logo
‘Paradise for the rich, hell for the poor': Hong Kong among world's most unequal cities

‘Paradise for the rich, hell for the poor': Hong Kong among world's most unequal cities

Hong Kong has long been known as an international financial hub where fortunes are made in office towers that form the city's iconic skyline. Its free-market economy has given rise to some of Asia's wealthiest and most powerful families and firms.
Advertisement
But beneath the glitz and glamour lies a sobering level of inequality. Some people are unable to pay for basic groceries due to rising inflation, while others live on the streets despite having paid jobs.
Poverty alleviation is a major goal cited by the city's government and authorities have targeted the problem with several task forces, including one focused on the issue of subdivided flats. However, many challenges remain.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Nvidia taps 2 young Chinese AI experts to strengthen research
Nvidia taps 2 young Chinese AI experts to strengthen research

South China Morning Post

timean hour ago

  • South China Morning Post

Nvidia taps 2 young Chinese AI experts to strengthen research

US chip giant Nvidia has hired two prominent artificial intelligence (AI) experts who hail from China, underscoring the rising global recognition of talent from the mainland and their key contributions to the field's advancement. Zhu Banghua and Jiao Jiantao, both alumni of China's Tsinghua University, said on their respective social media accounts that they joined Nvidia, sharing photos of themselves with Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of the company. Zhu, who received his bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Tsinghua in 2018 and a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2024, joined Nvidia's Nemotron team as a principal research scientist, according to Zhu's post on X from over the weekend. Zhu's LinkedIn profile showed that he has also been an assistant professor at the University of Washington since September 2024. 'We'll be joining forces on efforts in [AI] model post-training, evaluation, agents, and building better AI infrastructure – with a strong emphasis on collaboration with developers and academia,' Zhu said, adding that the team was committed to open-sourcing its work and sharing it with the world. Nemotron is a group at Nvidia dedicated to building enterprise-level AI agents, according to the team's official website. The team's Nemotron multimodal models power AI agents for sophisticated text and visual reasoning, coding and tool-use capabilities. Jiao, who received a PhD in electrical, electronics and communications in engineering from Stanford University in 2018 after graduating from Tsinghua with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, said on LinkedIn over the weekend that he joined Nvidia to 'help push the frontier of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial super intelligence (ASI).'

South Korea's Lee nominates finance minister to tackle growth, Trump
South Korea's Lee nominates finance minister to tackle growth, Trump

South China Morning Post

time2 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

South Korea's Lee nominates finance minister to tackle growth, Trump

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung nominated Koo Yun-cheol as the next finance minister, turning to a veteran bureaucrat to guide the economy at a time of sluggish growth and mounting trade pressures from the Trump administration. 'The president nominated Koo Yun-cheol, a widely recognised policy expert, as finance minister as he is a figure who has long contemplated Korea's innovation and is well-suited to chart a path for national growth,' Kang Hoon-sik, Lee's chief of staff, said in a televised press conference on Sunday. Koo, a former second vice finance minister and head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, would return to the top economic post as Lee forms a team to counter rising headwinds following months of political turmoil. While serving under then-finance minister Hong Nam-ki during the Moon Jae-in administration, Koo helped guide Korea's economy through the Covid-19 pandemic and the inflation shocks of the early 2020s. The 60-year-old holds a doctorate in business administration from Chung-Ang University and a degree in economics from Seoul National University. Koo would take the reins from Kim Beom-seok, who has filled the role on an acting basis since Choi Sang-mok resigned. The nomination comes just weeks after Lee's victory over conservative rival Kim Moon-su in a closely watched presidential election. The snap vote was triggered by President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment in April following his botched declaration of martial law late last year.

Foreign ice cream is no longer cool in China. Here's why that matters
Foreign ice cream is no longer cool in China. Here's why that matters

South China Morning Post

time2 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

Foreign ice cream is no longer cool in China. Here's why that matters

For years, Feng Hui, an operations manager living in Guangzhou, made a tradition of taking her daughter Claire to celebrate her birthday at a Haagen-Dazs store near her home. Advertisement But this month, the 14-year-old had other ideas: she told her mother she wanted to spend her birthday at a popular local tea bar with her friends. 'Chinese teenagers now prefer domestic brands – they look great, and new products are coming out every month that tempt them to take selfies and post on social media,' Feng said. The birthday cake also got a makeover. Instead of a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cake – which used to be a byword in China for luxury and sophistication – Claire chose a custom-made cake from a local bakery featuring her favourite video game character. In her eyes, Haagen-Dazs is simply 'not cool' – a sentiment that is becoming common among young Chinese, reflecting broader shifts in the country's consumer landscape. Advertisement

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store