RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969
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T. C. CHENG

watchmen being paid for with subscriptions from the Chinese community.* In 1893 a District Watch Force Committee was formed with the Registrar General (Protector of Chinese) as Chairman, and from that time onwards up to 1941 many prominent Chinese leaders served on that Committee. Indeed, for many years, it was more or less a tradition for prominent Chinese who wished to render public service to the Colony to begin their public career with this Committee and then, in the case of those who had a knowledge of English, to proceed to the Sanitary Board (which was replaced by the Urban Council in 1935) and thence to the Legislative Council.

For some years Wei Yuk was more or less an unofficial liaison officer between Hong Kong and the Manchu Government, and the latter was indebted to him in no small degree for the assistance he rendered in bringing to justice Chinese criminals who had fled from Chinese territory to Hong Kong. He was so respected by the Chinese in South China that, following the successful revolution in 1911, when Admiral Li Tsun, Commander of the Chinese Imperial Naval Detachments of Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces, declared his surrender to the revolutionary forces directed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen's deputy, Hu Han-min from Hong Kong, Mr. Wei Yuk was asked to act as the guarantor of good faith on both sides!

In 1894, a fierce bubonic plague broke out in Hong Kong which accounted for over 2,000 deaths mainly in the oldest Chinese section of Hong Kong, viz., Tai Ping Shan (the present Po Hing Fong). In 1896 and subsequent years the plague recurred to a greater or less degree every spring. As there was little scientific knowledge of the plague and as there was no western treatment for this, Government decided to take drastic measures including the cleansing and disinfecting of infected areas, compulsory removal of the sick and house-to-house visitation carried out generally by the military. As it was very un-Chinese to allow sick parents or relatives to be removed from their homes to die in strange hospital rooms, and as the Chinese looked upon house visitation as interference and intrusion upon their privacy and personal liberty, they adopted an attitude of passive resistance and often hid away the dead and the sick. Wei Yuk was able to do

See chapter 4, "District Watchmen" of Regulation of Chinese Ordinance, No. 13 of 1888.
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Office's records had fallen owing to non-registration of transactions (it being by then more or less necessary for a purchaser to take a chance on the title to land offered to him by a vendor), a strenuous effort was made to regularise the situation and much "squatting" without title and consequently, in most cases, non-payment of Crown Rent, came to light.

The end for old Taipingshan came not in the 1880's but in the 1890's when Bubonic Plague was brought to the Colony from West China. The most virulent reservoir of the bacillus turned out to be Taipingshan. The only solution, not only to the problem of stamping out the plague but also to other forms of social offence given by the district, was to remove the Chinese town physically. This was done by powers given in the Taipingshan Resumption Ordinance of 1894, and the result was wholesale demolition of much property and re-aligning of old and construction of new roads. Taipingshan had to be razed and, fortunately for Hong Kong, never rose again in its former glory.

University of London, 1968.

DAFYDD EMRYS Evans

Mr. Evans is Professor of Law in the University of Hong Kong. Two of his earlier contributions to the early history of Hong Kong appeared in the Notes and Queries section of the 1968 Journal.

NOTES

1 The area was known as Taipingshan from the early days of the colony and its name is not derived from its function as a refuge for T'ai Ping rebels in later years.

2 See Gordon (Land Officer) to Pottinger, CO129/Vol II, f. 152,

3 See Gordon to Malcolm (Colonial Secretary), CO129/Vol. II, f. 138 dated 6 July 1843.

4 The rents for both the Upper and Lower Bazaar Lots represented the same rate per square foot as that charged by Johnston for Town Lots.

5 But the Chinese were turning to the use of brick rather than wood by the end of 1841; see Canton Press, 19 February 1842.

6 Gordon to Pottinger, 19 December 1843; CO129, Vol. II, p. 445.

7 Davis to Stanley 26 July 1844; CO129, Vol. VI, p. 435.

8 Woosnam (Pottinger's private secretary) to Gordon, 10 January 1844: CO129, Vol. V. p. 69.
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Such improvements, however, were inadequate to overcome 50 years of neglect and insensitivity to the basic requirements for good public health and in 1894 the bubonic plague descended upon Hong Kong with a vengeance.

The Great Plague of 1894 and Remedial Action

Lengthy accounts have been written about the bubonic plague of 1894 including case histories of the agonies suffered by its victims. Suffice it to say that of the 2,679 persons treated in government hospitals, 2,485 died in great misery giving a mortality rate of almost 93%. Of the victims, the vast majority was Chinese. The worst afflicted area was the Western district and particularly the Tai Ping Shan locality.

In seeking an answer to the outbreak, Dr. J. A. Lowson reported that:

Predisposing causes are, speaking generally, insanitary conditions, and of these filth and overcrowding must be ... two of the most important factors. The district of Tai Ping Shan supplied these factors in a marked degree at the beginning of the outbreak, the majority of houses being in a most filthy condition, as owing to the uncleanly habits of the people, the amount of ... rubbish accumulates in a Chinese house ... to an extent beyond the imagination of most civilised people. When to a mixture of dust, old rags, broken crockery, moist soil etc. is added faecal matter, and the decomposing urine of animals and human beings, a terribly insanitary condition of affairs prevails; and that this is no overdrawn picture of what was to be met with in Tai Ping Shan, many Europeans know to their cost. ...10

Dr. Lowson made a number of strong recommendations as to the measures which should be enforced to prevent further outbreaks of bubonic plague. Among other things, he urged that existing regulations should be strictly applied regarding the design and construction of house drains, the closure of insanitary buildings and the provision of adequate lighting and ventilation of premises. He further recommended that the use of basements as domestic accommodation should be prohibited, that all wells situated in densely

10 Lowson J. A., "The Epidemic of Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong, 1894", Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1895, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, Hong Kong, 1895, p. 182.
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REVIEW OF HOUSING CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG

12. Hong Kong Government

13. Hong Kong Government

14. Lowson J. A.,

15. Maunder W. F. & Szczepanik E. F.,

16. Pryor E. G.

17. Wellington A. R.,

129

Report of the Housing Commission, Hong Kong 1923.

Report of the Housing Commission 1935, Hong Kong 1938.

"The Epidemic of Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong 1894", Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1895, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, Hong Kong 1895.

Hong Kong Housing Survey 1957, University of Hong Kong in the Final Report of the Special Committees on Housing 1956-1958, Hong Kong, 1958.

“An Assessment of the Need and Scope for Urban Renewal in Hong Kong", Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1971.

