commercial elite who support it, and on the other, for the Government of the U.K., which continues to hang on to Hong Kong, ovon thọugh today
only a few, relatively insignificant (financially speaking) territories still remain within the once extensive British Empire.
!
It seems a pity that so much public money should be spent, for example on defence, when as everyone knows, Hong Kong cannot be defended, should China wish to take it back, while at the same time, so little la spent on social welfare. The figures are: '
Social Welfare Department + Government
subventions to private wolfare organizations
Defence (H.K. Auxiliary Air Force, H.K.
Regiment, Miscellaneous Measures):
IK$26,265,590
I$81,972,845
(Figures for Financial Year 1968-69 (latest available); Source: Govorņmont of Hong Kong's annual Yearbook)
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The Defence budget obviously goes on preparations for dealing with civil disturbances, or, more bluntly, to protect the foreign government from the people rising up against it.
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In Hong Kong the whole of the educational systom' works to the dia-
advantage of the Chinese, and to the advantage of the British. The main
emphasis is on English, which every student has to study. Textbooks are
in English; students cannot understand them sufficiently, and so, they,
learn the contents by heart, and deviation from a verbatim repetition of
the text in an examination is a luxury they cannot afford, since they do
not really understand what the text says. This ayatom militates against!
original thinking in any form. Foreign tonchiers who might encourage the
students to think for themselves are au intolerable thront to the
Govorumont, and they soon find that their vinas are not ronowed. (This has happened to five different people rocontly.) The Government of long
Kong probably realises that independent thought and criticism of the
colonial system are not very far apart in this society.
In Hong Kong, English, the language of the very wall minority, is
the official language, although most of the people are unable to speak it themselves, and don't understand it properly when it is spoken by others. Since Chinese is not given equal status with, English, many Chinese feel that this is a sort of insult, and it confirms them in their belief that
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the Chinese are considered inferior by the British.