a-documentary-history-of-hong-kong-society-david — Page 1

SOCIETY

A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF HONG KONG


SOCIETY
Edited by David Faure
Hong Kong University Press
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Hong Kong University Press
The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
c Hon g Kon g Universit y Pres s 199 7
ISBN 962 209 393 0
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical includin g photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without permission i n writing from the publisher .
Printed in Hong Kong by ColorPrint Production Co.

CONTENTS
Series General Editors ' Forewor d vi i Acknowledgements i x
Introduction 1
Chapter One: Early settlement 1 5
a. Villagers an d immigrant s 1 6 b. Respectabilit y 1 9
c. Residentia l segregatio n 2 2
d. In retrospect 4 7

Chapter Two: The Chinese community in early Hong Kong 5 7
a. The temple and its community 5 8
b. Chinese guilds and other voluntary associations 6 1
c. The Chinese community's politic s 8 5
Chapter Three: A city of entrepreneurs 11 7

Chapter Four: The people's livelihood in the 1920s and 1930s 14 9
a. Food, wages and other statistics 15 0
b. The strikes of the 1920s 16 0
c. The sale of women 1 74
d. Depression , livelihoo d an d reform 18 0

Chapter Five: The Second World War and the Japanese occupation 20 9
a. War experienc e 21 0
b. Life in occupied Hong Kong 22 5

Chapter Six: The return to immigrant society, 1945-1966 23 3
a. Restoration of traditional communal institutions 23 4
b. Poverty and the need for welfare 24 8
Contents
c. Changes in personal characteristics 26 8
d. Industrialization i n the 1950s 27 4
e. Social mobility 27 8
f. Professionalization 28 0
Chapter Seven: Crisis and consolidation, 196 6 -198 1 28 5
a. Riots 28 6
b. Language 29 3
c. The population transition 29 9
d. New hopes and bold beginning 30 0
e. Hong Kong workers 3 1 7
f. Transforming the rural family 33 5
g. The new poor 34 7
h. As they kept coming 34 8
Chapter Eight : Affluence an d beyond 35 1
a. Out of apathy 35 1
b. Rich and poor 35 2
c. The local people emigrate 36 7
d. The survival of customs 37 0
e. How satisfied hav e Hong Kong people been? 37 2
Index 383



SERIES GENERAL EDITORS' FOREWORD
Impending change s i n th e politica l statu s o f Hon g Kon g hav e i n recen t year s brought about considerable interest in Hong Kong studies. Despite the very active publication of academic works and general books about Hong Kong in the last few years, there is still a need for a good scholarly general history which takes account o f overal l change s i n Hon g Kong' s politics , society , externa l relations , education, economy, culture, and many other aspects of life. Indeed many recent publications ar e rathe r narrowl y focuse d o n eithe r th e Sino-Britis h negotiation s of the early 1980s or the transition of Hong Kong from a British Crown Colony to a Chines e Specia l Administrativ e Region . Thes e ar e subject s tha t mus t b e understood within the broad trends of Hong Kong's history, which has remained relatively neglected .
The future of Hong Kong cannot but be built on its past. It is our belief that as Hong Kong looks forward, it must also make a dispassionate assessment of its experience under British rule. No doubt, opinions about this assessment will vary; it will take time and discussions for Hong Kong, as China's Special Administrative Region, to come to terms with it s colonial past . However, in our opinion, not only should such discussions be well informed, they should also not be restricted to specialists. Fo r this reason, we think i t best to produce these volumes that allow important documents to speak for themselves. The existing literature has not allowed easy access to most of the basic documents on Hong Kong history for non-specialists, and it is the object of this series to fill this gap.
We hope this series of a documentary history will be sufficiently detailed and authoritative for specialists, but will remain comprehensible to general readers. It should be a ready reference which i s also readable as a general history . In our conception, a good documentary histor y i s more than a selective reprint of documents. It should present relevant documents with introductory comment s that will explain their context and highlight their significance in an interpretative framework. In this series each volume is self-contained and is edited by one or two specialists in the chosen subject. It is our intention that each volume wil l bring t o th e read y gras p o f th e reade r document s tha t ar e normall y accessibl e only i n th e archive s an d majo r librarie s i n Hon g Kong , the Unite d Kingdom , China, Taiwan and the United States.
Steve Tsang David Faur e

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For permission to cite from their publications, the editor acknowledges with thanks Professor Chien Chiao, Professor Nelson Chow, Dr Elizabeth Johnson, Professor Ambrose Y.C. King, Rev Eric Kvan, Mr M.K. Lee, Mr Kenichi Ohashi, Professor Janet Salaff, Dr Janet Scott, Mrs Elsie Tu, Dr Thomas P. Wong, the Centre of Asian Studies of the University of Hong Kong, Chinese Universit y Press, Columbia University Press, the Commercial Pres s (Hong Kong), the Department o f Socia l Wor k o f th e Chines e Universit y o f Hon g Kong , the Department of Applied Economics of the University of Cambridge (for the use of document Vll.el), the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Hong Kong Government, the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of th e Chines e Universit y o f Hon g Kong , th e Hon g Kon g Managemen t Association, Lingna n Colleg e (Hon g Kong) , th e Roya l Philateli c Societ y (London), the Hong Kong Museum of History, Hong Kong University Press, the Urban Council of Hong Kong, and South China Morning Post
For permission to cite from material in their holdings, the editor thanks the Public Record Office (London), Rhodes House (Oxford), and Hong Kong University Library .
Dr Jame s Hayes ' continuou s suppor t an d generosit y shoul d b e noted, and in this present work, the editor is particularly grateful to him for making available th e wa r diar y cite d i n translatio n i n documen t V.a1 . The edito r wishes also to acknowledge with thanks permission granted by Mr Kennet h Ting for a citation from Mr H.C. Ting's recollections for use as document Vl.dl. Like others who have made use of the Clementi collection at Rhodes House, he is most grateful to Mrs A.I. Ovenell for making the collection readily available for research. Most of the material that goes into this book, however, was found in the Hong Kong Collection at Hong Kong University Library, and no-one who ha s worked there should forget the tremendous
Acknowledgements
energy that past librarians, in particular, Mr Anthony Rydings and Mr Peter Yeung, had put into building up the collection, and the admirable effort in continuing tha t traditio n mad e b y thei r successors , D r L.B . Ka n a s th e university libraria n and Mr Y.C . Wan in overall charge of the Hong Kong Collection.
Some holder s o f copyrigh t hav e specifie d ho w acknowledgement s should be worded. I am glad to comply here . I gladly acknowledge that document l.d i s in the custody of the Public Record Office; that documents I.c2 and I.c3 are cited from Crown copyright material in the Public Record Office, London and are reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Britannic Majesty's Stationery Office; that document Vl.fl i s reprinted with permission from the January/February 1965 issue of The Hong Kong Manager, the officia l journa l o f Th e Hon g Kon g Managemen t Association ; an d document VII.e2 is cited from Working Daughters of Hong Kong by Janet
W. Salaff, copyright c 1995 by Columbia University Press , and reprinted with permission of the publisher.
Document V.b1 has been cited from a translation published in Course Unit 6 of AW213 , A History of Hong Kong 1842-1984 , by th e Open University of Hong Kong. The editor is grateful for permission given for its use.
The editor has made every effort to locate copyright holders and authors for the passages cited i n this volume. In the few cases where h e has not succeeded in doing this, he would be glad if they would contact him.
The editor is also grateful to the British Academy for providing funding for the editing of this volume, and much heartened by further funding by the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust in Hong Kong for four forthcoming volumes.
Thanks are also due to the many colleagues who generously shared information and offered advice, in particular to Dr Elizabeth Sinn, Rev Carl Smith, Dr Steve Tsang and Professor Wong Siu-lun. At an early stage of his research into this book, the editor received much help from Dr Stephanie Chung in the collection of material. While in his last minute rush to complete the manuscript, he was given assistance by Dr May-bo Ching, Dr Henrietta Harrison and Dr Susanna Thornton, all of whom at the time were in an equal rush themselves finishing their doctoral theses.
For all the help that he received in the preparation of this volume, the editor is immensely grateful.
INTRODUCTION

HONG KONG, COLONIAL SOCIET Y
Hong Kong was a China coast city. It was by and large a Chinese city. It was a metropolis. Bu t above all, it was a colony.
Hong Kon g becam e a Britis h colon y fro m 1842 . I t outlaste d mos t Britis h colonies. Post-Second World War Britain lost its world power status and gave up most of its colonies; in the pursuit of an open door into Europe, it gave up even the British Commonwealth. But colonial status lingered on in Hong Kong because, as it was said i n the 1960s , China tolerated it , Britain saw n o alternative t o continuing an d th e Hon g Kon g peopl e wante d it . B y th e 1980s , tha t situatio n changed.
Even at its mightiest, Britain had no social policy on Hong Kong as such. It applied British justice and periodically enforced standards that had been tried in Britain, whether or not they had succeeded i n Britain or were suited to Hon g Kong. It i s hard to understand why th e Hong Kong government would hav e promoted a Housin g Societ y togethe r wit h a Resettlemen t Departmen t i n th e 1950s unles s on e realize s tha t the Britis h hom e governmen t sough t t o provid e housing i n Britai n throug h th e combine d effort s o f buildin g societie s an d loca l councils. It is also hard to understand why in the 1970s Hong Kong should have adopted a sudde n spat e o f labou r legislatio n unti l on e see s tha t a Labou r government had come to power in London and that British Members of Parliament and the British press in the 1960s had been painting Hong Kong as a sweatshop. Hong Kong people did not demand housing, social welfare, legislation, police, not even universal education; but, in post-war Hong Kong, they had been granted by act s o f benevolen t government . Onc e granted , however , man y Hon g Kon g people delighted in having these provisions. In this way, the benevolent provisions of th e Hon g Kon g government , togethe r wit h othe r provision s tha t wer e les s benevolent, wove their way into Hong Kong society.
A superimposed government was the mark of the colonial status . But there must have been a society on which i t was superimposed.
Society
Society and the Realm of Politic s
To describe Hong Kong society, one must return to the fundamentals of the concept. The concept 'society' was a creation of the European Enlightenment, created to represent a movement that informed kings that their subjects should suitably be governed b y the law s o f natur e rathe r tha n thei r will . Subsequent t o th e Enlightenment, the concept went through a strange history. Because no government was willing to acknowledge that its will had been imposed i n total ignorance of the demands o f nature, governments hav e taken various means to ensure that nature and policy might meet. Dictators argue that their theories tell them what nature might demand; democrats say that they would ask the people. The theory of benevolent governmen t to which bot h subscrib e argues that the test of the theory lies ultimately in whether it works.
Nature being a silent partner to this relationship between governments and their people, whether governments and their policies work can only be discussed in relatio n t o ends that are hel d to be worthwhile i n themselves an d tha t ar e vocalized. Such ends as justice, nationhood, equality, liberation, fairplay, liberty and no w huma n right s have dominated politica l discours e at various times in recent history . Where society i s not looked upo n a s a mere receipient o f benevolence bu t an activ e participan t i n the generation o f these aims, publi c debates concern themselves with the matching of policies to aims. However, in Hong Kong, until the 1980s, few fundamental end s of government were ever the subject o f publi c debate . Hon g Kong' s commentators wer e no t idealist s bu t pragmatists, and there was neither the arena for nor the interest in a public discourse on the rights and wrongs of social policies on fundamental principles . After the Cultural Revolutio n i n China, i n which Hon g Kong' s vociferous left-win g lost , first its principles, then its nerves, not even communism provided an ideological threat. The very few champions of the needy and the powerless, among whom one must include the indefatigable Mrs Elsie Elliot (now Mrs Tu), made their mark in the 1960 s and the early 1970s . They were superceded whe n b y the 1980 s even the poor took off into economic growth.
The Hong Kong government wa s a very successful government . I t was successful becaus e it did not bulldoze its way in social policies. It listened to the voice of the Hong Kong people, but it also selected the mouthpiece. Sir Murray Maclehose (now Lord Maclehose) might well have congratulated himsel f when he recruited 'grassroots' communal organizations into the vast advisory network that the Hong Kong government built up in the 1970s, much of it on his personal initiative. His Secretary for Home Affairs, M r Denis Bray, put his finger on th e communal pulse when he said in the Legislative Council on 29 November, 1973:
But it has only recently become clear that the most important change in society is not it s increasing wealth no r it s increasing expectation s o f Governmen t performance bu t its new sense of purpose. The new society no longer expects everything to be done for it by a paternalistic government. It is a society on the
Introduction
move, prepared to act on social issues with the same vigour that the old refugee society displayed in the pursuit of private prosperity.
But hear the next sentence:
How els e can one explai n th e public response t o the tw o campaigns of social awakening�X Clean Hong Kong and Fight Violent Crime?1
In the 1970s, Hong Kong did not see any major extension to electoral politics. 2 Government benevolence depended on a choice of policies that the government would find practical and society would be willing to accept. When the formula worked, as it often did, there would hav e been participation. Cleaning Hon g Kong and fighting violent crime would hav e been issue s that members of the public might willingly participate in.
Nevertheless, th e advisor y networ k o f communa l organization s tha t migh t lend the Hong Kong government administrative support was genuine. The Hong Kong government needed a buffer between itself and the British home government. The Hong Kong government had to be able to report to the home government that there were laws of nature that even the home government should not upset. For this reason, society in Hong Kong was created in the same fashion as it was created i n Englightenmen t Europe .
To see this line of thinking evolve, one returns to 1869. Sir Rutherford Alcock, British Minister in Beijing, had suggested that the Chinese government appoint a consul i n Hong Kong and it seemed that h e might receiv e the support of the Foreign Office . Th e Governo r o f Hon g Kong , Si r R.G . MacDonnel l foun d n o merit whatsoeve r t o th e proposa l an d decide d ther e wer e disadvantage s t o th e interests of the Chinese people who were resident in Hong Kong. He could no t put the case more eloquently than a memorial from the inhabitants of Hong Kong to the Foreign Secretary:
In this colony there are upwards of 120,000 Chinese residents, all of whom ar e colonists, subject to our laws, the great majority of them tax-payers, and a very large number of them landholders, and entitled as such to Colonial Registers for vessels (owned by them) flying the British Flag, who have been for many years peaceable, well-conducted citizens, with a considerable stake in the welfare of the colony, and who, by being promoters and managers of the large emigration to the United State s an d Australia n colonies , th e principa l exporter s an d traders , shareholders in our banks, steam, insurance and other public companies, and eager adventurers in new manufacturing projects, under our rule and are free, at present, from the extortions and squeezes to which they would indubitably be subjected , through their families or relatives living in China, ifa Chinese consul were placed here.3
Society
This was the first occasion, but not the only occasion, when as defender of the Chinese i n Hong Kon g the Governor presented hi s case t o the hom e government.
A Chinese perso n was represented o n Hong Kong' s governing machiner y only from 1880, when Ng Choy was made a member of the Legislative Council followed soon by the appointment of Ho Kai (later Sir Kai Ho Kai) to the Sanitary Board.4 The decisions institutionalized the process whereby Chinese people were represented i n Hong Kong politics, and for that reason, became an estate (or, to borrow a term from Hong Kong' s political reform s of the 1980s, a 'functional constituency'). The politics of appointment was particularly suited to the workings of interested estates: the government itself and the Western commercial interes t were the estates that the Legislative Council began with, to which was added the Chinese representation. The issue of sanitation control highlighted the other reason for bringing it into existence. After all, as Ho Kai observed when houses had to be demolished as a measure of plague prevention, it was the Chinese people's houses that were to be demolished.5 The Sanitory Boar d an d the Legislativ e Council , with the occasional knighthood , create d th e upper class of Chinese people in Hong Kong society
The small Chinese upper class stood by the Hong Kong government. Ho Kai supported the advance into the New Territories. When he defected to the Chinese Revolution i n 1911, he soon los t his seat on the Legislative Council.6 It went to Mr Lau Chu Pak , who held steadfastly to the government of Hong Kong in the intricacies of the four-cornered politics between London, Hong Kong, Guangdong province (tha t was becomin g increasingl y independen t i n it s actions afte r th e 1911 Revolution ) an d Beijing . I n the 1922 seamen' s strike , the Hong Kong government drew on the prestige of Lau Chu Pak, Robert Hotung and R.H. Kotewall (who was Eurasian) to intervene on behalf of the Hong Kong community, and in the 1925-26 general strike, it had the support also of Chow Shou-shan. After the Second World War, Sir Man-kam Lo stood up against widening the electorate.7 In 1971 over the very sensitive issue of the adoption of Chinese as an official language, itself a rare outburst of nationalist sentiments in Hong Kong, Sir Kenneth Fung Ping-fan wrote the very mild report that pleased all parties.8 The rise of the Chinese upper class might be traced to the 1870s and its replacement in the 1970s. By the 1970s, the Shanghainese financier, the grassroots representatives, and more recent upstarts representin g Wester n o r Chinese interests , found thei r hearin g i n the Legislative Council. The new-comers migh t have created anothe r Hon g Kon g upper class, but time ran out.