Public Health in Hong Kong, Hong Kong 1930.

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THE GREAT PLAGUE OF HONG KONG

E. G. PRYOR*

Introduction

Throughout its relatively short history as a British colony, Hong Kong has had to withstand many crises of a diverse nature. Typhoons, droughts, floods, economic recessions, war, influxes of refugees and riots have, at one time or another, created emergency situations for both the administration and the people of Hong Kong. However, one crisis now long forgotten, but for the records kept in dusty annals in the Colonial Secretariat library, is the outbreak of bubonic plague which first appeared in the Tai Ping Shan district in the early months of 1894.

Bubonic plague swept through Europe during the sixth, fourteenth and seventeenth centuries and was responsible for the deaths of many millions of people. For good reason the disease caused conditions of near panic and hysteria for once contracted the outcome in the great majority of cases was a relatively quick but agonising death. A graphic description of the symptoms of bubonic plague is given by Wilm in his Report of Plague in Hong Kong compiled in 1896. Wilm observed that:

"At the outset of the disease the tongue usually became swollen, bright red at the tip and edges and was covered with a greyish white fur. Usually, on the second or third day of the disease, the fur became brownish or black, and dried in a crust. The tongue becomes cracked and fissured so that it soon resembles that seen in typhus or in enteric fever about a third week of the disease. The lips soon became dry and often fissured, the mucous membrane of the mouth and the pharynx was usually bright red. The appetite disappeared. There was frequently uncontrollable vomiting and great thirst, with a lower part of the abdomen. The vomit was sometimes watery, sometimes bilious, sometimes like coffee grounds. Diarrhoea was frequent at the outset and again in the later stages of the disease Blood,

+

* Dr. Pryor is currently Assistant Director, Redevelopment & Planning, Housing Department, Hong Kong.
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mucous and epithelium frequently appeared in the stools.* Additionally, painful swellings or buboes commonly developed in the groin, neck or armpits usually by the second day.

Even though by the turn of the nineteenth century medical science had made significant progress, little was still then known of the manner in which the disease was transmitted. It was not until 1905 that it was finally established in Bombay by the Plague Research Commission of India that the bacillus, pasteurella pestis, commonly gained entry into the blood stream by inoculation through the bite of fleas which, in turn, were carried by rats. Scientific research into the causes of the plague in Hong Kong came close to finding this answer but the plethora of other more plausible-looking theories detracted attention away from the apparently harmless flea.

The Origin of the Plague in Hong Kong

Bubonic plague in China was thought to have first spread from Yunnan which, itself, is likely to have been infected by transmissions over the trade routes from India.

As a prelude to the outbreak of the disease in Hong Kong in 1894, it appears that it occurred in Canton in January of that year. By June, it had reached epidemic proportions and had accounted for some 80,000 deaths. At the outbreak of the disease in Canton, many persons (particularly the well-to-do) moved into the countryside and thereby created new foci for its dissemination. Simpson thus records that it is "not surprising that whatever affects Canton is not long in making itself felt in Hong Kong. This year when cholera broke out in Canton there was only an interval of a few weeks before the disease appeared in 1894." Indeed, the spread of the disease to Hong Kong was accelerated by the unrestricted entry from Kwantung Province of many thousands of workers and also junks and river boats that formed an integral part of the colony's role as an entrepot.

On the 10th May 1894, Hong Kong was declared an infected port and within the space of a few weeks the administration was

* Quoted in William Hunter, A Research into Epidemic & Epizootic Plague Hong Kong, 1904, p. 6.

↑ W. J. Simpson, Report on the Causes and Continuance of Plague in Hong Kong and Suggestions as to Remedial Measures, London, 1903, p. 22.
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faced with our epidemic of great magnitude. By July, for example, there had been 2442 deaths. Hospitals were quickly established on board the "Hygeia", at Kennedy Town Police Station and at the Kennedy Town glass works. The first two hospitals were run by European staff whilst the third was manned by Chinese personnel of the Tung Wah hospital. Official despatches record that "it was deemed advisable to give the Chinese doctors a free hand at first. In any case, it is difficult to persuade the Chinese to report cases of sickness and their foolish and violent prejudice against Western medical men is quite sufficient to induce them, as they certainly did in the first fortnight or three weeks of the existence of the plague, not only to secrete their sick but often to desert their plague-stricken friends and relations after death."*

A house-to-house inspection was carried out by personnel of the garrison and those houses in which plague had occurred were cleansed and disinfected. This action gave rise to numerous complaints from the Chinese community for it was rumoured that the foreigners had sinister and unspeakable desires on the women and children. Indeed, so inflamed did feelings become that a deputation of Chinese petitioned the Governor, Sir William Robinson, to order the cleansing operations to be stopped. However, Sir William made it clear in no uncertain terms that the government was determined to take strong measures. Subsequently, an anti-government poster campaign was launched and this spread to Canton where further rumours were started to the effect that English doctors were accused of cutting open pregnant women and scooping out the eyes of children to make medicines for the treatment of plague-stricken patients.

The prompt answer of the governor in Hong Kong was to station the gunboat "Tweed" off Tai Ping Shan and to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of persons distributing malicious posters. Additionally, the Chinese Viceroy in Canton was requested to issue proclamations denying the atrocity stories. However, these were not made with any great degree of vigour and feelings in Canton continued to run high to the extent that two women missionary doctors were set upon by a mob.

* "Further Correspondence Relative to the Outbreak of Bubonic Plague at Hong Kong between Sir William Robinson to the Marquess of Ripon 1894", p. 2 in Blue Book Reports on Bubonic Plague 1894-1903, Hong Kong.
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considerable sum of money. However, compliance with this regulation was seldom observed. House to house visits continued to detect afflicted premises but this also proved difficult. Usually, bodies were thrown out at night by the other occupants of infected houses so as to avoid detection and the subsequent disinfection of the premises. In 1900, for example, 412 dead bodies were dumped in the harbour,

When the disinfection of houses was undertaken it was the usual practice for the occupants to be issued with new clothes. Their own clothes, bedding, curtains and carpets were sent to a steam disinfecting station. The premises were then thoroughly cleaned by spraying the walls with a solution of perchloride of mercury; alternatively, rooms were fumigated with free chlorine obtained by the addition of diluted sulphuric acid to chlorinated lime. Finally, the floors and furniture were scrubbed with Jeyes fluid and the walls were lime-washed. During these operations the occupants were given temporary accommodation on Chinese marriage boats anchored off Stonecutters Island.

