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BACKGROUND
ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL POSITION
1.
is
Much of Hong Kong is unproductive mountainland. About 16%, including areas reclaimed from the sea,
used for residential and industrial development. Only
9.4% of the land is
farmed, producing vegetables, fruit, flowers, freshwater fish, pigs and poultry. There is a considerable fishing fleet of 5,000 boats,
meeting over 90% of local demand for fish. Less than
3% of the population engage in farming or fishing.
2.
Hong Kong's principal natural asset is its
sheltered harbour, the only developed deep water port
on the China coast. From the establishment of Hong
Kong as
as a centre for Britain's Far East trade
in 1841 up to about 1950, trade and commerce was the
main economic activity. Then, when the Korean War
brought a slump in trade with China, it became
necessary
to develop other
sources of income,
particularly as the population had expanded rapidly
with the influx of immigrants from China at the time of
the Communist take-over. Hong Kong therefore turned to
manufacturing, starting with textiles and clothing
(which remain the dominant industries). The toy
toy and
electronic industries, later to become important
pillars of the economy, were established around 1960.
At the same time, in the face of increased competition from the other "newly industrialised countries" (NIC) s
(Taiwan, Korea and Singapore) certain of the
traditional industries,
enamelware enamelware and wigs,
disappeared from the scene.
the textile industry,
there
in considerable product diversification was
1960s from cotton to man-made fibres and from basic to
quality products. In the 1970s, despite protectionist
restrictions, the textile industry continued to
modernise its capital equipment and technology and
including
In the
the
to
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