into Hong Kong, and by April 1844 the population reached 19,000. The establishment of shipbuilding yards, eventually to grow into a major industry, dates from the Colony's earliest days.
No time was lost in linking up Hong Kong with Europe, and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company established a monthly mail service in 1845. Commercial relations with several places were opened up, including Shanghai, Siam, and the United States of America, and the junk trade with China flourished.
The cultural needs of the community found expression in a variety of ways, but as early as 1847 the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded dedicated to the study of cultural contacts between the East and the West.
Hong Kong provided a convenient port for the emigration of Chinese labourers to many places, mainly the Straits Settlements, Siam, and Java, and when news went round of the opening up of goldfields in California there was a rush of Chinese who went seeking the "Golden Mountains" there and in other places. When gold was discovered in Australia not long afterwards thousands of Chinese rushed to the "New Golden Mountains," via Hong Kong. Over 30,000 Chinese emigrants made use of the facilities provided by Hong Kong in the year 1852 alone. The flow of remittances to China in later years from those who established new homes on the other side of the world has been of considerable help to the economy of China. In the same way the descendants of those early emigrants have made their way up in the world, and their contacts with their mother country are still maintained through Hong Kong.
With the spread of unrest in China following the incidence of the Taiping Rebellion in China, many thousands of Chinese flocked to Hong Kong, the first of many similar occurrences when Chinese in search of shelter have sought the safety and sanctuary of this Colony. The population rose by leaps and bounds and by 1855 was estimated at 72,000, and by 1861 at 120,000, taxing housing accommodation and all the other amenities with which the city had been provided.
An early reclamation scheme (1851), on a part of which the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building stands to-day, was found to be insufficient and was extended, while the city spread rapidly. New schools were established, to provide better educational facilities for the Chinese, among them the Anglo-Chinese College. More markets, better policing, the problem of water supply, additional hospitals, sanitation, all pressed for attention and were tackled with energy and determination. Hong Kong rapidly took on the aspect of a modern town, and with the increasing importance of trade the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce was formed, in 1861.
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