Page 208 - 梁文燕紀念中學（沙田）－青苗文集

Helen Liang Memorial Secondary School (Shatin)

Working In Mainland

6A Sunny Cheung Chui Yat

The current unemployment rate in Hong Kong is quite
high. As a result, many fresh graduates are considering
working on the mainland. Although the mainland’s economy
is fast-growing, many people are still not prepared to follow
this trend.
First, cultural difference can be a factor in deciding
whether or not to work on the mainland. As everyone
knows, the business and work cultures in China are vastly
different from Hong Kong. In China, offending your boss
or supervisor by disagreeing with their ideas or protesting
against their decisions is not acceptable. The golden rule is to please them rather
than openly insult them, even if your motive is for the good of the company.
Attending dinners with clients or business partners and drinking Mao Tai are also
some important business etiquettes there. In addition, to maintain a good clientele,
having good relations with people in the circle always takes a much higher priority
than being intelligent and hard-working. As a result, many Hong Kong people find it
difficult to adapt to such ‘guanxi’-oriented, sometimes unfair cultures.
Second, living in some big cities in China
is not as cheap as living at home for most
fresh graduates. Take Beijing and Shanghai
as examples – the property prices and rent
there are almost as high as Hong Kong’s. Also,
the individual income tax rate is higher on the
mainland. Other expenses like transportation,
food and healthcare cannot be overlooked either.
Third, the keen competition is also holding
back some young people from taking a job in
the mainland. The wages of top jobs in China
may look attractive, yet the competition is more
intense since many mainland students with an

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