The Effects of Poverty on Children, Youth and Families --

The case of Hong Kong

For those who know something about Hong Kong,

The first thing they know is on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong will become part of China.
The second thing they may know is about the economic performance of Hong Kong. Things like, the per capita income of Hong Kong is over 25 thousand US$, one of the most active financial market in the global economy, the busiest containers port in the world, etc.
Some may even know that the per capita income in Hong Kong ranks number 1 in the world in terms of its purchasing power parity.

If you know these facts, perhaps you may start wondering why I am talking about poverty of children in Hong Kong.

One morning in February 1997, a young mother woke up and found her 5-years old son was sleeping on his baby brother who was then rushed to the hospital and unfortunately found dead on arrival. When I heard this tragedy, I feel particularly sorry for the 5-years old child who will suffer from this tragedy in his whole life for accidentally killing his younger brother. This is not the first tragedy of its kind. Imagine what else could happen if a family of five to six persons cramping into a 6 x 2½ square feet double-deck bed. This is sometimes known as the cage homes and the people living in it called the cage people. It is a cage because people have to lock all their belongings within the bed space.

You may find it incredible. A bed space in this cage home costs on average $120 US per month and the rent is going up and up. As I heard recently from an elderly person, his landlord was asking for $150 US per month. The rent of a 60 square feet room in a 40-years old building costs US$250 per month.

The per capita income is definitely quite high in Hong Kong. However, if you work in McDonnell or some other fast food restaurants in Hong Kong, you may earn as low as US$1.5 per hour. I met a new immigrant from China recently and she was earning only US$1.2 per hour. If you work from nine-to-five and 30 days per month, you would only manage to earn US$360. If you have a family of four and living in a 60 square feet room, you do not have much left after paying your rent. The only option you have is to work from seven to eleven for 16 hours per day if you are fortunate enough to be able to work that long.

In short, the problem of poverty in Hong Kong is the joint result of mainly three things:

Income disparity. 20% of the lowest income group of Hong Kong shares only 4.3% of Hong Kong‘s total income while 20% of the highest income group of Hong Kong shares about half of Hong Kong‘s total income. If we take wealth into consideration, the disparity will be even more drastic. I meet groups of single parents, poor elderly, and new immigrants from time to time. I always find it very embarrassing when they ask me how much I earn. In fact, while I am in the top 1% of the highest income group in Hong Kong, I can only consider myself middle class.
High rent. The Hong Kong Government estimated that we need some 80 thousand housing units each year to meet the growing housing demand in Hong Kong, which represents an annual growth rate of approximately 4.5% in terms of the number of households. In the past two years, we have a net increase of less than 20 thousand housing units. This is the basic reason for the rocketing rent increase.
Shrinking of the industrial sector. In the past 10 years, we have lost a total of 700 thousand jobs in the manufacturing sector. Please note that we only have a working population of about 2.8 million people. In other words, almost a quarter of the working population has lost their jobs in the manufacturing industry in the past 10 years. In 1996, the number of unemployed persons receiving welfare has increased by 60%.

In the same year 1996, the number of single parent families receiving welfare has increased by 50%. These growth figures do make us worry. It also implies that more and more children are living in poverty.

A few days ago, when I was discussing with a group of single-parents about the issues of chasing after their ex-spouse for maintenance money, a mother told us about her recent child abuse episode. Just a few days before our meeting, her son asked her if he could join the birthday party of his classmate held in McDonnell. She refused because she did not have any spare money to buy birthday presents. Her son protested again and again. She grew very angry and lost control of herself and hit her son very badly. Some will definitely say that this mother needs some form of therapy to help her to control her anger. But, an essential part of that treatment should definitely include “financial therapy."

One reason for the rapid increase of single parent families on welfare, apart from the rapid increase in the number of divorce in Hong Kong, is the growth of a new form of single parent families, which I call “pseudo single parent families”.

There are 150 persons per day coming from China to join their family members in Hong Kong. About 50% are children joining their fathers. Unfortunately, for various reasons, there are many children coming into Hong Kong with their mothers staying behind in China. For those lower income families, the father will find it very difficult to look after the children while working seven to eleven. The other option for them is to rely on welfare and stay at home to look after the children.

Here, I have to mention that after July 1, 1997, the Basic Law of Hong Kong will become effective. Under the Basic Law, children of permanent residents of Hong Kong born elsewhere will have the right of abode and permanent resident status in Hong Kong. We do not know how many are there living in China. Basing on various methods, the estimates range from 90 thousands to 130 thousands. After July 1, 1997, they can come into Hong Kong anytime theoretically, though the Hong Kong government and the Chinese government will try to stop them from doing so. I don‘t think they can do it legally. However, we have to wait and see. But one of the biggest problems is not just how we are going to accommodate and educate this large number of children entering Hong Kong, it is how we are going to look after them. They have the right of abode, but their mothers do not. Their mothers still have to wait. Every year, there are over 20 thousand men obtaining certificates from our government certifying that they are not married in Hong Kong and then return to China to get married. The above problem will continue to exist for some more years.

In the above discussion, I have already mentioned a few negative impacts of poverty on the children. Apart from the tragedy of the 5-years boy accidentally killing his baby brother:

Poverty has adversely affected the psycho-social development of the children: Hong Kong is a rather affluent society, poor kids do not understand why they cannot enjoy what their peers can enjoy, such as having birthday parties, TV and computer games, and going abroad to visit. I still remember a few years ago, when I was planning a petition to the Governor of Hong Kong with a group of single parents. I asked if they could find a pair of ragged shoes of their children and present it to the Governor. A single parent said, “no problem, but remember to ask the Governor to return the pair of shoes to my son. It is the only pair of shoes he has.” Research studies conducted in Hong Kong clearly demonstrated that children on welfare have infrequent social life, very few outdoor activities, have a relatively low self image, and suffer from mild to severe emotional or behavioral problems.
Owing to the frustration of their parents living in such poor and congested environment, poverty has increased the risk of these children for becoming victims of child abuse. In such a congested environment, you can only fight each other or fight yourselves. The same environment is also responsible for other types of abuse, including sex abuse, spouse abuse, and elderly abuse.
Negative impact on child development. Their bed is usually their working table, dining table, and play room. There are always success stories about children living in such a poor environment and yet managed to achieve extremely good academic results. They are definitely exceptional and I would wonder if these gifted children are given a better environment to develop, what achievements they would be able to obtain. A few weeks ago when I was discussing with a few legislative council members about the government budget in 1998-99. Someone raised the suggestion of supporting poor high school students to buy a personal computer at home so that they would not be disadvantaged. I thought that was not a bad idea. However, I wonder where they can put their PC at home. Using their desktop as pillow? Using the monitor as the TV and multimedia peripherals as the radio and Hi-Fi system? The idea is quite fancy and yet not practical for children who do not even have enough space to stretch themselves at home.
Not all pseudo single parent families receive welfare. Some of the fathers continue to work long hours and leaving their young children at home unattended. School children come home with no adult receiving them. Younger children are locked up during the day. Child neglect and the lack of supervision for children in these families are serious.

Concluding remarks

Affluence coupled with income disparity has led to the various problems mentioned above and they are particularly difficult for young children. You may have heard about success stories about Hong Kong or you may happen to know that some of the richest persons in the world are real estate developers in Hong Kong. Today, I tell you a slightly different story, not because I would like to give you a bad impression about Hong Kong, but because I hope people can see how these contradictions between affluence and poverty exist in a society where wealth accumulation or economic growth is of primary importance while the quality of its future generation is placed in such a secondary position.