The Cages of Hong Kong

When many think of the only capitalist portion of China, Hong Kong, people think of a city full of beautiful and modern skyscrapers. But there is a darker side to Hong Kong; the cages. Some 100,000 individuals who are less fortunate than the very wealthy of the city live in 6 X 2 1/2 foot cages for about $200 a month. This article, written by Damian Gayle of the UK publication Daily Mail presents a look inside these homes. In the title Gayle utilizes an allusion to the immense number of Louis Vuitton shops in Hong Kong, even exceeding the number in France. This is shocking because  Louis Vuitton is based in France and is a very expensive luxury shop, you would not expect people to be living in cages in such a place. This article is unique in the fact that it presents a great deal of images rather than text. It allows the pictures to speak for themselves, and creates a more effective influence on my emotions. It was very shocking to see an image like this:

I was prompted to think of dogs in dog cages, and to think that this is an entire persons home is incredibly poignant. The collection of images were very effective in sending a visual portrayal of the homes, its was like I could smell the dirty situation that these people live in on a daily basis. Concluding the passage, Gayle provides a quote from a resident, "Sometimes I am worried a cockroach or lizard will crawl into my ear at night." Although this is a very simple statement, it really does create a further feeling of disgust, the thought of having a cockroach or lizard crawl into my ear is well, very scary and gross. People in the US complain about the widening gap between the rich and the poor, but it certainly could me much worse as evident Hong Kong.  This phenomenon hopefully will never spread to the US.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084971/Hong-Kongs-cage-homes-Tens-thousands-living-6ft-2ft-rabbit-hutches.html#axzz2JqSFcpGf