Since the Opium War, imperialism not only mounted an economic, political and cultural invasion of China, but also added to it mass slaugher. This cannot be tolerated! Fo r this reason, by a joint meeting o f all labou r union representatives in Hong Kong, we have decided to take the course of action adopted i n Shanghai, Hankow and other places, to fight imperialis m to its death. For the sake of the survival and dignity of our nation, although w e know that the rapid guns and mighty cannon of the imperialists may kill us, but knowing also that our Chinese nation will die whether or not we struggle, we have decided to die after a struggle rather than dying without a struggle so that our blood can be cast into the glory of our national history. So we are not afraid and are willing to fight to our death with force.
From the night of 19th June, like a big earthquake, the strike broke out in Hong Kong. The seamen , tra m workers and printers made th e first move , and the y wer e followed b y foreign employees , cargo loaders, coal and charcoal workers, and man y other workers . Finally, machinists an d doc k workers also joined i n the strike . In a matter of about fifteen days , all workers were on strike. About 250,000 workers took part and the scene was set. The workers all went by tram and steamer to Qianshan , Jiangmen, Sanshui and Hekou back to Guangzhou.
Foreign employees on Shameen i n Guangzhou als o went on strike at the sam e time.
I must supplement the following. What I said about the 'yellow' union leader s being afraid a t the last moment was real. If the strike had not been initiated by the seamen, tram workers and printers, I am sure the strike would have taken a different turn. In actual fact, the 'yellow' union leaders delayed their decision on a simultaneous strike, and only when the masses of the workers of their own will stopped work that they knew they had to follow suit. So, the decision of the Communist Party corps was correct. The most amusing thing was that the chairman of the Seamen's Union was a rightist of the highest orde r and he was shaken at the las t minute when th e strik e broke out. The seamen forced him to order the strike, saying, 'Are you going to order it or not? If you don't, we'll give you our fists.' So he had to order the strike. Even more amusing, the Hong Kong Chinese Machinists Association wa s a pro-Hong Kong imperialist organization, and it had refused to attend the joint meetings of all labour union representatives or to issue the order to strike even after the strike had started. However, the working masses of machinists and dock workers under it went on strike without waiting for the union's order. This was why the machinists and dock workers were especially late in joining the strike.
The Hong Kong government had known about the strike in advance. It sent out its spies to arrest the strike leaders. It also issued a notice to say, 'The Shanghai incident had nothing to do with Hong Kong. Workers should continue to work and not make any rash move. All trouble-makers would be punished.' This sort of threat made n o impact a t al l on th e strikin g workers. When th e strik e broke out, th e Hon g Kon g government went into panic, and announced a curfew that had been made possible by a law passed during the time of the European War. It announced a ban on the export of food, speci e an d pape r currency . The marine s landed , an d militar y boats patrolle d back and forth on the sea. Immediately, Hong Kong went into a state of seige. But the workers were unafraid and rushed to leave Hong Kong.
The Shakee massacre
The strikers all returned to Guangzhou. On 23rd June, they went with workers fro m Guangzhou, peasants from the suburb, young soldiers and students, totalling 100,00 0 people, on a massive demonstration. When they passed Shakee that was on the other side of the Shameen international settlement, the British and French imperialist s ordered thei r sailor s and policemen t o tak e ai m at the demonstrating masse s fro m behind their sandbags and fire on them with machine guns. At the same time, their gunboats fired to demonstrate their might. After twenty-five minutes, 52 Chinese people lay dead from gunshot, more than 170 were seriously wounded, and innumerable people were hurt. The massacre s that had taken place in Shanghai, Hankou an d Qingda o were re-played i n Guangzhou. However , thi s feat b y the imperialist s stirred up th e determination of the Chinese people to resist. As a result, people from all walks of life fervently supported the Guangzhou-Hong Kong strike.
The strikers' organization
When the strikers arrived in Guangzhou, the All China General Union called a meeting of representatives of the Hong Kong and Shameen unions and adopted an organizational law for the strike committee. The strike committee was made up of thirteen members, of whom Hong Kong was given nine members and Shameen four. The strike committee was governed by the general assembly of strikers' representatives. These were elected on the principle o f one representative fo r ever y 50 people. This was the highes t consultative bod y an d i t was made up of more tha n 80 0 representatives. I t held a meeting every two days. Under the strike committee was set up a secretariat, which was divided into seven sections, that is clerical affairs, propaganda, reception, general affairs, transport, social activities and entertainment.A separate finance committee was set up to raise and keep the funds needed for the strike. Later was added a court, to try the running dogs who sabotaged the strike, who smuggled food and enemies' goods. There wa s also a prison t o keep criminals i n custody . Then a stores and auctio n department was set up, to keep and auction enemies' goods that had been intercepted by the strikers' patrols. A drafting department was established, to draft the organizational laws and regulations for the various departments. An audit department was set up, to audit departmental accounts. A road-building committee was set up, to take charge of road building and repairs. Then there were the patrols (more later), land-and-sea patrol groups, the strikers' hospital, and the propaganda school. Also set up were dining halls and hostels; these were converted from gambling and opium dens as well empty houses in Guangzhou. The whole of Guangzhou was divided into eight districts. In each district was set up a registration point. Registered strikers were given certificates and sent to the hostels. They might have their meals anywhere, as long as they had the certificates and mea l coupons. Still later, there were other departments, to o many t o describ e here. Yes, this strike committee, in reality, was no less than a government. It had absolute power to take charge of all matters related to the strike . The Guangdon g government had n o authority t o intervene. This was why later on th e Hong Kon g imperialists said in their propaganda that it was a 'second government.'
The chairman of the strike committee was Comrade Su Zhaozheng. It happened that when the committee agreed to pass the strike organization laws, the 'yellow' union leaders objected. First, they opposed the establishment of a united strike committee, saying that there should be different organizations handling affairs in Hong Kong and Shameen. But this opinion was knocked down by the meeting. Then they objected to the numerical basis for the selection of strikers' representatives, saying that the unit of representation should be the union. (The 'yellow' unions were for most of them trade guilds with small membership.) This was also knocked down by the committee. Third, the All China General Union had expressed the wish to the Hong Kong trade unions that th e nine member s from Hon g Kong on th e strike committee shoul d includ e a member each from the seamen,- cargo loaders, machinists, coal and charcoal workers and foreign employees, and two members each from the General Association of Labour and the Chinese Labour General Association. They objected to that, suggesting that there should be a free election. But the result of the election was that victory went to the wish of the All China General Union, and so they lost. With these failures, th e intentions of the 'yellow' union leaders in Hong Kong came to nothing. Comrade Su Zhaozheng became chairman with the support of the masses.
In major areas, although we did not yield to the intentions of the yellow ' union leaders, in secondary places we were quite tolerant. For example, we allowed them to continue th e organization that they set up in Hong Kong to initiate the strike, th e Hong Kong Conferation o f Labour, and we gave it a subsidy every month . Many departments also involved them in their work, in order to divide them. These 'yellow' union leaders were widely engaged in corruption during the strike. Later on, they were punished by the general assembly of representatives. Many were tried and sentence d to fixed term imprisonment .
We mus t poin t ou t tha t th e eight-hundre d peopl e genera l assembl y o f representatives made an unimaginable impac t on the strike . Through collectiv e discussion, th e policies of the strike were given unity. Many internal disputes wer e solved through the power and authority of the assembly. The schemes of the 'yellow' trade union leaders and other reactionaries were effectively curtailed by the assembly. All th e intention s o f th e working masse s wer e taken t o the assembl y by th e representatives. News of the strike was taken by the representatives to the masses of workers. Reports were made regularly in the assembly of general affairs an d finance , and they dispelled outside rumours. All important posts in the strike organization were filled by election in the general assembly, and people who were incapable were removed at any time by the assembly. In this way, the strike organization did not deteriorate . Really, the general assembly was the foundation of the strike. It was in the strike that for the first time we had this experience.
It should also be said that the strike committee had all manners of power but not the power to kill. It was precisely over this issue that a fierce struggle took place. After the strike was started, the Hong Kong imperialists sent a large number of running dogs into Guangzhou, to spread rumours and stir up trouble in order to sabotage the strike. A reporter by the name of Lin He tried to induce the seamen to return to work. The court found this a very serious issue and sentenced him to capital punishment. When this news was known, the Chief of the Guangdong Prosecution Bureau objected o n the grounds that 'th e law must be respected and human rights must be guaranteed, ' and that 'the punishment for sabotaging the strike should not be death.' The strikers were very angry, because they believed that the strike brought about an extraordinary situation in the anti-imperialist revolution that should not be governed by ordinary law that migh t be lenient t o traitors. Finally, the Guangdong government se t up a 'special court' to sentence such criminals.
Blockading Hong Kong
Blockading Hong Kong was an experience learned from the 1922 seamen's strike. Once the strikers reached Guangzhou, the unions organized the patrols to blockad e Hong Kong . When th e strik e committee wa s set up, it coordinated th e patrols . I t reorganized and expanded them, set up the headquarters, appointed a commander and an adviser, and these were the brains of the entire force. (Later a seven-man patrol committee was set up.) A chief instructor was appointed, who was in charge of military training. There were five large patrols, each patrol having a senior captain, a deputy captain and an adviser. Each large patrol was divided into three branches, each branch having a branch captain, a deputy branch captain, and an advisory instructor. Each branch was divided into three small patrols, each small patrol coming under a small captain. Each small patrol was in charge of three groups, each group having a group leader and twelve members. (Later on, this structure was slightly changed.) At first , the patrols were made up of more than 2,000 people. Later they were expanded. The responsibilities o f the patrols were to maintain order , arrest running dogs, stop th e transport of food and intercept enemy goods. After the patrols were set up, they were stationed in various ports. As a result, transport between Guangzhou and Hong Kong was totally cut off. Then, because Macau supported Hong Kong, transport to Macau was also stopped. Before Guangdong was united, the blockade was limited to the mouth of the Pearl River, starting from Shenzhen in the east to Qianshan in the west. Later on, when the Guangdong government had retaken the Eest River and the south, the blockade extended t o Shantou i n the east and Beihai i n the west . On the entir e Guangdong coastline, patrols were stationed in all the ports. They stretched out fo r several thousand miles, and they could see one another's banners and hear one another's drums. The patrols also had twelve small boats and several motor boats to assist its duties. They were said to have had more than 400 guns, but only 200 could be used. (We put a lot of energy into getting more guns but did not succeed in adding many.) Under this blockade, Hong Kong had no supply of meat or vegetable. The price of pork increased to more than $1 per catty, and eggs were 50 cents each. Beef went out of existence. Markets might as well not open. Rubbish piled high in the streets, while people wrapped their faeces in paper and threw it into the streets. In the hot summer sun, the stench reached the sky. Hong Kong at the time came to be known as 'smelly harbour.' However, the most painful experience for Hong Kong was the unprecedented set-back on the economy.
Hong Kong's unprecedented economic losses
After the Shakee massacre, the British Consul in Shameen sent us a letter, which said more or less, 'It is good enough to boycott English goods. Why should you go on strke!' At the time we were amazed by that. Later, we learnt from the Chinese Maritim e Customs Trade Returns that every year, Hong Kong's import and export amounted to 150,000,000 pounds sterling, equivalent to 2,520,000,000 Chinese dollars. After th e strike started, all transport and trade came to a halt, and the loss for a month amounted to 210,000,000 dollars , or 7,000,000 dollar s per day . British goods imported int o Guangzhou amounted t o no more than 30 to^0,000,000 dollars . In this way, 5 or 6 days on strike would be equivalent to a year's boycott. What an effective weapon the strike was! That was why we insisted on striking, boycotting and blockading in our encounter with Hong Kong's imperialism.
Yes, since the blockade was imposed, Hong Kong suffered unprecedented losses. We can see this from the news disclosed in Hong Kong newspapers at the time. Let us consider exports. In 1924, exports amounted to �G8,810,000. In 1925, they were only �G4,700,000. The difference was �G4,110,000
Let us consider other areas of Hong Kong's losses, for example, shipping. In 1924, 76,492 ships reached Hong Kong, adding up to a tonnage of 57,000,000 tons, or 210 ships a day of 156,154 tons. However, from July 1925, on average only 34 ships reached
Hong Kong, making up 55,819 tons. Compared to 1924, the number of ships arriving in 1925 went down by 5.5 times, that is, it was only 16 percent of 1924. Tonnage declined by 1.8 times, that is, it was 36 percent of 1924.
Or, for example, many shops went bankrupt. After the strike started, Hong Kong newspapers and the Hong Kong government's gazette reported every day shops that were burgled. In November and December 1925 alone, more than 3,000 shops went bankrupt.
Or, take the banks. After th e strike started, sources of deposits stopped, an d withdrawals increased. Nobody wanted the paper currency, and there was a drain on ready money. Although the newspapers of the time did not say anything about the losses suffered by the banks, we can see that shares had fallen. For example, from 22nd June to 19th October, 1925, the shares of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank fell from 1,290 dollars to 1,140 dollars, a decline of 11.5 percent.
As for government income, after the strike started, the government lost more than half of its customs from imports and exports, land value fell by 50 percent, rent by 40 percent, and so tax revenue certainly dropped. But expenses increased sharply, because the government had to face the strike and add to its military preparation. Yes, the Hong Kong government withdrew from the banks all the 17,000,000 dollars it had in reserve, and drew up a new budget that made a lot of noise about 'dismissing staff and reducing salary.'
This was why the Hong Kong imperialists were so angry with Guangdong
c. Th e Sale of Women
If the strikes of the 1920s demonstrate that new ideologie s fermenting i n post-First World War China were bound to have an impact on Hong Kong, the dispute over the abolition of the mui-tsai, Chinese girls sold into domestic servitude, indicate s that Chinese traditions persisted i n Hong Kong , and, deeply rooted i n the family system, they were not to be readily purged.
The abolition o f the practic e was mad e the subject o f legislatio n i n 1923. The Hong Kong government fully realized th e ineffectivenes s o f legislation i n curbing the practice, but had succombe d t o firm decision s made by the Colonial Office in London. In Hong Kong, the Colonial Office' s decisions becam e th e subjec t o f heate d emotions . Supporter s o f th e legislation formed themselves into an Anti Mui-tsai Society, opponents set up the Society for the Protection of the Mui-tsai. Gatherings were held by both supporters and opponents. Considering the administrative difficultie s of abolishing a practice that had deep roots in Chinese custom, successive Governors of Hong Kong sided with the opponents. But the British hom e government could in no circumstance tolerate the continuation of a practice that could b e construed a s slavery . The la w was passed i n 1923, an d supplemented i n 1929 and 1938.
