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Made in gb
[DCM]
Et In Arcadia Ego





Canterbury

... future sure ain't what it used to be





Earlier this month, an elderly homeless woman died in a crowded Hong Kong McDonald's restaurant. No-one noticed her for seven hours. The BBC's Juliana Liu spent a night in one 24-hour restaurant to meet the people the city has dubbed "McRefugees".
On a major road in the working class neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po, a pair of bright yellow arches beckons visitors into a 24-hour McDonald's outlet.



Spread out over two floors, it is spacious by Hong Kong standards.
As night falls, the fast-food restaurant becomes a temporary hostel, attracting dozens of the city's poorest people.
Although similar crowds can be found at McDonald's outlets all over Asia - especially in Japan and mainland China - an aging population, unaffordable property prices and stagnant wages all conspire to make the problem particularly acute in Hong Kong.
Here, it is a vibrant community of regulars, many of them elderly, whose cheerful smiles mask desperately sad stories of personal misfortune.



The unofficial leader of the group is Ah Chan, 54, a well-spoken former police officer.
He says he rents a tiny room nearby, but spends most of his evenings at McDonald's, where he can while away the hours in comfort chatting with friends.
"This is a familiar place, with familiar faces," he tells me in fluent English. "These people are all wanderers. Some come for a short while, others a long time. Most of them don't have a home. They have nowhere else to go."



Hong Kong is one of the world's most unequal places in terms of wealth distribution. About one in five of the country's seven million people live in poverty, according to government figures.
Among the elderly, one in three lives below the poverty line.



At a recent conference on the subject, officials said the best way to tackle poverty was to expand the economy and create jobs.
But this strategy is unlikely to help Mr Chan. Over a paper cup of tap water, he explains his own slide into downward mobility.
After university in the late 1970s, he joined the police department, leaving in 1996 to start a business investing in mainland China.
Over the next seven years, he poured most of his savings, and money from his relatives, into the company. But in 2003, his mainland Chinese partners ran away with the money, he said.
After three years of legal battles, he returned to Hong Kong in 2006, broke and exhausted.
"What happened in China defeated my mind," he says. "I had to take a rest to ease my mind. I'm trying to face what's in front of me. Sometimes, I feel very tough. Other times, the bad memories will influence me."



Mr Chan says he rarely sees his relatives: "I can't face them. They trusted me, and I let them down. I can't say I had no responsibility for what happened."
He does casual jobs to make spending money. He also frequents food banks and wears donated clothing.

The view from the other side of the lens



Indian photographer Suraj Katra began photographing Hong Kong's "McRefugees" in 2013, beginning a project to document what he called a "social phenomenon".
"As a photographer, I found it so ironic that you have such colourful ambience in the background and then these old homeless or poor people in the foreground. I snapped a few photos on my phone.
"I always looked at McDonald's as amazing value in a place like Hong Kong. You get cheap food, good lighting, good air conditioning, good seating and good service. I thought I should document the people who were really making the most of this.
"I come from a much poorer country, India. For me, when I look at these people, I still think they are well-off compared with the homeless in a place like India. It's more organised. At least there is some welfare and a place to sleep."
As we chat, well after midnight, two elderly people snore loudly on the immediate benches near us.
A staff member comes over to explain that someone has locked himself into the bathroom, but otherwise leaves us alone.
In a statement later, McDonalds said it "welcome all walks of life to visit our restaurants any time". It expressed sadness over the recent death, and said it balanced being "more accommodating and caring" to people staying there overnight with ensuring a good experience for all customers.
'You must think I am very lazy'
By this time of night, all the paying patrons have left. Only the "McRefugees" are left.



One of them is David Ho, 66, who until last year worked as a security guard on a monthly salary of HK$10,000 ($1,300; £840). But he suffered a stroke, rendering him unable to work.
He survives on a daily cocktail of medicines, which he gets from a public hospital, and a monthly government welfare payment of HK$3,870.
"You must think I am very lazy. But I am not. I want to work. But I can't find a job at my age. That is why I am taking money from the government," he says.



