2045 winter, or 1945 summer).

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), which has a 100% government-granted monopoly on legalized gambling (land-based and online), started offering online football betting a few years ago. Betting on EPL with the HKJC far exceeds betting on other European domestic football leagues.

NOW Broadband TV, which is owned by phone company PCCW (which is partly-owned by the mainland Chinese government) paid an outrageous amount, US$200 million, for the video rights to EPL for 3 seasons (compared to US$50 million for the same EPL video rights in China and US$57 million for the same EPL video rights in the USA.)

EVERY EPL match (380 each season) is televised live on NOW Broadband TV in Hong Kong.

NOW Broadband TV also offers the "Lucky 88" channel, which showed updated football betting odds offered by the HKJC 24/7.

--

The local pro football league in Hong Kong isn't that widely-followed, due to 1) its poor quality, and 2) alleged ties of a handful of clubs to organized crime.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
?

What is the longest tourist visa an American can get?



[/ QUOTE ]

from the Chinese Embassy website:

[ QUOTE ]
U.S. citizens may visit Hong Kong for up to 90 days without a visa, but a visa is required for those to work, study, establish or join in any business or to take up residence.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Garcia,
Two Americans come to Hong Kong for two days and want to see as much as possible in that time frame.
What do you tell them to see/do, and why?

Thanks!

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Garcia,

This makes konrad even more amazing.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Garcia, going to AAPT Macau?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
EVERY EPL match (380 each season) is televised live on NOW Broadband TV in Hong Kong.

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW. I feel I should be in Hong Kong anyway!

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

I'm playing in a rugby 10s tournament in hong kong during Feburary, what kind of nightlife should I look forward too? What would be your recommendations?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
Most Hongkongers don't play football (soccer) recreationally.

Instead, they GAMBLE on football, particularly the English Premier League (EPL), and the World Cup.

[/ QUOTE ]

Football betting is pretty big here. But there is no idea of sports betting and odds calculations, it's all random gambling.

I believe that Chinese people, whether for cultural, genetic, or selection bias reasons, love gambling.

[ QUOTE ]
NOW Broadband TV, which is owned by phone company PCCW (which is partly-owned by the mainland Chinese government) paid an outrageous amount, US$200 million, for the video rights to EPL for 3 seasons (compared to US$50 million for the same EPL video rights in China and US$57 million for the same EPL video rights in the USA.)


[/ QUOTE ]

This reminds me, prices for telecommunications services are really cheap in HK. For example, a basic phone plan with 3G support and 700 minutes of talk time costs around US$7/month. Broadband costs me $8/month. Cable costs me $16/month. Telecommuncations is one of the areas with genuine and fierce domestic competition.


[ QUOTE ]
Two Americans come to Hong Kong for two days and want to see as much as possible in that time frame.
What do you tell them to see/do, and why?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends, there are a lot of things to do. What do they like? For example, are they shopaholics? Culture vultures? Marines? More information needed to answer the question correctly.


[ QUOTE ]
Garcia, going to AAPT Macau?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes! I am looking forward to it. I believe there will be many horribles and fishes there.


[ QUOTE ]
I'm playing in a rugby 10s tournament in hong kong during Feburary, what kind of nightlife should I look forward too? What would be your recommendations?


[/ QUOTE ]

What kind of nightlife? Clubbing, discos, bars, prostitutes, etc.

Basically if you give me a good idea of what you're looking for, I can tell you if 1) Hong Kong has it, 2) whether it's good, and 3) details about it.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Here's a general guide to Hong Kong, written by a British guy who knows his stuff: http://www.geocities.com/hkhemlock/mus-hk.html

A good precis for tourist-type things, I can add more detail on the areas of particular interest.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

How far is Macau and do they spread regular poker there?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

I am hafl-jokingly thinking about opening an mmorpg "sweatshop" and was told to consider Hong Kong. If you are unfamiliar with it: An MMORPG is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, such as World of Warcraft. These games have persistent worlds that people pay monthly to own a character in, and they play these characters to gain items and experience to fight bigger monsters. A lot of the items that people can equip their characters with will sell on Ebay for real $. If you sold everything you got in some games, you can usually make between $1 and $5 per hour. I am looking rent out an office/building, fit it with several dozen computers, and hire people to play the game so I can sell the items to rich Americans who don't have time to play the game themselves.