Mercantile Communit y
The Hong Kong Chinese upper class was always uncomfortable with its position. It was too small to make an impact on the Chinese community's lifestyle, and too
Introduction
weak t o show itself as Hong Kong' s communal leaders . In the absence of an upper class , th e merchan t an d th e civi l servan t too k ove r leadershi p o f th e community.9 Understandably, the Hong Kong government supported trade and the merchan t stability .
The Hon g Kon g mercantil e communit y wa s a n anachronis m b y the 1950s . To find its parallel, one has to go to the treaty ports on the China coast, none of which survived the Second World War. The treaty ports were founded to facilitate trade. Unlike Hong Kong, they were not colonies, and there the merchants and rate-payers had a stronger say in the running of their own affairs than the foreign governments. The treaty port mercantile community as such declared no stakes in Chinese politics: the rising tide of nationalism in China through the 1920s and 1930s was at odds with it s continuation a s a community. The China coast mercantile communitie s survived , therefore, no t b y affiliatin g themselve s wit h the nationa l governmen t bu t b y dissociatin g themselve s fro m it . Bu t the y los t their battl e wit h Chines e nationalism . I n 1927 , foreigner s wer e drive n ou t o f Hankou, by the end of the Second World War, all foreign rights to Shanghai were renounced, whil e Chines e merchant s wer e absorbe d mor e an d mor e int o th e state's economic orbit. By the 1950s, the Hong Kong mercantile community stood alone on the China coast, in support of the free market as all of China came under economic control. Through ingenuity, hard work, luck and connections, it created the economic miracle of the 1970s and then 1980s. When it came to the crunch, it compromised. When the Hong Kong government decided that it had to provide low-cost housing for the poor, on a scale that by the 1990s was to make available housing fo r 4 0 percen t o f th e population , Hon g Kon g privat e land-developer s acquiesced. I n effec t Hon g Kon g land-developer s divide d th e housin g marke t with the Hong Kong government: private business managed the upper end of the market while government provided public housing for the needy, the same needy being workers in commerce and industry and the housing subsidy making up for the low wages of the 1950s and 1960s. Civil servants and the merchants managed Hong Kong with a strong business sense.
From earl y days , th e mercantil e communit y develope d a socia l hierarch y whereupon power and privilege might merge. Standing in Government House , one might plac e at the top of the hierarchy the established merchant or civi l servant who had 'come out' from Great Britain, and who would 'go home' upon retirement. The merchants and civil servants who came to Hong Kong for life-long residenc e recreate d i n Hon g Kon g respectabl e societ y a s they migh t kno w it: St John's Cathedral on Garden Road, built to look lik e the church that one might find in most parts of Britain, the clubs and the annual balls, residences on the Peak (kept until the Second World War by law as a reservation for Western-style houses). Most did not learn to speak Chinese and an aversion to inter-marriage with Chinese people was common until the 1950s. A rung down the social ladder one might find the Westernized Chinese. Many wore Western suits, even before the Second World War�X H o Kai appears in photographs dressed in the Western
Society
suit, bu t Sir Robert Hotung , whose features betraye d hi s part-Western origins , was fond o f appearing i n Chinese dress . The Westernized Chines e might b e mercantile or professional, but the less Westernized Chinese who mingled with this community would have been mercantile. Those who aspired to community leadership involve d themselves i n charitable institutions . Since 1870 the Tung Wah Hospital directors stood at the top of its hierarchy.
To say that Hong Kong was a mercantile community that was not dominated by an upper class, one acknowledges that while the rich were obviously distinct from the poor, the mercantile community was not divided socially from the rest of the population. Trade permeated the whole of Hong Kong society and social fluidity followe d fro m th e rapi d economi c developmen t tha t Hon g Kon g experienced. Hong Kong abounds with stories of the self-made man (and woman) with every economic boom, in real estate at the end of the nineteenth century or the early years of the twentieth century, in industry in the 1920s and 1930s , in industry agai n i n the 1950 s and 1960s , and i n finance an d rea l estate i n th e 1980s and 1990s. The ideology of the really successful Chines e merchant in the harsh competitivenes s o f Hon g Kon g went beyon d self-help ; there was also a strong sense of comradeship and responsibility to his fellow men. Mr Fung Ping-shan, himself an exemplar o f this tradition, described i t as lipin (laap-ban in Cantonese) which may be loosely translated as 'establishing one's character'. 10 Mr Fung was a philanthropist, not only in Hong Kong, which he made his home, but also to his home village and county in China where he was born. The character pin in Mr Fung's term incorporates a hidden agenda which can be understood in the light of the Confucian classics : the Chinese gentlema n subscribe s to the principle that social harmon y can b e achieved only by putting one's character and then one's household in order, and putting them in order means behaving in propriety to one's social station. The importance of this maxim rests not in how much one is paid, but in whether one is paid as an employee. To be the free man, one's objective i n life is to be the free agent. High and lo w in Hong Kong, the working man would have wanted to be the director of his own company. This is not the ideology of the yuppie of the 1980s, but the ideology of traditional Chinese entrepreneurship.
The traditional ideology that provided the common language of the self-made Chinese merchant such as Mr Fung Ping-shan, and the Westernism that would provide the avenue for moving socially ahead i n Hong Kong, reflected fully the ambiguity of twentieth-century Chinese culture. Sir Robert Hotung, writing about the achievements of the Chinese people in Hong Kong, emphasizes the 'progress and intellectual development' of the Chinese community rather than its obvious financial success. He refers to their making great strides in education, but qualifies it by saying 'fro m a Western standpoint' . He was proud o f the educational achievement of the Hong Kong Chinese, particularly because some of them had succeeded 'to such centres of learning as Oxford and Cambridge Universities for the completion of the courses of studies first begun in Hong Kong'.11 Fair enough,
Introduction
Sir Robert was writing for a Western readership, and Mr Fung Ping-shan did not speak English and was brought up in the Chinese classical tradition. Nevertheless, the Chinese mercantile community fell precisely between those two stools when they pursued recognition from seats of learning in Britain while maintaining their Chinese cultural contact by appealing to tradition. In the new China of the 1920s, the classics were givin g way t o the vernacular, wher e literar y giant s suc h a s Lu Xun made waves that were to pass Hong Kong by . Shanghai becam e China' s literary haven , som e o f it s merchant s investin g i n an d benefitin g fro m th e publications that flowed from the new culture. Hong Kong in the 1920s as in the post-Second World War decades until the 1980s, was cultural wasteland.
Surely, on e migh t say , on e look s t o intellectual s t o mak e culture , no t th e mercantile community. Hong Kong had its share of intellectuals but Hong Kong did no t produc e a n intellectua l tradition . Th e impac t tha t Hon g Kon g societ y made o n Chines e intellectua l lif e wa s mad e throug h it s publi c media , an d it s content wa s heavil y determine d b y th e mercantil e interest . Befor e th e Secon d World War, the Cantonese opera was its habitual entertainment; after the war, it was the cinema, and then television. When one looks below the surface, one sees within the media elements of a Hong Kong culture, but the Hong Kong way of life was lived rather than discussed, and when it was, it was dominated by the sense that the Hong Kong way of life was really Chinese, which was only partly true.
China, Tradition and Revolution
The Chinese person living in Hong Kong has, since the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, known two Chinas: cultural China and national China. Cultural China one sees in Hong Kong in the temples and shrines, in the annual festivals, in speech, in manner s an d gestures , an d i n ingraine d habits . Nationa l Chin a on e see s i n Hong Kon g a s elements o f unwante d politics , potentia l threat s t o th e colonia l regime. The Hong Kong government from the 1910s has been comfortable with cultural China; it prefers to keep national China at arm's length.
It is a common misconception that Chinese culture had stood still withi n Hong Kong's history. Although it is true that the British government had, on the whole, honoured it s pledge in 1842 to leave Chinese customs alone, there had been times when i t saw fit to intervene and intervene it did. In no area did i t intervene more than in the family Fro m the 1870s, the Hong Kong government had had to be concerned with the position of bonded women. They were found in prostitution, but when they escaped from it, they needed a home to go to. The Chinese merchants had founded a loose organization known as Po Leung Kuk to give them assistance. In 1890, the question was raised as to what this organization was and in what sort of form help was being made. A committee of enquiry was set up, and it is clear when one reads the proceedings, that the committee of
Society
enquiry wa s suspiciou s o f the P o Leung Kuk' s intentions. Di d th e committe e members of the P o Leung Ku k seek concubines amon g the poor women wh o were in its custody? Why did the Po Leung Kuk consent to these women bein g taken out as concubines at all; why were their weddings not given the pomp that was fitting for weddings of the first wife?12
Humanitarian principles do not always win in Hong Kong, but time, economic opportunities and ideologies slowly and surely bring Chinese customs into step with Western trends. Child labour was brought to an end by the labour legislation and compulsor y educatio n o f the 1970s , but risin g standards o f livin g woul d have contributed . I n the case o f themui-tsai, bonde d women i n domesti c positions,13 pressure had been exerted from the Western quarters in Hong Kong as in Britain. By the 1920s, Britain could not condone slavery within its colonies and the practice must be banned, whatever difficultes the Hong Kong government might have to face in banning it, and however impractical i t was to let loose the many bonded women domestics, mostly in their teens, onto the streets of Hong Kong. Few issues caused as much outcry within Hong Kong as the freeing of the mui-tsaif bu t i t was passed int o la w by the Legislativ e Council i n 1923. Nevertheless, much less public interest was aroused over removing the rights of concubine in the 1950s. By the 1950s, concubines belonged to a way of life that had passed, and the law was concerned, in any case, with the awkward question of the distribution of inheritance for persons who died intestate. The law, in any case, could not rule on the keeping of mistresses, which became more an issue as Hong Kong businessmen and factory owners set up their businesses in China as they continued to maintain their abodes, and hence families, in Hong Kong. The occasional cases of bigamy were brought to justice, but only if the second union was considered and registered as a marriage.
Not even i n the management of temples and sacrific e therein did custom s stand still . Until recen t years, the Wong Tai Sin Temple and it s popularity was almost wholly a Hong Kong phenomenon. Yet, religious ceremonies conducted at temples and shrine s convey a sense of timelessness: the deities had bee n sacrificed t o from time immemorial an d might, for all we know, continue unt o the end of time. In much the same connotation, one might say the Chinese family, despite changes to the status of women, despite changes to the style of livin g created by closely packed flats in tower blocks in the Hong Kong environment, did no t give up entirely the basic tenets that allowed i t to hold together. Th e predictions of some social scientists in the 1970s notwithstanding, Hon g Kon g people did not give up the values of the extended family. Sociologist Lee Ming-kwan summe d th e attitude i n hi s study from th e 1988 indicator s o f social development survey : '[People] expec t siblings to perform obligations , bu t ar e less insistent about supporting their parents. Many believe that sons and daughters should no t be treated differently , bu t would think twice when aske d t o depart from traditional sex-roles.' 14 The conclusion does not call for optimism for the continuation of traditional values; it suggests that the values are passing but have far from departed .
Introduction
The sluggish persistence of cultural China in its timeless continuity contrasts with th e Shockwaves that national Chin a generates at every abrupt turn. The dates stand out as outstanding events in Hong Kong's history: 1912, 1927, 1949, 1967, 1982 and soon 1997. In both 1912 and 1949, when a revolution heralded a new era in China, the Hong Kong government watched with premonitions bu t Hong Kong society remained calm.15 The impact of the revolution came a decade later. In 1922, the seamen's strike signalled the new nationalism that would have backed what it considered a working class in Hong Kong, and in 1925-26, it was an incident that offended nationalism rather than a demand on wage or working conditions that sparked the general strike. In 1956, the riot that gripped parts of Kowloon and the New Territories began as a continuation of the Guomindang -Chinese Communist antagonism that was inherent in the revolution of 1949, and it was in 1967 that in the extremism of the Cultural Revolution China's populist movements spilled into Hong Kong. There was a riot that arose from home-grow n social tension; that took place in 1966 but it was mild in comparision to the mass actions o f 1925-2 6 o r 1967 . Significantl y enough , n o attac k o n th e colonia l presence, either in 1925-26 or in 1967, actually demanded its withdrawal. The demonstrations of strength were precisely that. The colonial regime was vulnerable because the Chineseness of it s subjects provided a bond that would resonat e with any nationalist appeal. Yet, when it came to the crunch, it was the Chinese government that decided if Hong Kong was to be part of China. And when it did in 1982, popular sentiments would rather colonialism stay.
It has often been said that the Hong Kong population of the 1950s and 1960s was a population of refugees. This generation had moved into Hong Kong from China in escape from war, political persecution, poverty and famine, and it had good reason to be apprehensive of the post-1949 Chinese government. The same should not be said of the generation that grew up in Hong Kong and reached adulthood i n th e 1970 s an d 1980s . This younge r generatio n foun d Chin a a s i t emerged fro m th e Cultura l Revolutio n an d a s Den g Xiaoping' s modernizatio n policies generate d economi c growt h an d investmen t opportunitie s o n th e mainland, especiall y acros s th e Hon g Kon g borde r a t th e Shenzhe n Specia l Economic Zone. It was this generation that had t o relearn and rebuild it s relationship with Chin a a s a nation. The return of Hong Kong to China spelt political uncertainty but the economic opportunities, and the very high salaries that Hong Kong was to pay its administrative and executive elite in the 1980s and 1990s, were too much to turn down. The solution that was found by a substantial portion of this generation was to approach the opportunity with a foreign passport tucked away i n the belief that if the very worst came to the very worst, there might b e a n opportunit y t o emigrate. 16 Hon g Kon g ha d becom e a lifestyl e tha t was not easily reproduced elsewhere. Some emigrated, but many more wanted the opportunit y o f emigratio n onl y a s an insuranc e policy , fo r b y choice , the y would rather live in Hong Kong.

Immigrant Societ y an d Its Lifestyl e
To discuss Hong Kong's lifestyle, one can really never be far from the fact that throughout its history, Hong Kong was an immigrant society. Many Hong Kong people were first-generation settlers; but at various times in its history, such as the 1980s and 1990s, many more were into the second generatio ni n Hong Kong. Because of the disruption of the Japanese occupation, only a minority had roots that went three or more generations back.
First-generation settlers remember the experience of settling down in a new and unfamiliar surrounding. A vivid illustration of the opportunities that open up with lengt h of stay may be foundi n the report of the Hong Kong government's first Labour Officer, H.R . Butters, which appeared in 1939. Possibly frustrated by the lack of opportunities to come into direct personal contact with Hong Kong's workers a s people, i t seems that Butter s went int o the street and interviewe d workers whom he came across. A man who had come to Hong Kong at age 16 had after nine years'stay become a joiner at the Taikoo Dockyard. He also rented a flat where he lived with a wife and a son, and he sub-let two rooms to tenants. Another man, 'found buying cigarettes from a stall in Hing Lung Street after carrying vegetables', had stayedin Hong Kong for only a year and a half, worked as a coolie, live d i n a cockloft whic h h e shared with two other men, kept his wife back in the village and regularly sent her half his income.17 Such vivid descriptions of the lives of working men in the 1930s are rare in Hong Kong records. They show that the extra resources that the longer-term residen t could muste r mad e the difference between maintaining a family in Hong Kong and living apart from the family.
It goes without saying that wealth and income made a great deal of difference to lifestyle. Nevertheless, despite the difference i n material comfort, the sense of precarious achievement pervaded the mentality of the first-generation migrant . One sees it in the lifestyle of these working men and women as in the war diary of the unknown shop-owne r who in the midst of the fighting over Hon g Kong Island in 1941 felt most saddened by the thought that his life-time savings would, in a literal sense , go up in flames.18 But one sees it also in the Shanghainese industrialists starting out afreshi n Hong Kon g in the 1950s, who like the self-made men who had succeeded before them, who drew upon for support the ideology of self-help and in a very conscious way practised the Hong Kong ethos of keeping clear of issues that might seem political.19 It is possible that the roots for this tendency of the first-generation settle r to look inwards for the resources that might change his economic and social status were part of traditional Chinese culture, as the Chinese imperial state (but not the post-1911 Chinese nation) had long advocated personal introspection and family control as the cornerstones of its social policies. However, the inward-looking character of the first-generation resident in Hong Kong contrasts sharply with his agility in seeking out opportunities outside the family. The much vaunted Chinese dependence on the family in the
Introduction
social science literature is probably no more than a short-hand for the discrepancy between the traditional ideology which encourages the family to withdraw from the state, and the nationalist ideology of the Chinese nation which wants to draw the family in .
It makes sense, therefore, to speak in terms of a family strategy, in those Hong Kong families that, as anthropologist Janet Salaff found out in the 1970s, would have a daughter start early in her factory work career so that her income might supplement family resources to support a son through education.20 The description agrees with the findings of economist H.A . Turner in the same period that Hong Kong workers had only limited aspirations for themselves but they wanted their sons to do very much better, by which they meant that they should qualify fo r professional or managerial jobs.21 It also agrees with the conclusion that sociologis t Thomas W.R Wong, arrived at by re-examining the survey findings of the 1970s and 1980s, that while Hong Kong people believed i n the openness of and the opportunities availabl e i n Hon g Kon g society , the y als o fel t pessimisti c an d powerless in relation to their work.22
No-one would dispute that Hong Kong had made great material progress in the decades from the 1930s to 1990s . In no other area would progres s be as evident as in housing. One needs only compare reports on housing conditions of the poor in the 1950s with Osbert Chadwick's report in 1882 to see how a rapid increase i n populatio n withou t adequat e sanitatio n enforcemen t coul d creat e slums. The suggestion that government should concern itself with the provision of housing for the poor was made in the Housing Report of 1935; it developed into enforceable policy in the 1950s in spite of objections from the local Chinese leadership, and it was pushed to it s extreme by a n energetic governo r i n the 1970s.23 The net result was that 40 percent of Hong Kong's population by 1980 lived in some form of public housing. But the aspiration to upward mobility, and the actual opportunities available, meant that the public housing population was never really cut off from the res t of society . Entry into public housing , for the majority, was entry into the dream of upward mobility .
Given the aspiration and the mobility, should one speak of the working class in Hong Kong? Was the Hong Kong population more aptly described as a pool of refugees, coming from varied backgrounds but all being caught up in the upward ladder afforded by economic growth where only the handicapped and the aged found little room to stand? Surely, this was not a society that cherished equality and jus t a s surely, som e outsiders , suc h a s Filipin o domestic s an d Vietnames e refugees (renamed 'migrants ' because many were said to have left Vietnam for economic an d no t politica l reasons) , wer e no t t o advanc e beyon d th e lowes t
24
rung.
Hong Kong society produces no diplomat, no military general, no international civil servant, no ideology and therefore no ideologue. That is as it should be for being a colony. Successful Hong Kong people aspire to be what they would be best at, the mercantile princes of the twentieth-century international scene. Those Hong Kong people who are not successful are contented with a low-key existence. But that is not unique to Hong Kong's history. Being low-key has been the style of the common man (and woman) of all ages. Shred off its colonial past, Hong Kong will be a city, where surely people mix only anonymously among the crowds.
The Selection of Documents
A social history of Hong Kong has to be an account of the common people as much a s the elite. But, of course, the elite i s everywhere more evident i n the historical sources. I try to strike a balance in this compilation, and it has not always been easy. In bringing to the fore the historical experience of what I think would have been the majority of Hong Kong people, I have probably not given enough weight to the minority. Ethnicity in Hong Kong will eventually have to be a subject of research i n it s own right , so that the experience of the European, Indian, Filipino, Chaozhou, Shanghainese communities may be recorded. I have also probabl y no t give n enoug h weigh t t o th e changin g condition s o f work , a complex subject because the term 'work' itself is value-loaded and any discussion will have to bring into the concept the difference between whether the worker is paid or unpaid, whether work is conducted legally or illegally, and whether indeed, the nature of the work is such that it is 'work'. Subsequent volumes in this series may be able to remedy some of these shortcomings, but they should be borne in mind by anyon e who searche s in this volume for a view that even remotely resembles a complete social history . Ultimately, this volume represents the bias of an age: a concern for economic success, social mobility and integration. Rapid movement of population int o and out of Hong Kong keeps alive the image of Hong Kong as a success story, but one has to be constantly reminded that the same image leaves out much of consequence in the lives of common people.
In this volume, beyond the luxury of this 'Introduction', the compiler tries to keep his own voice to the minimum. The documents selected will be read if they are found engaging. Where he interrupts the flow of the sources, usually by way of introduction or explanation, his comments are either consigned to the footnotes or indicated by a vertical line in the left-hand margin. No compilation of sources can be free of the compiler's biases; the compiler of this volume will b e happy enough if , despite his own biases , the voices of Hong Kong people are heard through this volume.
Document VII.d2 below. It would, however, be fair to say that government policies in the 1970s fed up to the White Paper on District Administration in 1981, although the reforms proposed therein took quite a different turn when by 1982 the Sino-British negotiation on Hong Kong's future became the driving force in the evolution of electoral politics. On the White Paper, see Volume 1, Document V.c7.
Introduction
3 Correspondenc e Relatin g to the Proposed Appointment of a Chinese Consul at Hong
Kong, 1908 , p. 15 . 4 Volum e 1 , Document II.b 1 -4, Va3. 5 Documen t ILd below . 6 Volum e 1 , Document Va4 . 7 Volum e 1 , Document Il.d2 . 8 Documen t VII.b2 below . 9 Se e in particular Volume 1, pp. 72-81. 10 Documen t III. 8 below . 11 Documen t II.c 3 below . 12 Documen t II.b 1 below . 13 Documen t IV. d below . 14 Documen t VIILdl below , see also Document Vll.f1
. 15 Se e Documents 11x2, IV.bl, IV.b2, Vll.al an d Vll.a2 below for these incidents. 16 Document s VIII.d an d Vlll.c2 below . 17 Documen t IV.d 2 below . 18 Documen t Va below . 19 Documen t VI.d below. 20 Documen t VII.e2 below . 21 Documen t Vll.el below . 22 Documen t VIII.e below. 23 Document s IVd6, Vlb2 and Vl.b3, and Vll.dl below . 24 Document s VIII.b4-6 below .

