21. Pushing, Carrying, Sweeping in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s elderly take care of the street. It is still bizarre to see the inequality where the elderly are engaged in tough labour in one of the richest places on earth. A city where the government spends billions in projects that nobody asks for and whose political parties campaign for token efforts. Two dollar public transport for the elderly. Why not free for everyone, why not proper healtcare instead of vouchers? Why not a pension for the elderly instead of collecting cardboard? For that matter why not actual recycling schemes instead of dumping it somewhere in a place already short of land. Hong Kong is a place of contrasts.

Work never ends even when the city is fighting itself

Certain shops and chains will leave their cardboard outside for pick up. A bucket of water or bottle of water is used to stick the cardboard together for easy transport. The carts are often too low to be properly pushed so the person pushing it has to bend forward to reach the handle.

Sweeping leaves near the Art Museum in Tsim Tsa Tsui. Hong Kong has a lot of useless labour. We can see the bucket on the right. These are usually made out of old oil cans cut into size and tied to a bamboo handle.

If you go to a park chances are you will see an older lady sweeping the leaves from the road. Why? The leaves fall down the moment they are swept away.