Other measures taken included the burial of the dead in a plague cemetery at Kennedy Town and the regular disinfecting of all public latrines with chlorinated lime.

In Search of an Answer

The suddenness of the attack of plague in 1894 and its continued virulence for the next two decades must have caused great dismay among the community in general, particularly as it also seemed impossible for modern science to eradicate the basic cause of the disease.

When Sir William Robinson reported to the Marquess of Ripon in 1894 on the course of events he wrote:

"It is, I think, very probable that the want of sufficient water and the filthy habits of life amongst the 210,000 Chinese who reside here have rendered Hong Kong liable to the invasion and development of the germ of the bubonic plague. Chinese are of the opinion that the plague emanates from the ground and is favoured by a long continuance of dry weather when the earth becomes porous and numerous fissures appear on the surface facilitating the escape of whatever causes the disease."*

* Ibid, p. 5.
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disease to man remained a mystery and the two Japanese researchers could only conclude that the bacillus was drawn from the air by breathing.

Further investigations soon established a positive relationship between the incidence of plague first among rats and subsequently among man. On this account, Simpson reported in 1902 that “no success is likely to accrue from the adoption of any measure limited to dealing with plague in human beings and which does not take cognizance of the fact that plague in rats and mice also disseminates the infection. It does not serve any very useful purpose to remove the sick and cleanse everything in the infected houses and above the ground if the infection is being carried by plague-stricken rats from house to house or district to district by the subterranean movements of rats, whether this be effected by rat burrows or by sewers and drains. Both rat and human plague possess infective powers and each can spread the disease not only to its own species but also to the other”.*

Simpson could offer no explanation as to the medium of infection although he did make a number of observations as to the conditions which appeared to favour the spread of the disease. In particular, he drew attention to the extremely crowded and insanitary conditions under which the majority of the Chinese population lived, the virtually unrestricted migration of thousands of people from infected areas in China to Hong Kong, and the fact that the colony served as a great emporium with hongs and godowns filled with stores and infested with rats.

Simpson saw the solution to the problem by way of the strict enforcement of various preventive measures. Besides the already well-established procedures for the disinfection of houses, public latrines, and the like, he recommended in 1902 the appointment of medical men in every health district to register cases and find out causes of the disease. He also urged the strict control over the disposal of dead bodies in the street and harbour, and, to this end, suggested the enforcement of collective fines on all households in any street where a dead body was discovered. He further saw the necessity for the bacteriological examination of rats as part of an

* First Memorandum from W. J. Simpson, M.D., to James Stewart Lockhart, Sanitary Board Office, 20th January 1902, p. 1 in Blue Book Reports on Bubonic Plague 1894-1907.

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intelligence service to pin-point danger spots and proposed the distribution of 100,000 hand bills publicising the causes and symptoms of plague, the destruction of rats and the addresses of places where sickness could be reported. Another recommendation was the establishment of a plague department with wide powers for the discovery, prevention and cure of plague including inoculation with a highly potent horse antiserum prepared at the Haffkine Institute in India.

A final recommendation made by Simpson was a general improvement of sanitary conditions and stricter control over the design of tenement blocks which he described as follows:

"The rooms, as a rule, are far too deep, the object of this depth being to subdivide each room into a number of cubicles for the accommodation of families or lodgers. Though there may be windows at each end of the room, the great depth materially obstructs the light to take an example from the better class of buildings, many of the houses that are being erected are eighty feet deep without lateral windows and contain long, narrow rooms of fifty-five feet in depth, by twelve or thirteen feet in width, lighted in front by a window and also in the rear by another window which looks into a backyard of twelve feet. . . .”*

From the recommendations made by Simpson arose the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance of 1903 which set new standards for the design and occupancy of buildings and which remained in force until 1935.

By 1904 a considerable amount of deductive evidence had accumulated to link the occurrence of plague to the fleas carried by rats. Dr. J. M. Howie of Changpoo, for example, was of the opinion that the main cause of plague was inoculation through the bite of fleas, lice and mosquitos. Dr. H. Dobson of Yung Kong also noted that the cases he had observed appeared to have been caused by "the bites of insects (fleas), contamination of open wounds on legs or elsewhere (or) through food containing the germ." William Hunter, the Government Bacteriologist of Hong Kong also noted

* Second Memorandum from W. J. Simpson to James Stewart Lockhart Sanitary Board Office, 20th March 1902, p. 15 in Blue Book Reports on Bubonic Plague 1894-1907.

+ W. J. Simpson, Report on the Causes and Continuance of Plague in Hong Kong and Suggestions as to Remedial Measures, London, 1903, p. 31.
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outbreaks occurred in 1912, 1914 and 1922, predominantly among the Chinese community. Over the period 1894-1929 the total number of cases numbered over 24000 and some 90% of these had a fatal outcome. The disease, however, did not confine itself to Hong Kong and it is somewhat alarming to note that as recently as 1950 it occurred in Pakhoi where from January to September 627 cases were recorded.

One final comment that needs to be made is that throughout the centuries plague has occurred in cycles commencing abruptly and finishing within a relatively short space of time. No satisfactory explanation has yet been found for this phenomenon and this gives emphasis to a continuing need for vigilance.

REFERENCES

Encyclopaedia Britannica, pp. 989-995.

Hong Kong Government, Medical and Sanitary Report for the Year 1929. Hong Kong Government, Blue Book Reports on Bubonic Plague, 1894-1907.
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H. J. LETHBRIDGE

Row in Tai Ping Shan was then known as 'Samshu Corner' because many Europeans resorted to it for cheap topping. The commissioners ascertained that much drinking went on in barracks, troops sending Chinese 'boys' out to buy bottles of samshu or whisky for them. Drunkenness was a direct consequence of boredom and idleness.

The problem of venereal disease was related to that of drinking, for bars and brothels clustered together. From 1867 to 1887, the Contagious Diseases Ordinance, patterned on the English act of 1866, was in force in the colony to protect the health of British servicemen. Briefly, the 1867 ordinance made all prostitutes working in licensed brothels for Europeans only (Chinese brothels for Chinese only were exempted) subject to compulsory medical inspection at the Lock Hospital. European prostitutes, on the other hand, could undergo examination at home. It was claimed that the repeal of the Hong Kong ordinance in 1889, following the repeal of the English act in 1886, led to an upsurge in the rates for venereal disease. In 1895, admissions into hospital for venereal infection in the home army were 173.8 per 1,000; in India, 522.3; in Hong Kong, about the same figure.

