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POLICE SE
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MARINE 63
A Maritime Base
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Hong Kong has always been a maritime territory; its people live by the sea and have prospered from it. The most plausible theory on Hong Kong's origin is that it was named after what is now known as Aberdeen in the Ching dynasty it was Hong Kong Ts'un, a small village inhab- ited by fisherfolk and incense makers. Before the
settlement, Hong Kong was a haven for pirates and when the British came in 1841 it became a trading port. Life by the sea thrived and today it ranks as one of the three most perfect natural harbours in the world (after San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro); it has the third largest container through-put (after New York and Rotterdam); and it is the seventh busiest port, handling some 10 000 ocean-going vessels a year. It is a busy, bustling harbour with cargo and container ships loading and discharging goods with the help of lighters and cranes throughout the day and night; with passenger ships from all parts of the world bringing visi- tors to see the Orient; and with ferry services plying between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and between Hong Kong and China. Some 90 per cent of the ter- ritory's domestic exports are handled through the port and there are just as many travellers by sea as by air. Ship building now caters for ocean-going vessels and ship ownership in terms of tonnage is second only to Greece. The 50.5 hectares container complex built at Kwai Chung in 1972 is the largest in Asia.
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Previous page: The crew of a yacht watch preparations for the start of a junk race between the Elf China (left) and the Adven- ture Ship Huan. Left: Fast police boats patrol Hong Kong waters to combat illegal immigrants and smugglers; a Marine Department launch cleans the harbour; a Royal Navy mine-sweeper escorts the Omani dhow Sohar into Hong Kong.