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History
THROUGHOUT its history Hong Kong has always been dependent on the initiative of its people and their ability to make the most of whatever resources are available.
The land itself has never offered an easy living. There are few mineral resources and agricultural land is restricted by the hilly terrain and generally thin soil cover. Even water supplies required the exercise of much ingenuity as soon as the popula- tion began to grow.
The territory's one great natural asset is its harbour. The British colony of Hong Kong was set up in 1842 as a place from which to trade with China, and ships from many parts of the world soon filled Victoria Harbour.
For the next 100 years Hong Kong earned its livelihood as an entrepot. It diver- sified and began to develop its industries in the 1950s after a period of economic stagnation caused by the United Nations embargo on trade with China. The impetus towards industrialisation was provided by the needs and aspirations of the 1.5 million people who had flooded into Hong Kong from China since the end of the Second World War-one of many influxes which have influenced the history of Hong Kong. About three quarters of a million entered during 1949 and the spring of 1950 as a result of civil war in China, and among these migrants were entrepreneurs with capital. It was adaptation to these circumstances which brought about the industrial and social developments that characterise the Hong Kong of today.
The Past Decade
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. These products are still the mainstay of Hong Kong's economy, but major contribu- tions are made as well by plastic goods and electronic products. There are also many other industries which have helped to raise the value of the territory's domestic exports to more than 14 times the $2,282 million recorded in 1959-the first year domestic exports were separated from re-exports.
The past 10 years have seen not only growth in the volume of production but also continuous improvement in designs, quality standards and the sophistication of products--as well as production methods. As growth has resulted in higher labour costs and in female workers becoming less readily available, mechanisation and automation have been increasingly adopted. To encourage and facilitate this, the government established the Hong Kong Productivity Centre in 1967, and the Federa- tion of Hong Kong Industries established the Hong Kong Design Council and the Hong Kong Packaging Council.