COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
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censorship (including films intended for cine clubs and cultural organisations). Of the total submitted, 440 were approved without excisions, 204 were approved after excisions and 11 were banned.
Printing and Publishing
The international status of Hong Kong's printing industry has grown steadily in recent years, and expansion of the industry and its exports continued during 1982. There are now over 2 800 printing companies employing more than 30 000 people, and over 200 publishing houses with a staff of more than 6 000.
The territory's electronics industry is contributing to the plant and equipment of not only the more sophisticated printing companies, but also to the publishers who are becoming increasingly involved in data and word processing systems for both their editorial production and stock control. The sales and marketing of data and word processors is now handled by more than 100 companies in Hong Kong, which offer over 180 systems, a considerable increase from previous years.
With computer-assisted photo composition now well established in many Hong Kong printing companies, the development of equipment to either convert or interface word processors with typesetters at realistic costs has taken place in a number of companies for the purpose of bridging the gap between printers and publishers.
Electronics are also fully employed in colour separation equipment to control the colour density of each separated film; to control the ink flow and paper feed on larger printing machines; in finishing operations to detect faulty sheets on folding machines; to facilitate rapid counting of sheets of stacked paper; and to determine the cutting programmes on computer-controlled guillotines.
A number of large Japanese companies have established colour separation and printing plants in Hong Kong. Publishers from Europe and America produce numerous English, Chinese and bi-lingual magazines, and a substantial number of books. These are sold locally and overseas, with the majority of exports going to Britain, Australia and the United States.
Hong Kong does not manufacture its own paper and has to import all of its requirements, with about 200 000 tonnes being imported annually some 100 000 tonnes of which are
exported as finished publications.
Postal Services
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A major event of the year was the issue by the Post Office of a new set of 16 definitive postage stamps to replace an existing series which had been in use for almost 10 years since June, 1973. The design of the new stamps features the head of the Queen, taken from a photograph of a bas-relief by Arnold Machin, with an artistic representation of the Royal Lion and a Chinese Dragon on either side to symbolise the British and Chinese aspects of Hong Kong.
There were also three special stamp issues in 1982. Four stamps were issued in January based on the theme 'Port of Hong Kong Past and Present' and depicted three port scenes of by-gone years and the present-day. In May, four stamps were issued with 'Hong Kong Fauna' as the theme illustrating four of the animals, namely Five-banded Civet, Pangolin, Chinese Porcupine and Barking Deer, which inhabit the countryside of Hong Kong. The third special issue was released in October with four stamps to commemorate the 1982 Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled held in Hong Kong from October 31 to November 7.