CHAPTER ON E


EARLY SETTLEMENT
It is often said that Hong Kong was a fishing village before the British arrived on the island in 1841. The description raises the image of fishing boats and stakenets along the waterfront, ramshackle houses beyond the reach of high tide, fish �X dead, rotting, salted �X and shrimp and seaweed being dried on the beach, and men, women and children, many living on rather than off the boats often side by side with their cooped chickens in their holds. There must have been such villages on the island, for it is known that they existed in many inlets on the outlying islands of the Hong Kong region, such as Tai O, Cheung Chau, Leung Shuen Wan, or Kat O. But settlements of Chinese people o n Hon g Kon g Islan d wer e mor e tha n fishin g villages . Ther e wa s farmland, even by seaside villages suc h a s Chek Ch u (late r Stanley) an d Shek Pa i (Aberdeen) . Som e o f th e village s wer e locate d inland , a t Wongneichong (Happy Valley) and Pokfulam. Farming congers up a different image of the village: the seasonal rhythm of crop growing, land rights and taxes, village alliances for the safeguard of water, access, firewood, grave sites. Into this setting came the Westerners. They were not new to the China scene, having withdrawn to this forlorn island from the hustle and bustle of Guangzhou wher e th e foreig n 'factories ' ha d bee n established . Ther e i n Guangzhou they had mixed in the company, not of the officials, but of the 'Hong' merchants, who were among the wealthiest people in the whole of the Chinese empire. Having been wined and dined in the fine private gardens of Guangzhou, they had come upon Hong Kong with the firm conviction that little culture was to be found among its rustic population. The colony was t o gro w i n isolatio n fro m thi s unrecognizabl e community , th e nativ e Chinese population to come attached to the foreign establishment as hangers-on, along with many others soon to follow from across the harbour on the
mainland. This sense of disdainful disregard of the Chinese community was to continue until some among the Chinese new-comers proved that in the realm of business, they were at least the foreigner's equal.
a. Villager s and Immigrants
By the nineteenth century, land rights tied many out-of-the-way communities to the Chinese imperial administration. But the imperial administration had worked only because powerful families might, working through it , vie for influence an d exchang e complianc e fo r ta x privileges . Th e Britis h entr y onto th e scen e upse t long-establishe d pattern s o f powe r relationships , t o the detriment of the land-holder who had claimed ownership on the strength of registration at the county government, and to the benefit, perhaps, of the tenant who found himself transformed int o the resident owner of land he had tilled . Understandably , th e origina l land-holder s protested . Ha d th e observer bee n presen t i n th e preparatio n o f th e followin g documen t submitted to the county magistrate in 1844, he might have heard the original owner of the farmland at Wongneichong Village exclaiming, 'My land', as he made his claim.
DOCUMENT Lai : My land, 184 2 (source: Guangxu ershi nian chongchao Daoguang ershi er nian buzheng liangdao Guangfu Xinan chenggao zhaolu, (A record of the petition submitted to Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Grain Intendant from Xin'an county in Guangzhou prefecture in the 22nd year of Daoguang, recopied in the 20th year of Guangxu), photocopy of manuscript included in The Historical Literature of the New Territories: Kam Tin, vol. 1, deposited at Hong Kong University Library)
A petitio n from Militar y Student Tang Chi-cheung and others begging, on th e grounds of evidence here presented, for the grace of a memorandum directed to the English officer Pei Shun:
Your students and others inherited from their ancestor Tang Tin-luk land to which they had by petition moved upon return from the evacuation of Kangxi Year 10 [1671]* by the local place names of Fuk Tarn, Wang Lek, Yim Tin, Tai Lo Ha, Lok Tz Lung etc., for which a tax on 368.75925mu ha s been registered, lan d t o which the y had b y petition moved upon return from the evacuation of Kangxi Year 23 [1684] known by the local place names Tai Tarn, Wang Lek, Heung Kong, Tai Lo Ha, Lok Tz Lung etc. for which a tax on 332.16mu ha s been registered, an d lan d t o which the y had b y petition of Tang Wing-kui** moved upon return from the evacuation of Kangxi Year
In the 1660s, while the regime of Zheng Chenggong continued to hold out in Taiwan, the imperial government evacuated the entire coastal region in south China including Hong Kong Island. The local population was allowed to returned when the command was rescinded in 1671. Tang Wing-kui, literally 'Permanently occupied by the Tang surname' was obviously a fictitious name. The use of such names in the registration of lineage properties, however, was not uncommon in the Qing dynasty.
Early Settlement
30 [1691] known by the local place names Kong Ts Leng, Wang Leng, Tsung Wo Kong etc. for which a tax on 102.7mu has been registered. The total amount of land registered for ta x i s 803.61925mu, an d evidenc e for this may be found i n stamped register s deposited at the county. The tax is registered under the name of household head Tang Tm-luk of the sixthdu seventhtu. In addition, [the y held land] purchased by Tang Chun-fui i n Kangxi 59 [1720] from Hoh Ting-fong of Dongguan [county] located i n Xin'an county at the local place name Wong Nai Chung amounting to third-class tax on 33mu, [land ] bought in Qianlong 26 [1764] located in Xin'an at local place names Wong Nai Chung , Kwa n Tai Lo, Sheung To, Tai Shek Ha , Ta i Hang, Ha m Wai , amounting t o third-class tax 62mu, [land] bought in Qianlong 7 [1742] located a t Wong Nai Chung and other places amounting to 72mu, [land] bought in Qianlong 27 [1762] by Tang Tsit Yat from Hoh Chiu-ping located in Xin'an at local place names Wong Nai Chung, Wat Shek Hang, Wai Kon Tang, Kwai Tau Shek, Wong Tuk Shek, Yeung Mui Hang and other places amounting to third-class tax 22mu, comin g to a total of a tax of 189mu. Evidenc e for thes e holdings ma y be found i n volumes o f stamped deeds. All tax is payable under the name of Tang Chi-fu of Dongguan county 2nddu 18thtu lastjia and Tang Yuan-tsun of 3rddu 50thtu lastjia. All this tax land was leased to tenants for rent, and peace had endured for many years. Now it has been found that these tax-registered properties had been used for building houses, leading to the consequence tha t rent might not be collected and taxes not paid. This is an unbearable situation . Under th e force o f circumstances, thi s full accoun t i s hereby reported in petition, accompanied by three stamped deeds that are attached. We humbly beseech the kind magistrate to take pity on us, to grant a document that may be sent to the English official in evidence, so that the land holdings detailed here may be returned for rent to be collected and taxes paid. Your honour's great virtue will be deeply felt.A petition is made hereby for this purpose.
Daoguang 24th year, tenth month eighteenth day [27 November 1844 ]
, Th e founding of the British colony on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island (facing the promontory of Kowloon) soon attracted Chinese immigrants from China. The British colonial government of Hong Kong had proclaimed from it s first arrival that the Chinese would b e allowed to maintain their own laws and customs, and in the first two decades of Hong Kong's history, the proclamatio n serve d t o maintai n separat e communitie s fo r th e Britis h and fo r the Chinese. But i t was not only custo m that divided th e tw o communities: in those early days, the British were disappointed with the Chinese population that they found attached to their colony. Aside from the missionary interest to convert them, the practical need to hire their labour as builders, porters and servants, there was little interest in the lives and livelihood of the Chinese. Like the Chinese officials of the county of Xin'an, of which Hong Kong Island until 1842 had been a part, British colonial officials were superior to the people they governed . It was easy in these circumstances for such words as 'pirates' and 'secret societies' to be applied
loosely to the local population. No doubt, there were pirates, but such words came to be used indiscriminately for Chinese voluntary associations as well.
DOCUMENT La2: Kwok Ah-man and Chow Chau-chi, pirates, 1848 (source: Zhong-Ying waijiao wenjian chaoben (manuscript copy of Sino-British diplomatic documents), held in Cambridge University Library)
The testimony of Kwok Ah-man: I am also known by the name Mow Kam, and the nickname Blind Man.I am a person from Pingshan Village in Panyu county, aged 51suL My parents have both passed away and I have no brothers. My wife, nee Leung, has given birth to one son.I am employed to operate salt-fish boats. I am now a member of the Alliance Righteous Hall at the peak of Taipingshan.
The testimony of Chow Chau-chi: I am a Tanka from New Market, Chencun, Shunde county, aged 31sui. My parents are both dead. I have no brothers. My wife nee Cheung has no children.I am employed to operate sailing boats.I am now a member of the Alliance Righteous Hall at the peak of Taipingshan.
They both alleged that on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month in the year Daoguang 26, Wong Ah-dak, alias Chan Ah-dak, who was known to them but who had not yet been arrested, told Kwok Ah-man tha t he worked on an Englishman' s schooner lighter as compradore and cook. He said that opium and private goods might be found on board and that it was going with another English lighter carrying opium to sell on the coast of Xiamen in Fujian Province. I, Kwok Ah-man thought of gathering a gang of men to loot them and take a part of the spoils. Wong Ah-dak agreed that he would return to the ship to provide the inside lead. Kwok Ah-man the n asked me, Chow Chau-chi, and. . . altogether over twenty people, to come prepared with guns and food, to go by Leung Yik-foon's big sailing junk. . .
The tria l testimony of bandit Kwok Ah-man has provided the following lis t of lodges(tang) in the area of Taipingshan in Hong Kong:
The Luen I Tong set up by Blind Head, who has not yet been arrested;
The Uet Loi Tong set up by Bald-head Chan who has been arrested;
The Tin I Tong set up by Lee Hung I who has been arrested;
The botanist, Rober t Fortune, who stayed i n Hong Kong in the mid-1840s , left a grim view of the colony:
DOCUMENT La3: The population of Victoria (source: Robert Fortune,Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries, London : John Murray, 1847, pp. 27-29)
The native population in Victoria, consist of shopkeepers, tradesmen, servants , boat-people, and coolies, and altogether form a most motley group . Unfortunately there is no inducement for the respectable Chinese merchant to take up his quarters
Early Settlement
there, and until that takes place, we shall always have the worst set of people in the country. The town swarms with thieves and robbers, who are only kept under by the strong armed police lately established. Previous to this, scarcely a dark night passed without some one having his house broken into by an armed band, and all that was valuable being carried off or destroyed. The audaciou s rascals did not except th e Governor even, for one night Government House was robbed; and another time they actually stole the arms of the sentries. These armed bands, sometimes a hundred strong, disappeared, as they came, in a most marvellous manner, and no one seemed to know whence the y came or whither the y went. Such attacks are fortunately no w of rare occurrence. In all my wanderings on the island, and also on the mainland hereabouts, I found the inhabitants harmless and civil. I have visited their glens and their mountains, their villages and small towns, and from all the intercourse I have had with them, I am bound to give them this character. But perhaps the secret of all was, that I had nothing for them to take, for I was always most careful not to have any thing valuable about me, and my clothes, after scrambling amongst the rocks and brushwood, were not very tempting even to a Chinaman.
Since the island of Hong Kong has been ceded to England, the foreign population in it has been much changed . In former day s there wer e only a few mercantile establishments, all known to each other, and generally most upright and honourable men. Now people from all countries, from England to Sydney, flock to the Celestial country, and form a very motley group.
Viewed as a place of trade, I fear Hong Kong will be a failure. The great export and import trade of southern China must necessarily be carried on at Canton, as heretofore, there being at present, at least, no inducement to bring that trade to Hong Kong. It will, nevertheless, be a place of great importance t o many of the merchants, mor e particularly to those engaged in the opium trade; and will, in fact, be the headquarters of all houses wh o hav e busines s o n th e coast , fro m th e facilitie s o f gaining earl y information regardin g the state of the English and Indian markets, now that stea m communication has been established between this country and the south of China. Moreover, with all its faults, its importance may yet be acknowledged in the event of another war. Our countrymen cannot have so entirely forgotten the kind of protection which used to be afforded them by the Portuguese at Macao, as to make them wish to be put in the same circumstances again; and it is of no little importance to know that their lives and property are safe under the British flag.
b, Respectabilit y
In its early days, respectable society on Hong Kong Island was restricted to the Western enclave. Chinese people gained entry into it only very gradually. Colonial society was made up of the administration, the business community and the church, all with their hangers-on, English, Scottish, Irish, American, European, Indian, and Parsee. But nineteenth-century British society, being
itself strongl y status-oriented , woul d hav e carve d th e cosmopolita n community i n Hong Kong into minute sections on a social hierarchy . The report of the Anglican Bisho p o f Hong Kon g to the Christian Missionar y Society i n London i n 1864 o n the occasion o f the ordination o f the firs t Chinese deacon allows a glimpse of what must have been a rather open-minded view of social mingling .
DOCUMENT Lbl : The Church, Western and Chinese (source: George B. Endacott and Dorothy E. She,The Diocese of Victoria, Hong Kong, A Hundred Years of Church History, 1849-1949 , Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1949, pp. 32-33)
I write with much satisfaction and thankfulness to inform you that I have now admitted your excellent native catechist Lo Sam Yuen to deacon's orders. More than 13 years intimate knowledge of his character and usefulness here, and at the Australian goldfields in Melbourne diocese, seemed to me fully to justify my course in admitting him to the ministry of our church.
The ordination took place in our Cathedral last week, viz. on Monday, December 21st amid a large concourse of Chinese worshippers, filling a considerable space in the nave of our beautiful structure, and joining aloud in the responses of the liturgy. About 200 Chinese were present, representing various classes among the more influentia l portion o f the nativ e populatio n o f the Colony , togethe r wit h abou t fort y Englis h residents; among whom I noticed with much pleasure the ladies of His Excellency the Acting Governor , th e Attorney General , an d othe r leadin g persons i n th e Britis h community. The pupil s of St. Paul's College and th e girls in our newly establishe d Diocesan Female School, together with several native interpreters and writers in the public offices, and formerly inmates of our college, gave to our little assemblage a more than ordinary personal interest in my mind.
On Christmas Day I preached a sermon to the English congregation i n the Cathedral, on behalf of the Church Missionary Society's local mission at Hongkon g and more especially for the support of the recently-ordained Minister . An offertor y collection was made, and nearly 400 dollars (equivalent to �G90 sterling) were collected, including a few donations sent afterwards .
Lo Sam Yuen was present with the other officiating clergymen in his surplice, and assisted in administering the elements in their own language to the Chinese portion of the communicants . Out o f seventy-five exactl y one-thir d o f the whol e number o f communicants in the Cathedral on Christmas Day, were Chinese converts.
Thus in the twentieth year of my connection with Missionary labour in this land, and having been often deeply humbled before God under a sense of my unprofitableness, I am in mercy permitted to see some streaks of hope lighting up the dark horizon.
Twopative deacons, ordained by me at Shanghai and Hongkong, and sixty Chinese converts confirmed at Hongkong, Shanghai and Ningpo, have been among the happy events which I am privileged to associate with the year just closed, 1863. To God be all the glory'.
Early Settlement
One o f Hon g Kong' s earliest historians, E.J . Eitel, left an impressio n o f th e Western community i n hi s days.Sir John Pope Hennessy, whose nam e appears i n the following passage , was Governor of Hong Kong from 187 7 to 1882 .
DOCUMENT Lb2 : An impression of the Western community, circa 1880s (source: EJ. Eitel, Europe in China, London: Luzac & Co., Hong Kong: Kelly and Walsh, 1895; pp. 563-564)
Such was the mutual incompatibility of temperament, views and ways, between Sir John and th e European community, that he deliberately assumed a position of entire isolation, whilst the European community felt, year by year, less and less disposed to disturb his insularity. Apart from Sir John's general policy, there were special causes which irritated the community. Such were, for instance, his interference (October 24, 1879, and February 5, 1881) with the rules of admission to the City Hall Museum, his attempt to confiscate the steam-tugFame (October 28, 1879), and his prohibition of the sale of refreshments a t the City Hall Theatre (February 25, 1880) . As regard s amusements, however, the community was, during this period, well provided for. I n addition to the established periodical treats provided by the Amateur Dramatic Corps, the Choral Society, the Horticultural Society , the Victoria Recreation an d Regatt a Clubs, the Liedertafel o f the Club Germania, and th e Race Club, thi s period i s distinguished by some specially successful celebrations, among which mention is due to St. Patrick's festival (March 17 , 1879), the centenary of the birth of the Irish poet Tom Moore (May 28, 1879), the Masonic Ball of 15th January, 1880, the anniversary of Washington's birthday (February 23,1880), and the tercentenary of Camoens (June 10, 1880). As to other social events those deserving mention are the semi-extinctio n of the Humane Society (May 13, 1878), the formation of St. John's Lodge under the Scottish Constitution (November 30, 1878), a banquet and presentation of an address in honour of Professor Nordenskjold (Novembe r 3, 1879), the starting of jinrikshas in the Colony (April 22, 1880), the establishment of a Polo Club (April 27, 1880), the presentation of an address and testimonial to the Hon. W. Keswick (May 14, 1881), the arrest of Messrs. Rapp and Schmidt by a Customs cruiser while on a shooting expedition (November 26,1881), and the appointment of Mr. C.P. Chater as Masonic District Grand Master of South China (February 2, 1882).
The charity of the Hong Kong community was, during this period, called fort h and exercised to an extraordinary degree. To the relief of the famine in North Chin a the Hong Kong community contributed (fro m April, 1877 , until August, 1878, ) a n aggregate sum of $132,000. Floods in Canton necessitated (in May, 1877) a separate appeal which in a day or two produced $5,000. The Freemasons raised separately funds (October, 1877) for the relief of sufferers from famine in India, and in January, 1878, a subscription was started for the sufferers from theYesso explosion, while Messrs. Douglas Lapraik & Co. headed the list with a subscription of $10,000. An Amateur Concert was given (Decembe r 12 , 1878 ) o n behalf of sufferers b y the failure o f the City o f
Glasgow Bank. An Irish Famine Relief Committee was started (March 8, 1880) and
collected $36,000. The Hon. E.R. Belilios having (October 15, 1878) placed in the
Governor's hands the sum of �G1,000 for the erection of a statue of Lord Beanconsfield,
used this sum, when Disraeli deprecated the honour, to establish a Medical Scholarship
Fund (October 7,1879), subsequently changed (November 29,1883) into the Belilios
Scholarship Fund, and gave to a row of houses opposite the City Hall, which he erected
at the time, the name Beaconsfield Arcade. A Medical Mission Committee (J.C. Edge,
Dr. Young, and H.W. Davis), having, since October 1871, established a public dispensary
in Taipingshan, made (January 13,1872) an appeal to the community and commenced
taking steps which ultimately resulted in the establishment of Alice Memorial Hospital.
c. Residentia l Segregatio n
The impetu s for change cam e from trade . Nothin g speaks loude r of this development than Hong Kong's historical statistics. In 1881, the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Pope Hennessy (Governor 1877-1882), said as much in a speech that acknowledged the increasing contribution to Hong Kong that came from the Chinese people resident there. Yet one detects that the matter-of-fact approach in the speech hides the opposition that the Governor faced i n the support h e gave to recognizing th e stake of the Chinese community in Hong Kong. He reminded his listeners that barely a generation before, it was a debatable question as to whether the Chinese should b e allowed to purchase land from the Hong Kong Government. And he took heart in the ability of the Chinese community to look after itself, citing the Surgeon General's observation s o n vaccinatio n amon g th e Chines e i n justification. No-one should accuse Sir John Pope Hennessy of taking a less than sympatheti c attitude towards the Chinese people in Hong Kong, but the sympathy had been needed because the Hong Kong of the 1880s was as yet a racially segregated community .
One only has to look at the geographic distribution of the Chinese and Western houses to see that the two communities barely mixed and even the casual observer might have noticed that the residential segregation between the two was founded no t only on race, but also on class. The standards of respectability governed wher e one live d a s much a s any other aspect of how one might behave: the majority of the Chinese people in Hong Kong lived in what better-off Westerners would have thought of as congested and unhygienic dwellings, but Chinese of 'the better classes' could have owned houses where the Westerners lived. The image of the Chinese encroaching upon areas where Westerners had built their houses led to the legal provision for residential segregation .
Early Settlement
DOCUMENT Lcl : An increase d Chines e communit y o f great importance t o th e commercial interests of England 1881 (source: Encl. 2 in No. 42, Legslative Council, Hong Kong, Statement of His Excellency Governor Sir John Pope Hennessy, K.C.M.G., on the Census Returns and the Progress of the Colony, House of Commons Paper s 1881, Vol. LXV, serial no. 42, Public Record Office, London )
I am placing upon the table a return which has been prepared i n the Survey Department in consequence of a minute of mine, in which I directed attention to the publication in the 'Daily Press' of the 11th May 1881, of a statement of transactions in landed property in Hong Kong, and called upon the proper officers to have that return checked and verified. Accordingly, that return, which, no doubt you have all seen, was transmitted to the Acting Surveyor General He has now furnished us with an authentic statement of the transactions, from the Land Office books , that have taken place i n the transfer and sale of property from the 1s t of January last year to the 11t h of May this year. To be brief,I think, on the whole, he corroborates what appeared i n the 'Daily Press, ' and th e summary he gives at th e en d i s to this effect. Tota l value of properties bought by Chinese from foreigners, 1,710,036 dollars; total value of properties bought by Chinese from the Government, 17,70 5 dollars; total value of properties bought by foreigners from foreigners, 216,750 dollars; total value of properties bought by foreigners from the Government, 5,060 dollars; total value of properties bought by foreigners from Chinese, 16,450 dollars.
Now, this large item of 1,710,000 dollars on the transfer of property almost entirely for commercia l purposes , t o th e Chines e communit y sinc e Januar y las t year , i s undoubtedly a n event o f great importance. Is it speculative, or is it justified b y th e returns I am now laying on the table? In the first place what do we learn from the census returns of the Registrar General? We find that the population has risen fro m 139,144 in 1876 to 160,402 in 1881, showing, in four years and four months, an increase of 21,258, and of this increase the Chinese population account for 20,532. The Registrar General adds, that the European and American community is larger by 273; that th e increase is among the British, Portuguese, Germans, and Italians, and is that of women and children; that the male adult population of Europeans and Americans has decreased. This fact is of interest, because, whilst taking the male adult British subjects from th e United Kingdom there has been a decrease from 342 to 336, there has been an increase in the number of women and of boys and girls. So, too, with the Portuguese; there is a falling of f from 41 8 adult male s in 187 6 to 384 a t present, bu t a n increas e i n th e women and children. So, too, with the Germans; there is a falling off in the adult German population, and in the American population, and in the French population, but in each case there is an increase in the number of women and children. This fact, I say, is of interest, because the tropical Colony where European children flourish cannot be very unhealthy. The vitality of a foreign child is a delicate test of climate, and I believe we can point t o this particular ite m i n the censu s returns affording som e indication tha t Hon g Kong i s growing more healthy. And, now , proceeding to th e question of the20,000 additiona l Chinese, we have to consider this:- Has the increase
in the variou s mercantile occupations o f the Chinese been such a s to justify th e remarkable transfer of landed property I have referred to? The census returns furnish us with an opportunity of testing how far in the harbour of Victoria itself the means we have of commercial movement�X that is, the transference of goods from steamer to steamer, from steamer to shore, andvice versa �X how far that has been facilitated since the year 1876 . From the returns, I find that the movement i s conducted by steam launches, cargo boats, and sampans. The steam launches have increased from eight in 1876 to 37 in 1881, the cargo boats from 494 to 656, and the sampans from 1,35 7 t o 2,088. So far for the machinery that we have i n our harbour fo r conducting th e commercial movement of the Colony, it has substantially increased. The returns I am laying before you are identical in form with the returns prepared i n the time of Sir Arthur Kennedy,* and probably his predecessors, and amongst these returns there is one which answer s the question I have been asking, and that i s a return o f th e occupations of the Chinese adult male inhabitants of the Colony. On analysing that return, I find that the following are the changes that have taken place since the last census with respect to Chinese merchants and other Chinese directly concerned i n the trade and commerce of the Colony.
The Chinese tradin g hongs, that is , the Nampak hong s and othe r wealth y merchants who now send the manufactures o f England int o China, have increase d form 215 to 395. Chinese traders have increased from 287 to 2,377; Chinese brokers, from 14 2 to 455. Taking the Chinese engaged in dealing in money; the shroffs hav e increased form 40 to 208; the teachers of shroffing have increased from 9 to 14; the bullion dealers, who do not appear in any former census, are now returned at 34; the money changers, 111 in 1876, still remain at 111, but in 1876 there were no Chinese bankers returned, an d now we have i n this census 55 Chinese bankers. The piece -goods dealers have increased form 78 in 1876 to 109, and cotton and yarn dealers from 38 to 58. This is of interest, not merely to Manchester, Bradford, or Leeds; these Chinese merchants of Hong Kong are now facilitating an Indian trade with China, healthier , and with a safer future, than the trade in that drug which a few years ago was the only considerable commercial link between British India and China. Since 1877 the quantity of Bombay yarn received in Hong Kong has steadily risen from 21,000 bales to61,000. The increas e in the value of this trade from 1,706,91 3 dollars in 187 7 to 5,251,24 6 dollars in 1880 , has been coincident wit h an increase in our imports of raw cotto n from Bengal and Rangoon from 33,000 bales in 1877 to86,000 i n 1880. Our opiu m trade show s no such tendency t o increase. In 1880 , we imported 87,74 7 chests, as against 88,428 in 1877. Mr. ED. Sassoon tells me that the value of our total trade with India last year was 67,772,937 dollars, the value of the opium being 58,248,235 dollars. Though the trade in other goods than opium is but one-sixth of the total Indian trade, yet it is so rapidly developing that I look forward with confidence to the time when it will outstrip, and, perhaps, enable th e India n Governmen t t o curtail, the trad e i n
* Hennessy's predecessor , Governo r o f Hon g Kon g 1872-1877 .
Early Settlement
opium. Tea merchants have increased from 26 to 51, rice dealers from 95 to 128, coal dealers from 1 6 to 20, fire-arms dealers from 1 5 to 20, timber dealers from 1 5 to 107, drapers from 101 to 156, and foreign goods dealers from 167 to 191. Compradores have increased from 77 to 95, ship compradores from 67 to 113, and ship charterers from 7 to 41. Looking t o the increas e I have pointed out i n the ordinary machinery fo r commercial movement in the harbour, to this remarkable increase of the mercantil e community, and to the well-known magnitude of the mercantile transactions of our Chinese merchants, it seems clear that this large expenditure since January 1880, of 1,710,000 dollars by Chinese for commercial property was a necessary expenditure.
There is another question that we may fairly ask. It has often been said, and there is hardly a directory or guide relating to Hong Kong in which you do not see it recorded, that Hong Kong has no local manufactures whatever. Is that true? Well, on turning to the census returns, I find many local Chinese manufacturers in this Colony. Bamboo workers have increased from 93 in 1876 to 121 in 1881; boat-builders from 48 to 110; carvers from 59 to 70; cigar makers from 21 to 31; engineers from 1 0 to 121; and gold beaters from 41 to60. Glass manufacturers appear for the first time; there are now 16 in the Colony, and I believe at this moment the glass manufactory to the west of the town is capable of turning out such glass as some of the European storekeepers here are themselves prepared to sell; and when a service of glass may get injured, they can now send to our local glass manufactory and get tumblers to replace those broken in the set. I find imag e makers have increased from 1 0 to 15 , lantern makers from50 t o 63, leather box maker s from 3 9 to 53, lemonade an d sodawate r makers from 2 8 to 30. Watch manufacturers did not appear in the former census; they now number 13. Oar makers have increased from 30 to 43. Opium dealers have declined from 10 8 to 103, but that is not coincident with any decline in the revenue the Government of Hong Kong derives from th e monopol y o f prepared opium, which was 132,00 0 dollars i n 1877, but was sold in 1879 for 205,000 dollars a year. Paper box makers have declined from 21 to 10, and rattan workers from 596 to 448. Of rifle makers we have five in the Colony. Sail and rope makers have increased from 100 to 141, and sandal-wood dealers and workers, from 74 to 76. Workers in sapanwood have declined from 96 to 20, and though there is apparently a decline in the number of sauce manufacturers from 49 to 41, there has been an increase in the quantity of sauce manufactured.I may mention that a short time before the late Mr. Kwok Acheong died, I went with him and two or three other Chinese gentlemen interested in the factory at Yau-ma-ti, to examine the factory, which was in a more or less rude state, the buildings not being then completed. I was glad to see what they were doing. In addition to making soy, they made ketchup for the European market, and they had also a manufactory for preserving fruits. Now, the ketchup is sent in hundreds of barrels every year direct from Hong Kong to a well-known house in London�X that well-known provision merchant whose good things most of us have, from time to time, enjoyed. He sends out thousands of little bottles of his ketchup to Chinese as well as to European storekeepers here, so that, in short, the ketchup we consume as English ketchup is manufactured by Chinese in Hong Kong, sent to England, and this famous provision merchant i n England returns it to us for
retail.I am bound to add, that the latest advices are that the peculiar article which is produced by the Chinese manufacturer at Yau-ma-ti was regarded at the recent sales in London as the best in the market, and our little local manufactory is very successful.I find immediately following this we come to the soap manufacturers; they do not appear in the last census, and they are now only seven in number. There also appears, for the first time, one spectacle-maker. We have Chinese sugar refiners; they have decline d from 25 to 15, and tanners form seven to one. Tobacco manufacturers have increased from 4 4 to 96. Tooth-powder maker s appear also for the fist time; they number 57. Umbrella-makers have increased from 97 to 169, vermilion manufacturers and dealers from 11 1 to 123, and weavers, who appear for the first time in our census, number six. It is, therefore, clear that we have in this Colony numerous local manufactures whic h have every prospect of extending.
But apart from th e question of such manufacturers, ther e are in this Colony, as you all know, various industries employing Chinese artisans. Carpenters have increased from 2,51 0 to 2,923, blacksmiths from 690 to 708 , pewter-smiths from60 to 173 , tinsmiths from 88 to 172, and braziers from 488 to 864. Masons show a falling off from 845 to 542. Rice-pounders have increased from 954 to 1,083 and in stone-cutters there is a large increase�X from 449 to 1,439. The number of tailors now in the Colony, who work with sewing machines mostly, amounts to 1,857. It is an interesting fact, that for these tailors drill is imported into the Colony from England; they make it up with their sewing machines, and the made clothes are then exported to New Zealand and Australia. In that way Chinese cheap labour, even without leaving the atmosphere of China, is, to a certain extent, successfully competing with Australian and English manufacturers of clothes.
There are certain special occupations of the Chinese which are worth noting, as they indicate the prosperity of the natives. We have the birds' nest sellers, who have increased from 12 to 35, the sharks' fins dealers, from 9 to 15, beancurd sellers, from 93 to 107, jadestone dealers, from 8 to 18; but cinnamon dealers have fallen from eight to seven. Sessamum oil dealers appear for the first time, and number five, and ginsen g dealers also appear for the first time, and are four i n number. Joss-paper sellers have increased from 30 to 47, joss-house keepers, from 17 to 41, and chair-coolies, from 859 to 980.
In addition to those who are concerned i n our commerce and trades, there is a certain amount of professional life amongst the Chinese, as shown by the census returns. We had in 1876, 198 Chinese doctors; now we have 333. Well, the question has often been asked, whether Chinese doctors do much good, but I think we may, perhaps, rely upon the good sense of those who employ them and have confidence in their empirical knowledge and skill. But even the European community and the Government of the Colony ow e a debt o f gratitude t o some of those Chinese doctors . Hong Kong is peculiarly situated with respect to the possibility of an influx of small-pox. Perhaps no other port in the world is more liable to a visitation from that disease, and yet, though occasionally I get a report from the Harbour Maste r of a case or two that may be brought here, it does not spread in the Colony. How does that come to pass? I was
Early Settlemen t
talking not long since to the Health Officer, Dr . Adams, and he tells me he has t o examine the Chinese who emigrate, and he finds nearly all the young Chinese have three or four vaccination marks, or inoculation marks, upon the arms. He says he was often puzzled to know how this vaccination came to be apparently so perfect amon g the Chinese. Well, the fact is , that for some years past the doctors of the Tung-w a Hospital hav e vaccinate d extensively , an d som e o f them hav e bee n employe d a s travelling vaccinators, who go about this Colony, and who, since 1878 , visit th e mainland and vaccinate all through the neighbouring province of China. Thousands upon thousands have been vaccinated by them. The returns are printed in our annual Blue Books. Thousands upo n thousand s have been vaccinated durin g the las t fou r years. But when I saw the annual returns sent in by the Colonial Surgeon not many weeks ago, I appended the following minute to that document:-'I cannot find an y return showing the number o f vaccinations by the Medical Officers o f the Colony . Ascertain how many persons have been vaccinated every year for the last four years by the Colonial Surgeon, the Health Officer, th e Superintendent of the Civil Hospital, and the Deputy Superintendent. ' This appears to have been sent to the Colonia l Surgeon for a report. The report of the Colonial Surgeon was very brief:- 'No return has ever been kept.' Whereupon, my honourable friend on my left (the Acting Colonial Secretary) writes to the Colonial Surgeon asking him if he could from his memory, and approximately furnis h th e numbe r h e ha s himself vaccinated , an d ge t th e sam e information fro m th e other Medical Officers o f the Government. The repl y of th e Colonial Surgeon is:-'I have the honour to inform you that 10 persons were vaccinated in the hospital by the Superintendent.I have not been able to obtain an y mor e information from the Superintendent. The Acting Health Officer vaccinated his own child twic e without success .I have performed 32 vaccinations on children, 1 5 unsuccessfully, and about as many more on adults.' And then he proceeds to state that he distributed lymph, which I send to him (it comes to me every mail in my Despatch bag from Downing Street), amongst his professional brethren in the Colony and a t Canton. He adds, that in future he will take care that a record of the vaccinations by the Government officers is kept. It may, of course, be said that the Colonial Surgeon and th e other officer s o f the Government wer e aware of the fact that thi s sem i Administrative duty�X in fact, a duty of no slight importance to the Government and the Colony�X was actually being performed for them by the directors of the Tung-wa Hospital, and, therefore, they did not think it necessary to interfere with the Chinese doctors, who were vaccinating thousands of people, and doing it so well, and who have protected the Colony so thoroughly. Passing from the doctors, we come to the druggists, who have also increased from 16 4 to 243. I find, for the first time in the professiona l life of the Chinese in this Colony, that we have three dentists. About 18 months ago I visited one, not professionally, but for the purpose of seeing the instruments he used, and I then found he had the same apparatus we find in all dentists' establishments. In fact, he did work for the first-rate American dentists we have here, being fully capable of making or repairing sets of teeth. He was a gentleman of intelligence, and impressed me,I must say, as favourably as a dentist could. I also find Chinese architects for the
first time, five in number. For the first time, we also have in the list one geomancer.I have not seen that gentleman, but I find in the list perhaps an antidote to the geomancer; for the first time we see in this list a Chinese barrister-at-law .I think we may all congratulate ourselves on his appearing not only in the census returns as a barrister, but as being also a member, by the Queen's favour, of the Legislature of the Colony.I find also on this list three newspaper editors, but there were three m 1876. They are not exactly the same three, because one, a gentleman who was enumerated in 1876, was a friend of mine, the editor of the 'Chinese Mail,' Mr. Chun Ayin, and I believe that newspaper editor is now receiving a salary of 1,200V per annum as an officer of the Chinese Government in Cuba, where I understand he is the Consul General.I don't know whether I am right in classing them amongst the professional portion of the Chinese community, but I find we have 84 fortune-tellers in the Colony, instead of 46 in 1876. The schoolmasters have increased from 114 to 171, and students from 341 to 2,562. These students are not to be confounded wit h school-boys, who are dealt with in anther part of the census. Most of these gentlemen who return themselves as students are, no doubt, young men, but some of them possibly are old men, who devote themselves to literary pursuits. Portrait painters have increased from 17 0 to 200, and photographers from 30 to 45. Story-tellers have decreased from five to one. Musicians, also,I am sorry to see, have fallen from 70 to 30. If it were not one of those statistical fallacies that sometimes occur, even in the best regulated Registrar General's Office, it would be a melancholy fact, that when our Chinese bankers and bullion dealers come upon the scene, the story-tellers and musicians seem to disappear. Perhaps great material prosperity is not without some drawbacks.
On the whole, it i s manifest w e have in thi s Colony an increased Chines e community of great importance to the commercial interests of England, and, therefore, we may at once answer the question as to this large dealing in land, and may admit it was a just and natural process, and that this transfer o f property from European to Chinese was not of a merely speculative kind.
Now, does Hong Kong fulfil the object for which it was established? That I need hardly ask you, gentlemen, after the briefresume I have given you of our census returns. But it has sometimes been discussed what the object of this Colony is, and in my time I have heard it said that it is a military object, or a naval object, I have generally been of opinion myself it was commercial, but I find on referring to a Despatch of the Secretary of State to Sir John Davis,** where this question was raised, that there it is briefly and clearly laid down for what object thi s Colony was really established, Sir John Davi s had to forward to Her Majesty's Government a memorial from the foreign merchants complaining of the taxation of Hong Kong. They represented that Hong Kong had been established, as they thought, for military objects in China, and on that accoun t they begge d th e Imperia l Government woul d undertak e t o pay for th e cos t o f th e
*Hang, ie tael.
** Governor of Hong Kong, 1844-1846.
Early Settlement
establishments, and that they themselves should be relieved from taxes. The Secretary of State who had to decide this question was a man of great ability. It was in the year 1846. He was then a young man, but he evidently gave due attention to the subject, and, having reviewed the whole question, he expresses his opinion that the occupation of Hong Kong was decided on solely and exclusively with a view to commercial interests; and, in a word, his Despatch said it was established in the interest of trade alone, and that the traders naturally should pay the expenses of the Colony. I find that this same Secretary of State had in a previous Despatch requested the Governor to have land sales in the town of Victoria at which none but Chinese could bid. Representations came from the Governor�X either Sir Henry Pottinger, or Sir John Davis�X that there was a certain clas s of Chinese who would be peculiarly suitabl e for commercial operations, but that, owing to land jobbers, they could not compete at the land auctions in Hong Kong, and therefore the Secretary of State took the rather strong course of saying there should be some land sales at which none but Chinese could bid. Well, he incurred a little local criticism for doing that, but when thi s Despatch o f his was published laying down the purely commercial objects of Hong Kong, and stating that the Colony should pay for itself, the newspapers then printed here commented on it in these terms: 'The answer of Mr. Gladstone i s universally regarded by everyone wit h whom we have conversed since it was published as sealing the fate of Hong Kong. We do not believe it will be met by any violent recrimination or outcry, but the disgust it has excited is such as will not be speedily eradicated. What little trade we ever possessed here has been all but extinguished.' Well, a generation has passed since that criticism was published in the Colony, but I am bound to say, every year since then has justified Mr. Gladstone's policy; and, at this moment, we are in a Colony whose commercial prosperity is perhaps unrivalled. Who now will venture to say that he was not right to encourage the Chinese to buy land and settle in Hong Kong? Who now will differ with Mr. Gladstone as to the true character and object of this Colony?
DOCUMENT I.c2: Hong Kong in 1882, a description (source: Mr Chadwick's Report on the Sanitary Condition of Hong Kong, November 1882 , pp. 8-10, Colonial Office , Eastern No. 38, CO 882/4 Public Record Office, London)
The city of Victoria extends along the shore for a distance of about 3-3/4 miles running back inland for about half a mile. Viewed from the opposite shore of th e Kowloon peninsula, on the extreme left or eastern extremity, a projecting promontory of reclaimed land would be seen, occupied by sugar works. To the westward of this the Wong-na-Chong valley enters the sea. At its mouth is one of the largest pieces of flat land in the island, which is occupied inland, by the racecourse, and harbourward by building lots, at present but partially built upon. Westward of this again, the foot of the hills re-approaches the shore. For a distance of about three quarters of a mile, or up to 1-1/2 mile s from the eastern extremity, the harbour front i s occupied by warehouses, with a few second-class Chinese dwellings . At thi s point th e naval and military establishments commence, occupying about half a mile of the water frontage, the barracks being on the slopes of the hills in rear.
Next to this is the City Hall, behind which are the public gardens. For about half a mile westward of the City Hall, the water front is occupied by the stores and office s of the principal European mercantile houses. Behind this the town climbs the side of the hill, terrace above terrace, to a height of 400 feet and more. Here are the majority of European-dwellings and the Chinese houses of the better class.
A further length of half a mile is occupied, i n front, by the principal Chines e warehouses, in rear is the densely packed Chinese quarter. This portion of about one mile west of the City Hall may be said to be the heart of the town. In front o f it are anchored seagoing and river steamers of all sizes, sailing vessels and junks, whilst inshore, alongside the wharf, is a dense mass of boats and barges. The Praya here presents a scene o f the greatest activity . To the west o f this, again, the movement rapidl y diminishes. Towards the western extremity, Slaughter-house or Belchers Point, Chinese warehouses line the shore, behind are dwellings, chiefly Chinese, but the whole has the appearanceoH a district but partially developed.
Slaughter-house Point may, for the present, be considered as the western extremity of the city . Beyond thi s i s Belchers Bay , or Lap-sap-wan ('Rubbis h Bay') ; works of reclamation are actually in hand.
The streets running up the slopes of the hill, at right angles to the shore line, are far too steep for wheeled vehicles. In some cases, indeed they are formed int o steps; carriages drawn by horses are virtually unused. For passenger traffic a large number of 'Jinrickshaws,' small carriages drawn by men, have been recently introduced, and ply for hire in the Queen's Road and Praya. Chairs carried by coolies are still, however, the usual means of locomotion. Burdens of all sizes and weights are carried by men.
The accompanyin g tabl e (Tabl e 1.1 ) derive d from th e census returns o f 1881, gives an abstract of the statistics of the City of Victoria. The village and rural population is not included. Asiatics are notably unwilling to give any return of their true numbers, and therefore it is impossible to say how far these figures are to be relied on. They are certainly under, not over, the true numbers.
The Chinese form by far the majority o f the population, and of them the me n greatly preponderate, being more than three times more numerous than the women. Hence this large section of the community is not normally constituted.A very large proportion consists of working men, temporarily residing in Hong Kong for purposes of industry and trade. This is clearly shown by the very small number of Chinese families; 9,724 families to68,000 me n and 19,000 women.
Like the Europeans, few of the Chinese are permanent settlers, but only temporary residents, coming to Hong Kong to avail themselves of the facilities offered by British rule, for earning money, with which they propose to return to their own country, to end their days amongst their own people. Even the richer Chinese, who possess much housing property in the Colony, do not, as a rule, settle there with their whole family. Their first or principal wife remains at the home of their ancestors, in their nativ e country.
The small number of really permanent Chinese settlers is due, to some extent, to the want of suitable sites on which they could build houses and plant gardens such as
Table 1. 1 Statistics of the City of Victoria, from Census of 3rd April, 1881
Resident Populatio n
European and American Goa, Indian and Mixe d Blood Chinese
Men Women Boys Girls 935 768 629 638 426 174 185 183 66,928 18,003 8,774 8,680
Totals 3,040 968 102,385
Grand Totals �X �X �X