It follows, then, that the chance of a male member of the European lower orders becoming infected with venereal disease was always high during the period under review here, 1842-1900. The police, for example, were so prone to catching this social disease, almost an occupational disease for them, that at one time they were also subject to compulsory medical inspection. The practice was stopped in 1873, but before that date, there was a monthly examination of all foreign members of the force.

Middle-class Europeans did not escape entirely from all these afflictions from alcoholism, syphilis, boredom, and loneliness. Both classes Taipans and pong-paan — also fell victim at times to a variety of diseases, such as malaria, typhus, cholera, and bubonic plague, as the Colonial Cemetery at Happy Valley amply testifies. But the well-to-do could at least escape to the Peak from Hong Kong's enervating summer, or recuperate in cooler latitudes, in Japan or northern China; and since many of the prosperous were respectably married and lived a normal family life, cosseted by a houseful of servants, they were protected to some degree by domestic circumstances from the temptations that soldiers, sailors, seamen, and their kind, had to face day and night in the city.
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NOTES AND QUERIES 

265 

In the Colonial Surgeon's report for 1873, he remarks that, 

This Institution at present hardly deserves the name of Hospital, in the ordinary acceptance of the word. It does good as a refuge of the destitute ... and in time when their inveterate dislike of European improvements is overcome, may do much more good than it can now.* 

These criticisms were soon picked up by the local English press. They indicate the difficulties the European had in recognizing any values in the traditional methods of Chinese medical practice. 

Year after year in newspaper editorials, letters to the editor and the annual medical reports of the Colonial Surgeon there was pressure for the introduction of western medical treatment. The Chinese replied that the population had no desire to expose themselves to any type of medical care than that to which they were accustomed. They had a strong dread of western medical practice and tried to avoid at all costs the fate of being sent to the Government Civil Hospital where they would be subjected to the attentions of a western trained doctor. In refutation of this claim, a newspaper editorial pointed to the example of the Medical Missionary Hospital at Canton under the supervision of Dr. Kerr, which treated some tens of thousands of patients—many more than passed through Tung Wah in its early years. The editor claimed that of their own free will the people of Kwangtung flocked to Dr. Kerr's Hospital to be treated according to western medical methods. I shall make no effort to delineate the argument further, only to suggest that each side may have had its points. 

At any rate the argument dragged on through the years: the European segment of the population regarding the Tung Wah of those days as little more than an institution similar to an English workhouse for the destitute, where, as the Colonial Surgeon commented in 1874, "the patients get good food and, according to Chinese ideas, very comfortable accommodations". 

The issue reached a crisis when the bubonic plague hit Hong Kong in 1894. It was a week or so before a number of cases of death diagnosed by Chinese doctors simply as "fever" were recognized as the plague. By the time the medical authorities were aware of its presence, 

the plague had a good hold, and when they instituted measures to control it, there was strong opposition in the Chinese 

* The Hong Kong Government Gazette, 1874 p.158, No. 62. Report of the Colonial Surgeon.
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St. Mary's Anglican Church is at the junction of Tai Hang Road and Eastern Hospital Road. The congregation began in the chapel of the Eyre Diocesan Refuge for destitute women in 1912. In 1914 the Refuge was moved to Kowloon, but Anglicans in the east part of Hong Kong continued to meet there for worship. A vestry was formed in 1920 and plans were discussed for a new building. It was not until 1930, however, that a large fund-raising plan was undertaken. Finally, on 12 July 1936, ground was broken for a new church. It was officially opened on Christmas Eve 1937. In 1954 another building containing offices, kindergarten and vicarage was completed, and in 1958 the foundation stone for the Primary School was laid.

Farther along Eastern Hospital Road is the Shing Kwong Church of the Church of Christ in China. This congregation considers itself the successor to a chapel built by the London Missionary Society in Tai Ping Shan in the 1860's. The chapel building was demolished at the time of the clearance of the Tai Ping Shan area at the turn of the century. Tai Ping Shan had been the breeding ground for the bubonic plague. With the money received in compensation for their land and building, the London Mission bought a new site on Yee Woh Street at Tung Lo Wan in 1898. The Mission had for some time been conducting services for workers at the nearby China Sugar Refinery. At the new site, schools were opened for boys and girls. The congregation became fully independent in 1922. With the widening of Yee Woh Street it became necessary for the congregation to move. In 1926 they exchanged the Yee Woh Street site for Inland Lot 2550 at So Kon Po. They occupied their new building in the summer of 1927. At that time the congregation adopted the name "Shing Kwong".

The number of institutions in the valley associated directly or indirectly with different religions is striking: Confucian, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Jewish (indirectly, in the name of Ellis Kadoorie), and the former presence of the Japanese.
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outbreak of bubonic plague in 1894.22 The reason given by old members for establishing a Fuk Tak Kung(4) is that in his lifetime the god was a noted Chinese medical practitioner, and therefore well suited to become the guardian god of a crowded city district. The shrine may, however, be even older than this. The district was already well established by the 1850s,28 and probably had guardian shrines from the outset.

The god looked after a specific area of the city. The old 'chops' and wood-block charms that survive from pre-war days carry the name Sai Ying Pun in the title. The boundaries, as given by the leaders active in the mid 1960s, some of whom had been associated with the committee from their earliest years through their fathers and grandfathers' service as managers, centred on the shrine's location at Sheung Fung Lane. However, it is said that, in pre-war years, among the many persons who came regularly to worship at the shrine on the god's birthday on the 18th day of the first lunar month, were people from outside the boundaries and even from Kowloon, so great was the reputation of the shrine. Many of the outside worshippers came in groups known as pao wui.(4)25 It was stressed, too, that this shrine had no connection with the Tai Ping Shan Fuk Tak Kung described below, for that earth god shrine lay in, and the god looked after, a completely separate locality.

The shrine was tended by a keeper appointed by the managers. When my informants were young, the keeper was an old woman who lived on the premises and died there about 1930, aged over 80. There is a splendid photograph of her still kept in the shrine.

