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HISTORY
to the ratification of the Sino-British Agreement on the future of Hong Kong, the submissions from various individuals, groups and organisations were removed from the custody of the Public Records Office and destroyed in order to preserve their confidential- ity. Other records created by the Assessment Office, including tapes of public programmes and newspaper and magazine cuttings used in the assessment process, will be retained permanently in the Public Records Office for reference.
Owing to extensive loss and destruction of official records during the Japanese Occupa- tion, the bulk of the office's holdings dates from the resumption of British administration in 1945. The loss occasioned by the war has, however, been redeemed to some extent by the acquisition of microfilm copies of certain pre-war British government records relating to Hong Kong. The most significant of these comprises despatches exchanged by the Governors of Hong Kong with London from 1842 to the end of 1952.
The Document Repair Section continued its restoration work and numerous maps and early documents relating to Hong Kong, which could not be handled due to their fragile state, have now been made available for public inspection.
The Microfilm Section continued to film records selected for retention and storage in microfilm form., |
Public access to the library, including the newspaper, map and photograph collections, is unrestricted, but formal approval is required for access to official records. Photocopying, microfilming and reading room facilities are available.
Archaeological Background
Archaeological studies in Hong Kong, which began in the 1920s, have uncovered ancient artefacts and other evidence of human activity at numerous sites along the winding shoreline, testifying to events which span more than six thousand years. The interpretation of these events is still a matter of controversy. Archaeologically, Hong Kong is but a tiny part of the far greater cultural sphere of South China, itself as yet imperfectly known. In such a context, scholarly debate over definitive interpretations may be expected to continue for many years to come.
Recent excavations have revealed two main neolithic cultures lying in stratified sequence. At the lower, oldest, levels there is coarse, cord-marked pottery together with a fine, soft fragile pottery decorated with incised lines, perforations and occasionally painted. Chipped and polished stone tools are also present. Current indications suggest a 4th millennium BC date for this initial phase.
Cord-marked pottery and chipped stone tools continue as long lived traditions into the higher, later, levels in which a new ceramic style decorated with a wide range of impressed geometric patterns appears. In this phase, beginning in the mid 3rd millen- nium BC, polished stone tools show better workmanship and a proliferation of forms, some with steps and shoulders, features probably connected with improvements in hafting techniques. Ornaments, such as rings, some slotted, in a range of sizes were also made, sometimes with exquisite craftsmanship, from quartz and other suitable
stones.
The final phase of Hong Kong's prehistory is marked by the appearance of bronze at about the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Bronze artefacts do not seem to have been in common use, but a few fine specimens of weapons, swords, arrowheads and halberds, and tools such as socketed axes and fish hooks have been excavated from Hong Kong sites. There is evidence, too, from the Tung Wan site at Shek Pik, Lantau Island, in the shape of pottery moulds, that the metal was actually worked here.