ENG-1956 — Page 26

REVIEW

bargo on China and so cut off, at its own expense, a major part of its own livelihood. The effect was that total trade, which in 1950 had increased significantly, fell back in 1952 to approximately the 1949 level in terms of value and con- siderably below 1949 in terms of volume. Indeed, by early 1955 trade with China had dropped to some 15% only of the total (in 1938 75% of the Colony's trade involved China either as market or as source) and was in practice limited to the relatively minor proportions which the embargo allowed and the new trading methods of the Chinese made feasible. In 1951 an American journalist referred to Hong Kong as 'this dying city' and questioned how it could survive with its swollen population and with a great part of its normal trade sacrificed for the general good.

Hong Kong's economic survival was due to the expansion of, and a revolution in, its industry; and this was made possible in some measure by the three gifts which some of the political refugees brought with them from China; the first a surplus of labour, the second new techniques from the North coupled with a commercial shrewdness and determina- tion superior even to that of the native Cantonese, and the third new capital seeking employment and security.

In 1948 there were 1,160 factories and workshops with a total labour force of some 60,000. By mid 1955 there were 2,500 factories and workshops employing 118,000 persons. Another 200,000 persons were employed indirectly or in domestic industries largely in the squatter and resettlement areas. There are now 3,319 factories and workshops employ- ing 146,877 persons, and the number of persons directly or indirectly dependent on industry is probably at least 50% of the population. More important, however, has been the revolution in techniques and the improvement of quality. Although in general the emphasis is still on consumer goods, there has been a great diversification of products. 400 different types of manufacture and processes are now carried on, including some development of heavier industry-in particu-