Cage Homes in Hong Kong
In the summer of 2019, I decided to research into the living conditions of the poor in Hong Kong for my A-Level personal project for art. I stumbled across a term called 'cage homes', which referred to people living in bedspace apartments due to the unaffordable housing prices in the city. Upon visiting these homes, I was able to truly see the severity of the gap between the rich and poor, even though I had grown up in Hong Kong as a child.
This small project aims to raise awareness on the critical living conditions in my home place in hopes to get more conversations going.
The streets of Sham Shui Po, known as one of the poorer areas of Hong Kong, were crowded with people and buildings. I was towered by worn-down, old buildings and overwhelmed by the chaoticness of my surroundings. Many of the overhead signs in Sham Shui Po remained, with traditional calligraphy plastered across store fronts and restaurants. Whilst these were common treasures to be found in Sham Shui Po, they were rare sightings to be seen in more populated and newly developed areas in Hong Kong.
On this day, I visited two homes, in which the people who lived in the first home kindly asked me to not take pictures of them due to privacy reasons. Both families had moved from Mainland China to Hong Kong in the 1950's-1960's in hopes to find a better future. In the end, they found themselves living in not so satisfactory conditions. Housing is extremely expensive in Hong Kong, contributing to the issue of the wide gap between the rich and the poor. Even a large house bought in the UK would be equivalent to a small flat just fit for two family members in Hong Kong.
The second family that I visited had a grandma and her grand-daughter living in the shared space. The little girl was 3 years old and her mother was at work. Upon visiting the flat, my parents and I were shocked at the amount of space that the three of them were sharing. The entrance to the end of the flat was just about less than 10 steps. Both the grandma and her grand-daughter were very kind and despite the challenges that came with their living conditions and lifestyles, they looked at their futures with positivity and hope. Having had this experience, it made me realise how privileged I am to be able to study abroad and to be able to live comfortably under a roof. I am very glad to have had this experience and to be able to share these short stories to those that may not be aware of these living conditions in Hong Kong.