In Hong Kong, domestic helpers and distant parents created a disaffected ‘Me Generation’

Albert Cheng writes that smaller one- or two-child families and abundant domestic helpers – even for middle- and working-class households – has resulted in a generation that can’t care for itself

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Hong Kong fans hold a protest banner and turn their backs while the Chinese national anthem played during Hong Kong’s football match against Malaysia in October. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:50pm, 14 Dec 2017Updated: 7:18pm, 14 Dec 2017

The Hong Kong economy took off in the 1960s and entered its golden age in the 1980s. To meet the rising demand for workers, the female labour force was unlocked. At the same time, riding the tide of the diversified development of the economy, the well-educated post-war baby boomers climbed the social ladder and became a major pillar of society.

The rise of this middle class was also made possible by the availability of domestic helpers – the Filipinos, Thais and Indonesians who work in Hong Kong homes. Had there been no domestic helpers to take up the heavy housework and look after the old and the young for the boomers, the new generation of Hong Kong women would not have been able to break the chains that had shackled them for decades.

Filipino domestic helpers gather on a street in Hong Kong’s Central district in November. The sheer number of domestic helpers in Hong Kong has led to troubling social issues related to their treatment and to their treatment of children. This reliance on helpers has also had a huge impact on families. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong doesn’t need an army of maids to care for its young and old. It needs trained professionals

In post-war Hong Kong, only the wealthiest could afford servants. Women in the average family were expected to stay home and look after the family. If both parents had to work, they would either have to ask their neighbours to take care of their children, or the children would have to run their own course and look out for one another.

However, starting from the 1980s, it was not just the well-off and middle-class families, but even the working class living in public estates who hired domestic helpers. In Hong Kong today, there are more than 300,000 domestic helpers. Over the past three decades, the helper-centred family structure has formed and the consequences have been profound.

Generational conflict makes up a huge part of the deep-rooted contradictions in our society. The millennials born in the past few decades are now raging at society. They feel strong revulsion towards the older generation who possess most of the benefits. The young generation no longer see upward mobility as possible and blame that on the older generation.

For their part, the older generation point fingers at the young, accusing them of not being able to endure hard times and live out the “the Lion Rock spirit”.

In Hong Kong, domestic helpers and distant parents created a disaffected ‘Me Generation’

Albert Cheng writes that smaller one- or two-child families and abundant domestic helpers – even for middle- and working-class households – has resulted in a generation that can’t care for itself

Hong Kong doesn’t need an army of maids to care for its young and old. It needs trained professionals

Hong Kong’s youth must stop demonising China to have a brighter future