Recently, fevered internet chat in Hong Kong has seen both sexes attack each other.
The “sins” of Hong Kong women and Hong Kong men are summarized as follows:
“Sins” of women: demanding men pay for everything, being late for every date, an unquenchable desire for luxury goods as gifts, lack of knowledge of current affairs and an inability to do housework.
“Sins” of men: low academic qualifications, low income, no confidence, staying at home and overusing the internet.
These accusations against each other reflect, among other things, an aspect of Hong Kong’s gender terrain: There has been a rising number of women receiving better education and occupying higher positions, leading to more young women’s choice of not to get married, as they cannot find a man of similar education level and financial clout. Of course, they can choose to marry “downward” – to marry men of lower education levels and with less financial stability- but they don’t want to.
Those beautiful female pop stars marrying into the town’s richest families are viewed with envy by the wider community here and publicized immensely in the media. It is women’s path to happiness, the media frenzy seems to say.
Maybe Hong Kong women can seek a wider path to happiness in order to find real happiness?
