ENG-2011 — Page 509

History 437

―

resistance on the island, the defenders Defence Corps Day.

including the Hong Kong Volunteer were overwhelmed and Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas

The Japanese occupation lasted for three years and eight months. Trade virtually disappeared, currency lost its value, food supplies were disrupted, and government services and public utilities were seriously impaired. Many residents moved to Macao the neutral Portuguese enclave hospitably opening its doors to them. Towards the latter part of the occupation, the Japanese sought to ease the food problems by organising mass deportations.

In the face of increasing oppression, the bulk of the community remained loyal to the allied cause. Chinese guerrillas operated in the New Territories, and escaping allied personnel were assisted by the rural population. Soon after news of the Japanese surrender was received on August 15, 1945, a provisional government was set up by the Colonial Secretary, Mr (later Sir) Frank Gimson, who had spent the occupation imprisoned in Stanley Gaol. On August 30, Rear Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt arrived with units of the British Pacific Fleet to establish a temporary military government. Civil government was formally restored on May 1, 1946, when Sir Mark Young resumed his interrupted governorship.

The Post-war Years

After the Japanese surrender, Chinese civilians. many of whom had moved into the Mainland during the war returned at the rate of almost 100 000 a month. The population, which by August 1945 had been reduced to about 600 000, rose by the end of 1947 to an estimated 1.8 million. In 1948-49, as the forces of the Chinese Nationalist Government began to face defeat in civil war at the hands. of the Communists, Hong Kong received an influx unparalleled in its history. Hundreds of thousands of people mainly from Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province, Shanghai and other commercial centres - entered Hong Kong during 1949 and the spring of 1950. The population has continued to grow, reaching four million by 1971, five million by 1980, six million by 1994, and now over seven million.

—

After a period of economic stagnation caused by the United Nations' trade embargo on China arising from the Korean War, Hong Kong began to industrialise. No longer could Hong Kong rely solely on its port to provide prosperity for its greatly increased population. The rise of Hong Kong's manufacturing sector began with the setting up of textiles mills. The mills gradually expanded their range of products and, by the 1960s, they included man-made fibres and garments. During this decade textiles and clothing made up about half of domestic exports by value.

Hong Kong has become an increasingly service-based economy over the past 20 years with domestic merchandise exports accounting for only 2 per cent of the city's total export in 2011. Jewellery, plastics and metalliferous ores are Hong Kong's major export items.

Over the years, the manufacturing sector has gradually moved from one concentrating on simple, labour-intensive products to one focusing on sophisticated,