The body of managers comprises a minimum of 34 persons each year, but has often been around the 40-50 mark. Its duties are solely to do with arranging for chanting by nam mo lo(1) (Taoist priests) at the god's birthday in the first moon and at the Yue Lan or Hungry Ghosts festival in the seventh moon. At the god's birthday, but not at Yue Lan, the religious rituals have always been accompanied by a puppet show (never opera) for the traditional three days and four nights.20 The managers also have the responsibility of arranging for the procession of the god through the district under his protection
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39

one else. The general expectation was that May and Francis would be treated in the same way. However, whereas May was awarded the C.M.G., Francis was merely offered an inkstand. The discrepancy was made all the more apparent by the fact that inkstands were also awarded to a number of junior officials.

On 22 May 1895 the Governor wrote to Francis "By the direction of the Marquess of Ripon I have great pleasure in forwarding to you the accompanying handsome inkstand. You will find engraved on it the following inscription: 'Presented by the Hong Kong Government with the approval of Her Majesty's Government to J.J. Francis Esq., Q.C., Chairman of the Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board, in recognition of services rendered during the epidemic of bubonic plague at Hong Kong in 1894'. For those services you have already been thanked by me, and also by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. In again expressing my appreciation of the work which you then performed so willingly and so ably it only remains for me now to ask you to accept this inkstand from the Government of Hong Kong as a slight recognition of your disinterested and valuable labours during the epidemic of 1894". Francis replied in a letter dated 27th May which he made public. After reviewing the work of the Permanent Committee and his part in it he said that the Public Committee felt that a medal or piece of plate, however valuable, was no sufficient acknowledgement for his services and in the circumstances it was impossible for him to accept the inkstand. He was perfectly satisfied with the thanks of the community and the Governor and Secretary of State and would have sufficient memorial of the plague year in the gold medal to be presented by his fellow citizens and in the state of his fee book. He would have been highly gratified if he had been honoured in the same way as May but the gift of an inkstand was so ludicrously inadequate to the services he had rendered that he could only conclude that the Secretary of State was under a false impression as to their nature. It was usual in England, or at least always had been, to award the honours of the campaign to the leader. He had done his work freely and voluntarily and without a thought, at the time, of anything beyond serving the colony but he now had a duty to speak out in justice to the Public Committee.
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deterioration in the relations between the Chinese and the British communities as the colonial authorities struggled to contain the first outbreak of the Bubonic Plague. Some of the less educated Chinese rioted because medical and sanitary precautions intruded on their property rights. Others, estimated as at least 80,000, fled Hong Kong. And many panicked because of superstitious rumours similar to those which were beginning to spread in China about the activities of the Western missionaries.38 It would be interesting to discover Mok Man Cheung's attitudes and activities during these tense years. The last time his name appears in the Blue Book as Chinese Clerk and Translator at the Supreme Court is 1898. It seems probable, therefore, that he left Government service at the end of 1898 or early in 1899 and, aided perhaps by family connections, entered the even more profitable undertaking of serving as an assistant compradore for a major European trading company. In January 1899, he made first use of his career experience as an interpreter and translator by publishing a very substantial (2,717 pages) English-Chinese Dictionary, entitled Ta Tsz's Dictionary, a project more notable for its industry than its originality.

40

Shortly after he left Government service as a translator at the Supreme Court, the cause célèbre was the assassination of a radically-minded (Sun Yat-sen supporting) school teacher in his own classroom by gunmen hired by the police chief in Canton. Relations between the British, many of whom were shocked at the "gross and daring violation of British territory” by the Chinese Imperial Government, and the Chinese in Hong Kong did not improve as a result.

41

In that year (1901), Mok Man Cheung was on the compradorial staff of Butterfield and Swire, one of the leading European Hongs in Hong Kong. Thereafter, he remained in the business of commercial go-betweening, both as a fully-fledged compradore and as a free-lance "commission agent". In 1910, he was appointed a non-official Justice of the Peace. His name appears in the Hong Kong Government's Blue Book on the list of JPs from 1910 to 1917. One may, therefore assume that he died at the end of 1917 or very early in the year 1918.42 In 1918, his name also disappears
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He advised "that it would be well if he cut loose from those whose sentiments towards the British Government are well known and who would like to make fools of all those who are weak enough to be guided by them.”

The tone of the China Mail editorial was echoed in the remarks the Governor made a few days later on the occasion of the annual visit of the old and new directors of Tung Wah Hospital. He was displeased with the directors because they were resisting the efforts of the Government to introduce Western medical practice into the hospital as a supplement to Chinese methods. In addition, he was still upset by the uprising of the Chinese against the measures introduced to control the bubonic plague in 1894.

Then to top it, in March 1895, the coolies had gone on strike to protest against efforts to apply certain sanitary laws to common lodging houses. The strike was considered to be seditious because it was in opposition to a law of the Colony.

The Governor was in no mood at the time of the visit of the Tung Wah directors for more agitation by the Chinese. Now not the coolies but respectable, English language educated gentlemen were advocating resistance to law. It was all too much. With leaders to the Chinese community before him, he could not miss the opportunity to voice his displeasure over the statements made at the recent protest meeting. Any allegations that the Chinese were victims of class legislation were, in his opinion, preposterous.

Accompanying his displeasure was a veiled threat. He said he was convinced "some people were evidently trying to stir up strife, and if they continued he should have to take measures to suppress it."

Some felt that the Governor was over-reacting. It was not well for the future of the Colony if the leadership of the Chinese community and the Government were drawn up into two opposing camps, hurling insults and threats at each other, but never meeting to consider differences.

The incident raised the issue of the best way for Government to
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that day, a Tuesday, for Hilo to work for Man Sing Company and that future mail should be sent care of Yick Sing, Box 131, Hilo, Hawaii. A letter from Grandfather, dated 26 September 1899, stated that he was happy to learn of Father's safe arrival but added that his step-mother was not responding to medication.

Two important events occurred during Father's absence from Honolulu. His step-mother died on 4 October 1899. On 11 October that year, Grandfather wrote to Father that even though his sorrow was deep, he felt that they must take care of their own health and that Father must not grieve over the loss, but must turn his attention to bettering himself, since her death was final and she could not return to life. It was not until 7 November 1899 that Ping Lam was able to communicate with Father expressing his heartache over his mother's death and his inability to go to school for a whole week. Father became concerned about his brother's depression and when he acknowledged a letter of condolence from a schoolmate, Kong Ying Chi, he asked this friend to comfort Ping Lim.