Even with welfare, Mr Ho cannot afford to live in Hong Kong, which has some of the most expensive property in the world.
The city does provide public housing, but there is a shortage of units and the waiting list is years long.
So, he rents a room across the border in Shenzhen for 1,000 yuan (HK$1,222; $157; £103) a month.
Mr Ho misses Hong Kong, so he travels on the train to the Sham Shui Po McDonalds once a week or so, staying for a few days at a time.
As we chat, a steady stream of people continue to arrive, well into the morning hours.
A middle-aged man comes in and sits down just behind us. He listens intently and repeats, parrot-like, everything we say.
By this time, the lights on the second floor, where we have been gathering, are lowered.
Nearly everyone has gone to sleep.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34546807

Heartbreaking really, nowhere else to go .. at that age too ..

The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
 
   
Made in us
Mutated Chosen Chaos Marine





NorCal

This makes me want to cry. Like honestly.

The Undying Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/660749.page


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Made in us
Depraved Slaanesh Chaos Lord




Inside Yvraine

Looks like San Francisco.
   
Made in us
Mutated Chosen Chaos Marine





NorCal

 BlaxicanX wrote:
Looks like San Francisco.


Looks like SF before they cleaned out most of the homeless. I hear even 6th Street is getting a makeover.

The Undying Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
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Made in us
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Inside Yvraine

Gentrification will do that, yep. The "undesirables" are all getting shifted inland.

The financial district around market street is still a mess though.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/10/28 17:07:06


 
   
Made in us
Member of the Ethereal Council






Its quite Ironic huh? One of the symbols of both money, power and affluence, is being used to shelter homeless.

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






New Orleans, LA

McDonald's is more the symbol of gakky burgers, 300 lb 5th graders, and fries. Delicious fething fries.



"Hong Kong is one of the world's most unequal places in terms of wealth distribution. About one in five of the country's seven million people live in poverty, according to government figures.
Among the elderly, one in three lives below the poverty line. "

That's really depressing.

DA:70S+G+M+B++I++Pw40k08+D++A++/fWD-R+T(M)DM+
 
   
Made in gb
Keeper of the Holy Orb of Antioch





avoiding the lorax on Crion

Hong Kong has little land, alot of people and space is so expensive, insanely so.

Depressing. Sad and hopeless.

Sgt. Vanden - OOC Hey, that was your doing. I didn't choose to fly in the "Dongerprise'.

"May the odds be ever in your favour"

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
I have no clue how Dakka's moderation work. I expect it involves throwing a lot of d100 and looking at many random tables.

FudgeDumper - It could be that you are just so uncomfortable with the idea of your chapters primarch having his way with a docile tyranid spore cyst, that you must deny they have any feelings at all.  
   
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Member of the Ethereal Council






 kronk wrote:
McDonald's is more the symbol of gakky burgers, 300 lb 5th graders, and fries. Delicious fething fries.



"Hong Kong is one of the world's most unequal places in terms of wealth distribution. About one in five of the country's seven million people live in poverty, according to government figures.
Among the elderly, one in three lives below the poverty line. "

That's really depressing.

What I mean is that Fastfood itself is, in a way, a symbol of a wealthy nation and a wealthy city. So its Ironic.
I mean look at that Mcdonalds, it looks like a Cafe. It looks like money is put into it. But poor sleep there

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Its quite Ironic huh? One of the symbols of both money, power and affluence, is being used to shelter homeless.



Huh?
   
Made in us
Depraved Slaanesh Chaos Lord




Inside Yvraine

I understand what he's trying to say.

"A McDonalds/Starbucks on every corner" is a fairly common capitalism joke.
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

A rising tide lifts all boats. If it wasn't for the McDonald's, these people would have no place to go.







I don't think I can say that with a straight face.

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NorCal

 BlaxicanX wrote:
Gentrification will do that, yep. The "undesirables" are all getting shifted inland.

The financial district around market street is still a mess though.


I wrote off San Fransisco as a lost cause when that thing happened where the homeless guy literally died on the street & FiDi workers were taking video on their cell phone. Nobody even tried to help.

A truly awful city.

The Undying Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
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Twitter: BigFatJerkface
https://twitter.com/AdamInOakland

 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut





UK

Hong Kong uses McDonalds, London uses night buses


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34352564

 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

The U.S. has Waffle House!

I love me some Waffle House.

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