The use of domestic servant girls, no longer known asmui-tsai, continue d in Hon g Kon g int o the 1950s . Eventually , i t gave way, probabl y les s t o legislation than to rising wages from th e factories .
DOCUMENT IV.cl: In defence of themui-tsai, 'small sister', domestic or bond servant? (source: 'Expert opinion given by the Hon. S.W. Ts'o, O.B.E., LL.D., Chinese member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, in a mui-tsai case tried before the Hong Kong Police Magistrate on 26 September 1929' , Sessional Papers, 1930, pp. 255-260)
In order to understand the answers to the following questions it is necessary first, to have some knowledge of the realmui-tsai system in China. The termmui-tsai, literally translated into English, is 'small sister.' The reason for employing such a term for a class of servant girl s is partly explained b y the Chinese metho d o f teaching youn g children to be polite and to treat those below them with consideration.Mui-tsai, though a servant, is not considered to be like a paid servant and merely a member o f the household, but a member of the family. It is difficult to trace the origin of this system, but from descriptions in old Chinese books this class of young girls was probably th e daughters of paid servants employed in rich or powerful families. For the advancement of their young daughters these servants would deem it fortunate if their daughters were allowed t o be admitted int o such families a s attendants t o the ladie s of the house , where they would be well looked after, having good food and good clothing, and where they could acquir e good manners and gentlenes s and , a s personal attendant s o r companions to the young ladies of the house, they could als o learn needle-work , embroidery, reading, writing and other accomplishments. Being personal attendant s to the ladies they were never required to perform any domestic or menial work, as in such families there were plenty of paid servants to do the menial work. Having attained a certain degree of accomplishment, these girls acquired a status far above that of their parents. When they grew up to a marriageable age, they might and invariably did, through the influence of the master, marry into well-to-do families. In such cases the parents would be too thankful for what was being done for their daughter to interfer e with the arrangements made by the master or mistress for the girl. A connection by marriage with a well-to-do family would mean also the advancement of the family of the parent, although the girl might not be married as a wife but as a concubine. Girls having been brought up in such a way became deeply attached to their mistresses and were greatly trusted by them and the whole family. Instances have occurred, we are told, of such girls making great personal sacrifices for the sake of their mistresses when the master's family got into trouble.
This system of servant girls ormui-tsai became so satisfactory and beneficial t o both sides, particularly to the girls, that poor parents were quite willing to part with their daughter s t o an y well-to-do famil y t o be a mui-tsai, leavin g absolutely i n th e hands of the master or mistress the care and control of their daughters. On the other hand the well-to-do families, finding this class of servant girls so trust-worthy and so much attached to the family, being reared up in the family from quite a tender age, began to appreciate this class of girl servants. Hence th emui-tsai syste m came int o vogue. Poor parents being in need of money would, on parting with their daughter, ask for some compensation for the expense they had incurred since the child's birth, not as a price or value of the girl, but as a refund of such expense. The amount was usually a nominal sum. Unfortunately by taking money the transaction became at once a case of buying and selling of children. However, in such transactions the following conditions attached even to this day by tradition, that is to say :-
(1)
Tha t the master or mistress should be responsible for the welfare and the person of the chil d b y giving her prope r foo d an d clothing , an d i n cas e o f illness, medica l attendance.
(2)
Tha t the girl should be considered to be a member of the family, and not as a paid servant.
(3)
Tha t when she is old enough to be married, she must be properly married by the master or mistress as a wife or concubine.
(4)
Tha t no girl should be sold as a prostitute and this should apply to a mui-tsai as much as to any girl.
(5)
Tha t by custom, when a mui-tsai is engaged to be married, if her parents be then living, the master or mistress should notify the m o f the fact an d the circumstance s attending hereto. If the parents desired to do so they would associate with the family of the girl's husband as if she had been married by them. In such a case the responsibility of the maste r o r mistress would ceas e but i f her parents be dead th e girl , after he r marriage, would be treated in her master's house as a 'quasi daughter' and her husband as a 'quasi-son-in-law'; and all the thousand and one Chinese ceremonies relating to child birth and annual festivities etc., would be performed by and at the expense of the mistress as a mother-in-law.
There is one point I omitted to mention in my memorandum to H.E. the Governor on the questionof mui-tsai, that is (6) a mui-tsai wears mourning on the death of her master or mistress for the same period as that of a daughter. This is custom and is usually done but is not provided by law, as the law only prescribes the period of mourning of persons related to the deceased within the 5 degrees of consanguinity. This point is very important as it shows that a mui-tsai is treated by the Chinese as a foster-daughter.
Now I will proceed to answer the following questions. Question I .I s the document exhibit 'A consistent with:-
(1)A n intent that the child should be adopted as the daughter of first defendant (Lei Wong Shi), or,
(2) A n intent that the child should render to the first defendant service s as a domestic servant?
Or, is the document equally consistent with either such intention?
Answer. Exhibit 'A i s the usual form of a document presenting a daughter to
another family as a mui-tsai. With the explanation of the meaning and position of a mui-tsai in a family as above, a mui-tsai is neither an adopted daughter in the strict legal sense of the word 'adopted' according to Chinese law, nor is she a domestic servant in the ordinary sense of a menial or paid servant. She is rather in the position of a foster-daughter liable to do such domestic service as a natural daughter might be called upon to do at any time. The amount of degree of household work to be performed b y her depends entirely on the social position of the family to which she is attached. Whe n there are plenty of paid servants in the house she is only called upon to do the very light kind of household duties . Therefore Exhibi t ' A i s equally consistent with th e intentions of1 and 2 in the question.
Question 2. Is it customary or usual among the Chinese to adopt daughters?
Answer. No. It is unusual to 'adopt' daughters among the Chinese but they are in the habit of having foster-daughters. The world 'adopt' has a special meaning in the Chinese law. There is only one kind of adoption in the Chinese law, that is, the adoption of an heir male (there i s no such thing as a female heir in China) t o carry on o r continue th e lin e o f lineal descent fo r th e purposes o f ancestral worship. The la w regulates the poorer class of male persons to be adopted as an heir but no regulatio n exists to provide for the adoption of a daughter. To use the word adopt loosely and to apply it to females is rather misleading and confusing .
Question 3 . Would such adoption be usual for an elderly lady whose own only daughter had died? Would the fact that the lady had a son and several grandchildren affect the position?
Answer. To use the wor d 'fostering' .Yes . Particularly with ol d spinster s o r ol d ladies whose children are all married�X more so if the only daughter had died. The fact o f having grand-childre n doe s not affec t th e position. The objec t o f having a foster-daughter i s so that the old lady might have some one constantly near her and that she might receive the little attentions, care and affection o f some one like a daughter. When one foster-daughter i s married, she would look for another.
Question 4 . If a daughter were to be adopted would it be customary or usual to adopt some female relative ?
Answer. As answered in question 2 it is very unusual to adopt a daughter in the strict sense of the word. There is no object in adopting a daughter in the whole fabric of the Chinese Constitution. In the case of relatives, if the family of a relative be in affluent circumstance s no daughter would be given to another man as an adopted or foster-daughter. If the parents of a relative be poor then they would ask compensation for 'rice, ginger and vinegar money'. If that happens, it at once places the child in the same position as a foster-daughter ormui-tsai. Besides, to adopt (using the word in a loose sense) a relative as a daughter one has to be very careful as she must be of a generation next below that of the adopter, otherwise a person of a higher generation (that is, the Aunt Class) might inadvertently be made to become a daughter, which is punishable by law for upsetting the natural family relationship. With regard to strangers no such precaution is needed.
Question 5. Would it be in accordance with Custom to adopt the child of persons entirely unrelated to and unknown to the adoptive parent?
Answer. Yes . See answer 4.
Question 6. Assuming that such an adoption was not contrary to custom, would the adopted child's surname be changed to that of the adoptive parent?
Answer. A s there is no legal adoption of a daughter in China, the change of the surname i s not absolutel y necessary . Some do, however, an d i t al l depends o n th e degree of attachment and affection between the adopter and the adopted .
Question 7 . Would it be in accordance with custom for the surname of a mui-tsai to be changed for that of its adoptive parent? Answer. A mui-tsai is in the position of a foster-daughter and the answer to question 6 applies to this question. Question 8. I s it customary or usual in the case of bona fide adoption for a 'rice, ginger and vinegar fee' to be paid to the child's parent by the adoptive parent?
Answer. A s there is no legal adoption of a daughter in the same sense as that on an adoption of a son, it is usual in the case of a bona fide adoption of a foster-daughter fo r a rice, ginger and vinegar fee, to be paid to the child's parent by the adoptive parent.
Question 9. Is such a fee ever or usually paid in the case of the adoption of a male child? Answer. No . The adoption is done by law. The adoptive parent only decides the person to be adopted among the class of persons adoptable by law.
Question 10. Is it customary o r usual t o insert i n a document evidencing a transaction of adoption double the amount actually paid for a 'rice, ginger and vinegar fee?'
Answer. No. The fee paid in such cases is nominal and not the ascertained expenses. Question 11 . Is it customary or usual in the case of a bona fide adoption to have any document evidencing the transaction?
Answer. I n the case of a bona fide adoption of a son, No. The announcement in the family of the decision of the adopter is sufficient. In the case of a bona fide adoption of a foster-daughter, Yes.
Question 12. Is it customary or usual to stipulate that if the adopted child is found disobedient t o instructions the adoptive parent shall have the right to present th e child to any other person?
Answer. Th e clause is unusual. But it seems there is an inherent right of parents or an adoptive parent to present the child to any other person on the same terms as those of the original deed of presentation if the child turns out to be unmanageable.
Question 13. I s it not th e essenc e o f adoption that th e transaction shall b e irrevocable and that the child thenceforward a t all times stands in the relation of a child to the adoptive parent?
Answer. No . Even the adoption of an heir is not irrevocable. If an adopted heir turns out to be disobedient to the adoptive parent, his adoption may be revoked upon application to a court of law.
Question 14. If such is not the essence of adoption is it not foreign to the conception of adoption that in case of disobedience the adoptive parent should have an unrestricted right to present the child to whomsoever such adoptive parent may choose?
Answer. Th e answer to question 13 applies to this question. In China the parent or the adoptive parent who is in loco parentis seems to have such unrestricted right.
Question 15. h suc h an unrestricted right of presentation in case of disobedience consistent with the child being handed over as a mui-tsai7.
Answer. Yes , it may be so. But the terms of such presentation must be the same as that of the original deed of presentation. That is, either to be a servant, if the original terms meant her to be servant, or a foster-daughter, as the case may be.
Question 16. Is it customary or usual in the case of bona fide adoption to stipulate that the adoptive parent shall have the right to get the child married at her discretion?
Answer. The adoptive parent being a person inloco parentis has the inherent right of a natural parent of making arrangements for the marriage of the adopted or foster-daughter. This stipulation need not be inserted in the deed of presentation but is usually inserted.
Question 17. Is not such a right one which is incidental to the relationship of employer andmui-tsai 7.
Answer. Th e right of marrying a mui-tsai i s incidental to the relationship of the master or mistress and a mui-tsai who is in the position of a foster-daughter; but it does not exist between and employer and a paid servant girl, that isChue Nin Mui ( &^-
#).
Question 18. What i s the strict meaning of the word which i s translated a s 'presented'?
Answer. Th e word translated as presented means 'given as a gift'.
Question 19. Is it a word which one would expect to find used in connection with adoption and/or the establishment of the relationship of employer andmui-tsai 7.
Answer. Th e word ( ii�G ) is used in order to distinguish the relationship between the master or mistress and themui-tsai who is to be treated as a foster-daughter and as a member of the family from that of the relationship between an employer and a paid servant say, the Chue Nin Mui. I f an agreement had to be made between an employer and a paid servant the word used would be ( ff )o r (#.), that is 'to engage'.
Question 20. I s it customary or usual for an employer to provide for a mui-tsai an ample wardrobe, including silk garments and ornaments such as a gold ring and a pair of ear-rings?
Answer. I f the master or mistress is well-to-do and is in the position of a foster parent of a mui-tsai, Yes . If the master or mistress is not rich or is in the position of employer of a paid'mui-tsai', No.
Question 21. I s it customary among the Chinese for the younger daughters of a house to participate in the duties ordinarily performed by domestic servants such as the sweeping of floors, the cleaning of spittoons, dusting of rooms and the like?
Answer. Yes. Not only the younger ones but all daughters. Unless the family employs many servants daughters do perform household duties. It is considered by the Chinese to be a virtue in their daughters to do household duties.
Question 22. Has the parentof a mui-tsai a right to redeem his child and if so upon what terms?
Answer. Yes. The Chinese have the greatest respect for the natural affection between parents and children. If parents desire the return of their daughter after being presented to another family as a mui-tsai for a reunion of their family, a Court of Justice would order the return of the daughter subject to payment of compensation. But in most cases the natural feeling among Chinese in such cases would not oppose the return of the girl provided it is a bona fide case of reunion. Compensation would be paid for the up-keep of the girl calculated in a nominal sum upon the number of years she has been in the master's or mistress' family.
Appendix <B,#
I, Lam Yung, native o f Shek Tsui village, San Wui District, Kwongtung, no w residing at No. 453 Shanghai Street, Mongkok, Yaumati, 2nd floor, am the maker of this Deed for the presentation of my daughter. It happens that I have fallen ill, and have no money to pay for medical expenses. Further the price of rice has gone up and I cannot earn enough to pass my days. Therefore I, after due discussion with my wife, am willing to leave my own daughter named Lam Ah Tseung, aged 7, born on the 21st day of the 12t h moon, to be introduced by my acquaintance Li So Man to Li Wong Shi. It was stipulated and agreed between the 3 parties that a 'rice, ginger and vinegar fee' of $190 in Hong Kong notes should be given me as compensation. The money was personally received by me and the girl Lam Ah Tseung was handed over to Li Wong Shi to be brought up. If the girl is found disobedient to her instructions, Li Wong Shi shall have the right to present the girl to any other person and when the girl grows up in the future, Li Wong Shi shall have the right to get her married at her own discretion. After the girl is presented, each party shall acquiesce in Heaven's decree in case of any misfortune. This is a mutual trust between friends, and has been agreed between both parties; and it is in no way a case of kidnapping. To avoid the unreliability of a verbal promise, this deed is made as proof.