The second event was the Honolulu Chinatown fire on 20 January 1900. In December 1899, bubonic plague had broken out sporadically among the Chinese in Honolulu, three of whom were friends of the family. Grandfather wrote to Father that Chiu Ngin Sin, who had moved to Wing On Tai from next door Yuen Chong, to obtain medical attention, had died on the 8th and was buried the next day. Ah An E, a son of Chan Hoy, died unexpectedly on the 24th. On the 27th Dai Joong

, a son of Chan Jok San Mf, died and when the autopsy showed that he had had the plague, his body was cremated. The Board of Health had ordered the area quarantined, neither people nor goods were permitted to enter or leave. Not only was the home set afire but also other residences and old buildings to prevent the spreading of the disease. After a week, the quarantine was supposed to have been lifted, but Father received a brief letter dated 18 January 1900 from Grandfather, written on a piece of wrapping paper, stating that his residence had been condemned to be burned and they all would be moving outside the area to live. He added that Sung Jarn was also condemned and that Aunt Yim's husband who worked there would have to leave with his family according to regulations. Grandfather assured Father that he was well and that there was no need for concern.

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BOOK REVIEWS

Elizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity: the Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989) East Asian Historical Monographs series. 304pp illus.

The immediate reason for the establishment of the Tung Wah hospital in 1872 was to provide Chinese medical facilities for a badly-served community which was highly sceptical of Western health practices. Despite continuous criticism from colonial officials, who were eventually able to curb its independence and bring its practices into line with Western doctrines, the hospital did play a central role in health care in the late nineteenth century, particularly in the field of vaccination. The importance of the Tung Wah hospital, however, has long been recognized to extend well beyond its purely medical functions. For many years, it was the only major Chinese social and political institution. In consequence, its governing committee became a focal point for the aspirations of emerging local elites and took on functions of colony-wide significance. The committee served, for example, as a conduit through which grievances about laws discriminating against Chinese (particularly prosperous Chinese), registration of companies and the absence of laws against adultery could be channelled to the colonial government. It also acted as an informal court, dispensing justice to those who voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of what was, by mainland Chinese standards, a jumped-up local gentry. In addition, the committee raised funds for welfare and famine relief in China and tried to prevent abuses in Chinese emigration to North America.

Dr. Sinn's considerable achievement is to bring the work of the hospital and its committee into the perspective of the major political and social issues facing Hong Kong at that time. Based on a wide range of primary sources, including the hospital's archives, she provides a meticulously documented and convincing account of the Tung Wah's evolution from an initially largely autonomous status to the point where the committee's relations with China and ultimately criticism of its role in handling the bubonic plague of 1894 led to its closer incorporation within the colonial structure of authority. It has been postulated that the committee was able to act as an agent of social control which in turn helped to contribute to political stability in the colony. Until the publication of this volume, however, it was not well understood how this social control was actually effected. Dr. Sinn is able to show the
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CONTENTS

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

HON AUDITOR'S REPORT

ARTICLES:

Karina Lam Wai-Ling - The Concern of a Nation's Face: Evidence in the Chinese Press Coverage of Sports. ............................ 1

Janet George - The Lady Doctor's 'Warm Welcome': Dr Alice Sibree and the Early Years of Hong Kong's Maternity Service 1903-1909 .. 81

Keith Stevens - Three Fukienese [Min-nan] Cults: Pao-sheng Ta-ti, Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih and San P'ing Tsu-shih ....................... 111

Gerald Choa - The Lowson Diary: A Record of the Early Phases of the Bubonic Plague Epidemic in Hong Kong 1894 ................ 129

Patrick Hase - Eastern Peace: Sha Tau Kok Market in 1925 ............ 147

NOTES AND QUERIES

Mary Pang - Reflexivity in Research and a Question of Culture ..... 203

Dan Waters - Tales of a Venerable Chinese Gentleman ................. 211

Dan Waters - Taking a Godson ............................................... 215

Geoffrey Roper - Visits to the Swire Institute of Marine Science at Cape D'Aguilar 1993 and 1994 ............................................... 217

BOOK REVIEWS ....................................................................... 221

vii

ix

xvi
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The Lowson Diary: 

A Record of the Early Phase 

of the 

Hong Kong Bubonic Plague* 

1894 

G.H. Choa 

129 

One hundred years ago, a Bubonic Plague Epidemic broke out in Hong Kong. It originated from Yunnan where the disease was first detected probably in 1850. After an epidemic which occurred in 1860, it became endemic and in 1893, it spread across Guangxi to reach Guangdong early in 1894. Cases began to appear in Guangzhou in March and Hong Kong was hit in May.

Briefly, plague is an infection of rats by the plague bacillus which is transmitted to human beings by the bite of fleas infesting the infected rats. Crowded and insanitary conditions in which people and rats co-exist are therefore breeding grounds for the disease. Spreading is by infected rats carried in any kind of transport from one place to another, infecting the local rat population. The most common form, bubonic plague, is so called because of the appearance of swollen glands in the arm-pits or groins of the patients; 'bubo' means swollen glands. The condition was almost invariably fatal, but can now be treated by antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline. It was during this last world-wide epidemic that the two causes of the disease, the plague bacillus and the flea as a vector carrying it, were discovered in Hong Kong and India respectively.

The Hong Kong Epidemic went on for thirty years, from 1894 to 1923. During the period, 21,867 cases were reported with 20,489 deaths, a mortality rate of 93.7%. The first cases of the disease were discovered among residents in the Tai Ping Shan District in West Point. There, the poorer class Chinese lived in appallingly overcrowded and squalid conditions without proper ventilation, sanitary services, drainage, and water supply. As soon as it was realised that plague had broken out, the place was immediately disinfected, but the disease continued to be prevalent.

* A talk given to the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society on October 5th, 1994.
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when he was tired out or feeling angry and frustrated. However, he made some annotations at a later date, 1933, on some of the entries and these were written in very clear, tidy, and easily legible handwriting. He was then sixty-seven, two years before he died. The diary must have meant a lot to him that he should review it forty years after the events. Maybe it was then that he decided to bequeath it to posterity with the hope that it might see the light of day, one day. Lowson began his diary in January 1894 and stopped writing after July. It was in the three-month period from May to July that he recorded the day-to-day happenings in connection with the Epidemic. He put down some statistical and clinical data in the first few days but, afterwards, he wrote mainly about the development of the situation, the measures taken to handle it, and of even greater interest, his clashes with the authorities. By editing the diary's contents, it is possible to write a coherent account of the early phase of the Epidemic, and this is what I have attempted to do. Lowson had also kept several pages of the Hong Kong Weekly Press dated May, June, and July 1894, on which weekly summaries of the events related to the Epidemic were reported. Besides, I am most grateful to Dr. John Nicholls of the Department of Pathology, Hong Kong University, for giving me a copy of a Report Lowson submitted to the Governor dated May 16th. Incidentally, the handwriting in this Report was as good and clear as the annotations. From these other sources, I have been able to obtain further data and information to elaborate on some of the entries I have chosen to present.

