As I have already mentioned, Hong Kong is one of the most dense places on Earth. And this for obvious reasons means that germs spread easily. Whether you are standing on the MTR in rush hour or eating lunch in McDonalds you are always surrounded by people and consequently germs. I make sure to carry hand sanitizer around with me but this has not prevented me from picking up a few colds. However in order to reduce the spread of germs in Hong Kong the government encourages people to wear face masks. Now these face masks (as shown in the picture below) are worn by people who have germs and don't want to spread them to others. Before I visited Hong Kong I thought that people wore them so that they wouldn't catch germs from others, in fact its a very selfless act that ensures the spread of diseases and germs is kept to a minimum.
Traditionally in China it is very common for people to spit, many chinese people still spit today. Spitting is not confined to toilets or bins but also in restaurants and on the street. However in Hong Kong they are very keen to reduce the spread of diseases and spitting is a way of spreading diseases. There is a fine imposed on anyone caught spitting. This is also an example of how Hong Kong tries to distance itself from china, to a certain extent, and act more Western.
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