Number of houses tenanted Number o f inhabitant s pe r hous e Number o f Chines e familie s
Chinese death-rate on census of April 188 1 = �E
Total
68,289
18,945 9,658 9,501
�X
106,393
6,402 Tota
16.6Tota 9,734 Tota
3,358 mille = 122
Temporary Population �X Naval; amd Military Establishment s Police, Crews of Shipping, Prisoners
European Goa,
and Indian Chinese
American and Mixe d
Blood

4,564 735 2,527 131 7 64 158 6 98
97 6 21
4,950 754 2,710
�X �X �X
l European s an d American s l Indian , Goa, and Mixe d l Chines e
Total populatio n
Chinese deaths i n 188 0 recorde d Victoria
27.52per mille.
Total
7,826 202 262 124
�X
8,414
Chinese Boat Population
7,635 3,440 3,061 2,551
�X
16,687 Totals
83,750 22,587 12,981 12,176
�X
131,494
7,990
1,722 121,782
131,494
3,358
they like. It would appear, however, that even in their own country, the Chinese prefer to have their permanent dwelling in some country village, the home of their ancestors, rather than in great cities. Even in Canton, a considerable number out of the vast population of that city are only temporary residents, their wives and families residing elsewhere, in their native villages. This strong attachment to the native place is probably due to the joint family tenure of land which obtains throughout China. Real property does not descend to one heir, but is administered by the senior member for the benefit of the whole family.
From 187 2 to 1876 the population increased at the rate of about 2-3/4 per cent per annum; from 187 6 to 1881 the increase was at the rate of 3 per cent. Seeing that the proportion of women is so small, this increase cannot be due to births, but must be caused almost wholly by immigration.
The Chinese population of Hong Kong comprises representatives of several distinct races or tribes, respectively different i n appearance, habits, and speech. The writte n language i s practically th e same, but i n speaking, the pronunciation an d eve n construction varies so much, that one tribe cannot understand the other.
The following are the three principal tribes:
(1)Th e Pun-tees or Cantonese merchants, shop keepers and artisans.
(2)
Th e Hok-lo, from Amoy and Foochow. These men are chair-coolies, boatmen, etc.

(3)
Th e Hakkas, from the north-east of the province of Canton. They are stone-cutters, barbers, smiths, and labourers. They bring with them many women, who shun the sight of foreigners less, and appear in public more than those of other races. They inhabit principally th e district near West Point. It is most important tha t al l thes e peculiarities be remembered when comparing the vital statistics of Hong Kong with those of other places.


