TNAG-2323-FCO40-3367-Hong-Kong-Bill-of-Rights-Vietnamese-boat-people-1991 — Page 67

PART III

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE COMMITTEE'S CONSIDERATION OF THE INITIAL REPORT

Article 1

118.

More information requested regarding Hong Kong's attitude to self-determination. (SR 161 Paragraph 11)

Please see paragraphs 90-115 above concerning Article 25.

119.

Details requested about the appointment of the Executive and Legislative Councils in Hong Kong. (SR 161 Paragraph 30)

Please see paragraphs 90-115 above concerning Article 25.

120. What constitutional process has been used to determine that the people want no change? (SR 162 Paragraph 23)

Please see paragraphs 90-115 above concerning Article 25.

121. Additional information required about the ethnic composition and social situation of the populations of the Territories. Paragraph 96). ·

(SR 162

About 98 percent of the population in Hong Kong can be described as Chinese on the basis of language and place of origin. Most of these poeple originated from Guangdong (Kwangtung) Province in China. Those from Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau and adjacent places form the biggest community while the second biggest group is Siyi, followed by the Chaozhou group. The remaining Chinese population have their origins in other places of Guangdong (Kwangtung), Shanghai and the coastal provinces of China.

Hong Kong has undergone many social and economic changes during the past two decades. These changes may be identified broadly as rapid industrialization and urbanization; the development of public health programmes; the improvement in employment opportunities for, and in the socio-legal status of, women; the provision of compulsory primary and expanded secondary education; the break-up of the large family system; the provision of various forms of social welfare assistance as alternatives to kinship for support and social control; and the expansion of the means of physical and intellectual communication. These factors together helped to foster a better environment and social situation in Hong Kong.

Young women are now having fewer children than their elders. The total fertility rate for 1986 was 1.333 per 1,000 female population (The rate in 1976 was 2,480)

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