A 'rice , ginger and vinegar fee' of $100 has been personally received by me as compensation for the presentation of my daughter.
Finger-print of Li So Shi�X the witness.
Finger-print an d personal signature of Lam Yung, maker this deed for th e
presentation of his daughter and recipient of the money.
Finger-print of Chan Shi, wife of Lam Yung, who is also a recipient of the money.
(Dated) 4th November, 1924 .
d. Depression , Livelihood and Reform
Just who were the workers of Hong Kong in the 1930s? Is it possible to put some faces on this nondescript word 'work'? Is it possible to pry into the livelihood of people who performed hard physical work in Hong Kong?
# Translatio n of Exhibit 'A'.
The first Labour Officer appointed in Hong Kong probably had the same questions in mind when he wrote his report on labour and labour conditions in 1935. He included i n the report notes on twenty workers he seems to have met randomly in the street. One man, for instance, was found buying cigarettes, a woman was hawking peanuts, and a ricksha man was plying for hire. The man buying cigarettes had worked in Hong Kong for only one and a half years. He shared a cockloft with two other workers, each paying one dollar a month. He had been a farmer, but now in Hong Kong he was a tea-carrying 'coolie'. He earned about five to six dollars a week, but every month h e sent ten dollars hom e to hi s wife and hi s mother. One coul d almost hear the Cantonese spoken when he said, possibly in response to a question asking him how h e spent his leisure time, that 'when n o work, fellow workers come together and discuss affairs.'
But compare this man with the Taikoo Dockyard worker, employed in Hong Kong for nine years. He was principal tenant for a flat; that is to say, he kept one cubical and a sitting room for his family and rented out two
, room s to subtenants. He made 45 dollars a month. His family stayed with him in his flat, even though he still remitted about ten dollars a month to his mother. One can see the difference made in the family budget by being principal tenant . H e pai d 14.5 0 dollar s pe r mont h toward s hi s flat , bu t received 4 dollars each from his two tenants. The difference of a few dollars a month mattered to Hong Kong's workers, because it was only a few dollars that divided them in the social hierarchy . Economic depression in the early 1930s accentuated the difference, while housing congestion , create d b y th e larg e influ x o f refugee s adde d t o th e social divide . One might almost visualize the categories: the flat-owners, the one-flat principal tenants, the one-room sub-tenant, the homeless .... In 1937 alone, the police found 1,353 dead bodies on the streets in Hong Kong. The shortag e o f housin g becam e acute . Th e repor t o f th e Housin g Commission of 1935, which was appointed by the Governor of Hong Kong to 'enquir e int o th e housin g difficultie s . . . with specia l referenc e t o overcrowding and its effect on tuberculosis . ..' commented boldly on the need for a subsidized housing programme for the poor. This very important report, which preceded the Hong Kong government's housing programme in the 1950 s b y twenty years , also made the importan t argumen t tha t provision of housing should take account not only of the human need for light and air, but also the use of space in the family setting.
DOCUMENT I V.dl: Economic depression, 1935 (source: 'Report of the Commission appointed by His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong to enquire into the causes and effects of the present trade depression in Hong Kong and make recommendation for the amelioration of the existing position and the improvement of the trade of the colony, July 1934 - February 1935', Sessional Papers 1935. pp. 75-76)
After the Great War and until 1924 the trade of Hong Kong in common with that of the rest of the world appeared to be steady and prosperous. During that time there ruled a high rate of exchange with sterling. It will be remembered that trade was badly hit by a big shipping strike in 1925. When we come to 1931 we perceive an increase in the Hong Kong dollar value of both imports and exports but the sterling value of the dollar had become less than half what it was in 1924. Since 1931, while there has been a gradual ris e i n the averag e rat e o f exchang e there ha s been a persistent dro p in the dollar value of both imports and exports. Thus in 1931 imports were valued at 652-1/2 millio n dollars or 34-1/2 million pounds sterling, while i n 193 3 the dolla r value of imports had decreased to 432 millions an equivalent of 29 million pounds. This decrease has been accentuated in 1934 and an estimate based on the first nin e months of the year gives for the whole year a dollar value of imports of only $402.8 millions, a rough equivalent in sterling being 29.7 millions.
The sam e tale i s told with regar d t o export s which i n 193 1 amounted t o 54 2 million dollar s or 29 million pounds, i n 193 3 to 403 millio n dollars or 2 7 millio n pounds and in 1934 only 316.8 million dollars or about 23.3 million pounds.
Perhaps the trend of depression as assessed by trade figures may be more accurately shown by those of the first nine months o f 193 4 compared with those of the sam e period of the previous two years as follows:-
(Millions) Imports Export s
1932 $477. 8 = �G31.4 $352. 3 = �G23.2
1933 $381. 1 = �G25.5 $307. 0 = �G20.5
1934 $302. 1 =�G22.3 $237. 6 = �G17.5
It will be seen that i n terms o f Hong Kong currency import s i n th e first nin e months o f 193 4 declined b y 20.7% as compared wit h th e correspondin g perio d o f 1933; an d 36.8% as compared with the corresponding period of 1932, while exports in the first nine months of 1934, declined in value by 22.6% as compared with the first nine months of 1933; and 32.6% as compared with the first nine months of 1932.
Another indication of depression is the fall in wholesale prices. The price index for Hong Kong has been constructed on the basis of the declared quantities and c.i.f. values of commodities imported into Hong Kong, the year 1922 being taken as 100. In 1931 the index stood at a peak of 136.6 whence it has annually increased until for the first half year of 1934 it stands at 95.9.
Further signs of depression are not wanting. If we turn to the Treasury figures of Revenue for the years 1932-1934 we find therein a steady progressive decline in every item and a strongly marked steep decline in those items which may be said to be the fruits of luxury expenditure.
The world wide depression, a reaction from the post war boom, was bound t o touch China and therefore Hon g Kong somewhat later than the western and mor e highly organised countries . It would, of course, be impossible to prescribe a special antidote to this for Hong Kong and as far as the Colony's present position is the result of world depression so far must we await the general improvement in world trade which the more optimistic of us believe now to be commencing, albeit slowly and under the doubtful aegis of economic nationalism.
DOCUMENT IV-d2 : Workers o f Hong Kong in the 1930 s (source : H.R. Butters , Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong, Sessional Papers, 1939, Hong Kong: Norohna 6k Co., 157-163 )
I have taken statements from twenty individuals chosen at random as representative of various classes of workers.
(1)YI U SUN, male, age 30 (found buying cigarettes from stall in Hing Lung Street, Hong Kong, after carrying vegetables)
In Hong Kong one and a half years, came from Kong Moon, Kwangtung Province, to loo k for work; i n Kong Moo n wa s small farmer an d gardener ; no w tea-carryin g coolie for Douglas boats; employed by coolie foreman Ng Pui who is employed by Tea Guild. Wife in country, no children, married four years, supports mother in country. Lives 1 0 Chinese Stree t i n cockloft o n first floor whic h h e share s with tw o fello w workers at one dollar each month. Five families, eighteen adults and six children, on floor.
Employment regular , paid once a week according t o number o f boxes carried; earns five to six dollars a week. When no tea ships, no tea-carrying, carries vegetables at thirty cents to a dollar a day.
Has two meals a day from street stall at twenty cents a meal. Wears clothes he brought from the country. Can sometimes make two dollars a day. If sick, female cousin, 9 Chinese Street, whose husband is also a coolie, looks after him; if very sick would go to hospital. Wife i n Kong Moon weaves at home, can earn very little, mother als o weaves. Sends them about ten dollars a month. They spend six to seven dollars and save the balance in case children are born.
Since arrival in Hong Kong never been back to country, wife never been to Hong Kong. Clansman writes for him two or three times a month. Travelling trader on board Kong Moon boat arranges his remittances and pays them in Chinese currency. Expects to go home on visit in a few months at Ching Ming Festival. Better off here than in Kong Moon; does not smoke opium but spends three cents on cigarettes a day (six cigarettes).
Hours of work: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., sometimes works late till 9 p.m. Average earnings when working $1.60-$ 1.70 a day; Sunday a holiday�X walks about the streets. In the country worships idols, Gods of the sky; in Hong Kong does not care. Cannot read or write. When no work fellow workers come together and discuss affairs.
Winter clothing�X two singlets, two jackets and two trousers (one short); does not wear shoes. Rises 6 a.m., goes to bed 8 p.m.; 5 p.m.- 8 p.m. takes a walk; has a bath at home every two days.
Clansman introduced him to Ng Pui (his immediate employer) half month afte r arrival in Colony; clansman fed him for that half month. Does not gamble; occasionally drinks five cents wine after hard work.
(2)
LA M YEE, female, age 60, (found hawking peanuts in Connaught Road, Hong Kong). In Hong Kong fifteen years, unlicensed hawker, formerly street seamstress but sight failed. Husband died over twenty years ago; after his death came to Hong Kong from Fa Yuen, near Canton, with son, age 23, and daughter. Son emigrated after a year; never hears from him, thinks he has been kidnapped. Daughter married into family in country. No relatives in Hong Kong. Lives in Des Voeux Road West, number unknown. Occupies bedspace, principal tenant has pity on her, no fixed rent, pays on average of about a dollar a month. Cooks her own meals, two meals a day�X rice, salt fish , vegetables�X cost ten cents a day; eats very little. Clothes she wears ten years old. Has been arrested twice for hawking without licence, fined fifty cents each time, lost her capital. Borrowed fresh capital . No news from daughter in country for over a year; daughter is a widow; daughter's family would not allow her in. Was paid between twenty and thirty dollars and some pork and cakes when daughter married. When weathe r bad stays at home�X five families in flat, ten adults, five children. When a seamstress made about the same as hawking peanuts�X fifteen cents a day. Came to Hong Kong as could not make a living in country; when worked in fields did not get enough to eat. Better off in Hong Kong, seldom sick; life in Hong Kong is wonderful i n comparison with the country. No expenses beyond food and rent.
(3)
CHEN G KWAI YING, female, spinster, age 22, outworker, Fung Keong Rubber Factory, Shaukiwan, Hong Kong; lives with brother and sister-in-law at 5 Tai Cheung Street, Sai Wan Ho, rent over four dollars a month. There are four cubicles on the floor, and over twenty persons on the floor. Family occupies one cubicle. Brother has daughter, age three, brother skilled worker in Taikoo Dockyard.
Occupation: stitching uppers together; owns sewing machine for which she paid eighty dollars second-hand. Has made ten dollars deposit with Fung Keong Company; receives sixty to seventy pairs of uppers a day; sister-in-law assists her to certain extent in work; paid according to size and kind. Earns 70 cents to $1.00 a day; ten pair s require from two and a half to three hours. She herself stitches about fifty pairs a day, works every day.
Four years in Hong Kong, came from Canton where she worked in silk factory but market was poor and i t was difficult t o get work. Earns more here than i n Canton . Brother earns over a dollar a day. Family income in all over fifty dollar s a month. Family sends $10 Cantonese ($ 5 Hong Kong) per month to parents in country an d elder brother. They are farmers in Shun Tak. Can read a little but cannot write, never been to school. Goes to pictures sometimes, cannot read newspaper. Not member of any union or guild.
(4)PAN G SO FONG, female, spinster, ag e 24, employed a t Fung Keong Rubbe r
Factory, Shaukiwan, Hong Kong.
Work: Gumming soles and uppers together.
Lives 35 Kam Wah Street, 3rd floor, Shaukiwan, with brother and sister-in-law; brother employed i n office a t Fung Keong at $150 a month. In Hong Kong sinc e childhood, parents i n country. Brought up by brother; was back in country for tw o years. Can read a little and write very little. Was two years at charity school.
Hours: 7 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-6 p.m., 7 p.m.-8 p.m. Been employed for five years, day's work�X forty to fifty pairs at three cents a pair, average earnings over$ 1.20 a day; takes a day off after seven or ten days.
Brother's family occupy a whole floor, rent unknown; sometimes gives brother six dollars toward s it , sometimes nothing. Younge r brother an d siste r and cousi n an d brother's daughter, age four, and two servants, cook and amah, also reside there. Brother sends money home to parents in country. Spends ten dollars per month on herself�X amusements and cosmetics; goes to pictures once or twice a week. Not engaged to be married but saves a little against marriage. Has been trained as first-aid nurse in factory by St. John Ambulance; when she acts as such, receives one dollar a day.
(5)WON G TAI, female, married woman, aged 36, (found carrying sand in Cheung Sha Wan Road, Shamshuipo, Kowloon), husband mason; they occupy half a cockloft; ground floor of Tai Nan Street, Shamshuipo, number unknown, rent $2.20 per month, no children; two children dead.
Carries sand daily for building contractor at forty cents a day, paid twice a month.
Hours: 7 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m.; husband employed on odd jobs 70-80 cents a day when working. She eats on the street while at work, sometimes sends $2-$3 home to brother in country. In Hong Kong eight to nine years; came from Wai Chau, Kwangtung Province, as could not find work in country. Not member of any guild or union.
(6)S O FUK CHOI, female, spinster, age 17, employed Lo Kwok Po weaving factory, 43 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Shamshuipoo, Kowloon. (unregistered) , lives 170 Nan Chang Street, 2nd floor, Shamshuipo, with elder sworn sister (i.e. friend) age 22 years, who does similar work in another factory; parents in Shatin, New Territories, working as farmers; came to Sha Tin seven or eight years ago; born and educated at Shiu Hing, near Canton, an d ca n read an d write; employed here fo r two years, working han d weaving machine; piecework, twenty to thirty cents a day.
Hours: 7 a.m.-lO a.m., 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 6 p.m.-8 p.m., can occasionally have a holiday on private affairs, no pay, generally works seven days a week. Shares a bedspace with sworn sister, formerly $2.30, now $2.40 a month; they buy and cook their own food. Food costs $4-$5 each per month. Sometimes buys clothes,
sometimes receive s them fro m mothe r wh o assist s with on e t o two dollars twice a month. Has to pay for kerosene lamp in house. Not member of any union or guild.