The city of Victoria, with upwards of 130,000 inhabitants out of the total 160,00 0 is virtually Hong Kong. A few small patches of garden cultivation in the valleys are the only agriculture . The bare slopes of the hills afford pastur e to a few goats an d cattle. With these exceptions the island is uncultivated, and judging from the soil, and from the state of the adjacent and similar country on the mainland, it does not appear likely to come under cultivation, to any great extent.
Most of what may be said as to the sanitation of Victoria, applies equally to the villages, only in them the task is simpler, for they are less crowded, and the proximity of cultivation, facilitates the proper disposal of sewage.
The larger villages owe their existence either to European dock establishments, or to the large fleet of fishing and trading junks which resort to the bays on which the y are situated, for shelter, or to refit and victual.
The Kowloon peninsula, however, merits special consideration; the irregular and broken nature o f the soil, forbids i t to be called a first-rate building site, except comparatively to the still more rugged slopes of Hong Kong. Nevertheless, in the absence of any large extent of better ground, it affords space for future extensions as a suburb, and room for manufacturing and commercial establishments.
Early Settlemen t
The peninsula consists of a mass of low but steep hills, tumbled together in, so irregular a manner as to baffle description . Between the hills are narrow flat valley soles, but little above sea level. The geological formation i s the decomposed granit e which i s here seen in the greatest perfection. I n some places large masses of sound granite exists, which are quarried, and afford an excellent building stone.
No stream of importance enter s British territory from the mountains on th e mainland.
The rain falling on the peninsula, percolating through the porous soil appears in the form of rivulets in the valleys, in which wells of no great depth give a good supply of pure water. The valleys are under cultivation with rice and vegetables, and are irrigated from the said streams.
DOCUMENT I.c3 : Chinese houses (source: Mr.Chadwick's Report on the Sanitary Condition of Hong Kong, November 1882 , pp. 10-14, Colonial Office,Eastern No. 38, CO 882/4 Public Record Office, London )
On account of the slope of the ground on which the city of Victoria is built, most of the houses stand on artificial prepared sites, part in bank, part in cutting. Frequently an underground floor or basement of a house facing one street is entered as a ground floor from th e street or alley next below. With thi s partial exception, basements o r cellars under houses are unknown.
The usual building material is a blue Canton brick, not unburned, as often stated, but fired in a closed kiln, whereby the blue colour is produced. As ordinarily imported these bricks are soft and very porous, but they can be procured of good quality.
Red bricks can be obtained, but being more expensive, are rarely used. Granit e from the local quarries is largely employed for door jambs and lintels over shop fronts. It is also used in the form of ashlar in the fronts of the more pretentious buildings.
Most houses are plastered, a few are faced with selected blue bricks rubbed smooth and neatly pointed according to Chinese custom.
The usual roof is of segmental tiles, with semicircular tiles covering the vertical joints, formin g ridges , whic h ofte n terminat e a t th e eave s i n ornamenta l glaze d earthenware finials. In better classes of house an inner layer of segmental tiles is laid, with butt joints on the battens, to form a ceiling; on this is a course of tiles laid with lap joints. The vertical joints of this layer are covered with ridge tiles as before described.
For the ground floor unglazed red tiles are used; frequently, however, there is nothing but rammed earth. Cookhouses and alleys are paved with granite blocks. Upper floors are made of China fir planks supported on round rafters, flattened above and below, to receive the planks and ceiling, if there be one.
Concerning European dwellings little need be said. They are substantial structures, often standing detached, with arched masonry verandas. The observations to be made on the drains of Chinese houses, but too frequently appl y with almost equal force to them also.
The usual type of Chinese house in Hong Kong is essentially different t o that in use on the neighbouring mainland. This is due to some extent, no doubt, to European influence and example, but principally to the necessity for economy of space on account of the high price of land and the great cost of preparing level sites for building. This shows that th e Chinese ar e not s o averse, as commonly supposed, to change thei r habits to suit altered conditions.
According to immemorial custom, in one respect at least, the street frontage o f the house is narrow, being 13 to 16 feet only. The depth back from the street is large, varying from 3 0 to60 feet. Eve n th e houses of the wealthy ar e formed b y unitin g several of these narrow units by doors or archways in the party walls.
If the site be level the houses are often built back-to-back, no lane or space being left between them. If the ground be sloping there will be a lane or gully at the back, often not more than 5 feet wide, sometimes less, and frequently this lane will be at or near the level of what is the first floor in the street in front.
Figures 1, 2, 3 give the general appearance and leading dimensions of a house in Kai-ming Lane , Canto n Bazaar , th e distric t s o frequentl y referre d t o i n th e correspondence with the military authorities. Between Kai-ming Lane and that nex t and parallel to it, are two rows of houses built back-to-back, having a common back wall, and no open space between them. This is by no means an unusual method o f building, especially in the flatter parts of the town. The house depicted in this sketch is a fair specimen of its class, and was selected quite at random. The ground floor i n front is completely open to the street, and is used as a shop or workshop, but in it the shopkeeper or some of his assistants usually sleep. At night the front is closed by upright wooden bars, fitting into sockets in the threshold and lintel, behind which again, in cold weather, shutters are placed. The floor in this case is of rammed earth.
SKETCH SHEWIN G INTERIO R O F HOUSE .
Figure 1
Early Settlement
35


FRONT ELEVATIO N
Figure 2
ui
z
o 2
<
PLAN O F UPPE R FLOO R .
DAMGCRFULO LIT H 22 BCOFOR O S T COVCX T CAAKC * .*>X >
Figure 3
In the house shown in the drawing, as in almost all other dwellings at the rear of the building, on each floor a portion about 7 feet deep is separated from the rest of the house to form the 'cookhouse.' For the inhabitants of the floor the cookhouse has to serve as kitchen, latrine, urinal, and general backyard, and in it not unfrequently ma y be found th e be d o f some member o f the family . The floo r o f the cookhous e i s of granite blocks. Usually it is broken up and disjointed by the efforts of the cook to raise the sink stone to clear the drain or by splitting firewood .
In back-to-back houses, as well as in some of other construction, the ground floor is ventilated and the smoke escapes by a 'smoke-hole' in the first floor, usually about 4 or 5 feet square. There are similar smoke-holes in the floors above, and in the roof. In the house shown in the sketch, however, the smoke hole in the floor was but 12 inches square. Chimneys are the exception. If they exist but little smoke goes up them, th e greater part, if there be no smoke-hole, escaping by the windows, blackening the walls in a most unsightly manner.
Very frequently a space is boarded off on the ground floor in front o f the cook house, forming a store or bedroom. Often a sort of platform or gallery is erected above this, on which several artisans work at their benches, or on which several beds are made. From the ground floor again, a further portion is cut off, containing the narrow steep stair, leading to the upper floors.
In the house i n Kai-ming Lane, like the great majority o f dwelling-houses, th e upper floor is divided off by board partitions into cabins about 9 feet long and 10 feet wide. Each of these forms the dwelling of an individual or family. These cabins do not extend to the full height of the storey. On the contrary they are but about 7 feet 8 inches high; for in order to economise space a platform or floor, locally known as a 'cockloft,' i s constructed above them. The cockloft is almost universal in dwellings of the middle and poorer classes.
In this house in the upper floor only there were five families including 1 6 souls. There were here three cabins and a platform extending over them, and over this passage. Hence th e total cubic space per head was 437-1/2 cubic feet, and this includes th e whole domestic accommodation, with the exception of the cookhouse, and not sleeping room only, which in the case of the cabins does not exceed 130 cubic feet per head. It must be remembered that the lower floor rarely belongs to the inhabitants of the upper floors. Very frequently each floor i s leased separately from the owner , or from hi s 'comprador,' and sublet again to individual lodgers.
The wooden floor of the upper storey is usually encrusted with mud, for the boards are so loosely jointed that it could not be washed without deluging the people below, even were water available for the purpose, which is seldom the case.
In some parts of the town the ground floor also is used as a dwelling. In a house in Peel Street having a frontage of 15 feet and a depth of about 50 feet, the ground floor was divided into four cabins about 10 feet by 10 feet each, inhabited by a family. The head man of this floor was a fireman aboard a local steamer; he paid the rent to the landlord for the whole floor ($8.50 a month). Inhabiting one cabin himself, he sublet the remaining three. The first floor also was divided into four cabins and occupied by
Early Settlement
13 persons; the second floor was occupied by 11 persons, small traders from Shanghai. This house, situated in one of the better streets, is certainly above the average in point of accommodation.
Notwithstanding that Ordinance 8 of 1856 directs that, 'every house shall be provided with a latrine or privy and ashpit ... to the satisfaction o f the Surveyo r General,' anything satisfying the most modest requirement a s to such appliances, is very rarely to be found. In the houses of the poorer classes they do not exist, unless indeed a pot placed i n the corne r of the cookhouse, sometimes enclosed by a few boards, may be considered to be a latrine within the meaning of the Act.
To carry off slopwater, a drain leads from a sink in the cookhouse to the public sewer. The arrangement of these house drains varies so considerably, that it is impossible to determine any general rule of construction, for very often their course and position cannot be ascertained.
Sometimes each house has an independent drain, running out under the floor to the street in front. More often the drain runs from cookhouse to cookhouse, under the party walls of adjacent tenements, till it reaches the end of the row, or is brought out under some one house to the front. Sometimes, but very rarely, the drain runs along a back alley . Not unfrequentl y privat e hous e drain s travers e severa l distinc t lots , o r properties, on their way to the public sewer. It does not appear to be the practice t o make provision for this state of things by easement or otherwise in deeds of transfer. Consequently, if one or more houses out of a row having a common drain are sold and reconstructed, the remaining houses may be deprived of their outlet to the sewer.
For house drains, brick (often the inferior blue brick), is the usual material. It is set in common mortar, an d sometimes bedded i n concrete, but not often. Th e bes t form of house drain in use is a 9-inch half-barrel drain covered with a flat tile. Square brick drains are more common, with flat tile soles and covered with flat tiles. Down some alley-ways a private drain about 2 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 6 inches runs, th e granite covering slabs forming th e pavement o f the alley, the open joints o f whic h freely permit the escape of the emanations from the filthy black deposit with whic h they are filled.
Of late years the Government have made the connection to the main sewer, and constructed the house drain up to the front wall of the house. The remainder of the drain has been left to the uncontrolled intelligenc e of the Chinese builder. No car e whatsoever is taken as to line, gradient, or workmanship.
In February last a new drain was being constructed in the following manner, th e drain was square 1 foot 2 inches wide by 1 foot 3 inches high. The sides were of brick on edge, and did not rest on the tile which formed the sole. Under these circumstances it need hardly be said that a great proportion of house drains are but elongated cesspools, the greater part of their fluid contents filtering into the subsoil. In one case a drain was found having no bottom but the natural soil.
Instances are to be found, where the outer wall of one property is built so close to that o f the adjacen t house , as to leave an inaccessible space between them , whic h services as an open drain. In one case the space between two houses was but 8 inches wide, and it received the filth from windows of cookhouses looking into it.
Something similar was found in Josi Lane opening from Ladder Street.. . Here a drain certainly went down into the gully, but what became of it afterwards could not be discovered.
The slop s from the upper cookhouses ar e conducted dow n by a pipe of rough earthenware, coated with plaster. Frequently this is inside the house, in which case it simply delivers its flow on to the floor of the cookhouse below, as in the case of the house shown in Figs 1-3, Sheet I.
At othe r time s it i s put outsid e the house. As the upstair s lodger s have n o convenience for getting rid of rubbish, much is stuffed into the down pipe, choking it, causing it to leak, and saturate the walls with the filthy fluid, oozing from its imperfect joints. For the same reason, the house drain also is frequently obstructed .
Trapping, disconnection an d ventilatio n o f house drains, may be said to b e unknown. The sewer gas has a free channel to the interior of the house, except when the drai n i s blocked u p with filth. Eve n houses of Europeans may be found, wher e waterclosets and baths within the house or in a veranda, are connected to the drains, without ventilation or disconnection of the soil-pipe, and without any proper trap.
The followin g example s wil l give a n ide a o f the principa l varietie s o f hous e construction. They are by no means extreme cases, some of the houses are quite new, and not yet fully occupied. These will illustrate the working of the Building Ordinance at the present time.
Figures 4 to 12 , Sheet II , show the arrangement o f a block of four houses i n Taipingshan Street. They are of a somewhat different type to that just described, having a lane at the back of them, which is much lower than the street above, so that th e basement is entered at the ground level from it, Figs. 9-10. The cross section, Fig. 9, shows the intermediate floor s or 'cocklofts,'A and B, that have been constructe d between the original floors, and the ground plans, Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, show the way in which they have been subdivided into cabins.
The following is the number of inhabitants and the cubic space per head:-
No. 25 No. 23 No. 21 No. 19
No. of OCCL ipants 11 11 10 0
Basement Cubic spac e per hea d 604 604 665 -
Ground fl Do d o do shop 7 15 30 Do do do -822 383 192
2nd floor Do d o do 20 _ 17 14 Do do do 308 _ 339 441
Early Settlemen t
*�E
FACING ALLE Y
BASEMENT PLA N .
WEST ELEVATIO N
DANGCRriEio LIT H 2 2 BcofonoS * COV.-H T CAHOC *
Figures 4 -12
Here each floor is lighted by two windows in front, and the cookhouse has also a window, by which the smoke principally escapes, but which is of little use to the main room.
Bed spaces were found in the cookhouses. In one of these houses a space of not more than about 2 feet 6 inches square was boarded off beneath the narrow stair to serve as a latrine, that is to say, a pot was kept there. In other houses even this scanty accommodation wa s absent. The down pipes from the upper storey lead int o th e basement, one was burst and had flooded the place. The house drains lead out into the gully at back, and thence their course could not be positively ascertained.
The pair of new houses shown in Figs. 13-20, Sheet III, are not yet fully occupied. They give a good illustration of the manner in which additional accommodation is gained by introducing floors after the building has been constructed. An ample space between floors is shown on the plans sent i n for the approval o f the Inspecto r o f Buildings, which is after construction, halved by the introduction of the cockloft. I n this case it will be observed that in the rear elevation there aretwo rows of windows on the ground floor. It seems more than probable, therefore, that the introduction of a 'cockloft' was contemplated from the first and provision made for it in the design.
The number of inhabitants, &c was �X
Basement Ground 1st 2nd Basement Ground 1st 2n d floor floor floor floor floor floo r
"D
Number of rooms 8 12 5 8 14 10
Number o f peopl e 10 22 U 11 16 41 15 8 u
Cubic fee t per hea d 592 388 o 769 370 208 638 1,05 8
c D
On revisiting, after the drawing was made, it was found that several new partitions had been put up.
There are no chimneys at all to the house. All the smoke escapes by the windows into the narrow lane at the back. The only light which penetrates into the basement is that which finds its way through at the cookhouse, and that which enters by the small area grating about 4 feet by 2 feet, in the street in front. Not only these basement or cellar dwellings, but also those on the ground and upper floors, are so dark, on account of the obstruction in the way of cabins and 'cocklofts/ that in making one's way through to the cookhouse much care is requisite to avoid falling over things.
Fig. 21, Sheet IV , shows No. 22, Station Street . The numbe r o f inhabitants i s given in the drawing and the cubic space per head, exclusive of the cookhouse, which is separated from the main building by an alley, spanned by a narrow gangway. It seems almost impossible to conceive how so many inhabitants could be stowed away in so small a space. Indeed, some had come out into the street to do their work, namely picking oakum.
Fig. 22, Sheet IV, gives the section of a somewhat less crowded building. In the
Early Settlement
FIG II
EAST STREE T
FIG / 3
SECOND FLOO R
FIG 18
1r FIG 14 nnnD�En�En nn nn a nn . un z o <> UJ
n nn n �En nn Jn' o< GQ
FIRST FLOO R FIG 19
a a
a a ai a f < a: > Hui e n
a a �X _ i uiH -

FIG 15
L.
H <
a
Z u i O
a z
a a
�X
^/G 2^
) o IO On
o c QOK o HOW SESP
V) (0
z z 1\F/G 16
m
OQ
m 3
<;
u o
'r=
'EAST STREE T BASEMENT PLA N
r t\.o I TH 22 Beoron o S COVCH T GARDC M -*zj n
Figures 13 - 20
upper storey 25 chair coolies lodged, having erected bunks to sleep on. Here the cubic space per head amounts to 400 on the upper floors. The lower storey was occupied by seven chairmakers, who used it as a workshop and dwelling. It should be noted that the only ventilation for the ground floor cookhouse is a hole 3 feet square in the floor above, so that the whole of the space, nearly 50 feet long, is lighted form one end only. In one of these buildings is there any such thing as a latrine.
Figs. 23-27, Sheet V, show the details of a block of buildings in the district of Taipingshan. It will be observed that there are two floors below the level of the ground on the one side. Also that the middle of the block derives its sole light and ventilation from a narrow central alley arched over at both ends.
The ground or basement floors which open off this alley are chiefly tenanted by hawkers of vegetables. They wash their wares in the alley, and, as the central channel is carelessly laid, the whole place is continually damp and offensive .
The dwellings of these unfortunates are quite dark. The drainage intended by the architect i s shown i n the section , a square channel running fro m cookhouse to cookhouse. Some of these dens were untenanted, so it may be supposed that even poor Chinese shrink from inhabiting such holes as these.
These buildings are recent.
Figs. 28, Sheet VI, and 29, Sheet VII, show the plan and section of a new block of buildings abutting on Queen's Road. Here again the ground and part of the first floor as seen from tha t stree t ar e below the leve l of the interio r alley . In this case som e improvement may be seen in the open space which ventilates the cookhouses of the double bloc k o f buildings facin g Goug h Street . I n practice, however, suc h narro w openings are of little use, as they soon become blocked up with temporary erections.
This block is new and of decidedly superior construction, and on the whole well kept. The drainage , however, wa s remarkably defective; th e drain from th e centra l portion of the block passed down behind the retaining wall forming the back of one of the houses facing Queen's Road, and out under its floor to the main sewer. Being badly made, leaky, and untrapped, a most abominabl e nuisance ensued . This house wa s intended as an hotel for Europeans.
Figs. 26, Sheet V, and 28, Sheet VI, give a fair idea of the way in which access to the interior of large blocks by means of narrow alleys , the inadequate amount of light and ventilation which they afford t o the surrounding buildings. Instances are to b e found where the backs of two rows of buildings are separated by an alley about 4 or 5 feet wide, and where this narrow space has been divided up by boarded partitions. In one instance the alley thus obstructed, is public property.
In some instances , chiefly o n th e leve l ground, near th e harbour, tw o rows of houses face a central lane, which runs completely through the lot from street to street, and which is used as a thoroughfare. These lanes, as well as the narrow gullies, are private property and not scavenged by Government. In blocks built on in this manner inaccessible gullies too often exist between the backs of the houses on one lot and of those on the next.
In Queen's Road and some other streets, permission has been given to construc t
Early Settlement

N?22 STATIO N STREET .
First Floor 33 persons 144 cubic feet touch,
GrouruL Floor 36 .do 133 olo �E do
FcccUisive of CboJdunzse,

GANG | COO K I
WAY.|HOUSE|
-Z4-. 8
COOKl HOUSE!
Figure 21
W�X. 11 MARKE T STREET .
First Floor 25 per sorts 4C0 cubuy feet eouch, Second, Floor 7 do 1331 do do
Fodusu/e, of Cookhouse
NOTE. Orv GrouruL Floor, chair TTuxJcing goes orv so that it is Workshop aruL>
celling i ' for the
I
I > TTverv .
+-7.0.
<-<*-<* J
SMOKE I HOLE!
l-f
.44-. e
Figure 22
JIK
II'" " ' ELEVATIO CJIN IIOA I
ELEVATION CAIN E ROA D
FIG 14-. FIG 25
Jdfl ^njjft^jaMaa AQ ii i i 'i nil ffnniwrii rtJ^B=jm^^ b�G.
ELEVATION TAJPJNCSHA N STREE T I TAIPINGSHAN ; ST R EET . SECTION O N LIN E A B
> FIG 2 7
2
r > Z Z

Figures 23 -27
Early Settlement
COUGH S T R E E T Figure 28

Early Settlement
comparative advantage to land owners in providing residence for them, has caused a continually increasin g intrusion of Chinese houses upon the quarter of the Town formerly occupied exclusively by Europeans. This result would have been comparatively endurable if it were possible for Europeans to live in health or comfort when surrounded by such houses. But unlike the Chinese who have, probably by a long process of natural selection, become inured and insensible to the conditions inseparable from extreme density of population, they are rendered ill and miserable by the effects of habits which such insensibility produces. Thus little by little, and at a gradually increasing rate, the Europeans were being, so to speak, pushed out of the Town of Victoria; and it seemed probable that before long there would be no suitable area for their residence there, and that such as remained in the Colony would have to choose between the alternative of living under most disagreeable and unhealthy conditions, or of incurring the heavy expense, possible only to the comparatively wealthy, of residence in the Hill District.
Had the above state of things been allowed to continue, there can be no doubt that it would have brought about a diminution, if not actual at least relative, of the already small European population, a result which could not be otherwise than prejudicial t o the Chinese themselves . For though possesse d o f many valuabl e characteristics, the latter are still, and are likely to be for a long time to come, lacking in some of the qualities which are essential to true progress; and I can scarcely think there is any opening for rational doubt, that without the presence of a considerable complement of Europeans (apart form those engaged in Government) this Colony could no more maintain, than it could ever have reached, its present condition of prosperity.
By the Ordinance in question, a certain portion of the Town is reserved, not for exclusively European occupation, but for houses built according to European models, and occupied in much more limited numbers than is usual with Chinese. If Chinese choose to live under these conditions, as I am informed they commonly do in the neighbouring Penang, there is nothing in the Ordinance to prevent their doing so; and the provisions of this Law are simply directed to secure for Europeans a prescribed portion of the Town in which they can live in reasonable comfort.

d. I n Retrospec t
Some features o f the early years of Hon g Kong' s history remaine d long -lasting. Stamped on the early character of Hong Kong from It s early days was the transitory nature of its population and it s very Chineseness. Apart from the Chinese population, Westerners and Indians took their respective places in the Hong Kong social hierarchy. These various communities crossed but di d no t mix . Nevertheless , howeve r muc h racia l differenc e migh t contribute to the social divide, race itself was seldom an issue that galvanized organization. It was often remarked in the years to come that the relationships that held among the different communities had continued to improve.
DOCUMENT Ldl : An impressio n of the Chinese in Hong Kong c. 1917 (source: 'The Romance o f Hong Kong, the Progress of Sixty Years', inThe Hong Kong Daily Press, 1857A917, Hon g Kong, 1917, p. 15)
Nothing could be more remarkable than the change of attitude of the Chines e towards the British during the last sixty years. Then, as now, the security of life an d property assured by the Colony attracted large numbers from the Kwangtung province, but the feeling of the officials in those days to 'the outer barbarians' was one of hatred and contempt. Sixty years ago our naval and military forces captured Canton and took the Governor of the City a prisoner. In these days the Governor of Canton attends official ceremonie s i n the Colony an d i s an honoured guest at Government House . The relations between Canton and Hong Kong are most cordial. While the Chinese appreciate to the fullest extent the advantages of many ideas and customs of the British, we, on our part, have learned to understand and respect many of their sterling qualities. Nor mus t w e forget tha t amon g th e citizen s o f the Britis h Empir e ther e ar e som e 3,000,000 of the Chinese race. They have taken no insignificant part in the development of British Malaya, Sarawak and Hong Kong, and we believe they are destined to take a still larger part in the future. They have given freely of their wealth to War funds , and in other ways have assisted the causes of the Allies. We may recall, with pride, the fact that the British Empire offers its citizenship to all who conduct themselves properly and qualify by residence, irrespective of race, creed or colour. Among the subjects of all kinds in our variegated Empire none are more loyal than those of the Far East. We are also glad to believe that there are no greater admirers of the British than the Chinese traders and officials who come into contact with our kith and kin in China.
In this Colony we can see many great contrasts between the Chinese residents of sixty years ago and those of today. Then they were all, more or less, of the social status of the presen t house-bo y o r coolie, or very smal l shop-keeper. Man y wer e closel y associated with, if not actually engaged in, piracy, and all were terrorised by the Chinese officials on the mainland, who incited them to commit murder and robbery. Nowadays the Colony attracts wealthy ex-officials o f even the Peking Government, while there has grown up in our midst a moneyed class of Chinese merchants who own a great proportion of the property in Hong Kong. They have also extensive interests in local industries, and there can be no doubt that their interests will grow.
DOCUMENT I.d2 : A Description of the Population of Hong Kong c. 1921 (source: China Mail 76th Anniversary Number, Hong Kong, March 1921 )
The following figure s extracted fro m the censu s o f 1911 show the differen t nationalities inhabiting the Colony, how they are divided between the urban and rural divisions, and the numerical proportion of children to adults:-
Early Settlemen t
Urban Divisio n Rura l Divisio n Tota l Percentag e o f
children
between 5-1 5
years of ag e
Non-Chinese:
Europeans an d 5,185 5,185 1 3
Americans
Portuguese 2,558 2,558 2 4
Indians an d 3,482 3,482 1 0
others
Chinese:
Land populatio n 273,364 110,352 383,716 12 Urban ;
20 Rura l
Boat populatio n 55,157 55,157 21
*450,098

