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There used to be a British acronym FILTH Failed in London, Try Hong Kong :-)

pcr0 9y ago
Heard this a lot in investment banking. Definitely "used to be" as these days you're unlikely to make it in Hong Kong either.
- user5994461 9y ago
  The friends I know who tried to get into either say it's as hard to join HK as London. They are both super competitive.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    Well, they could try Shanghai.
    - user5994461 9y ago
      The main offices are usually in NYC, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore. I don't think that Shanghai is an option.
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        There is some investment and finance going on in shanghai these days. It isn’t world-class, but everyone wants to be there to learn and look to the future. Kind of like how HK and Singapore were 40-50 years ago.
thrway123324 9y ago
I am using a throwaway for obvious reasons. But having been to both HK and Shanghai, I can say there is a world of difference between Westerners in both cities. The ones in HK working in finance at least have a college degree. They know how to behave in a proper surrounding. The ones I met in Shanghai are almost all trailer trash that have nowhere else to go. The filth coming out their mouths is astounding. You can see why a lot of Chinese people don't like them: egotistical and cynical. They also have chip on their shoulders. That's when you know how a person is brought up truly matters.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Most of the foreigners I knew in Beijing had PhDs like myself, some just had master degrees. But then I was working in a research lab. I heard of the English teachers but never met them before. The thing about foreigners in mainland China vs. Hong Kong, there just aren’t that many at all. Maybe shanghai has the most, but even then it is less than 100k, a drop in the bucket compared to Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, or even Bangkok.
  - thrway12332412 9y ago
    "Most of the foreigners I knew in Beijing had PhDs". Speaking of research, you are illustrating self-selection bias and small sample size fallacy in your argument. A small group of friends do not represent the whole. You shoudn't downvote people just because their opinion differs from yours.
    - thrway123324212 9y ago
      Seems like you are choosing to downvote people that do not agree with you. I prefer to argue with logic and not downvotes. Its very unfortunate. Good day, Mr. Mcdirmid.
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        I didn’t downvote anyone.
      - gus_massa 9y ago
        The software of HN forbid to downvote the replies to a comment that a user has made, so seanmcdirmid was not able to downvote you. Someone else had to downvoted your comments. [In case you are wondering, I didn't downvote you neither.] [Also, complains about downvotes and accusations of downvotes are good methods to get more downvotes. See https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ]
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago

pcr0 9y ago

Heard this a lot in investment banking. Definitely "used to be" as these days you're unlikely to make it in Hong Kong either.

user5994461 9y ago
The friends I know who tried to get into either say it's as hard to join HK as London. They are both super competitive.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Well, they could try Shanghai.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    The main offices are usually in NYC, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore. I don't think that Shanghai is an option.
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      There is some investment and finance going on in shanghai these days. It isn’t world-class, but everyone wants to be there to learn and look to the future. Kind of like how HK and Singapore were 40-50 years ago.

thrway123324 9y ago

I am using a throwaway for obvious reasons. But having been to both HK and Shanghai, I can say there is a world of difference between Westerners in both cities. The ones in HK working in finance at least have a college degree. They know how to behave in a proper surrounding. The ones I met in Shanghai are almost all trailer trash that have nowhere else to go. The filth coming out their mouths is astounding. You can see why a lot of Chinese people don't like them: egotistical and cynical. They also have chip on their shoulders. That's when you know how a person is brought up truly matters.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Most of the foreigners I knew in Beijing had PhDs like myself, some just had master degrees. But then I was working in a research lab. I heard of the English teachers but never met them before. The thing about foreigners in mainland China vs. Hong Kong, there just aren’t that many at all. Maybe shanghai has the most, but even then it is less than 100k, a drop in the bucket compared to Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, or even Bangkok.
- thrway12332412 9y ago
  "Most of the foreigners I knew in Beijing had PhDs". Speaking of research, you are illustrating self-selection bias and small sample size fallacy in your argument. A small group of friends do not represent the whole. You shoudn't downvote people just because their opinion differs from yours.
  - thrway123324212 9y ago
    Seems like you are choosing to downvote people that do not agree with you. I prefer to argue with logic and not downvotes. Its very unfortunate. Good day, Mr. Mcdirmid.
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      I didn’t downvote anyone.
    - gus_massa 9y ago
      The software of HN forbid to downvote the replies to a comment that a user has made, so seanmcdirmid was not able to downvote you. Someone else had to downvoted your comments. [In case you are wondering, I didn't downvote you neither.] [Also, complains about downvotes and accusations of downvotes are good methods to get more downvotes. See https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ]
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago