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In the internal structure of the colony, the dichot- omy has produced a special terminology and unfortunate human results. The bulk of the people are known (in English) as the "Chinese community" and technically equated with, but in fact subordinated to, the "European community" representing one resident in two hundred. The Indian and Eurasian communities, roughly
equal in numbers to the European, come in between. The Eurasian is Hongkong's most tragic product. His initial physical and mental endowments combine the best of both races. But he is condemned to grow up cuturally sterile and socially displaced, into a predetermined "buffer" role as non-commissioned officer (very carefully prevented from reaching commissioned rank) in the established hierarchy. He does not "belong" anywhere, generally speaks both languages, but is literate only in English. It takes a really exceptional individual to transcend this terrible combination of circumstances.
The appointed Chinese and Eurasian "representatives" in the governor's councils have always been picked for pliability. The incumbents at the time of the Japanese occupation promptly switched their pupetry to Japan, having been trained to be foremen for whoever was master. (5) The returning British have apparently accepted this cultivated irresponsibility as exempting such puppets from blame and of continuing value to themselves.
The external effect on China of Hongkong's existence has not been all one-sided, but has faithfully reflected the dual nature of the impact of the west, cultural as well as imperialist.
Since the days of the Manchus, temporary sojourners from the mainland have found there both safety and certain stimulation. The leaders of the T'aip' ing rebellion made use of the colony. Sun Yat-sen studied medicine in its university and acquainted himself with western progressive thought there. As recently as 1940, critics of the Kuomintang, such as the Chinese Democratic League, were able to establish a Hongkong base for their publications and press. The other side of the ledger shows that Hongkong was the jumping-off place for the suppression of the worker and peasant movement in Kwangtung after 1927. In the colony the temporarily defeated feudal and compradore elements found money, arms and foreign support for a comeback.
The economic "haven" aspect of Hongkong has been, perhaps, more important than the political. In times of unrest, Chinese merchants have warehoused their goods there and the rich Chinese have put their capital in the colony's banks or invested in its industry or real estate, especially the latter. This procedure has been traditional with South China warlords living on the people and uncertain of their tenure. The former Kwangtung militarist, Chen Chi-tang, for instance, has huge Hongkong holdings. Political and economic figures in the Kuomintang government have also bought residences, apartment houses and factories there. For a short time during the war, the National Government of China itself made Hongkong the headquarters of its purchasing commissions and manufactured a number of its needs there, including banknotes.
/ Analysis.
(5) This situation has been ably described in Robert S. Ward's Asia for the Asiatics? Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 1945.