(7)
CHEUN G YAU LIN, female, married, woman, age 31, employed at Wah Na m Battery Company, Pine Street, Taikoktsui, Kowloon. Husband, unemployed seaman, three years unemployed, works occasionally, te n to fifteen days a month, as ship's painter and earns about ten dollars per month. Three children, husband looks after childern while wife works; while husband is also working eldest child, boy, age eleven, looks after the others and cooks the food. Lives in cubicle at 128 Yee Kuk Street, Shamshuipo, Kowloon, for which they pay $3.60 per month. Came to Hong Kong four years ago from Toi Shan, Kwangtung Province, as ship on which husband was employed furequently called at Hong Kong. Work: Wrapping paper round manganes e batteries (electri c torch) an d carbo n sticks. Wages: 21 cents a day. Hours: 7 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-5 p.m., 6 p.m.-8 p.m.; works
every day. Cannot read or write. Is not a member of any union or guild.
(8)
CHEUN G SIU , female, spinster, age 19 , employed at Leung Wing Shing Joss Stick Company, 896 Kremer Street, Taikoktsui, Kowloon.
Came from San Wui, Kwangtung Province, four years ago to look for work; lives with elder sister in Ash Street, Taikoktsui, number unknown�X shares cubicle and pays one dollar per month rent.
Employed four years in joss stick factory, piecework.
Wages: Three and a half cents per thousand joss sticks rolled, earns about 30 cents
a day. Hours: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. with intervals of about forty minutes off at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Is not a member of any guild.
(9)YA M SIU YING, female, spinster, aged 25, Moonlight Torch Factory, 11-27 Yen Chau Street, Shamshuipo, Kowloon. Works machines (various) that stamp out parts of electric torch cases; in present
employment two years. Wages: 25 cents a day, paid fortnightly. Hours: 6:45 a.m.-ll:45 a.m. , 12:4 5 p.m.-5:45 p.m., occasionally works late till 8
p.m. with extra day's pay in three. Works every day of the week.
Lives in Pei Ho Street, Shamshuipo, number unknown, with mother, who works in knitting factory; shares bedspace with mother. Rent for the two women, two dollars a month.
Three years in Hong Kong; came from Canton, where she worked in a similar factory at 35 cents Cantonese a day, until factory closed . Mother and she have just sufficient incom e to live on. Does not remit any money to country. Cannot read or write. Is not a member of any guild or union.
(10)LE I PIU, male aged 48, fisherman (foun d on water front a t Aberdeen, Hon g Kong).
At presen t unemployed , livin g with friend i n Aberdeen; born in Macao, fou r years in Hong Kong since master's boat was dismantled at Aberdeen, now generally on junk fishing in Chinese waters, away from Aberdeen three days to a month at a time.
Wages:$ 18.00 per month and food together with certain perquisites in respect of small fish worth three to five dollars a month. When in regular employment used to be paid six months' wages in advance.
Wife dead , two sons now at work, one daughter married i n Macao. Normally spends on an average about twenty days a month afloat: when employed sleeps board. Wife when alive stayed in Macao. Junk carries over twenty persons including women and children�X these consist of wife and children o f owner and some fishermen' s wives who do cooking.
(11)LA U SAU, male, aged 57, ricksha collie (found plying for hire in Conaught Road, Hong Kong).
In Hong Kong four years, from Swatow, Chiu Yeung District, Kwangtung Province, where he was farmer; was never a ricksha coolie till he came to Hong Kong; no work in country. Wife die d last year in country. One son aged 27, farming i n country (Chi u Yeung District).
Lives 100 Second Street 3rd floor�X coolie lodging house, thirteen coolies divide rent of floor, $17.00, between them. Hires ricksha from owner (licensee) at twenty cents a day, other coolie hires it at twenty eight cents a night. Total earnings 70 cents to $1.00 a day out of which he pays for hire of ricksha and repairs.
Hours of plying for hire: 5 a.m.-3:30 p.m., night coolie then takes over ricksha.
Four meals a day: At home before starting out, cost fifteen cents; in street at 8 a.m., ten cents; in street at 12 noon, ten cent; 5 p.m., at home, 15 cents. Meals at home cooked by himself on charcoal fire.
As it is wet, wearing oilskin coat; material and tailoring cost $1.70. No expenses beyond food, clothing and rent. Sends five to six dollars home each month to son in country. Son does not earn enough. He is too poor to marry.
Is better off in Hong Kong than in Swatow. Cannot read or write. Not a member of any union. When he came to Hong Kong looking for work clansman introduced him to ricksha owner.
(12)CHIN G YUK , male 31, salesman, Men's Department, Wing On Departmen t Stores, Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong.
Wages $30.00 per month, free food and quarters on premises. Free laundry, shaving and hair-cutting. Employed by Wing On Company for fifteen years. Came from Chung Shan, Kwangtung Province, educated from Chung Shan, can read and write Chinese and a little English. Not married. Sends no remittance home. Spends nearly all income on clothes and entertaining friends; dresses in European fashion.
Hours of work: 9 a.m.-8 p.m. with half an hour off for lunch 11:45 a.ni.-12:l5 p.m.; 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Holidays when store is closed�X on Chinese festivals and public holidays.
Three meals a day but morning meal is only congee. If ill, leave without pay . Company provide s doctor an d maintenanc e expense s i n hospital; pays himself fo r medicine dispensed.
Not member of any union.
(13)FUN G SHU PING, male, 24, of Chekiang Province, employed in hand press sub-department, Banknote Department, Chung Hwa Book Company, Pak Tai Street, Mataukok, Kowloon.
Employed b y Chung Hw a Boo k Compan y i n Shanghai, abou t nin e year s i n photographic department. After hostilities Shanghai works closed, came to Hong Kong October, 1938 , on written contract, tim e indefinite, entitling him to two months' wages and twenty dollars fare to Shanghai in event of determination[sic] of contract.
Wages: $15.00 per month, free food ($7.50 rice money), free lodging and light in quarters provided by company, Sung Wong Toi Road, free medical treatment at factory by Chinese doctor qualified in Hong Kong University. If seriously ill sent to Government hospital, employers paying fifty cent s per day. Full wages continue during illness fo r two months, thereafter half wages. If permanently unfit will be sent back to Shanghai. Earns also bonus on production.
Hours: 7.30 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Works occasionally on Sundays . Nine men to one press, standard day's work nine hundred sheets; bonus one cent per sheet additional divided between the nine men; for sheet spoiled fined five cents divided likewise. Can print seventeen hundred sheets per day with certain number spoiled . Share of bonus last month $11.26.
Not married. Expenses chiefly on clothing; remits $10 Hong Kong to Shanghai monthly. Can read and write Chinese and speak and write a little English. Educated at Provincial Government School at Chekiang as day boy, fees about $40 per half year. In Shanghai earned about $70 (Shanghai) before the war. Member of the Chung Hwa Branch of the Hong Kong Printers Union. Was not a member of any union in Shanghai.
(14)LA M SANG, male, aged 34, joiner, Taikoo Dockyard:
Employed there for last nine years. Married, one son four years, residing 61 Main Street, Saiwanho, 1s t floor. Principal tenant of floor, rent $14.50 (formerly $11.00) , retains for self one cubicle and sitting room, has two subtenants at four dollars each. Born San Wui, Kwangtung Province. Came to Hong Kong, aged 16, with a clansman as was poor in country. Apprentice for three years in furniture shop, Wanchai, Hon g Kong, no pay, free board and lodging; then nine dollars per month with free lodgin g but not free food. After two months left shop to look for odd jobs as pay was too low. After several years obtained work at Taikoo, at first under contractor; three years ago joined permanent staff. Time work, $1.26 a day�Xboth under contractor and directly employed.
Hours: 7 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday work�X time and half; over-time
�X time and half. If ill, leave but no pay. Wages amount to about forty five dollars a month, paid monthly. Wife does no
work except house work�Xno servants. Not member of any union or guild. Food fo r family abou t eighteen dollars per month. Remits seven to ten dollars per month t o mother i n country. Can read and write Chinese: learned i n country when boy. No savings.
(15)CHA N PUI, male, 48 years, plater, Taikoo Dockyard:
Married: tw o sons, four daughters eldest aged 22, 48 Saiwanho Stree t groun d floor. Principal tenant paying $11.50 per month, four sub-tenants from whom he collects from $8 to $9, retains one cubicle and bedspace, no servants. Two daughters work at Fung Keong Rubber Factory, earning thirty to sixty cents a day each which they hand over to him; he provides them with house, food and clothing.
Came to Hong Kong, aged 29, from Toi Shan, Kwangtung Province, as no work in country, learned trade for three years at Bailey's Shipyard at forty cents a day�X then i n Kowloon Dock s from tw o to three years�X fifteen year s at Taikoo Dock , employed through a contractor, time work.
Hours: 7 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Wages $1.50 a day. Overtime�X time and half, Sundays�X time and half. Sent remittance to country monthly when mother was alive. Can read and write Chinese. Not member of any union. Eldest son, aged fourteen, goes to private school
�X fees thirteen dollars a year. Only eldest girl went to school. Food for family forty dollars per month.
(16)CHAN YIN, male, 60, coolie in coppersmiths shop, Taikoo Dockyard:
About thirty years in Hong Kong, came from Ching Yuen, Kwangtung Province, to look for work. Formerly employed as ship's painter, Taikoo Dock, but work too hard and dangerous, so became coolie. Employed as such for last seventeen years, wife dead. Resides with son, aged 17 years, apprentice in machine shop at fifteen cents a day, in Dockyard Quarters paying $1.50 per month for one bunk. Son resided with wife i n country until three years ago.
Wages: 9 cents an hour�X 81 cents a day. Hours: 7 a.m.-12 noon, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Overtime and Sunday work�X time and half.
Can rea d and write a little. Son can read and write as he went to school i n country. Son now studying English at night school. When a painter was member of painters' guild. Was not skilled worker. Food for self and son $17 per month. Used to remit money to parents when alive. Saves four to five dollars per month whic h h e spends on relatives who borrow but never repay.
(17)WON G SIK PO, male, 26, foki of Sheung Chit Fat rice and oil shop, 158 Tam Kung Road, Kowloon City.
Came from Chiu Chow, Kwangtung Province this month as no work in country owing to war. Left wife and daughter, aged two, in Chiu Chow. Master of shop, also from Chiu Chow, pays him six dollars a month, free food; sleeps on premises.
Hours: 7 a.m.-9 p.m. with half hour off for meals at 8 a.m., 12 noon, and 7 p.m. Can read and write a little. Not member of any guild or union. Remits four dollars per month home.
(18)LEUN G SAM, female, 40, (found shovelling sand at house being erected along Customs Pass Road, eight miles beyond Kowloon City).
Widow, came from Ho i Pin g nine months ag o to make livin g in Hong Kon g leaving son aged 1 3 and daughter aged 1 5 with mother-in-law i n country. When i n Hong Kong lives with sister-in-law, whose husband is a seaman, at 18. . . [sic] Street, name unknown, near temple, Kowloon City; pays no rent. Was small farmer in country. Has been on present job four to five months, lives in wooden shed beside work.
Wages: Thirty cents a day.
Hours: 7 a.m.-l p.m., 3 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Feeds herself at cost about three dollars a month, goes to Kowloon twice a month for rice. Remits four to five dollars per month to mother-in-law in country.
(19)TAN G HO, female, aged 32, (found turning over earth under water before rice planting between Castle Peak and Un Long).
Married as 'tin fong' or second wife (first wife being dead) t o farmer, Lam Tei Village, married four years, one daughter; was born near Castle Peak, New Territories. Has three step sons, all married, and two step daughters; a third step daughter is dead. Family lives together in four village houses which it owns. They own three fields, two bullocks, chickens, vegetables. Supporting themselves on rice of their own growin g and sale of surplus crop. Have no pigs this year. Only purchases salt fish, fresh fish , some vegetables and pork. Wearing clothes she possessed at time o f marriage. Th e wives of the three sons also work in the fields�X they have three children. No servants. Cooking done by step daughter, aged 12. Last year two harvests. Cannot read or write. Never been ill. Two meals a day�X rice, and congee at midday.
(20)N G WAI, female, aged 34, domestic servant employed by Wong family at 6 Queen Victoria Street third floor, Hong Kong. Master and mistress, no children, occupy one cubicle; is only servant and sleeps
in camp bed outside cubicle.
Does cooking and washing, etc. Wages�X $2 per month.
Born in Canton; came to Hong Kong last year as refugee. Widow, no children.
Rises at 6 a.m., goes to bed 9-10 p.m. Feeds at employer's table; three meals a day
supplied. Cannot read or write.
Summary and Recommendations
It is not proposed to collate these cases but to allow them to speak for themselves. It is interesting, however, to note that of the twenty workers chosen at random only one, the New Territories farmer, is a native of Hong Kong. The Colony was described in the earlier paragraph as geographically but not politically a part of China. Many of the inhabitants ignor e thi s distinction an d tha t i s the root troubl e i n respect o f Hon g Kong trade unions. As many cases show, the interests and loyalties which bind th e workers to China are strong. However low the wages and long the hours, they are, even with a higher cost of living, better off in Hong Kong than they were in China, and many ar e able to remit money home t o China monthly . Most of them look t o China as their home. When I called at Chung Hwa Factory shortly after the strike and lockout referred to in a previous paragraph I found all parties united for the time in the despatch of a joint telegram to Chiang Kai Shek advocating the expulsion of Wang Ching Wei from the Kuomintang.
DOCUMENT IV.d3 : Workers' association s an d labou r legislatio n (source : H.R . Butters, 'Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong', Sessional Papers, 1939, pp. 116-123, 134-135. )
The history of societies and trade unions in Hong Kong runs parallel with that in China. As early as 1845 it was found necessary to pass an ordinance to curb the activities of the Triad and other secret societies.* 'The ordinance was necessarily severe, branding being provided for, and causing much discussion, but in October following, doubtles s upon instruction s from Home , an amendment wa s effected b y which branding wa s done away with and the ordinance not made applicable to any secret society othe r than the Triad.'
The direct descendant of that ordinance through the Triad and Unlawful Societies Ordinance 188 7 was the Societies Ordinance No. 47 of 1911, which was passed i n order to control the political activities of certain associations. Under the Ordinanc e all societies were compelled to register or obtain exemption from registration .
Section 4 (4) reads: ,
'The Governor in Council shall not refuse permission to any society to be registered under this Ordinance unless it shall appear that such society is likely to be used for unlawful purposes incompatible with the peace or good order of the Colony or that its action and proceedings are calculated to excite tumult or disorder in China or to excite persons to crime in China.'
# Norton-Kysh e 'History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong'.
A schedule of exempted societies was appended. This contains besides two Chinese general merchants' associations, namely the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese Commercial Union, thirty-four Chinese masters' trade guilds and societies, three o f which included workmen a s well, and only seven guilds of workmen, th e Brass-smith Guild , th e Carpenter s Guild , a n Eatin g Hous e Employee s Guild , th e Ginseng Workmen's Guild, a Gardeners Club and two guilds of Waiters.
A schedule was published annually till 1919 when there were thirty-six masters' trade guilds or societies exempted, five of which included workmen, and thirty-fiv e guilds of workmen. In addition, twenty-four trade guilds and societies were included in the list of registered societies. Among the exempted guilds there were no less than six brass-smiths guilds, six masons guilds, and three teahouse guilds, showing the lack of organization and unity among the workmen of the various trades.
Both exempted and registered societies might at any time be ordered to furnis h information to the Registrar of Societies, who was the Registrar-General, as the Secretary for Chinese Affairs was then called, concerning the constitution and rules of the society, its office bearers, and the number of its members. As a vehicle for obtaining reliable information about , and control over, the societies the Ordinance was a failure and frequently a cause of embarrassment to Government.
The Societie s Ordinance No.8 of 1920 reversed th e policy . Registration wa s abandoned and the only societies declared to be unlawful were:
(a)
th e Triad Society;
(b)
al l societies which use a Triad ritual;
(c)
al l societie s whic h hav e amon g thei r object s unlawfu l purpose s o r purpose s incompatible with the peace and good order of the Colony.
It is lawful for the Governor in Council in his absolute discretion to declare to be unlawful any society which in his opinion:-
(a)
ha s among its objects unlawful purposes or purposes incompatible with the peace and good order of the Colony, or
(b)
i s being used, o r i s likely t o be used, for unlawful purpose s o r for purpose s incompatible with the peace and good order of the Colony, or
(c)
i s by reason of its actions or proceedings calculated to excite tumult or disorder in China or to excite persons to crime in China.
The first general strike* in Hong Kong took place in 1922 following a dispute over seamen's rates of pay for which there was some economic justification. Mos t of th e men's demands were granted and the Chinese Seamen's Union obtained a considerable amount o f power and glory which i t immediately se t about t o exploit. The secon d general strike took place in 1925. It had no economic justification whatsoever and was merely an attempt a t revolution fomented by the General Labour Union an d th e Chinese Seamen's Union in sympathy with similar activities in Canton and Shanghai. This was the heyday of labour power in Canton and the boycott of Hong Kong continued
# A mechanics' strike involving about 9,000 workers occurred in 1920.
well into 1926. The general strike was a complete failure and in 1927, while the powers of labour unions were being drastically curtailed in China, the General Labour Union of Hong Kong was proscribed unde r the Emergency Regulations, and the Chines e Seamen's Union was declared unlawful under the Societies Ordinance, 1920 .
In 1927 the Illegal Strikes and Lockouts Ordinance, based on the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act, 1927 , was passed. This Ordinance, Ordinance No. 10 of 1927, was the first enactment i n Hong Kong dealing expressly with trade unions. Besides declaring that any strike is illegal if it has any object other than or in addition to the furtherance o f a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the strikers are engaged, and is a strike designed or calculated to coerce the Government, either directly or by inflictin g hardshi p upo n th e communit y o r an y substantia l portio n o f th e community, and making it an offense fo r any person employed in the service of the Crown under the Government of Hong Kong or employed in certain essential public services, to break an agreement o f service if the probable consequence would be t o hinder or prevent the discharge of the functions of Government, it contained a section forbidding the control of any Hong Kong union by any trade union or other organization outside the Colony, and the use of union funds for political purposes outside the Colony. There ar e no political purposes inside the Colony to which the y might be applied . This Ordinance has never been invoked.
After th e failur e o f the general strike and boycott an d th e proscription o f th e Seamen's Union and the General Labour Union conditions rapidly returned to normal and th e survivin g Hon g Kon g union s becam e littl e mor e tha n friendl y societie s concerned mor e with th e provision o f funeral expense s fo r the dead tha n th e improvement of the conditions of the living.
Twelve societies have been declared unlawful under the Societies Ordinance 1920 and three organizations proscribed under the Emergency Regulations.
List of societies declared unlawful under Societies Ordinances 1920:
Government Name Notificatio n Number
The Hong Kong and Wuchow Steamers Industrial Association 41 2 of 13.10.22
The Hip Tsun Tsung Kung She (Hotel Boy s and Cooks Guild) 54 2 of 15.12.2 2
The Kau Lung Ch'a Kui Kung Sheung Lun Hop Wui (Kowloon 4 2 of 2.2.23 Teahouses Union )
The Chung Wa Hoi Yuen Kung Ip Lun Hop Tsung Wui, 31 5 of 27.5.27 otherwise known as the Chinese Seamen's Union
The Chik Tso Kung wui, otherwise known as the Chik Tso Yin 73 1 of 16.12.27 Kau Wui, otherwise know n a s the Knitters 7 Unio n
The Kau Kong Luk Kwan Ping Ka Lo Tung P'ing Yi Ngoi Yu 71 of 10.2.28 (Military employees )
The Kiu Kong Ping Fong Tso Tin Kung Sz (Military employees) do.
The Heung Kong Ping Ka Kung Sheung Tsui Tsap Sho do. (Military employees and contractors)
The Ki Tuk Kau Wui Siu Nin Tuen (Christian Youths Group) 158 of 30.3.28
The Ch'a Kui Tsung Kung Wui (Teahouses General Union) 629 of 23.11.28
The Heung Kong Kiu Sheung Sz Wo Ch'eung Shang Yee Wui 165 of 18.3.32 (Funeral Benefit s Associations )
The Kiu Kong Lei Fat Tung Yip Wui (Barbers Union) 41 7 of 8.5.36
List of organizations proscribed under the Emergency Regulations (Emergency Regulations Ordinance No . 5 of 1922) :
Government
Name Notificatio n
Numbe
The Kiu Kong Kung T'un Tsung Ui (General Labour Association 18 8 of 1.4.27 of Hong Kong)
The Wun Yin Kung She or Barbers Guild 63 6 of 9.10.31
The Hong Kong Seamen's Union 7 1 of 28.1.38
No action was taken against the Hong Kong Seamen's Union, which professed to be unconnected with the proscribed Chinese Seamen's Union, until it became clear that its objects were purely political. The causes of proscription though not declare d have generally been subversive or political activities.
Since 1927 there has been no major labour dispute in Hong Kong. The boycott of 1925-6 left the unions impoverished and unpopular. The restrictions imposed on unions in China depressed the spirit of unionism in Hong Kong, and several years of trade depression were not conducive to their recovery.
The hostilities between China and Japan have established a common front i n place of civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the revival of unions in China as a matter of government policy has its repercussions in Hong Kong where the local unions are moved by patriotism to renewed activity chiefly of a political and nationalist character. Many unions which for ten years have appeared to be extinct have been recently revived. In addition, the imported workers from Shanghai and elsewher e have brought with them thei r own unions and agitations . The onl y dispute of any importance in the last twelve months occurred among such Shangha i workmen.
It occurred in the banknote printing department of the Chung Hwa Book Company, Kowloon, and involved about fifteen hundre d workers . There had been unrest fo r several months, the root cause of which was a feeling of insecurity among the workers, many of whom had left their families in Shanghai, and who felt themselves strangers in the Colony, where their future was obscure. Two trivial incidents brought matters to a head. The management declared a lockout�X with pay, and dismissed sixty-nin e men whom it regarded as ringleaders. When the works were opened the other workers returned and, adopting an equally novel technique, seven hundred in one department commenced a combined sit-down and hunger strike.
The trouble was settled amicably on the intervention of the Labour Office whose offer to arbitrate the management had at first declined.
The peculiar circumstances of this Company, however, contain the seeds of further trouble, as the contract which affords employment for the majority of the men will be completed in a few months.
So far as is known, and for such information as is available I am indebted to the Police Department, ther e are at present abou t thre e hundred association s i n Hon g Kong with a nominal membership of 111,400. These include twenty-eight merchants' guilds with a membership of 2,700; twenty-eight craft guilds or guilds which include both masters and men, with a membership of 12,000; four clan associations or societies of persons having the same surname, membership 3,000; thirty-six district associations or societies of persons from the same district with a membership of 40,000; eighty-four labour unions, membership 44,000; and eighty-nine clubs some of which are purely social while others approximate closely to labour unions, membership 7,000, and thirty-one seamen's clubs, lodging houses and employment agencies with a membership of 2,700.
The association with the largest membership, namely20,000, i s the Sung Tsing General Association, a kind of clan association, which has been in existence for about eighteen years and whose members are Hakkas. It is the only Hakka association in the Colony. This association has branches in New York, San Francisco, Honolulu, an d Amsterdam. It supports six free schools for the benefit of Hakka children.
The Chung Shan Commercial Association whose members are natives of Chung Shan has about 4,000 members; the Tung Sai Commercial Association, composed of masters of various shops, brokers and employees of European firms, 1,200; the Plasterers' Guild (Kwon g Yee Tong), about 3,300; the Printers' Union, about 3,000; the Cargo Coolies Guild, 1,500; the Shing Fat Stonebreakers Guild, about 1,270 ; the Buildin g Construction Workers Guild, 2,700; the Tung Tak Chung Kung Wui, a coolies guild, 2,000; the Market Stall Meat Coolies Guild, 1500; the Bricklayers Guild, 3,000; the Wai Yeung Merchants' Club, formed by merchants and workers of Wai Yeung District, 3,000; the Fong Yin Kung Wui, composed of boarding house workers, 1,400; the Wong Kong Ha Tong Clansmen Association, consisting of members of the Wong clan, 1,000; the Yeung Mo Kung Wui�X Foreign Employees Guild*�X composed of boys employed in European residences, 2,000; the Hong Kong Sai Yee Boat-Builders Guild, 1,250; the Hoi Ping Merchants Association, merchants from Hoi Ping district, 1,000; the Chung Wah Lam Sai Ho Tong or Lam Clansmen Association, 1,20 0 all surnamed Lam; the Toi Shan Commercial Association, 1,200, natives of Toi Shan District, and the Chinese Engineers Guild, which i s one o f the oldest trade unions in the Colony and whic h most closely approximates to the English model, 1,500.
Each association has its own rules and regulations regarding membership, privileges and duties , organization, meetings , maintenance expenses , an d frequentl y funera l money.
Most of the trade unions being composed of members whose wages are small have no large funds. The Chinese Seamen's Union has in its time been wealthy and th e Pork Butchers Guild supported its anti-Hong Kong activities in 1925 by funds collected from a levy of 1% of the price of pigs purchased by pork dealers (called the 'ninety-nine' system) , whil e th e proscribe d Barber s Unio n sough t t o lev y a n additiona l percentage on the price of haircuts nominally to finance anti-Japanese activities.
What informatio n i s available regarding unions at the present day is largely the result of detective work. The present position is anomalous as though registration is no longer required application is still frequently made to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for permission to establish a union, a permission which is gratuitous but which implies a certain acknowledgmen t o f the union' s activitie s withou t givin g any measure o f control.
History of Social Legislation in Hong Kong
'The first legislative steps�XBritish people may be thankful fo r it�Xactually taken i n the Fa r East for protection o f Chinese worker s in factories wer e taken by th e Government of Hong Kong, not by the International Settlement of Shanghai.' ** And it might be added, not by the Government of China.
In 1919 a resolution was adopted at a meeting of the Sanitary Board (now the Urban Council) requesting in the interest of public health that the Public Health and Building Ordinance, 1903, be amended to empower the Sanitary Board to make bylaws regarding the employment of children.
During the same year the Board also made certain bylaws to prevent overcrowding in factories, but these never received the confirmation of the Legislative Council.
# Thi s constains a section of women members �X amahs �X which is the only organization of female workers in the Colony. A few unions admit women as ordinary members . ## 'Humanity and Labour in China.'An Industrial Visit and its Sequel (1923-26) By Adelaide
Mary Anderson D.B.E., M.A .
Finally, in 1921 a Commission* was appointed to inquire into the conditions of the industrial employment of children in Hong Kong and the desirability and feasibility of legislation for the regulation of such employment.
The Commission found that the number of children employed varied accordin g to the nature of the industry. In some factories there were children engaged in such work as packing whose output was greater and wages smaller than those of adults. In other cases children were tolerated in factories as an act of grace as their mothers when employed in the factories had nowhere else to put the children.
The hours of labour appeared to be universally excessive and in few case amounted to less than seventy a week. Wages were paid almost entirely by piece rates and it was noted tha t th e lo w wages pai d t o childre n mus t depres s th e genera l standar d o f remuneration o f adults. The Commissioner s commente d o n th e absenc e o f factor y amenities such as rest rooms, eating rooms and wash houses for th e workmen, an d remarked that the arrangements for medical attention in case of accidents were of the scantiest. In glass factories in particular labour conditions were unsatisfactory and the physique of the workers poor. It may be noted in passing that in spite of a general improvement in conditions glass factories remain in a general unsatisfactory condition. The physique of the workers is still poor and explanation is that they were employed in China as children in glass factories before coming to the Colony.
The Commissioners animadverted on the employment of pseudo-apprentices and the system of sub-contracting both of which will be referred to later in this report. The most difficult proble m which the y had to face was stated to be the employment o f children outside factories in casual and unskilled work, and especially in burden bearing, in particular the carrying of bricks and other materials to the Peak and Hill Districts. The Commissioners have been proved correct in their opinion that the real solution of the question lay in development of mechanical transport.I have, however, seen a number of children employed in stone breaking and carrying at a quarry in Shaukiwan.
The Commissioner s mad e certai n recommendations includin g th e compulsor y registration of children by employers; the prohibition of the employment of children under the age of eleven years (Chinese), that is, roughly ten years (European), in any factory or in any form of casual labour; limitation of the hours of work for children to fifty-four pe r week; the prohibition of their employment between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. and for more than five hours consecutively, and the provision of one day's rest in seven. It was also recommended that children should not be employed in glass factories, o r i n engineering works on th e work of boiler chipping, o r i n dangerou s trades generally, and that accommodation should be provided which could be used by workers during meal hours, and as a rest house for children taken to factories by their mothers. While local factory legislation in the last fifteen years has advanced far beyond the desiderata of the Commissioners only one such rest house for children is known and i t is of the crudest. The provision of first ai d appliances and the equipment o f
# Sessional Paper No. 11 of 1921.
factories with approved sanitary conveniences was also advocated.
