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HISTORY

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medical facilities at times of refugee influx has been one of Hong Kong's major problems, only surpassed by the prob- lem of water.

The need to safeguard fishing junks and other small craft from destruction by typhoons was met by the construction of large typhoon shelters on both sides of the harbour. One of the main functions of the Royal Observatory, founded in Kowloon in 1883, was to give reliable forecasts of the approach of typhoons, a function which increased in impor- tance with the development of air transport, which in Hong Kong may be said to date from the laying-out of Kai Tak Airport in 1932.

THE CHINESE REVOLUTION AND WORLD WAR

In 1911 the Manchu dynasty fell, and was replaced by a Republic, guided by Sun Yat-sen, whose political thinking had been deeply influenced by his contacts with British institutions and ways of thought while a student in Hong Kong. During the events leading to the overthrow of the dynasty many refugees sought sanctuary in Hong Kong, using the Colony's Chinese newspapers as a vehicle for conveying their ideas into China.

Following the establishment of the Republic came a long period of unrest in China. Once again large numbers of refugees, mainly from the southern provinces, made their way to the Colony. Their arrival coinciding with a commer- cial boom which occurred during the First World War, many of them made their permanent home in Hong Kong, and identified themselves with local affairs. Among the refugees were a number of Buddhists who, from this time onwards, began to develop the lonely upper hills of Lantao Island with their monastic retreats.

The anti-foreign movement which marked the rise of the Kuomintang to power in China in 1922 was reflected in Hong Kong by marked social unrest. A seamen's strike occurred in that year, and in 1925-6 there was a serious

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