Focusing on hot topics like "why is the standard of living issue in Hong Kong so hard to solve?", "what carry-over problems did the early British Hong Kong government leave from colonization?", and "what kind of prejudices do the people of Hong Kong hold now?" journalists interviewed professor Cheng Chak Yan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

First of all, the lack of governance from the British Hong Kong government during colonization is a major factor behind many of the social problems that have happened or are happening now in Hong Kong. The 1967 Hong Kong Riot, and the 1977 anti-corruption movement, as Professor Cheng pointed out, were both deeply rooted in the inefficiency of governance. Cheng also cited the example of the immigrant flow of the 1980s and 1990s in Hong Kong. He said that a dozen years of immigration had denuded Hong Kong of much of its elite and many of its social assets, causing unquantifiable losses.

Another factor to which Professor Cheng alluded is the large number of historical problems left on the shoulders of the SAR government. Compared with Singapore, where public housing projects were promoted in the 1960s and now almost every citizen is guaranteed satisfactory accommodation, the living conditions in Hong Kong were dreadful. In Singapore, no matter who they are and how much money they make, everyone is entitled to their own residence. No such situation exists in Hong Kong, however, where any public housing is hard to find. Many people imagine that sub-divided flats (also known as ripped rooms where people live in tiny spaces sub-divided from a single apartment) is a phenomenon that developed after Hong Kong returned to China, but in fact, said Cheng, poor people were already doing that during the British colonial times, and back then the situation was even worse — three people would take turns to sleep in one bed. Professor Cheng said that all of such social problems were supposed to have been solved during the British period, and yet somehow they still exist today.