The Commissioners declared that their intention was to avoid introducing a series of factory regulations which would merely lead on the one hand to 'squeeze' and o n the other to police court prosecutions, and they recommended th e appointment o f inspectors fo r al l classes o f child labour , th e inspector s t o b e persons o f standing , knowledge, tact , an d sympathy . I t was suggested that the y should includ e Chines e representatives as well as British, women as well as men, and voluntary workers as well as government servants. One of the Commissioners offered as a solution of the problem the compulsory education of Chinese children by government.
As a result of these recommendations the Industrial Employment o f Childre n Ordinance No.22 of 1922 was passed which forbade th e employment o f children i n any dangerous trade, under the age of ten years in any factory, and under the age of twelve years in carrying coal, or building material, or debris. A child was defined as a person under the age of fifteen years. The owner and the manager of every factory were compelled to keep a running record of all children at any time employed in such factory. Hours of work were limited to nine hours per day and five hours continuously. On e day's rest in every seven was to be allowed every child and employment of children between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. was prohibited. No child was to be allowed to carry any weight which was unreasonably heavy having regard to the child's age and physica l development or any load exceeding forty catties in weight. The Ordinance also provided for the appointment of a protector and inspectors of juvenile labour. The Secretary for Chinese Affairs becam e Protector of Juvenile Labour and one male and one femal e inspector were appointed. The female inspecto r retired afte r a short time and wa s never replaced.
The Factory (Accidents) Ordinance No.3 of 1927 provided for the appointment of inspectors and assistant inspector s o f factories. The Governor i n Council wa s empowered to make regulations for the purpose of preventing accidents in factories. The existing inspector of juvenile labour undertook the work of factory inspection. *
Ordinance No. 24 of 1929, the Industrial Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Amendment Ordinance, 1929, included women within the scope of the Industrial Employment of Children Ordinance, 1922, which was amended accordingly, in order to regulate the employment of women in certain industries.
A consolidating ordinance entitled the Factories and Workshops Ordinance 1932 was passed as Ordinance No. 27 of 1932. In it child was defined as a person under the age of sixteen years. The employment of children in dangerous trades (boiler chipping, the manufacture of fireworks, glass working, lead processes, and vermilion manufacture)
# Th e Steam-boilers Ordinance No. 32 of 1909 providing for the periodical inspection of
steam boiler s and the prime movers has never been enforced owin g to the lack of
regulations and inspectors. Further legislation is under consideration.
The Gasholders Examination Ordinance , No .1 of 1938, provides for the periodical
examination of gasholders.
and the employment of any female young person or woman in such trades without the written permission o f the Protector , wa s prohibited. The employmen t o f any chil d under the age of twelve years in any industrial undertaking was prohibited as was also the employment therein of any woman or young person between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. A list of factories and workshops regulations was appended to the Ordinance as Schedule B.
As from 193 3 the Factories Inspectorate was increased to two by the secondment of a second officer from the Sanitary Department .
By Ordinance No . 3 0 o f 1936 , th e Factorie s an d Workshop s Amendmen t Ordinance, 1936 , the Protector of Labour was empowered to exempt any industria l undertaking from any regulation under the Factories and Workshops Ordinance or to order the adoption of additional and special precautions. The existing law is consolidated in the Factories and Workshops Ordinance No. 18 of 1937. The Protector of Labour who was previously the Secretary for Chinese Affairs is declared to mean the Chairman of the Urban Counci l or any person appointed by the Governor t o be Protector o f Labour, and the Urban Council is empowered to make bylaws in respect of industrial undertakings. No suc h by law has been made since the passing of the Ordinance . Dangerous trades are by law extended to include processes involving the use of arsenic, manganese,^ mercury, phosphorus or any compound of any of these or of lead. Child is defined as a person under the age of fourteen years, and young person as any person of or over the age of fourteen years and under the age of eighteen years.
The following are some of the bylaws in the schedule to the Ordinance: No.3 No person shall employ any child in any dangerous trade. No.4 Except with the written consent of the Protector, no person shall employ any woman, young person under the age of 1 6 years or any female young person in any dangerous trade. No.5 No person shall employ any child in any industrial undertaking. No.6 No young person shall be suffered t o carry any weight which is unreasonably heavy having regard to the age and physical development of such young person, and no young person under the age of 16 years shall be suffered to carry any load exceeding 40 catties in weight. No.7 No female, whatever her age, shall be employed on underground work in any mine. No. 8(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) no woman or young person shall be employed in any industrial undertaking between the hours of 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.
(2)Th e Protecto r ma y i n exceptional case s authorize th e employmen t o f an y woman or young person of 1 6 years or over for not more than 6 0 days in any yea r between the hours of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
# I have seen women preparing manganese for the manufacture of batteries for electric torches.
No.9 No young person under 16 years of age shall be employed i n any industrial undertaking�X
(a)
betwee n the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
(b)
fo r more than 9 hours in any period of 24 hours;
(c)
fo r more than 5 hours continuously;
(d)
unles s after every spell of5 hours continuous work and before his next spell of work there is an interval for relaxation of not less than one hour, or after a spell of less than 5 hours, such interval as may be reasonable in all the circumstances;
(e)
unles s in every seven days he is allowed one day's rest. No. 10 (1) The proprietor of every industrial undertaking shall keep a register of the young persons employed in such undertaking.
(2)
Such registe r shall be in the form an d contai n the particulars shown i n Appendix I to these bylaws.
Bylaws dealing with the prevention o f accidents and notification o f accidents, and th e prevention o f and escap e from fir e ar e also included which empower th e Protector to require the provision of fire escapes in any factory in which more tha n twenty persons are employed and prohibit a tenement factory or workshop to be situated above a dangerous goods store. The question of tenement factories will be dealt with later.
It will be observed that thes e bylaws give effect t o the provision s o f certai n conventions of the International Labour Office such as Convention No. 4 concerning the employment of women during the night; Convention No. 5 fixing the minimum age for admission of children to industrial employment; Convention No. 6 concerning the night work of young persons employed in industry; Convention No. 41 concerning the employment o f women during the night; an d Convention 45 concerning th e employment of women on underground work in mines of all kinds.
Other conventions are given effect to by separate ordinances�X Convention No. 26, concerning the creation of minimum wage fixing machinery, by Ordinance No. 28 of 1932, the Minimum Wage Ordinance, which empowers the Governor in Council to fix a minimum wage for any occupation in which he is satisfied that the wages paid are unreasonably low . To conduct an y necessary inquiry a Board of Commissioners consisting o f five person s ma y be appointed . U p t o date n o suc h Boar d has bee n appointed and no minimum wage fixed. Convention No. 7, fixing the minimum age for admission of children to employment at sea, is given effect to by the Employment of Young Persons and Children at Sea Ordinance No. 13 of 1932, which restricts the employment of children under fourteen years of age to vessels where only members of the same family are employed, or to junks or sampans where the child is placed in the charge of an approved relative who is also a member of the crew. The registration of members of crews who are under sixteen is required.
In the factories an d workshops registered there i s an estimated tota l of 28,47 0 male and 26,220 female workers, making in all a total of 54,690.
These figures of course only cover a portion of the labouring population. Apart from those engaged in fishing, agriculture, and domestic service, there are large numbers of casual workers, such as coal coolies and stevedores and street hawkers, licensed and unlicensed, and the innumerable fokis to be found in every shop who often work for little more than their board and lodging. The number of licensed hawkers was 16,087 in 1936, 13,211 in 1937, and 11,722 in 1938. An itinerant hawker's license costs four dollars per annum. Many have been paid for from the poor box at the magistracies as a form of relief to the infirm and aged. The decrease does not represent a diminution in the number of hawkers, but merely in the number of those licensed. In 1938 as a result of the influx of refugees there were probably five unlicensed hawkers for every licensed one.
Most of the labour employed in factories other than shipyards is on a direct basis, skilled labour being frequently employed at monthly rates and unskilled on piece work. This is a rough generalization only as one can find skilled labour on piece work and unskilled on time work. Some factories pay a fixed wage with a bonus on production. Coolie labour in building construction and road making is paid by the day. The shipyards retain a certain number of skilled men on a permanent basis, but the major part of ship-building and repairing is let out to contractors. Although the Hong Kong Mines at Lin Ma Hang employ all labour direct, the Marsman Mine at Needle Hill engages its labour through a labour contractor. Coal bunkering and transporting coa l an d stevedoring in general are let out to contractors. Sub-contracting is rampant in building construction, reclamations, and any scheme which involves the employment of large numbers of coolie labour.
Within limit s there are certain advantages i n the system as in shipyards where there is no constant amount of work and the labour contractor may be able to switch his men from on e job here to another there as occasion demands, and to tide the m over periods of unemployment with free food and lodging, but it becomes vicious in building construction where it is not a question of splitting a contract among several sub-contractors but of subletting a whole contract through several intermediaries who all take their profit until the actual contractor who does the work may receive so little that h e scamp s his work or goes bankrupt an d i s unable t o pay his labourers. Th e standard form of Public Works Department contract contains a clause forbidding th e subletting or assignment of a contract or any portion of it without the consent of the engineer, but it is to be feared that in practice this is seldom adhered to.
Labour trouble in connexion with the construction of the catchments at Shing Mun Valley investigated by the writer were found t o be due to the sub-contractin g system unde r whic h paymen t t o th e actua l laboure r wa s constantly i n arrears an d frequently deficient .
The chief vice in the sub-contracting system is the excessive commission drawn by the contractor.A recent petition from certain ricksha coolies in Kowloon, wh o complained that the charge for which rickshas were hired to them by the day had been increased, disclosed, on investigation, th e existence o f certain sub-contractors wh o hired the rickshas at forty five to fifty cents a day each and sublet them at seventy-five to eighty cents a day. This parasitic growth is being eliminated and action is being taken t o control th e rat e at which contractors , who licens e thei r ricksha with th e Police Department, hire them to the individual coolies.
Another questionable feature of local labour is the apprentice system which was adversely criticized by the 1921 Commission and since then has undoubtedly decreased with the elimination of child labour in industrial undertakings. While there are genuine apprentices learning their trades as in the dockyards, the system is frequently an excuse to obtain cheap labour in return for little or no wages but with the provision of food and lodging. Several years' apprenticeship may be demanded in what would appear to be largely an unskilled trade, the secrets of which could be mastered in a month. The apprentice system is for boys what the 'mui-tsai ' system is for girls. It extends int o domestic labour where a cook may require a 'makee-learn' to do his work for him.
It may safely be said that the employment of child labour in factories in the Colony has been eradicated, although an occasional child may still be found who has wandered in to be near his mother. In 1938 there was only one prosecution for employing children under fourteen years of age.
The employment of children, however, even to the early hours of the morning as pages and bell boys (or girls) in local hotels persists, and children are still employed to carry the paraphernalia i n Chinese funeral processions . Legislation to extend th e prohibition of child labour now in force in factories (age 14), in domestic service (age 12), and at sea (age 14), to all employments would not cover the many child hawkers and newspape r seller s who thron g th e streets : no on e coul d be proved t o 'employ ' them. On e for m o f child labour , th e carryin g o f building material , ha s practicall y disappeared in recent years with the extension of roads and the development of motor transport.
Little is known for lack of investigation concerning the conditions of outworkers, such as seamstresses and the women and girls who stitch the canvas uppers of rubber shoes.
Conditions in factories vary considerably from those approximating to a garden city as at the Hume Pipe Company at Tsun Wan and the Hong Kong Brewery further along the coast, where the employees are excellently housed and provided with ho t and col d baths, to converted tenement s i n what ar e little better tha n urba n slum s where few or no amenities are provided for the workers.
One of those inspected, a tailoring establishment, was so overcrowded that one male worker engaged in ironing was found suspended from the roof on a beam with his ironing board suspended in front of him. Conditions in printing establishments and in many Chines e newspapers , most o f which ar e concentrated i n old property i n th e central district of Hong Kong, are generally bad.
DOCUMENT IV.d4 : Overcrowding reconsidered (source: Report of the Housin g Commission, 1935 , (published 1 1 October 1938), pp. 17-18)
In the 1931 Census Report the population for Hong Kong and Kowloon is given
as 654,715. Of these, 304,664 are single, (both sexes) 189,502 are married men, 131,369 married women and the remaining 29,180 are almost all widowed. Taking the normal family as consisting of father, mother and children, with 131,36 9 married women, it might be taken that that would represent the maximum possible number of families. Many of the married men and some of the women have their wives or husbands and families living in the country. It is natural to presume that this would apply mainly to married men, of whom there is a surplus of 58,133 over married women. If it be assumed that 20% of the married women are living alone (a rather generous percentage) the n the remaining 80 % or 105,09 5 may be assumed to be living with their families. I n other words, it seems reasonable to assume that there are round about 100,000 families requiring accommodation. The latest building returns show that there are, at present, about 75,000 tenement floors in Victoria and Kowloon. On the basis of one family per floor there i s thus a shortage of about 25,000 floors or, approximately, 8,000 three storied tenements . Since the Census was taken i n 193 1 it i s estimated that th e population i n Victoria and Kowloon has increased to about 750,000, an increase of 15%. Presumably, the number of families has increased in the same proportion. At the present time therefore a reasonable estimate of the number of families is say between 100,000 and 110,000 and the shortage of accommodation between 25,000 and 35,000 flats. If the widowed and single be taken as divided equally amongst the families, th e average size of families would be six.
If the shortage of flats is to be made up, it is highly desirable that these new dwellings conform more nearly than do the present tenements, with the needs and circumstances of prospective tenants. They should provide for family life , for an average family o f about six and the rent must, on average, not exceed $5 per month per family. Where poverty is the main factor to be dealt with minimum permissible standards are apt to become maximum possible provision. Present and possible standards therefore nee d careful consideration .
The question of overcrowding is dependent to a great extent on unit of occupation adopted or implied. The Hong Kong ordinances do not cater for the family as a unit; nor do they giv e any consideratio n t o the question o f the se x separation. Th e overcrowding standard i s based on so many square feet o f floor spac e and s o many cubic feet of air space per person. Given sufficient floo r and air space any number of people, regardless of sex, may occupy one room. Applied to the normal tenement each floor of which is capable of accommodating 10 or 12 persons, and in many cases more, then, provide d thos e number s ar e no t exceeded , the n th e 75,00 0 floor s ca n accommodate 750,000 to 900,000 people and there is no housing shortage. The fallacy is obvious. It would be quite impossible to distribute the population evenly among the available houses. Family ties would frustrate any attempt to do so.
