In other words, since there are beautiful areas in Hong Kong, we should pretend that there is no poverty. Blaming the photographer for revealing the poverty is callous and dishonest.

That's not a zoom shot the vertical angle is way to wide. I'd guess a standard to medium wide angle for that angle of view vertically. Great shot - and yes like shots of homeless in LA - it sucks. But don't worry China will improve Hong Kong. LOL Not.

That's gonna look ugly from any angle.

Exactly. This is actually Hong Kong, which is not a poor city. Hong Kong has incredibly bright buildings but weather and photography tricks will make a bustling city look bleak. I lived in an apartment that was very similar to this, and it was nothing like what the other commenters suggest.

Wow! Chancellor fuggnuggins is so upset, he might inform Chairman Pooh on us all! I don't buy for a minute that it is the cultural norm for people to say, "My place looks like crap, but it's the part that faces the rest of the world, so it's someone else's responsibility." But if I did, and all these apartments were spotless, artistic treasures INSIDE, this would still be as bleak and ugly as sin.

I thought the point of the pictures in this article is more about the soulless urban architecture and planning rather than the people that live in them. Who is judging the people who live in them? There are good people behind closed doors in every echelon of society. Unfortunately there are builders and developers who will build ever upwards, often using substandard materials, to extract every last dime possible for profit - they are the people that need to be called out, and the governments who allow it to happen. With growing urban populations, sometimes people have to live wherever they can find a place they can afford - it is not a matter of their character or worth as individuals. It’s just the urban environment, not the people who live there.

Way too many people

Hong Kong is the bomb. Lucky enough to live there for a couple of years while it was still under british rule. It was gorgeous. Bustling. Fragrant (😉). International hubbub. The only thing this picture did was make me nostalgic.

Are you flipping kidding? You really don't think this exists? I have seen similar places like this...with my own eyes, not thru rose-colored glasses

You’ve not been to Hong Kong have you.

All I see is overpopulation, by a virus called humanity, demonstrating yet again that we are an immoral species only content on slow self destruction while accelerating the destruction of everything else on this big blue marble. Earth first- we'll destroy the other planets later. Poetically tragic.

While it certainly enhances the effect..and having no sky behind it just more floors seemingly going upwards for eternity is very effect and even adds to the claustrophobic aspect associated with those rooms. I lost you on my prejudices and stuff..but I don’t believe is it dishonest..clearly that building is condemned and dilapidated..and it does clearly shows an area of poverty but it also Carrie’s historical significance. I don’t believe by creating a dynamic composition that heightens the way you experience this landmark is in anyway dishonest..now if you photoshopped it or added filters or what not that would be dishonest. Gordon has a point..but I hear yours as well.When it comes to taking pictures of poverty, suffering, refugees or victims of a traumatic event..it is somewhat of the photographers responsibility and just for aesthetic, optical and ethical practice to not exaggerate or manipulate those type of photographs.

Not all ignorance is "prejudice".

It's still 100 stories of 100 sq ft apartments. No thanks

Well pointed out. I can take photos in Brisbane that would present the city as a filthy shithole full of illiterate bogans and crumbling infrastructure and endemic poverty but change rhe lighting and angle and Inala becomes a suburb of hard working Aussie born and immigrant families working to make their lives and Australia better.

and the COLOR is what you find depressing? Good grief

As a New Yorker I approve this message! xD

Lol my thoughts exactly, I live just down from here and would be pretty darn happy with that location, I hike here every morning because the views are so beautiful! The buildings all look like s**t because they don't pressure wash them, not because they're actually s**t. When people think this is a crappy area boyyyyy are they wrong. Like you said this is prime real estate baby

Best become a Buddhist and not be sad. The Four Noble Truths is the basis of Buddhism. The First Truth is that life consists of suffering, pain, and misery. ... The Third Truth is that this selfish craving can be overcome. The Fourth Truth is that the way to overcome this misery is through the Eightfold Path.

For the same money we have a 4000 sq ft home on 15 acres. No, the city life is not for us. We're 10 minutes from a nice small town with all the amenities.

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True. They are probably happy and proud that they live in one of the richest cities before it became communist. Now, the freedom loving Hong Kong like Croatia watch their free speech, rights, and city state/country disappear. Funny, how Dems blame colonial capitalism with new Holidays and zip their lips with Marxist teachings in our school and socialists taking over just like Amerika.

Was it ever fun?!

I thought china was concerned about Face and stuff. Or was that just japan

California residents: Please don't accept your fate as inevitable. You are led by the most corrupt, kleptocratic leaders this side of North Korea. You cannot simultaneously import 10 million people in a decade and reserve 97% of your land from housing construction and expect that you won't have a housing shortage. You MAY have to cut your own God-damned lawn.

The cost of living in this building is going to be on par with SF. That housing is not, by American standards, "affordable". It's in Quarry Bay which is a developed, financial hub and you're looking at minimum 1000USD a month for a small studio with a mini fridge.

Well, it's Hong Kong, so probably still not affordable. I agree with you in principle though.

"choose"?

Mainland China?

Living on sampans in the sewage-filled harbor, perhaps.

Not just for the rich. There are beaches and hiking trails that is accessible to everyone.

Oh for sure! There are some places where you are basically in a coffin like bed. The "rooms" are more like a drawer that pulls out with a bed in it. It is insane. The "units" will have shared living spaces for bathrooms/kitchens/etc, but your space is basically a bed with another bed above and below it. Do some Google searching and you will see what I'm describing.