HK or Singapore

[Arif246]

Is there any friend who lived in both Singapore and Hong Kong with young kids and family?
We live in Hong Kong with 4 years old son, two years old daughter. Last few months I am thinking whether to move my family to Singapore. I feel Singapore will be better place to raise them. Just wanted to see if somebody have experience of living in both places with family and can give me an honest opinion.

I am originally from Bangladesh and lived in Mainland China and Hong Kong for last twenty years. My wife and I speak mandarin but no Cantonese. All of us are HK citizens.
I have business in China but it doesn’t require me to be in office everyday. But of course I will have to travel quite a bit (China and other countries).
If Singapore is much better for the kids, I can manage my work somehow.
Thanks a lot for your kind opinion.

[Lisafuller]

Can’t really speak for HK, but Singapore is a pretty nice place to raise children. Safe, accessible, and plenty of nature. Education system is great, but incredibly stressful, so do with that information what you will.

[tiktok]

Main difference is cost of schools and extra-curricula activities is definitely cheaper here. You'll get much more living space for your money. Both places are very safe. But the blandness of Singapore is a downside.

[the observer]

Can’t really speak for HK, but Singapore is a pretty nice place to raise children. Safe, accessible, and plenty of nature. Education system is great, but incredibly stressful, so do with that information what you will.

It’s typically a private school these days for expats.
There’s low to no allocation to foreigners without Pr in gahmen schools.

[Lisafuller]

Main difference is cost of schools and extra-curricula activities is definitely cheaper here. You'll get much more living space for your money. Both places are very safe. But the blandness of Singapore is a downside.

Living space is a good point. You get a lot more bang for your buck here.

[Lisafuller]

Can’t really speak for HK, but Singapore is a pretty nice place to raise children. Safe, accessible, and plenty of nature. Education system is great, but incredibly stressful, so do with that information what you will.

It’s typically a private school these days for expats.
There’s low to no allocation to foreigners without Pr in gahmen schools.

True, and private schools typically start at around 30-40K a year, so that’s a huge expense to undertake.

[PNGMK]

I would keep in mind the very real risk of losing everything in HK if Xi throws a petulant fit as he is wont to. We might joke that Singapore is the 24th province of China but it's a truly independent country with it's own defense force and strong alliances.

[Lisafuller]

Good point, HK hasn’t exactly been a shining example of political stability as of late.

[Myasis Dragon]

Yes... this is very concerning to many companies as well. No company in their right mind keeps their databases in China, to be stolen or cut off by the Chinese government.

And now, all the companies located in Hong Kong will be racing to move their data to safer jurisdictions... I am sure that Singapore will be one of them.

[the observer]

Yes... this is very concerning to many companies as well. No company in their right mind keeps their databases in China, to be stolen or cut off by the Chinese government.

And now, all the companies located in Hong Kong will be racing to move their data to safer jurisdictions... I am sure that Singapore will be one of them.

Though there’s some naysayers who seems to think that by being slow to reopen, mncs will be fleeing sg by boatloads.

Anyway my view is that it’s all about relativity.
Singapore looks locked up, so are most of the other traditional mnc hubs. Let’s not put sri langka into this equation, thank you. So I’d say, in the region of blind men, the one eyed jack reigns supreme.

[malcontent]

Main difference is cost of schools and extra-curricula activities is definitely cheaper here. You'll get much more living space for your money. Both places are very safe. But the blandness of Singapore is a downside.

I doubt it would be cheaper to attend public school here, if the children are not Singaporean. The OP doesn’t even have an ASEAN passport, so even with the cheapest public school option they are looking at school fees approaching S$10,000 per year for primary, over S$17,000 for secondary! They assumes the kids can even get a seat.

While I’m not familiar with HK public schools, a quick online search indicates they are free for all children who attend. That shouldn’t be a surprise, since most public primary and secondary education is free to tax paying residents of most countries.

[tiktok]

Yes HK local schools are free, but your kids need to speak Cantonese, not to mention the workload is just insane. There are subsidized DSS schools with part English curriculum but they are very hard to get into. There's also ESF which used to be cheap but is losing its govt subsidy. I don't have numbers but the remaining non-Cantonese options in HK are not cheap. But things like private tuition, music lessons are definitely cheaper here.

[Myasis Dragon]

Yes... this is very concerning to many companies as well. No company in their right mind keeps their databases in China, to be stolen or cut off by the Chinese government.

And now, all the companies located in Hong Kong will be racing to move their data to safer jurisdictions... I am sure that Singapore will be one of them.

Though there’s some naysayers who seems to think that by being slow to reopen, mncs will be fleeing sg by boatloads.

Anyway my view is that it’s all about relativity.
Singapore looks locked up, so are most of the other traditional mnc hubs. Let’s not put sri langka into this equation, thank you. So I’d say, in the region of blind men, the one eyed jack reigns supreme.

I don't see how SG will be affected over the long term. The migration out of HK will continue to build over time, as the thugs that run China force more and more draconian measures onto HK... and already, any company doing business in China is smart enough to keep copies of everything somewhere else, just in case the thugs decide to chop off access to the internet.

But the outflow will continue to grow, and where else will the company's money, executives, and data go? Endemic corruption in so many Asian countries makes business operations questionable. What other country in the region has a banking system that can actually be trusted? And where else do you get the infrastructure that Singapore can provide?

Japan would be one obvious alternative but has problems of its own. Malaysia could have a rosy future (KL, in particular) except no one will do anything about corruption and the Bumiputra laws that so damage incentives and productivity.

I would guess that the Singapore gahmen has already counted out migration from Hong Kong in their own future financial planning. Housing prices may be soft now but I bet they recover next year with new ex HK'ers fleeing to safety. And Singapore banks must be gleefully rubbing their palms together.

[malcontent]

Reminds me of a Mark Twain quote “thank God for the fools… if not for them, none of us would succeed”

[Lisafuller]

Yes... this is very concerning to many companies as well. No company in their right mind keeps their databases in China, to be stolen or cut off by the Chinese government.

And now, all the companies located in Hong Kong will be racing to move their data to safer jurisdictions... I am sure that Singapore will be one of them.

Though there’s some naysayers who seems to think that by being slow to reopen, mncs will be fleeing sg by boatloads.

Anyway my view is that it’s all about relativity.
Singapore looks locked up, so are most of the other traditional mnc hubs. Let’s not put sri langka into this equation, thank you. So I’d say, in the region of blind men, the one eyed jack reigns supreme.

Fair point.