In England family usage is recognized, as the overcrowding standards, whilst laying down minimum requirements per person, also lay down the number per room for sleeping purposes according to the size of the room, with a maximum of two persons per room, however big. In addition, the standards fix the number of people who can use a house for sleeping purposes, according to the number of habitable rooms in the house. Whilst the wording of the law refers only to persons, its provisions are based on the use of the dwelling for normal family purposes. The Hong Kong ordinances completely ignor e family life amongst a people whose regards for family ties is [sic] probably stricter than that of any other nation in the world. By English standards the normal tenement floor would only permit of four adult persons living in it; i.e., less than one average family. By Hon g Kon g standard s tw o norma l familie s ca n occup y on e floo r withou t overcrowding. Poverty frequently compels more than two families to share a floor.
For an ordinary family it is highly desirable that parents should have a room to themselves and that there should be separate rooms for adult children of each sex. For a family of six therefore three rooms would normally be required. It is preferable tha t the livin g room should not b e used for sleeping purposes but, to obtain the lowes t possible rents, this double use cannot be avoided. Whilst the living room should b e larger than the remainder, it is essential that it should not be so large that, to make full use of its as a sleeping chamber, the mixing of sexes would result. Children under te n years of age normally count as half an adult.A room designed to accommodate three adults could therefore be used by the parents and two children under ten years old. In a family of six the remaining two children could have a room each or if both under ten or of the same sex could share a room and leave one vacant for letting off to a lodger. For the sake of economy the combined area of the three rooms should be as near as possible to the minimum area required by law for the whole family.
DOCUMENT IV.d5 : The dumping of the dead (source: Hong Kong Government , Administrative Report for the Year 1937, p. 9)
To avoid paying burial fees, and, in the case of infectious disesases, to evade th e cleaning of their houses by the Health Authorities, the poorer members of the Chinese community continued to dump dead bodies in the streets. In 193 7 the Police foun d 1,353 of these bodies.
DOCUMENT IV.d6: Towards subsidized housing, 1938 (source: Report of the Housing Commission, 1935 , pp. 3-6)
A Commission 'to enquire into the housing difficulties i n Victoria and Kowloon with special reference to overcrowding and its effect on tuberculosis and suggest steps which should be taken to remedy existing conditions' was appointed by Sir William Peel under the Proclamation dated 10th May, 1935.
Hong Kong is a powerful magnet drawing to itself not only the seekers after work but hangers-on and parasites of all kinds. The struggle for existence is very severe. It is only too common, especially amongst unskilled labourers, to find three men doing the work of one and sharing remuneration which might be adequate for one but is certainly insufficient fo r three; while the regular employee is fortunate if he is not maintainin g a number of relatives out of his earnings.
The system of contracting and sub-contracting is often carried to extreme lengths, and results, in many instances, in the inability of the final sub-contractor to pay even the low wages on which he has based his contract.
Still more reprehensible is the system by which individuals or organizations levy commission in return for introduction to employment, or exact blackmail in the guise of 'fees for protection against competition'.
Conceivably th e various systems by which the proceeds of every piece of work tend to filter through to the largest possible number of individuals might be regarded as an elementary form o f practical socialism, without whic h th e even more seriou s problem of complete unemployment of a large part of the population would have to be faced. We believe that there is no escape from one problem or the other so long as an enormous reservoir of population exists at our door, unless it is a remedy which presents very serious difficulties, namely, restriction of immigration.
For these reasons we do not believe that any measures which can reasonably be taken can , i n th e immediat e future , hav e an y noticeable effec t o n th e proble m o f overcrowding, the problem which we were primarily appointed to consider. We consider, however, that some action is possible which, even if it will not altogether put a stop to overcrowding may eventually reduce its proportions and at least would improve th e hygienic conditions of premises, even though they be overcrowded.
Our investigation s hav e le d us to certai n conclusion s regardin g th e cause s o f overcrowding and the conditions which are essential, if overcrowding is to be alleviated, and improved housing accommodation provided for the masses. Our conclusions are:-
(i)
Overcrowdin g arises almost entirely from poverty which in Hong Kong is so dire that many families cannot afford any rent at all, and that, of the remainder, th e majority can afford so little rent that a normal interest rate on capital outlay for housing cannot b e obtained. Povert y itsel f i s the result of an economi c system over whic h Government ha s little or no control. Any attempt t o alleviate overcrowding an d improve housing must abide by the conditions imposed by that system.
(ii)
Fo r a great number of the population the rents which can be afforded var y from nothing to a maximum of abut $7.50 per month per family.
(iii)For those who can affor d betwee n $4.0 0 an d $7.5 0 per month, i t appear s feasible under reasonably favourable conditions to provide improved housing without loss.
(iv)
The existin g standard types of tenement houses, which have been evolve d from th e us e of the Chin a fi r pole, are now uneconomical i n design an d i n man y details of construction, and the plan i s not adapted fo r family lif e under existin g conditions o f poverty. I n consequenc e overcrowding , primaril y du e t o poverty , i s accentuated by the system of subletting which arises from accommodation not properly adapted to the needs and circumstances of the population.
(v)
Unde r present circumstances it is not practicable to enforce the law against overcrowding.
(vi)
T o reduce overcrowding and permit the law to be enforced it is essential (a) to provide more and better designed houses until sufficient accommodation is available,
(b)
to decentralize the population, (c) to reduce building density.
(vii)Decentralizatio n cannot be achieved unless means of livelihood are provided within easy reach of new housing areas.
(viii)The bulk of Chinese industries are of the 'home' variety. Factories, however, are being established in increasing numbers, but at present the majority of the concerns are small and cannot affor d t o build their factories i n undeveloped areas . They ar e therefore competin g with householders an d housebuilders for premises and sites for their factories and tending to increase the prevailing congestion.
(ix)
Befor e factories can be established outside the populated districts certain requirements must be fulfilled. The y include the provision of public services such as water supply , ligh t an d powe r supply , drainag e an d sewag e disposal , adequat e communications and houses for their employees. These requirements should, if possible, be fulfilled in advance of the erection of factories or at least there should be a guarantee that such provision will be made by the time the factories are ready to operate.
(x)
A t the present time there is a tendency for the factories to increase in size and number . I f they be permitted t o become established i n the congested area s decentralization would be much more difficult an d expensive. The cost may well be prohibitive. It is essential therefore that, i n order to prevent further congestio n i n built-up areas, the establishment of factories in those areas should be strictly controlled and that every possible inducement should be offered to attract them to new areas to provide work for the decentralized population.
(xi)
Th e provision of adequate housing for the poorer classes cannot be left t o private enterprise unassisted. If the housing is to conform to acceptable standards the return on capital will not be sufficient t o attract private enterprise; to put it another way, the return on capital normally expected by private enterprise can only be achieved by overcrowding in houses which are below acceptable standards. If new and improved housing be provided for these classes, it will be necessary to ensure supervision an d provide social services on lines similar to those adopted in many European countries.
(xii)Slu m clearance envisages reduced building density and reduced population density, and in consequence a large number of the present population will eventually have to be housed elsewhere . This accommodatio n mus t be available before slu m clearance can be commenced.
(xiii)Befor e the actual clearance of slums can be undertaken, it will be necessary to prepare a survey of local industry and housing, each in relation to the other; t o prepare a survey of existing buildings, particularly houses, in order to find the number and situation of those which do not conform to acceptable standards; to prepare a key plan as a guide to redevelopment as opportunity occurs; to survey sites and prepare plans for possible new developments; and to prepare legislation and devise machinery necessary to give effect to town planning and housing schemes. This preparatory work and eventually constructional work will take many years and some form of permanent authority will be necessary to organize, carry out and control such an undertaking.
(xiv)I f the provision of working class housing and the clearance o f slums be undertaken financial provision will be required for:-
(a)
Ne w housing, both in new and built-up areas, for those who can afford a small economic return.
(b)
Ne w housing for those who can only be housed at a loss.
(c)
Compensatio n arising out of slum clearance.
(xv)Of the means of raising revenue for these purposes two which most immediately occur to mind are a loan or a special tax. A possible alternative is to raise revenue by the issue of 'Housing Shares' in the same way that, in commerce, capital is raised by issuing shares. The last method, if successful, would eliminate the sinking fund fo r amortization of loan. Should circumstances permit funds might be provided from general revenue. For compensation arising out of slum clearance this might be feasible, but the provision of new housing will involve the annual expenditure o f large sums, which may be beyond the capacity of general revenue, on its present basis, to provide. The financial aspect needs further examination by specialists.
(xvi)I f and when slu m clearance be decided upon, it is highly desirable tha t progress should be subject to as little fluctuation a s possible. This would involve a steady supply of funds.
(xvii)It is also desirable that, in order to combat the evil effects of overcrowding, parks should be provided. It is not suggested that these parks should be laid out and equipped for organized games, but that they should simply be open spaces in which the population can enjoy fresh air. They should be in or close to the congested areas and should be large enough to ensure that the air is purer than in the neighbouring streets. The provision of the King George V Playing Fields is a step in the right direction, but does not go far enough. There should be many more such parks.
In view of the foregoing conclusions we recommend:-
(i)
Tha t a permanent Town Planning and Housing Committee be formed t o advise Government in town planning and housing matters.
(ii)
Tha t a permanent Town Planning and Housing Sub-Department of the Public Works Department be created to carry out the work mentioned.
(iii)That , when that preliminary work has been completed, it should be subject to review and criticism by an acknowledged expert from England .
(iv)
Tha t Governmen t shoul d encourag e and , wher e necessary , assis t th e establishment, by charitable organizations, of 'settlements' in the slum areas.
(v)
Tha t Government should consider the erection of experimental quarters for their Asiatic employees. While the provision of these quarters will, in a small degree, increase the amount of available accommodation, their special value will lie in enabling experiments to be made with a view to devising a more satisfactory type of dwelling.
(vi)
Tha t Section 167 Sub-Section (3) of the Buildings Ordinance of 1935 be deleted, and the following two sub-sections be substituted:-
(3)
Th e provisions of Sections and 116, so far as they relate to authorized architects, shall not apply in any case in which the Building Authority shall so decide.
(4)
Building s in accordance with type plans, approved under Regulations, prepared under the direction of the Governor in Council, and contained in Schedule O, may be erected in any part of the colony(Note: Schedule O will, presumably, be prepared by the Town Planning and Housing Committee).
(vii)That Governmen t shal l as soon a s possible put forward proposal s for th e provision of parks in suitable areas.
CHAPTER FIV E
THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND THE JAPANESE OCCUPATIO N
The Second World War took Hong Kong by storm. China went into war in 1937, Guangzhou fell in 1938 and Hong Kong fell on Christmas Day 1941. The Japanese occupation government decided upon evacuating a substantial portion o f th e Hon g Kon g population . Thos e tha t remaine d remembere d well the 'three years and eight months ' that followed.
Being shelled came as the initial shock of war. Hong Kong had prepared for battle, but the British forces in Hong Kong could not have withstood the onslaught. Most civilian accounts of war experience recount the bombing from the air that began on 8 December. For three weeks, a state of seige continued. Eye witnesses recalled the anguish, the uncertainty, the sense of loss, that came with food shortage and lawlessness. By the time Hong Kong surrendered, many people might have breathed a sigh of relief .
The events of the Japanese occupation are still a largely unwritten chapter of Hong Kong history. At present, the documents appear as snippets. Hong Kong's ric e suppl y befor e th e wa r ha d com e substantiall y fro m Southeas t Asia; it would seem that continuation of war in Southeast Asia might have brought on the shortages that led to the policy of evacuation. Among the population that remained, civilian nationals of those countries that were at war with Japan were kept in internment camps, while the Chinese population eked ou t a livin g i n wartim e circumstances . Som e trad e wen t acros s th e border: second-hand clothes were smuggled into China as food was sent into Hong Kong. The East River Guerrillas were active in the New Territories, but did not make an impact on the urban areas.
Chinese voluntary associations such as the Tung Wah Hospital and the Po Leun g Ku k continue d t o provid e charit y relief . Substantia l donation s were given by members of the Chinese elite. It is less clear how under the Japanese occupation these associations might have served as channels of social mobility .
Many in Hong Kong did not lose hope that the occupation would com e eventually t o a n end. The best exampl e o f thi s subdued optimis m wa s possibly exhibited b y the few me n i n the Stanley Internment Camp wh o prepared a postal stamp to be used upon the recovery of Hong Kong. At the end o f August 1946 , the stamp designed i n the camp was used fo r the commemoration o f the end o f the war .
a* Wa r Experienc e
DOCUMENT V.al: The outbreak of war in China to 1941 (source: Xianggang bainian (A hundred years of Hong Kong) Hong Kong, 1941, pp. 60-62.)
The Sino-Japanese War broke out in the 26th year of the Republic, that is, 1937. The fire of war was lit suddenly at the Marco Polo Bridge, and Japanese aeroplane s bombed civilians all over China. From the beginning of war, Hong Kong became a haven for people escaping from disaster , and the consequences that followed wer e many. Therefore, from the outbreak of the war it was affected, an d war brought about serious consequences.
Because many refugees escaped to this place from the mainland, the population of Hong Kong increased wildly. In Hong Kong, the residential areas were quite limited, and immediately there was a shortage of housing. Many landlords raised their rent as a result.A flat that used to cost ten dollars had its rent raised first by several tens of dollars, and thereafter to over a hundred dollars. Moreover, rent was raised time and again. So, the first consequence brought by the war to Hong Kong was a wave of rent increases.
The ren t increase s wer e no t onl y impose d o n ne w houses . Many incumben t residents also felt the pressure. When the landlords repeatedly demanded increases in rent, if tenants did not accept the increases, they had to move out.. . [sic].
Both residents and refugees were oppressed by the landlords in their effort to find shelter. They suffered pain beyond words. Moreover, there were rascals, who, in order to make a profit, monopolised the rental market in order to demand key money, took over houses that they would let out only at the highest fee, or who became secondary landlords and sublet . Many bad practices followed, an d residents were put to mor e pain.