My questions about Hong Kong are:
Have you heard of anyone doing this in Hong Kong?
Are there areas where $0.50/hr is competitive pay?
Is there reliable internet connection in those areas?
Can you think of any other reasons Hong Kong would be good/bad for such a business?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am hafl-jokingly thinking about opening an mmorpg "sweatshop" and was told to consider Hong Kong. If you are unfamiliar with it: An MMORPG is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, such as World of Warcraft. These games have persistent worlds that people pay monthly to own a character in, and they play these characters to gain items and experience to fight bigger monsters. A lot of the items that people can equip their characters with will sell on Ebay for real $. If you sold everything you got in some games, you can usually make between $1 and $5 per hour. I am looking rent out an office/building, fit it with several dozen computers, and hire people to play the game so I can sell the items to rich Americans who don't have time to play the game themselves.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think anyone connected to the internet is familiar with MMORPG sweat shops.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
How is it to live there? Is there a large expat population of single twenty somethings? Any way to get a nice apartment for under $5k a month?


[/ QUOTE ]

It is to live here. Most expats are male senior managers and their families. You will find single twenty somethings hanging out in bars and clubs, usually, and they will be more uninhibited than the average person. If you are up to par with your PUA skills and reasonably attractive you shouldn't have any problem in this area.

It depends on what you want in a nice apartment. If you want a decent studio (~250 sqft usable) in the city centre you are looking at around $1.5-$2k a month. A decent apartment (~1000 sqft usable) in city centre will run around $5k a month. If you are willing to live remotely, ~30-40 minutes away from the centre, you can get an apartment like that for $2.5k or so.


[ QUOTE ]
How far is Macau and do they spread regular poker there?

[/ QUOTE ]

Macau is an hour away by ferry. Immigration procedures for people with a HK identity card are trivial, and many people day-trip over the weekend.

Poker is spread on electronic tables at the Starworld casino. I believe Grand Lisboa plans to introduce real dealer tables. Knowing the quality of the dealers there, I think this will be a huge disaster.


[ QUOTE ]
My questions about Hong Kong are:
Have you heard of anyone doing this in Hong Kong?
Are there areas where $0.50/hr is competitive pay?
Is there reliable internet connection in those areas?
Can you think of any other reasons Hong Kong would be good/bad for such a business?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have not heard of people running sweatshops in Hong Kong.

$0.50/hour is not competitive pay. Pay for unskilled manual labourers (e.g. Mcdonald's, dishwashers, couriers) starts from $2.50/hour. There is pressure to introduce minimum wage legislation as the current wages are deemed insufficient. Pay for administrative workers (e.g. secretaries, data entry, accounts clerk) starts from $1100/month.

There is reliable internet connection in Hong Kong. Other things Hong Kong has includes tap water, sewage systems, electricity, telephone service (fixed line AND mobile!), and natural gas. Hong Kong is considered a developed country. It has per capita GDP of around $37,000. Although the gini coefficient is high, living circumstances are decent for most people.

Perhaps you are thinking of MMORPG sweatshops in areas like Fujian or Chongqing?

Here is a representative photo of Hong Kong:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...King_House.JPG


Here is not a representative photo of Hong Kong:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/796/rickshawlp9.jpg

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

what's the local wildlife like? are there any good places to go and watch things - eg. the delta?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

when we stayed at the YMCA hotel (the one in central, not TST), there were a bunch of fishermen down at the waterfront. most caught nothing that I saw, and a few had some very smal (~3" long) rockfish type of catch in their buckets. is this really the best fishing around and, are these small fish worth eating? how safe is it to eat fish out of HK harbor?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Two Americans come to Hong Kong for two days and want to see as much as possible in that time frame.
What do you tell them to see/do, and why?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends, there are a lot of things to do. What do they like? For example, are they shopaholics? Culture vultures? Marines? More information needed to answer the question correctly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Culture vultures for sure. Just want to see what is in/around Hong Kong that makes for good touristing.
And shopping will have to be included unfortunately.
So far I have been told: Victoria's Peak, Po Lin Monastery, Star Ferry and Kowloon.
Agree? What else?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Dear forums: WTF? I typed in a long response and it said my form was no longer valid. I am mad.

