Chinese Lucky Eight, Hong Kong SAR Amazing Facts
Most Crowded Place on Earth, Millions Paid for Lucky Number 8 Address
Jul 1, 2009
Most of Hong Kong is too mountainous for building. About 95% of its 7 million people are ethnic Chinese, and almost all of them live in an area about the size of Manhattan Island, in ‘bamboo forests’ of skyscrapers. Hong Kong has been a Special Administrative Area (SAR) of China since 1999.
Lucky Number Eight Denotes Wealth and Status
People will pay premium rates for an apartment on the eighth floor or with eight in the address, and for bank accounts and phone numbers containing eights. According to the Hong Kong government website, a record price of about $US 2 million was paid in February 2008 for the highest status car number plate, 18. It is no accident that the Bank of China building has 88 storeys.
Most Crowded Place on Earth - Triad Gangs and Ladies' Market
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the most crowded place on earth is the Mongkok district of Hong Kong. Once the haunt of Triad gangs, gambling and ‘red light’ activities, Mongkok is now better known for its Ladies’ Market, teaming street life and family-run restaurants.
Hong Kong Overtakes New York as World Skyscraper Capital
Definitions of skyscrapers (over 500 ft /166m) tall and mere high-rises (over 115 ft /35 m) can vary for technical reasons, but Hong Kong now has around 2,000 more of these than NYC, with hundreds in progress. Most of the population live and work in skyscrapers or high-rises.
Tiny Living Spaces
By western standards, apartments are small – 450 sq ft is average for a one-bedroom with a tiny shuttered balcony for laundry. Older working class apartments known as pigeon holes, for families may have only 180 sq ft, and kitchens are so small that people often eat out.
Weird Restaurants
- Among Hong Kong’s 11,000 eateries are restaurants where pets (which tend to be on the small side) and their owners can meet. Spare pets are provided for those without.
- Possibly the wackiest is the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Mongkok where customer sit on toilet seats and food comes in mini-toilets or washbasins.
Short Lease Burial Sites
- Burial rather than cremation is an essential part of the Chinese respect for ancestors, but suitable land is now so expensive that most people lease plots for only 7 years.
- The relatives must then clean the bones and rebury them in box-sized spaces on a 20-year lease or have them cremated.
Unusual Foods
- 1000-year eggs, aka century eggs, are in fact about 8 weeks old. Storage in an alkaline mixture of ash, clay, lime and rice straw turns the white to a dark amber jelly and the yoke to dark green.
- Shark fin soup is a delicacy that is threatening the hammerhead shark with extinction. According to IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) 80% of the world trade in fins (valued at US$ 4,000 a kilo) passes through Hong Kong.
Hong Kong SAR Political Situation
China now deals with foreign relations and defence, with everything else dealt with locally. There is freedom of speech, but no vote. Cantonese and English are the two official languages, but attempts to introduce Mandarin were not successful.
In 2049, the situation will be reviewed. Until then, the people of Hong Kong are making the most of their luck in having the best of both worlds.
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