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A SOCIAL COMMITMENT
In the early post-war days, as immigrants poured in, tenement accommodation was partitioned to make room for extra tenants, makeshift structures appeared on rooftops and hundreds of temporary dwellings clung to hillsides. In 1954, after serious fires had decimated several of these scattered settlements, the government embarked on its first low-rent resettlement estates. So began a government housing programme, which today accommodates one and a half million people and is expected to house double this number by the middle 1980s.
Whereas the housing programme became a government responsibility 20 years ago, other social services developed more slowly, because Hong Kong at that time could not afford to embark upon an extensive social welfare programme. Its entrepôt role collapsed overnight when the United Nations put an embargo on trade with China during the Korean War, and Hong Kong had not yet developed into an industrial centre.
Role of the Voluntary Agencies
Fortunately, the voluntary agencies, many of which had, in a long association with Hong Kong, earned the confidence and trust of the community, stepped in to fill the gap.
Charitable bodies have operated in Hong Kong since 1841. Among the first arrivals in the newly founded British territory were Christian missionaries, who set up schools and organised aid for the poor. By the 1870s, the Catholic prefecture in Hong Kong had become the missionary base for all South China.
It is more than 100 years since the local Chinese community established the first of its own charitable organisations. Traditional Chinese teachings stressed the im- portance of helping the sick and needy. At one time, this was seen to be an obligation on the wealthy to give food, clothing and herbal medicines to the poor or sick. Gradually charity became a family or village responsibility. As Hong Kong grew into a bustling trading port in the late 19th century, there developed a need for a similar collective system of charity. This need was met by local community leaders, who set up charitable organisations.
The most important of these was the Tung Wah (meaning 'Eastern China') which opened its first hospital in 1870 with funds raised locally, helped by a government grant of cash and of 12 acres of Crown land. The hospital was a valuable contribution to the health of Hong Kong's 110,000 population. So began 105 years of partnership between the Hong Kong Government and the Tung Wah Group, which opened a school in 1880 to provide free education, and built two more hospitals in crowded urban areas. Today, it runs modern hospitals, schools, homes for the elderly, day nurseries and youth centres. It is largely subsidised by the government, which provides more than 90 per cent of the cost of its medical services and educational facilities. Like many other voluntary organisations, it offers free services to the poor but levies fees on those who can afford them.
The Po Leung Kuk is another traditional charity with a distinguished history of service to the community. It was founded in 1878 to provide temporary shelter for