Here's summary points because this sucks.

[ QUOTE ]
what's the local wildlife like? are there any good places to go and watch things - eg. the delta?


[/ QUOTE ]

- wild boars, monkeys in rural areas.
- Mai Po marshes, a large wetlands nature reserve for migratory birds. Highly recommended for bird-watchers. Need to book in advance.


[ QUOTE ]
when we stayed at the YMCA hotel (the one in central, not TST), there were a bunch of fishermen down at the waterfront. most caught nothing that I saw, and a few had some very smal (~3" long) rockfish type of catch in their buckets. is this really the best fishing around and, are these small fish worth eating? how safe is it to eat fish out of HK harbor?

[/ QUOTE ]

- No, the fish are not worth eating. They are like giant poos containing many smaller poos. Untreated sewage is dumped into the harbour.


[ QUOTE ]
Culture vultures for sure. Just want to see what is in/around Hong Kong that makes for good touristing.
And shopping will have to be included unfortunately.
So far I have been told: Victoria's Peak, Po Lin Monastery, Star Ferry and Kowloon.
Agree? What else?

[/ QUOTE ]

Peak - agreed. Good views on the rare days without massive air pollution.

Po Lin - agreed. They also have the finest public toilet in the world. Definitely do not miss the toilet. http://sbanboy.wordpress.com/2006/06/
This should probably be a tourist attraction in and of itself.

Star Ferry - agreed. A good but short experience.

Kowloon - ?

Others - visit Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui at night-time for a city experience (similar to visiting Times Square in NYC)

Pacific Place or IFC Mall for high-end shopping. You can buy designer-designed designs there.

WTF? I am still pissed at how it rejected my form. I spent a lot of time typing that [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Culture things you might like:
Visit Victoria Park during mid-autumn festival or June 4. Lots of people gather and stuff, and laze around.

Visit any of the many fairs that locals go to, such as the Book Fair, Food Fair, Industrial Products expo, and so on. A fun time, you can buy stuff, although you might feel claustrophobic if you aren't used to lots of people.

Take pictures of the gas station prices. Hong Kong has the most expensive petrol in the world! My most recent filling up was at $1.85/litre, or $6.98/gallon.

Don't go to the Hong Kong Disneyland! It is the tiniest Disneyland in the world. The only way it even happened is the government went into one of its periodic delusions of grandeur and spent billions of taxpayer money and gave it to Disneyland.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
WTF? I am still pissed at how it rejected my form. I spent a lot of time typing that [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

This happens if you take too long before you hit post. Usually you can recover what you wrote by hitting your back button. Or, if you know it took you a while, copy the text, open a new "post" window, and copy it into the new one.

As long as I'm here:

Here's a travel thread on Hong Kong.

What's the name of the place on the Kowloon side where you buy your seafood from the vendor then pay the restaurant to cook it? Is it Lei Yue Mun?

A reminder to all visitors to bargain the price on any goods they buy.

Also, your EDF readers may be interested in hearing about BBoss.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Lei Yue Mun is a place for seafood. What happens is that you see stalls of seafood vendors, and they are all selling seafood. Then you buy the seafood, and take it to a nearby restaurant. The restaurant will cook the seafood for you.

Here's a link to a photo of this: http://www.asia2002.gov.hk/press/pict/details_29.htm
Quote from that page: "Cantonese seafood is at its exquisite best in the seafront restaurants of Lei Yue Mun. Diners can choose their own fish from tank-fulls of options. They can get ripped off by the unscrupulous vendors there and buy overpriced crappy seafood."

This is a good idea for novelty reasons, but for visiting tourist gourmets it is a bad idea. Why?

