Mixed fortunes for Hong Kong rich kids: three stories from inside the gilded cage
You think it’s easy to have plenty of family money and connections and not need to worry about mundane things like affording food and rent? These three may disagree with you
Lounging in a family-owned studio in Tsim Sha Tsui festooned with contemporary artwork, Matt Chung has all the trappings of a privileged scion. Ironically, the 28-year-old media professional, whose family also owns a property on The Peak, thrives on exposing the extravagant lifestyles of other offspring of Hong Kong’s wealthy families.
He recently published his third Chinese-language book, Playboy Man. Among its real-life characters are a spoilt young woman who spurns her father’s gift of a 1,000 sq ft furnished apartment in Causeway Bay because it’s “ugly”; and a computer nerd with a private lift so he doesn’t have to mingle with the riff-raff, while the helper uses it to deliver his meals.
Chung antagonised many rich kids, he says, even before becoming an author, when he posted memes on Instagram. “Although I didn’t use names, they were unvarnished accounts of the experiences of acquaintances. Someone once smashed my car windscreen because of something I wrote.”
Social media posts by the children of affluent Hong Kong families flaunting their wealth are distasteful to the majority struggling to pay a mortgage and put food on the table.
But Chung, a Boston University economics graduate, and others say a privileged life can also be a gilded cage. It’s not always as easy as it seems, in part because expectations are higher.