* Thi s total of 450,098 excludes the Naval and Military forces and the Mercantile Marine.
Upon consideration of the numerical ratio of children of school-going age to the tota l population , tw o distinct group s emerge. This rati o i s in th e case s of th e Portuguese and the rural Chinese about double that which exists among the Europeans and the Americans, the urban Chinese and the Indians, a phenomenon due to the conditions o f transience an d impermanenc e affectin g th e races of the latte r group. There follows immediately a short description of each of the various sections of the population.
English
TheEuropeans an dAmericans (hereafte r fo r convenience called 'English') ar e all classified as being in the urban division: this is not quite accurate: but they are of it and generally near it, and may conveniently be considered as belonging to it.
The lo w proportion of children to adults indicates the transitory nature of this section of the population. It consists largely of young bachelors; many men come out to a temporary employment leaving wife and children at home; often the mother and children are sent home for climatic or other reasons, while the father remains here. Indeed with respect to the most firmly rooted, the cycle of their life may be described as ten years of bachelordom, ten of married life, and ten of family remittances an d expectation o f the hour of retiring. Nevertheless the number o f English children is considerable, though the census figures probably include a number of Eurasians.
Those of the English population who can afford it usually live on the Peak. The next category usually includes the sons of lower grade Government officials, suc h as subordinate officers of the Police and Sanitary Departments, and junior employees of firms in receipt of incomes of �G150 a year to �G500 and upwards, as well as all others whose duties or choice confine the m to the lower levels. While most of the Englis h inhabitants of Hongkong feel the heavy cost of living, it may be said that of 'the poor' as the expression is understood at home, there are none.
Portuguese
ThePortuguese belong entirely t o the urba n population. Of them i t has been said , 'There is a sufficient distinction between the Portuguese population and other Europeans to make this division advisable and interesting.' The Portuguese of Hongkong form a European community settled in the tropics, thoroughly acclimatised, and apparentl y not recruited to any extent from Europe.
In one sense therefore the y are indigenous; but in another alien, as they retai n their allegiance to their own country, and their connection with the Portuguese Colony of Macao. The adults are almost entirely in business or employed as clerks: even th e poorest are unwilling to do manual labour. While a few of the better educated like to cultivate the literary language of their country, they attach greater importance t o a knowledge of English, so much so that there is no demand for the study of Portuguese in the schools which their children attend. The speech of the lowest classes is a degraded form o f Portuguese mixed with Chinese, of no literary possibilities. The Portugues e learn English early in life and quite readily; and the education given in the school s which they attend assumes that this is so. The high percentage of children is evidence of the settled nature of this section of the population.

Indians
The Indians, like the English, are an alien and unstable element. But a considerable number have married, sometimes to Chinese wives, and settled here quasi-permanently. Their sons do well at school and afterwards i n business. Special facilities have bee n made for their education.
TheOthers classified with Indians are Filipinos, Asiatic Jews, Japanese, Eurasians, etc., to whom no special reference need be made.

Chinese: Boat Population
In dealing with theChinese population i t may be well to be rid at once of theboat population. Thes e live , marry an d di e i n the thousan d sea-goin g junks an d slipper -shaped boats calledsampans so characteristic of the Hongkong harbour. I have classified them as 'Rural,' because they have the characteristic of permanence. At any rate they
Early Settlement
are not townspeople. Very little is known about them. They have big families as the figures show, and no education, unless it is education which teaches a child often how to gybe a crank, round-bottomed craft in a gale. A few of their grubby urchins may attend the vernacular schools intermittently for a year or two. It should be understood that these people are a class apart from the other Chinese. The educational scheme of the Colony is open to them, but has not caught them hitherto.

Rural Population
Some description of theChinese rural population proper has already been given. They are, fishers and farmers alike, hard-working, ignorant, narrow and superstitious, as may well be imagined. What is more surprising is their desire for education and the respect in which they hold it.

Urban Population
There remains for consideration the most important section of the community, th e Chinese urban population of all sorts and conditions, merchants, clerks, shopkeepers, and skille d an d casua l labour . To the number o f 270,000 an d upward s i t has bee n attracted to our shores in the last seventy years by opportunities o f business and it s appreciation of security, but in the main not as to a home but as a miner to his camp, a place where gold is won to be enjoyed elsewhere. The average urban Chinese never regards Hongkong in any other light: he returns to his village every festival day of his life, and if he dies here, retires thither for burial. This does not prevent him fro m establishing domestic ties with us; but the proportion of children to adults as already shown is little more than one half of what it is in the case of his compatriots of the rural and boat population. The inference is fairly clear that half his wives and children are absent in China.

Educational Policy
It will next be convenient to explain briefly the policy adopted with reference to the education of each of these sections of the population, before describing the school s and other educational institutions which are the embodiment of that policy.
English children born in the tropics have the same right to a wholesome education as have their happier home-born brothers, though the circumstances of climate an d tropical environment must in any case weigh heavily against them. In the words of the Committee o f Education o f 1901 , 'it i s undesirable tha t the y should i n their mos t impressionable years be associated with the children of alien beliefs and other ethical standards.' It is particularly undesirable that they should get an insight into mixed and illegitimate establishments. Further it is not possible to yoke young English children, who have a knowledge of their own speech but little else, with much older children who know a great deal else, and wish to begin the study of English.
It is upon these considerations that the British schools were founded. It is believed that thes e school s ar e pioneers i n the history o f education o f the Empire. Th e Government realises the justice of making the ratepayers contribute as little as possible towards the cost of this school, and the fees are therefore put as high as the parents can afford.
These schools are conducted on a Protestant-Christian basis and are visited by the clergy of the Anglican and Union Churches.
The obligation to supply a good education to our Indian fellow-subjects is strongly felt. A small school under Indian masters has long been maintained for their exclusive use, and a still smaller one was recently opened at Kowloon. They act as feeders to the district schools and Queen's College, where the Indian boys hold their own without much difficulty amon g the ablest Chinese. No particular description of these schools is needed.
The establishment o f a superior school for Indians i s under contemplation. Scholastically speaking, the difficulty o f combining the education o f Chinese an d Indians is that while each Class needs to learn its own written language (Urdu in the case of Indians), Chinese is by far the more exacting and lengthy study.
Indigenous, yet of alien nationality, domiciled half here, half in Macao, it might be hard to establish the precise educational claim of the Portuguese. Fortunately th e question does not arise . Their schooling i s amply supplied by the various Roma n Catholic Missions. In any case the demand for a good supply of educated Portuguese to fill clerkships, especially the higher ones, would have to be satisfied.
The case of the boat population is this. They are indigenous, which gives them a moral claim to education. On the other hand, they have no natural desire for it. The alternative seems to lie between compulsory education with its vast attendant difficultie s in Hongkong, and the policy of masterly inactivity which the Education Departmen t has hitherto adopted .
Until 1913 , hardly anything wa s done fo r the Rural populatio n excep t th e establishment by the Missions of one or two vernacular Grant schools. Three smal l Government schools where English is taught are also maintained in the New Territories: but they are of little importance, and not worth a detailed description. An indigenous population and one with a deep respect for education, the New Territories have urgent claims, and the obligation of the Government to meet them is heavy. That so little has hitherto been done is due to two causes- lack of funds and the preponderant need during the past twelve years of establishing a sound secondary system of education in Hongkong. The beginning of an elaborate system has been made under which the best private schools in the New Territories are to be encouraged by small subsidies.
But the main educational problem attaches t o the urban Chinese . It has bee n shown how they all, with the partial exception of the poorest, are bound to the Colony by the easiest of connections. This ephemeral quality of merchant or shopkeeper very greatly relieves the sense of responsibility with which an educator must regard him.
Early Settlement
There need be no talk of free, much less of compulsory education. The Chinese, as a rule, comes here for what he can make; so we must educate his sons for what we can make of them. How much is that?

Demand for an English Education
Since Chinese is so difficult a language that it is only studied by Government officials, missionaries an d Sik h policemen , Englis h mus t b e th e genera l mediu m o f communication. Thus at the very outset, we are committed to the establishment of English schools for the Chinese, not as a moral obligation, but as a commercial necessity. Such schools cannot be worked at a lower fee than between $5 and $10 a month for each pupil. But this is more than very many Chinese of the most desirable classes can afford. I t follows if such schools are to be established, the ratepayers must share th e cost, and, as a matter of fact, they halve it. The great majority of the ratepayers being Chinese, this really means that those of them who have no children at school pay in part for those who have.
It has been objected that though local taxes are fairly spent on the education of Chinese connected with the Colony, others should be carefully excluded who come to Hongkong for that education alone, and without any intention of making a lengthy settlement. I n theory thi s position i s reasonable: in practice nothing short o f a Commission upon the antecedents of each applicant would arrive at the truth. And so it i s necessary t o console ourselve s with th e facts , first , tha t Chines e boy s utterl y unconnected with the place would really find their way here; and secondly, that Chinese who have received a good English education and been impressed with the stamp of a Hongkong school are an asset sooner or later to be realised, whether they settle down in China a s merchants, or pass examination an d become members of the Chines e Civil Service.

A Matter of Expediency
This, and the insatiable demand among the Chinese to attend English schools makes the way very clear. No sentimental feeling for instance, need rap the judgement i n carrying out the statesman-like advice of the Indian Education Commission of 1882.
'We think it generally desirable that even in primary schools fees should be raised as far as is consistent with the spread of education Th e whole educational fund is inadequate to the supply of schools for every group of villages, and those who enjo y the advantage o f a school should contribute towards its cost so as to promote the establishment of similar institutions elsewhere. But we do not overlook the wants of the struggling poor, nor of exceptionally backward races and tracts.'
Some exception from this doctrine of expediency must be made in the case of the poorest of classes. In the first place, cost of travel has somewhat reduced their tie with the mainland. And then, because they are less aware of the value of education, th e more need is there to give it to them. Their requirements are very modest.

Chinese Must Study Their Own Language
Another axiom on which our educational policy rests, is that Chinese are not educated unless they possess a reasonable facility with their own written language . This ha s been the better opinion among both English and Chinese authorities for many years. Attempts have been made to blur the argument by references to the controversy over the value of Latin or Greek. The cases are not parallel. A Chinese engineer will find himself in difficulties if he cannot read a specification when ten miles inland, or a doctor who cannot write a prescription.
Conveniently for the Department it is the habit of the better class Chinese to give their sons a few years Chinese education (usually in their own villages) before they bring the m int o ou r sphere. It i s thus only necessary t o hold Chines e entranc e examinations i n the English schools, and to maintain and improv e this so to speak pre-natal knowledge. The great number of small vernacular schools in Hongkong both Missionary and private are supported on the contrary by the poorer part of the urban population, wh o do not desir e an English education fo r their sons . Thus broadl y speaking, Hongkong is concerned with the English education of the wealthier of the urban Chinese, and the vernacular education of the poorer. Further reference will be made to an educational ladder making it possible for the sons of the very poorest t o obtain a free education through the English schools into the University.
Some description has now been given of the two main classes of the population which lie receptive to the hand of the educationist, the urban, and the rural.
Of these the Urban Division falls naturally into three divisions. First, the English and Indians who, while alien to the Colony are native to the Empire and claim their rights as such; second, the Chinese Urban population which has claims based less on a moral right than urgent expediency; third, the Portuguese who hold a position between the first two, being neither altogether residents of the Colony, not altogether alien to it. The education of the Urban population is by now fairly established.
The rural population proper although possessing great claims has hitherto received but little attention. The boat population which is classed with it drifts along contentedly ignorant , and unaware whether it is a loser by its ignorance or not.
DOCUMENT Ld3 : Mutual toleration (source: Geoffrey Roble y Sayer, Hong Kong, 1862-1919,Years of Discretion, edited and with additional notes by D.M. Emrys Evans, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1975, pp. 128-129. The manuscript for this book was completed in 1939. The author came to Hong Kong in 1910 and retired as Director of Education in 1938.)
It is a considerable development to have taken place in a brief fifty years, and parallel with it is to be found als o a progressive change in the relationship o f the Chinese t o the English community. We need no t describe it in all its aspects. Th e history of the residential reservations, real and so-called, sufficiently illustrate s the
Early Settlement
point. Originally without part of lot in the centre of the town, for the simple reason that Elliot's original land sales were (no t unnaturally) ope n only to Europeans, th e Chinese were in their turn soon allotted sites in contiguous areas. In fact the old factory system so familiar in Canton by which the visitor from overseas was strictly confine d without the gate was closely reproduced (excepting the physical barrier) in Hong Kong, with this difference, of course, that in the Colony it was the English who occupied the centre of the stage, the Chinese who took the wings. A generation or so later, in the consulship of Hennessy, the hard and fast line drawn around this de facto Europea n reserve was in part relaxed, the business section of the Central District being officially pronounced accessible to Chinese purchasers and Chinese occupants.
Ten years later, the European main body having meantime retired to the hills, the position of the residential section on the mid-levels was in turn reviewed by Governor Des Voeux and a 'European reservation' was created�X a reservation which, so far from excluding Chinese, expressly admitted them on terms (namely the acceptance of European conditions ) �X to territory hitherto closed to them. In 1904, Nathan's first year in office, the exclusively European retreat on the Peak was in turn accorded de jure recognition as such. But in 1918 Sir Henry May reversed the step, substituting for the Peak Reservation Ordinance a new Ordinance of the same name which demanded of all who desired to reside in the old European reserve that they submit their claim to do so to the Governor's decision.
Here indeed is a striking change, but in these fourteen years, and notably in the years following the Chinese revolution, many new things have occurred and amon g them i s to be detected a palpable rapprochement i n the relationship o f the tw o communities. The blind instinc t to exclude, the blind resentment a t exclusiveness, yields to a conscious desire to find common ground, and from that desire springs naturally a mutual respect for privacy and a sensitive disinclination to intrude.
It is on this note that I close. After all it is the keynote of the piece. Had this small island been kept as a purely European retreat�X on the pattern, for example, of Shameen, its history, though perhaps curious, would inevitably be trivial. It is as the point of impact of the scientific West upon the philosophic East, of military Europe upon civilian China, that Hong Kong claims our real interest. Here�X at her own doorstep�X China, and her e�X after traversing half th e world�X England, abruptly confront thei r antitheses. Here two peoples, each profoundly confident o f its own superiority, meet face to face. The onlooker, stepping back a pace or two, watches the reaction of the one upon the other with curiosity, and not without a smile.

