Yes, a few wealthy families own half the businesses and property, and can survey their empires from the comfort of their mansions on Victoria peak. Meanwhile, down in Wan Chai Filipina maids moonlight as sex workers, offering handjobs to stressed-out bankers to make ends meet, and over in Tai Kok Tsui elderly Chinese immigrants live in cages. Capitalism in action...

Still, it's a cool place, and to be fair the large middle class population can enjoy a high quality of life. I haven't been to Singapore, but it sounds like HK is a fair bit dirtier and more chaotic, and also more alive. On the other hand, I've found that even here there's a lack of 'alternative' culture, even less than in the mainland. Beijing has a small but thriving local music scene, whereas HK's feels almost non-existent. Feels like people here care more about shopping and status symbols than anything else.

It'd be interesting to read what William Gibson would have to say about Hong Kong. Chungking Mansions in TST felt like something out of a cyberpunk novel, all Nigerian drug dealers hanging out in Indian curry houses next to stalls selling Chinese knock-off iPads.