To us, the diary came to life on May 4th. Lowson wrote that he went to Canton by night boat and mentioned seven names. It would seem that they were going there to play some match, for the next day, the 5th, he wrote 'Murray and Potts licked hollow.' However, in his Report to the Governor, he stated that his main purpose was to see for himself the state of affairs as there had been reports that bubonic plague had broken out there.

May 6th

Went into town to see plague and saw a large number of cases

May 7th

Back to Hong Kong. In Club 6 pm. Rumour of plague. Saw Ram who said not so and described what had occurred

Ram was E.A. Ram, who was acting sanitary superintendent, and
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secretary of the Sanitary Board. He turned out to be wrong.

May 8th

I am diagnosed A. Hung as suffering from plague and isolated him

The identity of A. Hung was revealed in the Report to the Governor. He was a ward boy in presumably the Government Civil Hospital. He was admitted during Lowson's absence in Canton with the diagnosis of remittent fever but having seen him Lowson diagnosed it as plague. This then was the first case he saw in the Hong Kong Epidemic. Action had now to be taken as described in the following entry:

May 10th

Order from HE OAG for report on plague in Canton in morning Order an four Taler to visit Tung Wah where I found about 20 cases of bubonic plague Visited Tung Wah again with Ayres at 2:30 pm Sanitary Board at 4:00 pm Long Meeting Gave order to have Hygeia over in morning and prepare for epidemic Government proclaimed Colony suffering from plague

The Governor then was Sir William Robinson. He must have been away and the person acting for him, known as the Officer Administrating the Government, could be the General Officer Commanding. The Hygeia was a hospital ship moored in the harbour for the isolation of patients suffering from infectious diseases such as small-pox and cholera. The Tung Wah was the same hospital which still stands on its original site, on Po Yan Street in Sai Ying Pun District.

We will now follow the situation as it developed from the entries of the next few days:

May 11th

Hygeia over Sanitary Board in pm passing bye-laws 13 deaths from plague

May 12th

Some difficulty with moving patients but got them all over before 4 pm Saw all settled Rabbit and Guinea pig injected from A Hung 26 deaths reported from plague
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a file-brand, his actions were dictated by his intense interest in his native town and its welfare.' A final judgment: “No matter how bitterly he might differ with any of his colleagues, and in his early years in the Council particularly he figured in many a heated scene, he left all rancour behind at the Council table. Next day he would greet his opponents as cheerfully as though nothing had happened to ruffle them and be good friends." We know that in Hong Kong, Lockhart and Francis had not responded to him,

In the end, how should we appraise Lowson and his diary? You will agree with me that he would appear to have been a rather difficult man; otherwise, he would not have clashed with authorities wherever he worked, in Hong Kong, India, and Forfar. You will recall that at the early stage of the Epidemic, he, a relatively junior doctor, offered to take sole charge but was turned down. This shows that he was probably the type who would prefer to give rather than take orders. But he was undoubtedly a forthright and strict character, uncompromising in disputes when he thought he was right and entirely honest in his intentions. I am sure all of us have come across such traits among our friends and colleagues. But neither Lowson nor history should accuse any of the people he criticised of mishandling the situation in any way. There was nothing else they could have done without the means that we now have at our disposal and the knowledge of the disease we now possess. Lowson's diary, though covering only the first phase, is undoubtedly a valuable addition to the literature on the Hong Kong Plague Epidemic now that it has become available.

In recent years, there has been much talk about Hong Kong's resilience, its capacity to recover quickly from one financial crisis after another, becoming even more prosperous each time. We seem to have forgotten Hong Kong's resilience in having survived the devastations of diseases, such as malarial fever in its infancy, bubonic plague in its adolescence, and occasional outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, and others all through the years. There was a time when living in Hong Kong was a hazard, for one never knew when life or health would be threatened. The Plague Epidemic of 1894 was a real calamity for Hong Kong, as Sir William Robinson had said. But it can be regarded as a watershed for, after it, Hong Kong became a healthier and cleaner place. To mark its centenary, let us pay tribute to all those who contributed in the long fight against the Epidemic in their various capacities, as administrators, legislators, and medical and health officers, among them our unsung hero, Dr. J. A. Lowson.
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due to high density made the spread of diseases rapid and easy. In 1888, a very serious epidemic of smallpox broke out among the inhabitants of the district. In 1894 Bubonic Plague fell upon the district with a vengeance.

Probably the terrible disease was introduced into Hong Kong from Canton. Unfortunately, Hong Kong had for several months been suffering from excessive drought and consequently a very limited water supply. The local overcrowding and insanitary conditions tended to favour the spread of the disease. It was not surprising to learn that two or three days later after the first appearance of the plague (11th May 1894) it assumed an epidemic form.

The plague had gained a firm footing in the most densely populated districts of Hong Kong. In Sai Ying Pun, First, Second, and Third Streets were the most infected parts of Hong Kong. The disease in Sai Ying Pun was due possibly to the bad conditions of the latrines, especially the public ones. They were used by the bulk of the Chinese population. Few Chinese dwellings in the district were provided with facilities of this kind. The plague bacillus was abundantly found in the faeces. In those latrines, there was practically no disinfection of the faeces, and they were not cleaned out as regularly as they ought to have been. These latrines were often visited by plague-stricken people. The bacillus was probably borne by air and infected the neighbouring houses.

From a letter of Dr. Lowson to the Colonial Surgeon, bearing the date 15th August 1894, we learn that:

"There is a licensed private latrine at 113 Second Street. At a casual glance, the shut-up houses all around bear eloquent testimony upon this point. Round this latrine, there is scarcely a house occupied.

In Centre Street, at the corner of Third Street, there is a latrine. On passing into Third Street to the South, numerous houses are shut up, and several cases have occurred in the neighbouring houses.