CHAPTER TW O




THE CHINESE COMMUNITY I N EARLY HONG KONG
For most of the Chinese people who lived in Hong Kong, Hong Kong was not home until they made it their home. Like the foreigners, they had come to Hong Kong as outsiders. Like the foreigners, they started out detached from their village and family, uncertain of the future in this foreign land, but hopeful that one day they might go home �X home, from where they had come �X enriched .
The village society from where the Chinese came, as one can see it today in the New Territories of Hong Kong, was dominated by the religion of place and descent. Ancestral halls would be built where people of the same surnam e settle d together . I n th e urba n an d refuge e environmen t o f Hong Kong , few people had the fortune of staying i n a group with a substantial number of people of their own surnames. But temples and shrines were dedicated to territorial deities, from whom protection might be sought for all affairs in life and in death. Temples and shrines, therefore, dotted the Chinese settlements of Hong Kong as they dot, even now, the villages of the New Territories.
The community away from home that the temple provided mattered a great deal to the Chinese people. The Chinese deity was sacrificed to because he or she was able to protect. Many offerings would hav e been made by individual worshippers, and little organization would have been needed in such individual offerings. However, in order to ensure that the temple might be looked after, and in order to invite the deity to bless not only the individual, but also the community, some organization would hav e been needed. In the village, villagers migh t take turns to serve the deity; but even in the village, it was not uncommon for managers to be appointed every year, and for the worshippers to organize themselves into a society that came together on the occasion of the deity's birthday for a feast after the offering. In worship,
therefore, was derived a sense of comfort that came from the sharing of an activity. On e doe s no t hav e t o assum e tha t religio n mus t matte r t o al l immigrants to see the prominence of the temple as a focus of the communal bond. The successful wh o attributed their success to the glory of the god would hav e contributed t o the grandeur o f the temple. The temple, architecturally unique and ideologically distinct from beliefs of the Western tradition, symbolized the independence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong. Yet, surely that was not all there was to Chinese society. Surely, that Chinese people could b e so used to handling their own affair s di d no t imply that government might or needed be kept at arm's length.
a* Th e Temple and Its Community
Nevertheless, for all it s managerial independence , the temple was neve r very far away from the imperial system. Emperors granted titles to deities, deities were officials to an emperor of all deities, temple liturgies imitated imperial practices, the temple was the deity's court. When Chinese people invited their village deity to Hong Kong, they re-enacted the ritual relationship that the village ha d establishe d wit h th e imperia l regime , and th e deit y would only gradually lose its local connection as it took on the new urban clientele. Such was the case of Lord Shek Lau in Quarry Bay. The deity was known among the Hakkas for his ability to cure disease, but he stayed on, gathered a reputation fo r hi s ability to deal with venerea l diseas e an d developed a clientele that came to him for it s cure. When the following passage was written, the respect due to him for that ability was yet to come. In 1889, newly installed, he was remembered for his connection to home and village.
DOCUMENT Il.al : Deities from home: a dedication to the Venerable Shek-lau, 1889 (source: Stone inscription found at the Quarry Bay Yi Paak Kung Temple, recorded in David Faure, Bernard Luk and Alice Ngai-ha Lun Ng, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1986, pp. 231-232)
Clouds fly over rock surface, adding miracle to miracle.
On the moon beyond the tower, there you trace his immortal steps.
A summary of the propitious deeds that defended the nation and sheltered the
people: At Fou Tong Pui Range of Wang Po Yeuk at Cheung Lok county is located the
grave of our lineage uncle the venerable Wo Chen. He was also known by his other
name, Shek Lau. And, because he was the second-born, the people in the lineage
called him Second Uncle Shek Lau.
He was clever and willing to learn. He was very knowledgeable and knew all there was to know in the classics and the histories.
He attende d th e junior officia l examinatio n bu t did not pass . He me t a n extraordinary man who taught him the craft of the extraordinary, and he learnt all its mysteries.
At the time, an uprising took place in the county city. So he gave up the idea of seeking advancement, and attended to the high intentions of becoming a hermit. He knew how to bring about changes, and he did much that benefited th e people. The people in the village acknowledged his benevolence, and when he died, they set up an altar at his grave to sacrifice t o him. Day by day, the number of people who praye d there increased.
In the Qianlong period,* the Maau Shan sect used its teachings to harm people. People wh o wer e bewitche d wer e suppresse d b y the incens e tha t cam e fro m th e venerable gentleman and the sect came to an end. Thereafter, people practised spirit writing and cast divining blocks at his altar, and all who asked for medicines or protection received th e mos t propitious responses. Especially notable wa s the inciden t i n th e winter of the Yimao year in the Xianfeng reign [1855]. The Red Turban Chak Fo Ku came with thousands to disturb the county, and they were very fierce. At the battle of Kau Leng, all living things panicked. Our lineage went with the medium to seek advice from the venerable gentleman, and speaking through the medium, the gentleman said, 'Do not fear, for the troops are coming. You should be united in your hearts, and wait for them at the Filled-in Tin Mine-shaft. [A t that spot], you will have in front of you the natural grandeur of the mighty river, which the bandits cannot cross easily. On the range, there will be many flags, while on the banks of the river, you will make many embankments. I shall lead the spirit troops to help you, and the bandits will depart in a few days.'
Our lineage did as we were told. The bandits watched our forces from afar , an d saw that our fortification wa s orderly and that we were stationed all over the place. Moreover, they saw that we were many and well-fortified, w e had no fear. So they gathered themselves and said, 'Wherever our flags pointed, we destroyed all as if it were dead branches, and all surrendered at the sight of us. Only this place has mounted an iron-clad defence. How would it be easy to defeat it?'
We fought three skirmishes and on all three occasions we won. Countless bandits were killed. Our men chased them until we reached Siu To. On tha t day at theyin hour, heavy fog blocked out the sky, and a strong wind whirled across the ground. The rebels heard drums in their dreams. They panicked, and could barely get dressed. Their tents and all were discarded, emptied. By thechen hour, the fog had become so dense that you could not see the face of the man standing in front of you. The rebels cried out in fear, These people are helped by the gods. We must not fight them.' After that ,
* 1736-179 5
they dispersed and crossed the ranges into Lung Chuen. In the Bingchen year [1856], the rebel Lo Ah Tim came to disturb our place. The venerable gentleman again revealed to the medium how we should defend ourselves and our lineage following his instructions set our men at th e Tin Mine-shaft t o mount th e defence. Our initiative wa s overwhelming. When the rebels heard of it they escaped. In these two actions, Shiu* and others personally served, and that is why we can describe these events in detail. Magistrate Lo, who was known by his posthumous name, Hon Lung, came to Cheung Lok with the rank of a Hanlin, an d he said to Shiu and others, 'On thes e variou s occasions when the rebels attacked our county, if it had not been for the power an d propitiousness of the venerable Shek Lau, we would have been defeated. Great is his achievement in defending the nation and sheltering the people. I shall write a detailed account of it and petition for an award so that he may be sacrificed to. This is how we should thank the god.' For this purpose, the god was granted an honorific board, as an award for the peace of the land. The board read, 'Defence of the village.'
On this present occasion of a new altar being built in Hong Kong, to prepare for his propitiousness, we record his history in brief and carve it on stone, so that thos e who sacrifice to the venerable gentleman may know of his propitiousness and military might. By showing his propitiousness..., the liturgy for the sacrifice may be determined. We invite him, and petition for an award to be granted to him. How can this [temple] be treated as an illegal temple and his sacrifice be treated as wild sacrifice?
To be appended is Lord Ma, known also as Yi Yam, a nephew of Second Uncle. In life, his nature was honest and straight and his body strong and handsome. He thought little of serving as an official, and wanted to travel afar. He helped people to sort out their differences, helpe d th e weak and suppressed th e strong . At th e time o f th e beginning of the dynasty, there were many bandit disturbances. The gentleman le d the militia to dispel them. He was brave and marched ahead of others. His strength was such he could fight a hundred men. People relied on the gentleman as they would rely on a great wall, and he was willing to defend them. He rode on a bamboo horse, and he went not towards the capital but to Jiangxi. Because he was a good runner, he was known a s Lord Ma. Most Jiangxi people who had asked the gentleman t o save them d o not forge t hi s benevolence. He i s sacrificed t o in the temples to this day. People call him 'Father' .
In the 1 5 th year of Guangxu i n the Qing dynasty, the year of Jichou [1889] , in spring. . . , by 18th generation descendant Ngai Shiu, alias Lai Shang, student of the sixth military rank, recommended for the post of deputy police chief.
Few temples succeeded a s much as the Man Mo Temple on Hollywoo d Road. Built in 1847 and dedicated to the literati deity Man Cheung and th e warrior deity M o Tai , who respectively oversaw fortune i n the officia l examinations and the sense of righteousness, the Man Mo Temple was given
Author of this essay.
pride of place among temples in Hong Kong. Yet temples and their deities were at most curiosities to the Western community o f Hon g Kong . The procession of the deities on the occasion of the repai r of the Man Mo Temple in 1893 shows that the Western and the Chinese communities met but did not mix .
DOCUMENT II.a2: Procession of the deities of the Man Mo Temple (source: China Mail, land 2 March 1893)
March 1, 1893 The streets have been so croweded with Chinese today that it is almost impossible to get about the busier thoroughfare. Not only have thousands of visitors arrived fro m Canton an d th e neare r village s to witness th e grea t three-da y procession , bu t th e Chinese places of business in different part s of the town have been closed to enable the workmen to prepare for the carnival, which is likely to be one of the most noisy and distracting ever held in the Colony. Permission has been given to begin the din at 9 o'oclock tomorro w morning. As a matter of fact th e beating of gongs and othe r noises have begun already.
March 2, 1893 The procession in connection with the Man Mo temple commenced in all its noisy hideousness thi s morning, an d i n some parts o f the tow n busines s wa s practicall y suspended for several hours. About tiffin hour a protest was at last raised by the banks and business houses in Queen's Road, and an order was given for the Police to divert the procession from making a second jouney along Queen's Road from Pottinger Street to the City Hall. The execution of this order nearly gave rise to a riot....
b. Chines e Guilds and Other Voluntary Associations
7 Th e temple s an d thei r committee s wer e typica l o f th e association s tha t Chinese people founded among themselves. Trade and regional associations
* I wer e neve r reall y ver y fa r fro m som e religiou s affiliation . Representative s ; [ electe d by the guilds and the merchants, in a process that nobody seemed '?! t o know very much about, made up the committee of the TungWah Hospital I! tha t was founded in 1870. The committee of the Tung Wah Hospital served
as spokesmen of the Chinese community. Until a prominent Chinese person , ! wa s appointe d t o th e Legislativ e Counci l fro m 1880 , the y wer e th e Li community' s onl y spokesmen. *
See also Government and Politics Documents V.a1 -a3 and b1 -b6 on appointment to the Legislative Council and traditional channels of communication with the Hong Kong government.
The Hong Kong government was uncomfortable with these associations: for a longtime, it did not quite know what they were, and by the time it did, it was suspicious that the Chinese leadership that was involved in voluntary associations might have harboured ulterior motives. The Po Leung Kuk, set up by Chines e merchants t o protect women wh o had bee n sol d int o prostitution, would have been a case in point. The Hong Kong government agreed that poor young women snatched from their native villages should be saved,* but did the Chinese directors of the Po Leung Kuk treat as well as they should the women i t saved from prostitution ? In the interview below, the Westerners appointed t o the commission t o examine the activities of the Po Leung Kuk in 1892 were highly suspicious of the arrangements that had been made to marry off its inmates while the director of the Po Leung Kuk found the sense of fair play exhibited by these Westerners uncalled for even i f not confrontational .Ye t the voluntary associatio n thrived, fo r government needed the contribution of these voluntary efforts as much as the voluntary bodies needed the support of the government.
DOCUMENT ILbl: Questions of trust and mutual convenience (source: 'Reports of the Special Committee to Investigate and Report on Certain Points Connected with the Bill for the Incorporation of the Po Leung Kuk, or Society for the Protection of Women and Girls', pp. 31-39, Sessional Papers, 1893)**
Mr. Ho Fook called ....
Q. �X ho w are these cases [i.e. cases of women referred to the Po Leung Kuk �X Ed.] investigated now?
For more on these women, see chapter 4. The history of the Po Leung Kuk up to the time of the enquiry is outlined in the minority report given byT.H. Whitehead, a member of the special committee appointed in 1892: 'There is no evidence that there ever were any subscribers to the Po Leung Kuk as a separate and distinct Society. For 1878 and 1879 there are no lists and no accounts; the cost of providing food was borne by the Tung Wah Hospital; any other costs and expenses were borne by Mr Fung Ming Shan and others, the first members of the Committee, out of their own pockets. There are accounts from August, 1880, or thereabouts to August, 1892, and they show that the total receipts of the Society during these twelve years amounted from subscriptions and contributions from the Directors to $1,330. In addition there have been loans from the Tung Wah Hospital and the Man Mo Temple to the amount of $2,600, and from the Government grants or gifts of $1,050. No Home has ever been established or attempted to be established. The women and girls were housed in the Tung Wah Hospital to the great inconvenience of patients there and to the very doubtful advantage of the women and girls themselves, and food and clothing has been found by the Tung Wah, a separate and distinct Corporation. There have been no annual meetings of subscribers to the Po Leung Kuk, for there were none, and of course no proper elections of members of the Committee. The meetings have either been meetings of members of the Tung Wah, or of the general public, and the persons elected have
A. �XB y the Committee.
�XB y the members of the Board?
Q.
A. i�XB y as many as are present.
�XHo w many are present?
Q.
A. �XThre e or four.
�XNeve r only one member?
Q.
A. �X No , always more than that.
Honourable C.P. Chater�X I was told there was sometimes only one.
The Chairman�X Who was your informant?
Honourable C.P. Chater�X I do not remember.
Honourable Ho Kai�X I can say there are generally two or three as far as I know.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X But sometimes only one?
A.�X I have never seen only one. There are generally two or three.
The Chairman�X I may say that every letter sent to me as Registrar General is signed by two members. We had that in evidence last time. It came out during the examination ofMr.WaiYuk.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X As regards that subscription for $30,000 did you aid the Society in collecting it?
A.�X I did nothing at all.
Q.�X Di d you know who did?
A.�X I think th e members of the Committee fo r last year and th e year befor e collected it.
Q.�X D o you think that the whole of the money will ultimately be paid.
A.�X Yes , certainly, unless they allow some to hang on for a few years and the n times may have changed.
Q.�X An d people maygo away?
A.�X Yes .
been generally the Tung Wah Committee men. It is not even certain ... on what principle or how the Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk was elected or appointed or whether there was an election or a mere nomination. A book containing the names of the original members of the Society in 1881 has been produced . . ., but there is no register of later date. It is evident that the book cannot be correct because if there were 122 members there must have been at least $1,220 to the credit of the Society, but i n 1880-188 2 nothing appears in the accounts but subscriptions from the Directors, receipts from the former Emigration Enquiry Office, and a subscription of $100 from the Lai Hing firm/
(p. xii of the report)
Q.�X Di d any man outside the Po Leung Kuk assist in the collection of this money?
A.�X I don't know.
Q.�X Yo u haven't heard?
A.�X No.
Q.�X Hav e you heard that the Registrar General assisted in the collection of it?
The Chairman�X That has nothing whatever t o do with the question before the meeting. Any accusation s agains t th e Registra r Genera l ca n b e made outsid e thi s committee.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead (to witness)�X The Po Leung Kuk is practically governed by the Registrar General, isn't it?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X I n fact, the Po Leung Kuk is the Registrar General?
A.�X No , not that .
Q.�X A s a matter of fact he decides everything?
A.�X H e decides everything; but these people have to find out everything for him.
Q.�X H e sits in judgement on the Committee?
A.
�X Yes .

The Chairman�X Under the present rules of the Po Leung Kuk has the Registra r General any control over the Society?

A.
�X N o control, but they choose to work with him.


Q.�X Doe s not the Registrar General invariably consult the Po Leung Kuk with regard to any girls sent to the Po Leung Kuk?
A.�X Yes , he asks for recommendations.
Q.�X An d is it not his rule to adopt these recommendations?
A.�X Yes , as a rule.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X There have been exceptions?
A.�X Yes , certainly.
Q.�X Tha t being the case does it discourage the Po Leung Kuk from carrying on their work?
A.�X I f the Registrar General was right it would not discourage them.
Q.�X I f he happened to be wrong?
A.
�X Then , of course, they wouldn't like it.

The Chairman�X Have yo u ever known a case where there has been a serious disagreement?

A.
�X No , not a serious disagreement.


Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X You told us of one.
The Chairman�X I will explain that to the Committee.
Mr. Ho Fook�X That was in 1883 or 1884.
Honourable Ho Kai�X It was a matter of form I think. There was some disagreement about the form of marriage, wasn't there?
Mr. Ho Fook�X Yes, the Po Leung Kuk Committee objected t o bridal chairs being used.
The Chairman�X Do you remember Dr . Stewart having a discussion with the P o Leung Kuk on the question of the bridal sedan? The Po Leung Kuk differed from him on that question, didn't they?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Th e point wa s finally carried by the Registrar General. The opinion he combated was that a girl rescued from distress was not entitled to the same respect shown to other girls?
A.�X Yes . Of course, if you marry a girl you must go through the proper ceremony.
Q.�X Tha t includes the use of the bridal sedan?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Th e Registrar General wished to show as much respect for the girls as possible ?
A.�X Yes .
Honourable Ho Kai�X Prostitutes and such like?
A.�X Yes , he made no distinction.
Q.�X Th e Chinese are all against it?
A.�X Unles s you want the girls to be taken as concubines.I don't see why they should not use the bridal chairs.
Q.�X Yo u know that it is sometimes impossible to get rid of them as first wives. You know that the Po Leung Kuk Committee, or some of them, considered tha t the girls would do very well as second wives to respectable men?
A.�X Th e English law does not permit bigamy.
Q.�X I know that, but some of your friends and relations have concubines in this Colony?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X The y are in an English colony?
A.�X Yes , but if the Society was associated with the Government would they permit it?
Q.�X The y are permitting it every day, aren't they?
A.�X I f they will permit these girls to be taken away as concubines that is all right.
Q.
�X Tha t is, if they are comfortable and well provided for?

A.�XYes , but the Government might not allow such a thing to go on.

Q.
�X I know that, but I only ask whether that was not the point of dispute between the Committee and the Registrar General.


The Chairman�X And the rule laid down by the former Registrar General has been carried out?
A.�X Yes .
The Chairman�X In Chinese marriage customs the bridal sedan is an indispensabl e accompaniment of a marriage. No legal marriage is complete without it. The Committee of the Po Leung Kuk of that day went to Dr. Stewart and said�X These girls have led improper lives, why should we treat them i n the same way as respectable girls?' Dr. Stewart said, in reply, that he would not allow them to be treated in any way different from respectable women. They come, he said, under the protection of the Society and he intended to show his respect for them as much as he would for his own daughter had he one. That was the difficulty. Bu t afterwards the matter was arranged and now whenever a marriage is celebrated it is insisted that the document for hiring the bridal chair should be produced and then filed in the Office with the other documents. With regard to the other point, as to taking girls as second wives, the Registrar General from the very start set his face against it. Ever since I have known the office, and up to the present day, we have never sanctioned the taking of a girl as a concubine, because it was felt that you have no security in such a case, that the girl will not be got rid of.A respectable Chinaman treats his concubine well; but it might be possible for a man, so disposed to get rid of his concubine more easily than his wife, for among the Chinese the union with a concubine is not considered so binding as the union with a legal wife. For that reason the Registrar General set his face against the system of concubinage, and also because concubinage is not recognised by our law.
Hon. C.P. Chater�X The P o Leung Kuk have never given these women awa y as concubines?
The Chairman�X No, never.
Honourable Ho Kai�X The mother sometimes gets the girl out and ultimately she is given away as second wife, but it is not done with the Registrar General's knowledge and consent.
The Chairman�X If a girl is given out under security the surety must arrange to have her properly married, and, so far as I am aware, they are always married as first wives. There may be cases outside in which the girls are given as concubines.
Honourable Ho Kai�X Yes, there are cases in Hong Kong in which girls are taken , though not from the Registrar General's Office, as concubines.
The Chairman�X Then they must be out of our control because one of the provisions of handing them over is that they should be married as a first wife and brought u p properly. The case you refer to, I think, is where the girl was detained in Hong Kong and sent to the Po Leung Kuk and it was then found out that she had already been sold to a man as his concubine. She was handed back to the mother to arrange for her marriage. The mother came down and took the girl away. She came from the country. We really had nothing whatever to do with the girl.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X What happened to the girl?
Honourable Ho Kai�X She was married as a concubine.
Honourable C.P. Chater�X Are there many cases like that?
Honourable Ho Kai�X The account given by the Chairman is correct, but what induced the P o Leung Kuk, i n the first instance , to approach Dr . Stewart wa s that the y experienced considerable difficulty in getting rid of those girls who had been prostitutes. A large number of the Chinese, in fact practically the whole of the Chinese Community, do not care to take a second-hand girl, as you may call her, as first wife. It is a kind of article of faith with them.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X Then as regards these girls who have formerly been prostitutes, is there any difficulty placed in the way of their being made concubines?
Mr. Ho Fook�X The Registrar General does not sanction it, and therefore they cannot do it.
Honourable C.P. Chater�X The Registrar General tells us that he insists that there is a clause in the bond that the girls should be married as first wives. Dr. Ho Kai tells us that they do not get married as concubines.
The Chairman�X Do you know, Dr. Ho Kai, whether the girl was married under the auspices of the Society?
Honourable Ho Kai�X I do not say under the auspices of the Society. When they are handed back I know that sometimes they have been married as concubines and not as first wives.
Honourable C.P . Chater�X You say that it is almost compulsory that the first wif e should be a respectable woman?
Honourable Ho Kai�X Certainly.
Honourable C.P. Chater�X Then all these bonds given to the Registrar General have been violated?
Honourable Ho Kai�X I don't know that, I don't know whether the bonds have been
violated i n any way. The Registrar General explained i n this particular case that I mentioned that he had taken no bond.I can mention one or two cases. One case I know where a Committee man's brother took a girl out and she became his concubine. I think that it was during the present Registrar General's absence.
The Chairman�X That does not matter whether I was absent or not as long as it was done in connection with the Po Leung Kuk.
Honourable Ho Kai�X I have witnesses to prove that it was done.
The Chairman�X I should like to know about it.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead (to the witness)�X Do you know anything about this?
A.�X No , I do not.
Q.�X O r any similar case?
A.�X No , I don't. There has been a good deal of talk that some of the bonds were violated in some way or another.
Honourable Ho Kai�X Understand me. I don't mean to say that it was in connection with the Registrar General, but when the Registrar General has let them go outside, I know of cases in which they were married as concubines.
Honourable C.P. Chater�X In one case you say that she was taken out by a brother of a Committee man of the Po Leung Kuk?
Honourable Ho Kai�X Yes.
The Chairman�X If he has violated the bond he has of course rendered himself liable.
Honourable C.P. Chater (to witness)�X Do you know of any other members of the Committee, or their relatives, who have taken a s concubines girl s who have bee n inmates of the Home?
A.�X No.
Honourable Ho Kai�X I remember these cases because, at the time, I thought it was not quite proper, because if the Registrar General holds one rule it ought to be binding. I don't quite approve of the rule myself personally. Among the Chinese a girl, who is a reclaimed prostitute, has no chance of being married as a first wife.
The Chairman�X It has not been found to be impossible. Many girls have been married as first wives who have come down here as prostitutes for a short time.
Mr. Ho Fook�X It would take a longer time.
The Chairman�X You must remember that the fact the man gets his wife for nothing weighs a good deal.
Honourable Ho Kai�X But such a wife would have no status at the house in the country, and they would degrade her. If any Chinese is known to have taken a prostitute as first wife, he would lose caste.
Honourable F.H. May�X Are you of opinion, Mr. Ho Fook, that we ought to do away with that restriction on concubines?
Witness�X Yes, privately of course. But there is the question of expediency.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X Therefore that th e decision should res t with th e permanent committee of the Po Leung Kuk?
A.
�X Yes , you might find a few men to take some of the girls as first wives, but if you have a girl who is old or ugly you will find some difficulty in disposing of her.

The Chairman�X Have you ever heard of a case in which one of the Committee has got possession of one of these girls improperly?

A.
�X No , I have never heard; I don't remember, but I may have heard it . If the name of the man was given to me it might refresh my memory.


Honourable C.P. Chater�X You don't know of your own knowledge that any member of the Committee, past or present, has as his concubine an y woman who has bee n released from the Po Leung Kuk under the bond which the Chairman has spoken of?
A.�X I haven't heard of any case.
Honourable Ho Kai�X I don't know whether she was released under a bond in this particular case.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X Who signs and is responsible for the bond?
The Chairman�X I will show you a copy of the bond.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X Who are security?
The Chairman�X That depends. Satisfactory security has always to be found. When the people go away to the mainland, it is rather difficult t o keep any check on them. We ca n onl y do our best and w e try to prevent ourselve s being deceived. (T o th e witness). Have you any extra checks to suggest which would secure the liberty of these girls more than at present?
A.�X No . Whatever check you may provide, if the people themselves desire to deceive they generally carry out their object .
Q.�X The n is it your opinion that what is done now cannot be improved upon?
A.�X No , it cannot.
Q.�X Yo u think there has been an improvement in this respect during the last 10 years?
A.�X Yes .
Honourable T. H. Whitehead�X That is that at the beginning it was not such an easy matter to deal with these cases as it is now?
The Chairman�X The checks have still to exist.
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X They have been increased from time to time?
Witness�X Yes.I am not suggesting anything, but, as a matter of fact, people ca n deceive the Registrar General, and the Po Leung Kuk too, if they choose.
Honourable C.P. Chater�X You would prefer the ordinance to be passed so as to enable the committee to decide, even if the Registrar General is against them?
A.�X Yes .
Honourable T.H . Whitehead�X Suppose the Government will not grant you that concession, what do you propose to do then? If the Government will not permit th e cases to be decided by the majority of the members of the Po Leung Kuk, what do you propose to do?
A.�X Le t the Government manage the thing themselves.
Q.�X I n that event would the Police be capable of undertaking the work with the assistance of the Chinese?
A.�X Wha t Chinese? What Committee could you get?
Q.�X Ar e there no Chinese here who would be in a position to assist the Police in the work?
A.�X No.
Q.�X Th e Registrar General would be helpless?
A.�X Yes , without the assistance of the Po Leung Kuk.
Q.�X I f you do not get the power to deal with these cases into your own hands you propose to abandon the good work which has been carried on?
A.�X Yes , unless the Government take the work on their own shoulders.
Honourable F.H. May�X I do not understand you to mean that the proceeding you refer to would turn on that point alone. I consider you to mean that it will happen if the Po Leung Kuk does not receive assistance in money and get the ordinance?
A.�X I mean both together. If you don't give the Committee a voice in their affairs, what is the good of having a Society? At the same time if the Government is not going to vote the money, how can the Society be kept up?
Honourable T.H. Whitehead�X But this is a benevolent work and the Society is carrying on this work for the benefit of their own countrywomen, and as the Government ar e incapable of doing it without the aid of the Po Leung Kuk, surely the Society will still assist. If the Government refuses to grant the Society the power to overrule the Registrar General by the majority of votes, what will the Society do?
A.�X Th e Society will throw up the whole thing.
Mr. Wai Long Shan examined, interpreted by Mr Ho Fook.
The Chairman�X You were Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk Committee?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Ho w long did you serve as Chairman?
A.�X On e year.
Q.�X Yo u are compradore in the Telegraph Company?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Ther e is a document here, a memorandum from the Po Leung Kuk Committee with your signature?
A.�X Yes .
Honourable C.P. Chater.�X How long have you been Chairman?
A.�X On e year.
Q.�X Hav e all cases which have gone to the Po Leung Kuk been brought befor e you?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Ever y case?
A.�X Whe n I had time I used to go up every night, but my business sometime s prevented me.
Q.�X D o these investigations take place every night?
A.�X Nearl y every night.
Q.�X Ho w many are present as a rule?
A.�X Tw o men at least.
Q.�X Alway s two men?
A.�X A t least two.
Q.�X D o the Committee arrange between them who are to be there, so as to ensure the presence of two men?
A.�X Ther e are no arrangements about it. According to rule two must be present. Sometimes one man may be a little late and then the clerk would be present with another member of the Committee.
Q.�X Wh o is the clerk?
A.
�X H e looks after the correspondence. Q-�X H e is a servant of the Po Leung Kuk?