1) The good seafood will go to the locals with whom the seafood vendors have an incentive to sell good stuff to for their repeat business.
2) Are you more qualified than the restaurant to choose good seafood?

Lei Yue Mun is also a tourist-type of place. I went there once and hated it. For fresh seafood in this style, I go to an out-of-the-way place in Yuen Long, but you won't have a chance of finding it on a tourist trip, and it's very local. Instead, you should go to Sai Kung for this. In addition to there being lots of expatriates there, there is also good seafood in the same style, and menus in English!

Here's a link to a picture of a Sai Kung: http://www.ust.hk/adchem2003/photo/DSC00320.jpg


Bargaining - This depends on where you buy things.
Do bargain in the following areas:
Non-branded computer and electronics stores (e.g. Golden Computer Centre, 298 Computer Centre)
Department stores
Do not bargain in the following:
All others

Club Bboss - This is a huge Japanese style nightclub. I haven't been in this place. I believe they give luxurious service to your penis?

If you are white, fit, and attractive, you shouldn't have any problems satisfying your penis in Lan Kwai Fong or similar bars or clubs. If you're black, you shouldn't have any problem if you also have game. I don't know much about these nightclubs. Sorry [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

I have been to Hong Kong a few times when I was much younger with my parents. I plan to visit this Christmas break with a couple of my international student friends from school.

1) How do I know if the food on the streets are safe? or should I just stay away from them all together?

2) How do clothes/shopping prices compare to the U.S? or more specifically, los angeles.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Hi guys,

I will be back on Thursday!

[ QUOTE ]
1) How do I know if the food on the streets are safe? or should I just stay away from them all together?

[/ QUOTE ]

Generally speaking 99% of street stall food will be safe. I would not worry about this. You stand a higher risk of getting food poisoning from eating sushi or other improperly prepared raw food.


[ QUOTE ]
2) How do clothes/shopping prices compare to the U.S? or more specifically, los angeles.

[/ QUOTE ]

You guys have A&F jeans selling for $120 or so, right? I believe Hong Kong will be much cheaper.

Here is a representative price list for decent quality casual wear: http://hk.e-giordano.com/?cluture=zh-hk&lang=SC
USD 1 = HKD 7.75

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Do Triads extort local businesses?

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
Here are the topics regarding Hong Kong that I feel I am qualified to talk about:
Economics, finance
Business (I know a lot about most industries)
Politics (internal and external)
Food
Culture
Tourism
General lifestyle


[/ QUOTE ]

Industries... Corrugated Cardboard boxes?!?
I import boxes from China now but am looking for a new supplier of boxes. One of the key issues is Quality of cardboard. Do you know anything about Hong Kong /Chinese Cardboard standards. (I have some very detailed questions I would like to ask.)

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

[ QUOTE ]
Do Triads extort local businesses?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends on where your business is located. For example, if you are in the CBD, you won't be extorted. If you are in outlying suburbs, probably. The 'protection fee' is generally not onerous, they get profits from volume instead.

[ QUOTE ]
Industries... Corrugated Cardboard boxes?!?
I import boxes from China now but am looking for a new supplier of boxes. One of the key issues is Quality of cardboard. Do you know anything about Hong Kong /Chinese Cardboard standards. (I have some very detailed questions I would like to ask.)

[/ QUOTE ]

I have no idea! You are out of luck, the most recent thing I focussed on was textiles manufacturing. It will probably be around half a year before I do paper.

I do know which companies make corrugated cardboard boxes. For example, Nine Dragons Paper makes cardboard, so does Lee & Man paper.

Your best bet would be to read the prospectuses of the listed companies, or browse their websites.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

Thanks for the thread.

On the skytram up to the Giant Buddha, I saw people walking up the mountain. Seems like a pretty arduous hike (it was about 90 degrees that day).

Have you ever done this? Any idea how long distance-wise and how long time-wise it might take? I understand that this is very subjective, just a ballpark-time would be cool.

Re: Ask garcia1000 about Hong Kong
 

How can a non-Hong Kong resident open a bank account in Hong Kong? Can one do it as an individual or would you have to establish a Hong Kong corporation to do so?