Man Pok Hin Hinson 4B (27)
Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my opinions about whether Hong Kong is a good place to live in. In 2012, “The Economist” chose Hong Kong as the most suitable city for people to live in in the world, beating counterparts like Vancouver and Melbourne, which are always on the list. While many have complained about the city’s pollution and the lack of space, I do think that it is a blessing to live in Hong Kong, and my reasons are below.
Firstly, Hong Kong has an efficient and well-covered transport network, allowing us to travel in the city seamlessly. The city has a wide variety of transportation options, like MTR, bus, minibus, or even trams. Moreover, public transportation covers almost every district. Even though some are living in new towns far away from the urban center like Tuen Mun, Tung Chung, or places in the countryside like Sai Kung, Stanley, there are still train services, or buses and minibuses right next to their homes. There is never a real need of having a private car. What’s move, the frequency of services is very high. Take MTR as an example, there is one train every two minutes during busy hours. No matter where we live in Hong Kong, we can always reach our destinations within an hour. Thanks to the public transportation network, the time we spend on journey can be greatly shortened, and therefore we have more time to enjoy our life. Isn’t it a blessing? It definitely is.
Secondly, this tiny city provides us with countless choices of entertainment, which allows us to relax in the middle of the busy work, adding colour to our life and catering to the needs of different citizens. If a teenager is living in Hong Kong, he can definitely find some fun with his buddies like going to the karaoke lounge, cinemas, theme parks and the only difficulty might be choosing between both world class Ocean Park and Disneyland. For adults, it is even more exciting. The Lonely Planet describes Hong Kong as a city that never sleeps. The nightlife in Hong Kong is vibrant. Adults living in Hong Kong can easily find entertainment by just visiting Lan Kwai Fong or Soho, sipping a drink with friends after work. Besides, many events and festivals are held in the city year round, like the Hong Kong Sevens in March, or the New Year’s countdown and firework shows. No matter whether a kid or an adult, living in this energetic city, they won’t get bored. No boredom – it certainly is a blessing to live in Hong Kong.
Besides, prices of goods in Hong Kong are not that expensive compared to other cities in the world. Take McDonald’s food as an example. A Big Mac in Hong Kong costs only about HKD19. However, a BigMac in other cities is much more expensive and can cost us as much as about HKD31 in Singapore, HKD43 in Oslo, and even HKD51 in Zurich. This simple comparison shows that the price of goods and daily necessities in Hong Kong is relatively cheap. This is definitely good news for those living in Hong Kong.
Finally and the most importantly, living in Hong Kong gives us the proximity to the natural environment. Many people think that Hong Kong is just a metropolis filled with high-rise buildings, but indeed over half of the land area in Hong Kong is undeveloped, and 40% of the area is reserved as country parks. Hong Kong is one of the few major cities in the world that is surrounded by mountains and seas. Even though we are living in the busy area in Kowloon or Hong Kong Island, we can easily get to the beach in Repulse Bay, the waterfall in Sai Kung, or hiking trails in Tai Po. We can easily indulge ourselves in the natural environment to have some fresh air during weekends, achieving a balanced life between the city and the countryside.
Due to the above reasons, I think that it is a blessing for us live in Hong Kong. However, nothing is perfect. In order to make the city a better place to live in, I think all members in the society should cooperate and do the following together.
We should live a more environmentally-friendly life to alleviate the environmental issues in Hong Kong. Nowadays, pollution is serious in Hong Kong, in particular air pollution. Busy districts like Mong Kok, or Causeway Bay, are filled with polluted air and substances. What’s more, the three landfills in Hong Kong are soon to be saturated, and the city is facing the challenge of waste disposal. These all have turned on the alarm for Hong Kong, showing how serious the environmental problems are in the city. Therefore, all of us living in Hong Kong should bear our responsibility and make an effort to protect Hong Kong. We should take public transportation instead of private cars, consume and waste less, and adopt recycling at home. By adopting such environmentally-friendly practice and lifestyle, we can reduce our harm to the environment, and gradually relieve the environmental stress in Hong Kong. In this way, Hong Kong will be less polluted, and become more clean and “green”, and finally we can make the city a better place to live in.
I hope more people can be aware of the environmental issues in Hong Kong, and adopt the environmentally-friendly practice so as to make our home, Hong Kong, a better place to live in together.
Yours faithfully,
C.W.
Chris Wong