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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
huge unfinished monolith built prematurely by the occupy- ing Japanese forces in anticipation of victory. The monu- ment was demolished in 1947, and only the foundations remain.
British forces re-entered Hong Kong in August 1945. One of the first actions of the Military Administration was to take physical stock of the Colony. Destruction of property, although not on the same scale as in the blitzed cities else- where, was nevertheless sufficiently serious. Worst of all was the damage to dwellings. About 20% of Chinese tene- ments were either destroyed or seriously damaged, 10% of this number being totally destroyed. It was estimated that tenement-type housing for 160,000 people and European- type housing for some 7,000 people (about 70% of all European-style housing) had been lost. Most of the housing deficiency could only be made up by new construction or major repairs and these were initially slow to start since property owners were discouraged by the high cost of build- ing materials and labour. (It was calculated, for example, that a looted European-type house might cost twice as much to repair as it had cost to build ten years before.)
In other types of building, the pattern of destruction was haphazard. The University was badly damaged--mainly by looting-and so too were, many of the Colony's schools. Industry, on the other hand, except for the shipbuilding and repair yards and the Taikoo Sugar Refinery which had been rendered derelict, escaped comparatively lightly.
The first obvious duty of the Colony was to repair the scars of war. The harbour, strewn with sunken vessels and its shore facilities impaired either as a direct result of hostilities or through neglect, was quickly restored to use. By the end of 1945 the first commercial ship had discharged cargo. A flow of labour from China followed the return of life to the port. The revival of Hong Kong, based as always on its entrepôt trade, was under way. A resident of the time observed: 'Gradually the lights came on in houses further