ENG-1973 — Page 275

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History

THE history of Hong Kong stretches back many centuries with evidence of inhabitation from primitive times. But it is in the last few decades that the territory has emerged as a world centre of trade and industry.

From the moment of liberation from Japanese occupation at the end of World War II, Hong Kong began a spectacular spiral in industrial, trade and social development.

The Post-War years

The Chinese returned at almost 100,000 a month and the population, which by August 1945 had been reduced to about 600,000, rose by the end of 1947 to an estimated 1,800,000. Then in the period 1948-9, as the forces of the Chinese Nation- alist Government began to face defeat in civil war at the hands of the communists, Hong Kong received an influx of people unparalleled in its history.

About three quarters of a million, mainly from Kwangtung province, Shanghai and other commercial centres, entered during 1949 and the spring of 1950. By the end of 1950 the population was estimated to be 2,360,000. Since then it has continued to rise. The 1971 census put the population at 4,064,400 and a mid-1973 estimate gave it as 4,159,900.

After a period of economic stagnation, caused by American trade barriers against China, which applied temporarily to Hong Kong, and further sanctions against China following the Korean War of 1951, Hong Kong entered an era of industrialisation. As an entrepôt port, the territory had earned a livelihood by a service she alone could perform, now she found herself directly competing with other manufacturing centres.

The immigrants formed a huge reservoir of labour-industrious, trainable for the necessary skills, with no tradition of trade union restrictive practices and all looking for jobs.

From the start, the industrial revolution was based on cotton textiles, gradually adding woollens and, in the late 1960s, man-made fibres and made-up garments. In 1959, 53 per cent of Hong Kong's total domestic exports were textiles and clothing, compared with 50 per cent in 1973, showing the continued dominance of textiles in Hong Kong's economy.

Older light industries expanded, including rattanware, torches and rubber shoes, while new industries developed such as optics, transister radios and television sets, watches and clocks, stainless steel flatware, wigs and plastics, including artificial flowers. All needed labour as a principal factor of production.