A.
�X Yes .


Q.�X H e makes the second when there are no other members present?
A.�X I f another member happens to be late.
Q.�X Doe s that happen often?
A.�X Onl y occasionally.
Q.�X I s the second member ever entirely absent?
A.�X Neve r absent, only late. The report must be signed by two.
Q.�X D o you not know of a single instance in which there have been only one member of the Committee and the Clerk present?
A.�X No , not a single case.
Q.�X Afte r the investigations you send the particulars in to the Registrar General?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X An d are guided by the Registrar General as to what should be done with the girls?
A.�X W e make recommendations.
Q.�X Whic h would you prefer�X the state of things as it is at the present moment or getting the majority of votes to decide as to what should be done with the girls?
A.�X I should prefer that we might decide by the majority of the members of the Board.
Q.�X Ha s not the business of the Society been carried on in a satisfactory manner heretofore?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X An d everything has worked well?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X The n why ask for a change?
A.�X Th e thing would not be right unless the majority decide it.
Q.�X The n the thing has not been right heretofore, but you contend that everything has been satisfactory .
A.�X W e have made our recommendations to the Registrar General and they are generally accepted by him.
Q.�X Wh y should not that be done in the future?
A.�X Yo u see, we are business men. We may get hold of kidnappers, and, if we work without the Government, they may go for us in our commercial affairs .
The Chairman�X You have read the new Ordinance?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Yo u desire that the Society should be associated with the Government, and not be able to act, as at present, independently of the Government ?
A.�X Tha t is so.
Q.�X Tha t is one of the chief advantages?
A.�X Yes .
Q.�X Th e other advantage is with regard to the permanent Committee?
Honourable C.P. Chater�X Why do you want these changes?
A.�X Unde r the old rules the Committee could act independently . There i s no mention o f the Registrar General i n the old rules and we want him t o be associated with us. We desire that the Registrar General should be associated with our work, but we do not want to give the full power to him.
DOCUMENT ILb2 : A Chinese guild in 1912 (source: Extracted from 'Informatio n concerning the Guilds of Masons, Bricklayers, Shipbuilders, Carpenters 6k Contractors', in Miscellaneous Papers 1902-1911, Clementi Papers, Rhodes House Library, Oxford)
Bricklayers
The Bricklayers ' Guild, known a s the 'Kwong Yi T'ong,'is a guild of artisan s numbering about 3,000 members. Its meeting place is at No.2 Upper Rutter Street. The committee-men of the guild are known as Nga Shau and are elected annually on the 13 th day of the 6th moon. Their number varies between 4 and 10, and their duty is to collect guild-fees and control unruly members. In February, 1903, the committee consisted of 4 men:-
Ch'an Yau N o fixed address, but can always be found Kwan Kit b y reference to No. 2, Upper Rutter Street Kwan Yu o f the shop, No.8 Moon Street, ground floor. Tsang Ch'ong Ke No . 10 Station Street, Yaumati, first floor
The retiring Nga Shau recommend to the guild candidates for the committee of the ensuin g year. Influential member s ar e Tsa Weng Kwai, of No 2 , Upper Rutte r Street (ground-floor), who has belonged to the guild for more than 20 years and is one of the original members, and Ch'an Sheng, of No. 2, Upper Rutter Street. The guild is established in Hong Kong only, and has no connection with the bricklayers in Canton. No distinction is made of masters and artisans, and there is no separate guild of masters in the Colony corresponding to the artisan-guild.
Rules of the Bricklayers' Guild
Governments hav e code s an d guild s hav e customs . Government s b y mercifu l administration gives peace to the world, workmen by the use of rules and compasses make squares and circles. We bricklayers are disciples of Lo Pan, apprentices of Duke Pak Sheng, dexterous in making houses. In seeking for prosperity we all rely on th e patron sain t a s our secret ally . We woul d require his help but cannot d o so to ou r satisfaction. Eagerly we erect a tablet to our patron, with a whole heart we worship him. Hence we have set up rules which we all obey, in order that man and God may rejoice together . But unfortunately ou r means are small; and for this reason, afte r consulting together in general meeting, we have decided to open a ledger for recording contributions: thus by united exertion the load will easily be lifted, though one man's strength is insufficient. I t is expected that you will unanimously give your assistance, open your purse-strings and help whole-heartedly th e consummation of this worthy object. Is it not worthy? So much by way of preface.
Our guild is styled the Kwong Yi syndicate. Every year in the 6th month on th e 13th day we must with reverent heart joyfully worship our patron Lo Pan wishing him a thousand birthdays; thus will the saint be pleased, men happy, and joy boundless.
The master-members of our guild must make an initial payment of$ 1, the artisan-members a similar payment of 10 cents: payment to be made by the 13 th day of the 6th moon at latest. Those who join the guild later than that date must pay $2 if masters, and 30 cents if artisans: payment to be made by the 30th day of the 8th moon. Those who join late r still must pay 50 cents and a n additiona l $ 1 on th e first da y of th e following year. Men of 60 years' age or more need not contribute. Contractors mus t pay at the same rates.
Rules:- (1) Members of the guild engaged for odd jobs must enter the facts every month in the guild-ledger, stating the wages they receive. For a job worth $2 or more, the guild-fee is at the rate of one per cent. If a contract is entered into for a whole piece of work, the guild-fee is at the rate of one per cent for a job worth $5 or more: but if the contractor has to pay for the materials, the fee will be 1/2 per cent only. If the fee paid to the syndicate is $25 or more, the syndicate shall make the payee a present of 30 catties of roast pork, a thousand K'ai-hung crackers, artificial flowers, red cloth, paper-money and candles. If the fee is even greater, the present will be increased in proportion.
If a member of the guild is already engaged on the spot for an odd job, no other member may underbid him and oust him from employment: but a member of the guild may accept engagement for an odd job close by and not on the spot where the othe r member is engaged. No quarrelling is permitted.
Similarly no member of the guild is permitted to eject another from employmen t under contract, plan, or specification.
Offences will be investigated by general meeting of the whole guild and a fine payable to the syndicate will be imposed of 5 per cent on the wage of the offender .
(2)
Member s of the guild entering into contract for work must within 10 days register the contract in the ledger of the guild. If they fail to do so, they incur a fine payable to the guild of5 per cent on the value of the contract.

(3)
Member s of the guild receiving work from other members are distinguished as 'Sub-contractors' and 'Contractors.' If a contractor carries out completely the terms of the contract, but there are one or two small things which are not to the taste of his employer, then the contractor will make the requisite alterations: but if many alterations are required, additional wages must be paid. If the work is done too coarsely, or the roof is not waterproof, then the work must be done over again. If a sub-contractor is dilatory and does not do his work, the contractor will complete it himself deducting the expense from the wage due to the sub-contractor. If the sub-contractors give up the work when half finished, the contractor will complete it himself, and will cut the sub-contracto r


to the full extent of the contract money which he the contractor shall have retained in his hands, becoming himself responsible for the payment of guild-dues. If the contractor's workmen steal the property of the employer, then the contractor will himself adjus t the matter: but if the sub-contractor's workmen steal building materials, etc., the money will be cut out of the sub-contractor's contract .
(4)
I f a workman i s permanently engaged, he must enter into a contract and begin work at once. If within one or two days he does not make a start, the contractor will do the work himself or depute another man to do it in his stead. Obstruction is not allowed. The contract will be treated as waste paper. Stirring up strife is not permitted, and any man who does stir up trouble will be tried and punished in general meeting of the guild.

(5)
A man, who has not yet joined the guild but takes odd jobs in Hong Kong, should be invited to join our guild. If he refuses to join, should our guild procure labourers for him, he will be charged guild-tax at the rate of .04 tael per head, if he is a contractor, or .02 tael if he is a labourer. If a man not in the guild is employed by the guild as a master-workman, h e mus t pay .01 tael as guild-money: if employed a s an under -workman, at a daily wage of.08 tael or more, he must pay .005 tael as guild-money. If his daily wage is less than .08 tael, no charge will be made. All these charges are daily. If a stranger comes to Hong Kong from another port, no charge will be made for 7 days after his arrival: but after the 7 th day, the full fee from the date of his arrival must be paid. If he works for a month he must enter the guild. Evasion of this rule will be considered and punished in general meeting of the guild.

(6)
I f owing to change in the contract-plans the additional employment of about one man for 1 0 days or 10 men for one day becomes necessary, the required chang e must be made. But if more labour than this is required, then additional payment must be made and an account rendered of the extra labour necessitated. If additional payment is refused, the contractor must temporarily stop work in expectation of the employer's obtaining another man for the work. Offenders will be tried in general meeting of the guild and will be fined one per cent as guild-tax. If the employer is in a hurry an d wishes to engage another contractor, such contractor, if a member of the guild, can undertake the work only with the consent of the previous contractor, not otherwise. If he takes the work by force int o his hands, his punishment wil l be decided upon i n general meeting of the guild. But if the work is not included in the contract, a member of the guild may undertake to do it, and the previous contractor cannot under our rules bring force to bear upon him. Offenders wil l be punished in general meeting of the guild.

(7)
Th e big contractors have an easy time, but the small contractors a bad time. First ascertain whether a labourer i s honest, then whether he i s skilful. It is most necessary that contracts should be precise in order that subsequent disputes may be avoided. If a sub-contractor completes the work according to contract and hands it over to his employer, then being a subordinate artisa n of small means his account should be settled and his wages paid up to date as soon as possible. At most the employer should not delay more than a month in settling the account. If the employer delays


payment for more than a month, and some work remains incomplete, no member of the guild may do the work until the arrears of wages have been paid off in full. If any one disobeys this rule and takes over the work by force, then he must make good to the previous contractor the full sum still owing to the latter. Should he be unwilling to do so, the guild will deliberate on his punishment. The big contractors deal necessarily with the big employers, but these latter usually have a number of master-bricklayers with whom they deal year after year, and whose wages will frequently be in arrears: but it is scarcely possible to keep distinct the accounts of the different work s on whic h they are engaged: hence the above rule must be obeyed.
(8)
Member s of the guild, if employed on odd jobs by an individual or by a shop must be paid, if master-bricklayers at the rate of 216 taels a day, if under-bricklayers at the rate of .144 taels a day. Therefore, on the average, employing master-bricklayers and under-bricklayers together, the wage of four workmen will be one dollar. From the present year, 1884 A.D., the calculation of wages must be made in accordance wit h this rule, and members of the guild are not at liberty to accept lower rates. If they do so they will be fined 1 0 per cent on their wage.

(9)
Th e above guild-dues are heavy in the case of those who get most work, and light in the case of those who get little. They must be paid at regular intervals, in order that the collectors may not be obliged to pay frequent visits.


(10)Theguild in engaging its accountant an d its treasurer must insist on thei r giving security in money. Four collectors of guild-fees will make collections four times a month, and on each occasion every collector will be paid 216 tael for food an d wages, including their refreshments while collecting. They must all four meet together at 8 a.m., to start on their round, they must walk [sic] hard and collect the fees. They may not, through favour, remit any one's fee. The chop of our guild will be evidence of payment, and any one who pays carelessly, without demanding a receipt, will only have himself to blame. Sums collected must at once be paid over to the treasurer, and the collectors must see with their own eyes that the entry is at once made in the ledger, so that mistakes may be avoided.
(11)Everybricklayer, engaged for a job, must within 3 days make a correct entry of the amount of this wage in the wage-book. If he fails to do so, the guild will enter his wage as being at the rate of 12 taeL per diem: and if the employer is not prepared to pay at that rate, the bricklayer must throw up his job and have his wages paid up to date. If the bricklayer is unwilling to accept the wage, he should not do the work. Force and compulsion must not be used on either side.
(12)Everybricklayer must be industrious and law-abiding: if he is not, but steals property i n the store or th e clothe s o f his fellow-guildmen, h e mus t o n arres t an d conviction by the guild make good the theft and will be fined $3, half of which will be taken by his fellow-guildsmen to purchase wine and make merry. If the culprit stubbornly refuses to pay the fine, he must be given up to Government, and no member of the
Chinese text gives1 qian 2 fen, that is .12 taels.
guild may in future emplo y him: or, if engaged without knowledge of his disgracefu l antecedents, his master must on discovery dismiss him, and his name must be posted in all the labour yards and shops, so that he may not be allowed to mingle with members of the guild: and he may not spend the night in any building belonging to the guild, so that all may be protected against possible injury from him.
(13)Englishmenfix a limit to the number of hours' work that may be done in a
day: we must do the same. The hours of work are therefore to be as follows:-From the 1st day of the 3rd moon to the 30th day of the 6th moon, from 6 a.m. to
6.30p.m. From the 1st day of the 7th moon to the 30th day of the 8th moon, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
From the 1st day of the 9th moon to the 30th day of the 2nd moon, from 6.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The interval for luncheon and rest to be one hour.
(14)If, after working till 10 a.m., rain falls, it shall be reckoned that the half day's work has been done. If again in the afternoon, after working till 4 p.m., rain falls, it shall be considered that the half day's work has been done. If there are sudden showers, which clear off and come on at intervals, work must be continued till noon and again till 6 p.m., in accordance with the rules: if not continued, it shall be reckoned as short time.
(15)Everybricklayer must be paid .015 tael for food daily, that sum not including salt fish, oil and salt. But on the 2nd and 16th days of the month, which are days of sacrifice to Lo Pan every bricklayer must receive .05 tael for food and vegetables: and on each of the 4 annual solstices, every bricklayer must be paid a ration allowance of .07 tael, exclusive of wine.
(16)Eachapprentic e mus t com e t o a n agreemen t wit h hi s master i n th e firs t instance and draw up a deed of apprenticeship. The term of apprenticeship will be 3 years, and the apprentice must attach himself to his master for the full period before he can se t up on hi s own account. If , befor e the term expires, he hire s himself fo r employment at another shop, no member of the guild may engage him. If this rule is broken the runaway apprentice must repay his board to his master at the rate of $3 a month and the man who has unrightfully employed him will be fined $5 to be used by the guild for the celebration of Lo Pan's birthday.
(17 )If a member of the guild has a matter which he wishes to lay before the guild, he must first pay .36 tael in tea and smoke* money to the headmen and the members of the guild for the expenses of advertisement. No member may accept bribes to support an unjust cause , but just decisions must be given. Persons giving help to an unjus t cause will be punished in general meeting of the guild.
That is , tobacco.
(18)Anyoffence agains t the rules must be considered i n general meeting. Th e offender's district must be ascertained and the chief member of the guild for that district will exert his authority over the offender an d reprimand him. Quarrel and assault are not permitted. If a member of the guild fights and is arrested by the Police and fined , the guild will not be responsible.
(19)Obeythese rules and make early payment of the guild-fees: this will be th e high road to prosperity.
Made by the Kwong Yi Syndicate in the 6th moon of the 10th year of Kwong Sou (July-August, 1884 A.D.)
DOCUMENT ILb3 : A Report on the Chinese guilds of Hong Kong, 1912 (source:
A.E. Wood,Report on the Chinese Guilds of Hong Kong, compiled from material collected by the Registrar General, Hong Kong; Noronha & Co., 1912)
The guilds of Hong Kong may be divided into three classes:
(a)
Thos e formed for the establishment of business regulations and rules governing apprenticeship and the proper conduct of appropriate religious ceremonies. These are akin to the craft guilds of medieval Europe, and are mostly law-abiding. The regulations are frequently very minute, and one may trace in them the influence of the 'father and mother' attitude which is so pleasant a feature of ideal Chinese administration. The Artisan Tailor rules, for instance, forbid the introduction of rainhats and other dirty articles into the guild hall, and prohibit work there as an insult to the Patron Saint . Most guild rules contain regulations about food an d premises, and discountenanc e misbehaviour of any kind. The Nam Pak Hong rules are a good type of those based on a desire for commercial honesty.

(b)
Thos e that possess many of the characteristics of a modern Trades Union. These are formed by Masters or by Employees, or sometimes by both in concert, as a weapon for enforcing their terms on opponents. Such guilds appear to be the result of Hong Kong conditions of trade and association with Western methods, rather tha n typically Chinese institutions. They are sometimes turbulent, and often powerful, and are the guilds that call most for the attention of the Government. Important moder n problems, e.g. strikes and a minimum wage, are introduced. Certain guilds employ professional fighter s t o do their persuasion for them, put compulsion o n masters t o engage none but guild-men, and retain lawyers for defence of members who get int o trouble on account of the guild.

(c)
Those that are mutual benefit societie s and Clubs rather than guilds in th e ordinary sens e o f the term. They ar e usually inoffensiv e an d d o good work, bu t sometimes, as in the case of the Blackwoo d Trade, contain th e germ of potentially powerful institutions .


Object of formation
Common to almost every guild of whatever class is the practice of granting burial money to the relatives of deceased members. Originally, perhaps, this, together with the observance of religious customs, was the chief object of Chinese guilds, and it still forms an integral part of the guild's economy. It is interesting to note that Sandalwood Men's Guild was originally the 'long life association', that is to say it was a Burial Fund Club which grew into a Guild. Other objects have since supervened, and Table [2.1] gives a detailed list of those that stimulated the formation of Hong Kong guilds.

Guild fund s
Many of the guilds have considerable funds at their disposal, invested either in their own trade or elsewhere. Sometimes they have real property, and possess their ow n guild-halls, but these are usually rented.
Those guilds that are connected with Canton branches of the same trade may have a twofold source of wealth: e.g., the Tinfoil Guild rejoices in the possession of a house near the West Gate in Canton, where out-of-work Hong Kong members go to rest themselves.
The chief sources of funds are as follows:
(1)
Entranc e Fees. There has been a gradual and general rise in these of late, but they vary very much from guild to guild, ranging from $1.00 to $20.00 or more. Some guilds make a practice of paying expenses out of entrance fees, but this is a bad system, since the raising of the fee tends to frighten away new members, masters cannot get all the men they want, and trouble follows.

(2)
Regula r subscriptions, which are payable monthly, or on two or more Feast Days, or annually. In these again there is no uniformity: they may be anything from 10 cents to $1.00 a time. Under this heading may be placed such sources of income as percentages on commissions, as in the Coal Sub-contractors' Guild, on wages, as in the Masons', and on sales, as in the Rattan(s^fojt)-


(3)Specia l Subscriptions to meet special needs.
The usual expenses of a guild are:-
(1)
Hir e of guild hall, something like $40.00 a month. This item is not, of course, incurred by guilds that own their own hall. Others again have no hall, but meet i n members' shops in rotation, or hold their feasts in a restaurant.

(2)
Periodica l feast in honour of the patron saint or saints. Each dining member pays a special subscription of 40 or 50 cents, but any deficit is met by the guild.

(3)
Paymen t of burial money, and i n some cases, honoraria to the aged on retirement. Special subscriptions are, however, frequently levie d to assist the guild funds in making these payments. Burial money may be anything form $5.00 to $40.00.

(4)
Subscription s to charitable institutions, such as the Po Leung Kuk, and the Tung Wa Hospital.


Table 2. 1 Object of Guild's Formation*
Note - Provision of burial mone y i s among the objects of almost every guild I t is therefore omitted below, for the sake of convenience
Tiffin House s Artisan Tailor s Barbers Blackwood
Boat Brass-smiths
Bricklayers Brothel-waiters Cahfornian Merchant s Carpenters Coal Contractor s Coal Sub-contractor s Boys and Steward s Steamers' Cooks and Boy s Chinese Compositor s European Compositor s
Compradores Builders
Coopers
Copper-smiths
Dyers Eating House Employee s European Tailor s
Fish (sea) Fish (pond ) Nam Pak Hong Masons
Master Tailor s
Piece Good s Pig-buyers Pig-dealers Rattan Chairs (skin)
Provide quarters for employee s Get rise in wages Fix price s Not yet formulated as a guild, but might become an effective one To meet difficulty of wages in advance
(1)
Self-defence of Yaumati against Hong Kong branch of the trade (2 ) Represent interests of employees Represent interest s of employee s Religious customs a club Fix rule s Fix wages and rules unit e masters and men As result of, and in opposition to, Coal Sub-contractors' guild Get rise in wages A clu b A clu b To represent employees' interest and find work for members Do To combat grievance of dismissal without notic e Fix business rules and customs Improve conditions of trade, promote harmony, and, if funds permit, subscribe to charitable institution s Represent employees ' interest s an d suppor t the m durin g strikes

(1)
As result of, and in opposition to, employees' guild

(2)
Represent interests of employees To strengthen the hands of masters against employees To provide substitutes, when leav e require d

(1)
Old guild on e object was to prohibit the use of sewing machines (2 ) Ne w guild t o strengthen the hands of employees, and fix rule s A club Religiou s customs and charitable subscription s Do Fix business rules (Th e preamble is typical )

(1)
Religious Maintai n good relations with employee s

(2)
Fix rules for men v master s 'Peaceful Deliberatio n Society ' Provid e mean s fo r settlin g disputes between masters and men A club Provid e fire-brigade Unite masters and men and fix prices Fix amount o f commissio n Fix rules and tariff


(Table 2 1 cont)
(Table 2.1 cont )