At 82 First Street, there is a latrine with an entrance at 91 Second Street. A very large number of cases occurred round this place. Around several other latrines, more especially at 29 First Street, numerous cases occurred. Sheung Fung Lane off Second Street and opposite to No. 91.
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of that street is practically shut up. The mortality here was very great. The inhabitants were principally night-soil coolies and almost all died. The occupants of houses in Third Street, adjoining this were also numerously attacked " (Lowson, 1895, P5)

In 1895, plague cases were found centred in First Street and several streets not far from the Civil Hospital. In 1902, a group of cases were discovered round Pokfulam Road and Second Street. Infected rats were also found in that area.

After the breaking out of the plague, thousands of panic-stricken people began to leave Hong Kong. They left in every sort of conveyance: sampans, boats, junks, and river steamers. People of Sai Ying Pun could also leave by ambulance boats, which came to the China Merchants Wharf at 4 p.m. each day, on which the people were towed to Whampoa or Canton. At 1901, the population of the district was 44,722, a decrease of 848 people when compared with the 1897 figure.

Dr Lowson in 1895 and Dr Simpson in 1902 had both made a number of strong recommendations as to the measures which should be enforced to prevent further outbreaks of bubonic plague. According to them, back-to-back houses should be demolished. Basements should not be inhabited. Disinfected or rat-ridden houses should be either closed or walled in or thoroughly sprayed, fumigated, chlorinated, scrubbed, and lime-washed. Latrines and public markets should be maintained by the authorities in a clean condition.

The last recommendation was particularly important to the district. A latrine in the Sai Ying Pun Market was situated only three yards distant from a large quantity of meat which was often hanging for hours at a time. On the other hand, hot water tanks and bath houses, for the purposes of promoting cleanliness among the Chinese and thus preventing the spread of plague among them, were established in Second and Third Streets in 1903. A Public Health and Building Ordinance was passed in order to better sanitary conditions in Hong Kong. Unlike Tai Ping Shan district, Sai Ying Pun was excluded from schemes of resumption. However, at that time, most of the houses in Sai Ying Pun did need destruction and resumption rather than improvement of the sanitary arrangements. Actually, a few areas in the
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REFERENCES

73

Chadwick O) (1882)

Report on the Sanitary Condition of Hong Kong, London

Eitel, E.

(1895)

Europe in China

Fortune, R (1847)

Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China. London

Janet, UHLG (1931-5)

Old Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Lethbridge, C.H. ed. (1948)

Centenary History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong

Lo, Hsiang Lin et al (1963)

Hong Kong and its External Communication before 1842, the History of Hong Kong prior to the British Arrival, Hong Kong

Lowson, J.A. (1895).

Medical Report on the Epidemic of Bubonic Plague at Hong Kong in 1894. Hong Kong

Sayer, G.R. (1937)

Hong Kong Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age, London

Simpson, W.J. (1903)

Report on the Causes and Continuance of Plague in Hong Kong and Suggestions as to Remedial Measures, Hong Kong

Talbot, I.E.D. (1971)

'An Outline of the Urban Development of Hong Kong Island During the Nineteenth Century' in Dwyer, D.J. (ed.) The Changing Face of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P47-62

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burial ground. Inland Lot 899, on the east by the Pokfulam Road, and West by Cliff facing the Sea, measuring on the North, 4,800 feet, South-West, 3,500 feet, West, 5,100 feet.

69

CAROLINE HILL. Situated on the South side of the Caroline Hill Road and to the South of Caroline Hill, bordered on the North by a Public Road, 400 feet, South, 612 feet, East, 1,275 feet, West, 1,100 feet.

In the 1890s, a Eurasian cemetery, generally known as Ho Tung Cemetery before the Second World War and later renamed 'Chiu Yuen Cemetery,' was erected in Mount Davis, with the first grave dated to December 1892.70

The Plague Cemeteries and Trenches

The first outbreak of bubonic plague in Hong Kong occurred in May 1894. In less than a month, more than two thousand persons had died. On 6 June, Father Piazzoli, the pro-vicar, wrote:

The plague is spreading rapidly with 100 dead each day, though only a section of the Chinese city is infected. The tragedy is terrible. There are streets completely empty: it is estimated that about 40 thousand Chinese have left the island. The harbour too is deserted, the large ships sail at large; the trade is dead and the most horrible misery is growing..."

From 1896 on, the plague became almost an annual recurrence. Over the period 1894-1901, about 8,600 people succumbed to the disease.72 Two plague cemeteries were designated at Kennedy Town and Cheung Sha Wan in 1901.74 In addition, a section of ‘Kau Pui Loong Cemetery' (see below) was also referred to as 'Plague Trench'75 (疫症); which was also the case of 'Kai Lung Wan East Cemetery' (also see below).76

Indian / Hindu Cemeteries in Kowloon

In 1900, a Hindu Cemetery was authorized in Kowloon, this might have been the result of the plague, as many Indian troops were among the victims of this epidemic disease. This Hindu Cemetery was described as:

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Government servants completed four-year tours up until the early 1960s. When we went on leave, being seen off was a grand occasion. One would normally organise a reception for a number of friends. They boarded the ship. Occasionally, there was a bit of gate crashing by people known as "professional see'ers off" who enjoyed the company and a few free drinks.

Brass bands would play Auld Lang Syne on the quay and paper streamers would be thrown to friends on shore. As the ship pulled away the streamers would break and the "umbilical cord" would be severed, as it were. After a four-year tour a government servant would earn something like seven months leave plus 30 days travelling each way. That meant you were away from the colony for about nine months. Being seen off was an important affair for Chinese too and, in the 1950s when the growing of rice was not profitable any more and the "vegetable revolution" was underway, many New Territories' Chinese made their way to England to work in restaurants. On being seen off just about the entire village would sometimes turn out!

On one occasion I was on leave in England and a fellow passenger on a train spotted my suitcase. 'Ah,' he said, 'you're from Hong Kong. Tell me. Do they still put paint on with their hands?' I had to admit that painters stick their woollen-gloved hand into a pot of paint when they paint metal railings and the like. They still do. It's labour saving. It's surprising what people remember about Hong Kong after they have left.

Pestilence

The colony was not a healthy place in its young days and many expatriates died young, as a wander through what we used to call the Colonial Cemetery (now the Hong Kong Cemetery) in Happy Valley reveals. There were cases of bubonic plague up until the 1920s with an especially bad epidemic in 1894. There was a worrying outbreak of cholera in the early summer of 1961. Stalls were manned by nurses in the street, for example by the Star Ferry. There was no wasting of time and no paperwork. All you did was roll up your sleeve. Now, from the days of pestilence and being an unhealthy place, Hong Kong has a life expectancy greater than most western countries, including Britain and the USA.
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