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History
THE history of Hong Kong stretches back many centuries with evidence of inhabita- tion from primitive times. But it is in the last few decades that the territory has emerged as a world centre of trade and industry.
Soon after liberation from Japanese occupation at the end of World War II, Hong Kong began a spectacular spiral in industrial, trade and social development.
The Post-War years
Following the Japanese surrender in 1945 Chinese civilians, many of whom had moved into China during the war, returned at almost 100,000 a month and the population, which by August 1945 had been reduced to about 600,000, rose by the end of 1947 to an estimated 1,800,000. Then in the period 1948-9, as the forces of the Chinese Nationalist Government began to face defeat in civil war at the hands of the communists, Hong Kong received an influx of people unparalleled in its history.
About three quarters of a million, mainly from Kwangtung province, Shanghai and other commercial centres, entered during 1949 and the spring of 1950. By the end of 1950 the population was estimated to be 2,360,000. Since then it has continued to rise. The 1971 census put the population at 4,064,400.
After a period of economic stagnation, caused by American trade barriers against China, which applied temporarily to Hong Kong, and further sanctions against China following the Korean War (1950–3), Hong Kong entered an era of industrialisation. As an entrepôt port, the territory had earned a livelihood by a service she alone could perform, now she found herself directly competing with other manufacturing centres. The immigrants formed a huge reservoir of labour-industrious, trainable for the necessary skills, and all looking for jobs.
From the start, the industrial revolution was based on cotton textiles, gradually adding woollens and, in the late 1960s, man-made fibres and made-up garments. In 1959, 53 per cent of Hong Kong's total domestic exports were textiles and clothing, compared with 50 per cent in 1974, showing the continued dominance of textiles in Hong Kong's economy.
In 1959, the first year they were separated from re-exports, domestic exports were valued at $2,282.13 million—in 1974 they had increased by more than 900 per cent. Re-exports declined in relative importance but remained significant, comprising 30 per cent of total exports in 1959 and 24 per cent in 1974.