Former MTR Corp chief Frederick Ma Si-hang said he used to cry alone at home after being scolded by his boss in New York back in the 1970s.

Speaking on an online talk show produced by Headline Daily and Eastweek, The Standard's sister publications, Ma talked about the decade he spent working and living overseas and offered advice to Hongkongers wanting to emigrate.

The 68-year-old worked for Chase Manhattan Bank in New York between 1976 and 1978 and emigrated to Toronto in 1979 to be with his wife. He returned to the SAR six years later, but relocated to London for work between 1989 and 1990.

Ma headed financial services and the treasury as well as the commerce and economic development bureaus in the 2000s, after which he was MTRC boss from 2016 to 2019.

Recalling his years in New York, Ma said: "My boss yelled at me every day, and I had no choice but to put up with him. There were times when I cried in my room alone."

"My family was here, and I was not married and had few friends back then. It was painful and miserable," he recalled, adding he could not switch jobs due to visa restrictions.

After returning here in 1979, the then 27-year-old eventually had the courage to quit his job. "I knew I could go to Canada and rely on my wife, who was working at a bank in Toronto."

Ma said he was lucky to be rehired by Chase Bank in Toronto and later by other Canadian securities firms, although it was never easy to blend in as an Asian in the West.

He recalled a business meeting with representatives of a major Canadian bank, during which "everyone treated me as if I was invisible - it was very miserable."

Work aside, Ma said he also struggled with public transportation, the cold, Western food and a scant social life during his years abroad.

But he also mentioned the benefits of life in Canada, such as the convenience of traveling to Europe , being surrounded by nature and having sufficient living space.

Ma said that back in 1979, his wife and he paid just over C$200 a month for a 1,000 square foot apartment, which was "incomparable to Hong Kong."

"[In Canada,] you get to live in houses with a big lawn and swimming pool, which children would love. How many people in Hong Kong can do that?"

Ma tells of tears and fears abroad