In this situation, the Residents' Association wa s born. It opposed th e man y exploitations of. . . [sic], and muc h socia l turbulence wa s created. Onl y when th e Hong Kong government had issued its regulations to prevent eviction did the situation calm down.
After the wave of eviction, house rents in the whole of Hong Kong had reached a new level.A room that was barely enough to hide one's knees cost over a hundred dollars. People who had less money found it hard to pay that, and the poor had to live on the street or in refugee camps. The ranks of the lower social classes increased daily.
As war broke out in Bao'an county and refugees rushed into the New Territories, the problems of population and housing became even more serious. The Hong Kong government the n se t up eight refugee camp s in the New Territories, Kowloon an d Hong Kong to house them. However, when the population still did not come unde r control, the Hong Kong government had to turn to the imposition of an immigration ordinance.
The local [Chinese] residents, by their nature, are patriotic. When war broke out, the patriotism exhibited by the overseas Chinese became even more concrete. They carried out many impressive deeds. Most obviously, many organizations were set up to carry out patriotic work. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce, as the largest organization among Chines e peopl e i n Hon g Kong , first se t up the Chines e Merchants ' Relie f Association. After that, many professions set up their own relief associations, all calling for contribution towards relief.
Among women, the first organization that was formed was the Women's Concern Association. After that , ther e was the Women's Militar y Disaster Association, an d then th e Chines e Women' s Association. These thre e organization s wer e tireless i n their work , an d togethe r wit h th e alread y existin g Ne w Women' s Movemen t Association, the Y.W.C.A. and the local branch of the Shanghai Women's Frugality Association, became the six organizations which advanced this work on an established footing.
Ambulance units were also formed, and many relief associations sprang up. The work of local residents became more prominent.
Much of the work that was done was limited to fund raising. There were man y ways for doing that, includin g dinner-and-dance parties , goods sales, drama, flowe r sales. Local residents were not slow in exerting their generous spirit; even dancing girls offered charity dances, and street hawkers, charity sales. Their warmth was admirable. As it was said, young and old, rich and poor, could all be patriotic. Residents in Hong Kong well deserved this claim.
As Hong Kong was on the coast of south China, when the war spread to south China, Hong Kong itself was affected by the blockade set up directly or indirectly by the Japanese military. For this reason, all industries and trades in Hong Kong were adversely affected .
Hong Kong was a port that looked towards the outside. It did not produce very much. Thus, when overseas transport was blocked, food became a problem. When the Japanese military attacked south China, trade from both the East and West Rivers was interrupted. Transport between Hong Kong and the mainland was not totally stopped, but the volume of goods sent over here dropped. Moreover, because Japanese military actions also affected por t activities in Hong Kong and Vietnam, interruption s wer e also frequent. Foo d transpor t t o Hong Kon g was intermittent, an d price s i n Hon g Kong escalated.
The pric e escalatio n experience d i n Hon g Kon g i n thes e fe w year s wa s unprecedented. Rice used to cost one dollar for several ten catties, but, by this time, fewer than ten catties might be had. Ordinary green vegetables were sold at as high a price as 20 or 30 cents a catty on the market. There was little fish, and its price was twenty times what it had been five or ten years earlier. Clothing material also became very expensive. In the fourth year of the war, the price of woollen cloth was twice what it had been before the war.
The Hong Kong government imposed regulations on the control of food supply. An official was put in charge of such control. It actively developed agriculture in the New Territories, including the islands, such as Lantau or Cheung Chau. These measures were ineffective, an d so they brought the jeer that they were very distant water for a nearby fire.
Because many people came from the mainland, Hong Kong became a cultural centre for mainland culture . When Shanghai fell, many Shanghai scholars fled t o Hong Kong and started a new leaf in Hong Kong's culture. The number of newspapers and magazine s published increase d daily , and thi s was beneficial t o popularizin g education.
Moreover, many schools from the mainland moved to Hong Kong. Branches were set up in Hong Kong by the universities, such as the Guangzhou University, the People's University, or the Lingnan University. There were more primary and secondary schools than one might enumerate. At the time, there were schools all over Hong Kong.
The fee s charge d a t thes e school s wer e quit e high. Man y Hon g Kon g peopl e subjected to increasingly high prices could not afford to send their children to school, and so many children from poor families could not receive education. Refugee children, naturally, had even less of a chance to go to school. So enthusiastic people set up charity schools. These schools were overwhelmingly welcomed i n Hong Kong, an d many more were established than there had ever been.
DOCUMENT V.a2 : War experience (source : Anon. 'An account from memory of my escape from the fire of war', manuscript*)
An account from memory of my escape from the fire of war I have heard that it is a natural cycle that when things reach their extremes they retreat, and when things reach their most prosperous they decline.
Hong Kong was a barren island leased to Britain in the twentieth year of the Daoguang reign, which was the year 1840 , when China sough t peace by concedin g land after losing the war in the Pearl River that had arisen from the opium issue. The British people developed this barren island into a commercial port. It was the only port in the south of China. It was grand and very beautiful. After the conclusion of the First Worl d War , whe n al l countrie s live d peacefully , Hon g Kon g becam e ver y prosperous. Its population increased to 800,000 or900,000.
This manuscript was discovered by Dr James Hayes at a second-hand book store in Hong Kong. It is now deposited at the Hoover Institution, Stanford.
I returned to China from Cuba in North America in 1928 .I saw Hong Kong's prosperity, and, in contrast, disorder from soldiers and bandits on the mainland, and so I took my family t o settle peacefully i n Hong Kong. In September 1932 , I left m y family i n Hong Kong and returned to Cuba to make my living. In January 193 4 I wound up my business and returned from Cuba to Hong Kong to live with my family. In February 1935,1 set up the Wah Shing Lung Company at No. 29 Tung Man Street in Central District to deal in industrial dyes.I was quite gratified. In 1936[sic], that is the twenty-sixth year of the Republic, after the Sino-Japanese War broke out at the Marco Polo Bridge incident, the population of Hong Kong increased from 800,000 or 900,000 peopl e to 1,800,000. Hong Kong was such a small island; with so many people, it was very prosperous indeed.
In September 1939 , Britain, France and Germany declared war . Prices rose in every country and Hong Kong businesses reaped large profits. Wealthy merchants did not car e to dream of life or death. They drank by the day and sang and danced al l night, keeping the light s on until morning. On 23r d June, 1941 , Germany an d th e Soviet Union declare d war on each other. The world was at war. Anyone who had foresight and knowledge could anticipate that Hong Kong would not be spared fro m war. It was only a matter of time. But I did not expect the Empire of Japan to declare war on Britain and the United States of America on the nineteenth day of the tent h month in the year of San Tzi by the agrarian calendar.
The people of Hong Kong were fast asleep. The next day, that is 8th December , 1941, or 20th of the Tenth Month by the Agricultural Calendar, at 7.30 in the morning, Japanese planes suddenly attacked Hong Kong.I was just awake and had risen from bed to go to the toilet. Suddenly I heard the air siren and the sound of gun-fire.I came out of the toilet and went into the sitting room. My family were all frightened.I told them this was only an exercise and that they did not have to fear. After a short while, I heard the sound of bombing that was like thunder.I went out to the verandah, saw people running about i n fear i n the street an d th e air-raid wardens having bee n mobilised.I raised my eyes to the sky and saw Japanese planes about in the air, their silver wings reflecting a blinding glare from the sun but showing the red sun insignia on the underside. I dared not tell my family the truth for fear of adding fear upon fear. Later, Hung Nung-cheung came to visit and said that the barracks in Shamshuipo had been bombed. Then I went immediately to the Shamshuipo pier, intending to take a boat to get back to the shop. But boats were not sailing.I went to Mongkok, but no boats were sailing from there either. So I went to the Universal Metalworks Co. There, my brother-in-law Wong Pak-ho said to me that the night before Japan had declared war on the United States and Britain.. .1 telephoned the shop and asked about the current situation. Hung Hau answered the phone and said it was quiet on the street and that business was going on as usual. He also said the South China Morning Post had reported tha t mornin g tha t Britai n an d th e United State s had declare d war. Afte r that, I wanted to take the boat from Yaumati to return to the shop. My brother-in-law Wong Pak-hung said if I wanted to cross the harbour, I would have to go to the Y.M.C.A. in Tsimshatsui to ask for special permission for a pass before I could get to the boat for Hong Kong. I thought that as I was not a member of that organization, and I did not have friends there, it must be difficult to do that. So I gave up. However, because I did not have a cent on me, and now that no end was in sight for the war that had started, I asked Wong Pak-ho for the loan of one hundred dollars in case of emergency. I quickly went to the Universal to purchase two Wai-mei kerosene lamps. Halfway home, Japanese planes came again to bomb.I took shelter in a staircase and quickly went home when the alarm had ceased. However, I saw that in the war situation, with so many children, I had to have some food ready. So I went to the Garden Biscuit Co., and bought some cream crackers and tinned food. As I was going home, I saw people fighting to purchase rice. The place was very crowded. The police had come out to maintain order. Only then did I remember we did not have much rice at home. It was rumoured that Kai Tak Airport had been entirely destroyed by the bombs.I looked up and saw that in the distance, black smoke went up to the sky and did not disperse for a long time. So I took the food home, had dinner and slept till midnight when the air raid siren woke me. When I heard the sound of aeroplanes, I quickly got out of bed and went with my family down the stairs to take shelter in the Shun Tak Co. At the time, the wind was cold and pierced into the bones. It was a pitiful situation. People were trembling and had nothing to say. This was the first time in my life I had experienced something like this.I was full of emotions. After almost two hours, the alarm stopped. My family went back upstairs so as not to disturb our friends and relatives.
The next day, that is 9th December, 1941, 21st day of the Twelfth Month by the agricultural calendar, at8.00 a.m . when we were just about to have breakfast, the air raid siren sounded again. The humming of the planes came once more. Fortunately, they did not bomb this place: they were going after military targets and did not pa y attention to where the civilians were. The Japanese planes scattered leaflets, tellin g people to move a hundred yards away from military installations. They told them not to be afraid, for the war was waged to drive the white people out of Asia so that th e new East Asian order might be established and this had nothing to do with the Chinese overseas. At 11 , the alarm stopped and I went with my family upstairs to have our breakfast. Even if we had been eating the finest food, I could not have swallowed it . My eldest son, Chen-tai, perhaps understood a little of what was happening and was somewhat afraid. Bu t my second son, Chuen-chung, an d my third son, Chuen-hau , did not understan d anythin g of the world and so they ate as usual. My fourth son , Chuen-sheng, was still being nursed. He was just about learning to say a few words and he was as playful as usual. Sometimes he came into my arms saying 'papa' and I forced myself to give him a smile. In reality, my mind was all confused at the time; I did not know what to do.I thought about my hard-earned savings that had come from m y working beyond the hills and oceans overseas, my aspirations to return to the hom e country and now residing in Hong Kong, thinking that this might be a place for the peaceful life that would allow me to keep my family until the end of my years. Now to my surprise the god of war had descended so quickly, and I had been caught totally unprepared. The day before the war broke out, I came home empty-handed; so, at present, I had no money and no rice.I could not have imagined that the situation could be so bad. Moreover, my age was coming on, my children were small, and we did not know how the war was going to end. When I thought about all this, my grief came from my heart and tears welled up in my eyes. I looked at my family and could not say a word.
After that, I comforted myself, realizing that the present situation was a situation of a national disaster, an international situation, not one that affected m e alone. In this world war, no city on earth was having peace, so how could Hong Kong? As people might say, this was a disaster I could not run away from. Although untalented, I did anticipate that, even though I had not expected it to have come so quickly I could honestly say that in my dealings with people, I had no competition with anybody.I could hope that the Heavens might protect me and that by being fortunate people we might, with Heaven's help, get out of this misfortune. We might even come clear of it safely. When I thought of this, I could put down my sorrows, and so as not to tire myself out, I went into the street to see if I could pick up some news.
I ran into Old Wan, an acquaintance. He said he was going to the Westerners'
Y.M.C.A. to get a ferry pass and I thought I would take the opportunity to take him there. Just as we wanted to go to the bus stop at the end of the street to take the bus, the Japanese planes came again. The alarm sounded, I looked up at the sky, saw the planes and heard the humming. The guns rumbled, people on the street ran about to escape. Old Wan and I parted and went home. After about two hours, the alarm stopped. I went over next door to the Mau Shang Lung Tea Co. to telephone Universal Metals to ask what one had to do to get a ferry pass from the Westerners' Y.M.C.A. Pak-ho said in reply that it was very difficult, and told me not to waste time by going. He also said the war was getting quite threatening.I also called the shop to see what was happening. Hung Hau said things were peaceful, but on the island all the shops had closed. In any case, no business was being done. So I told him to keep calm and not to be so frightened as to get all into a mess. Hung Hau said, 'yes, yes.'
I put down the phone and went home. Hung Nung-cheung had come to visit and we sat there and talked about the current situation. I told him I had no money with me at home but only the key to my safe and wondered what I could do. He said he had a friend wh o worked for the government who could go freely t o Hong Kong, and h e asked me to give him the key of the safe so his friend could take it to Hong Kong to give to Hung Hau . He said he was sure that would be all right.I thought about it carefully but realized there was nothing else I could do and so gave him three keys. Hung Nung-cheung departed. The air raid siren went off again. Five to six air raids came on that day; we could hardly seek shelter for there were so many of them.
I was a little bored sitting at home and wanted to go to Mongkok for a walk. Having decided on that, I went out, went down Laichikok Road an d turned int o Shanghai Street. Soon, I had reached Tung Cheung Hing Metalworks. I thought they owed my shop several hundred dollars in unsettled accounts, and although war had broken out and business had stopped, with some good feelings I might still be able to get a favour out of them. So I went into the shop and saw the owner Chan Cheung.I spoke sweetly to him about my request, and Chan immediately gave me a hundred dollars.I was very grateful and departed.
Then I went t o Universal Metalworks . Pak-ho said to me that America, San Francisco, New York, Washington, Hawaii, the Philippine s and Singapore were al l being bombed from the air by the Axis powers. This was a real world war, not one that would be settled soon. In any case, we had to have ready some firewood and rice ... . But this had taken me by surprise and I was totally unprepared with food in the shop or at home. I said I did not know what to do. Pak-ho said, 'Yesterday, I got six bags of rice from Chung Sai Wing Co. They will deliver today, and ...I can let your family have one to two bags. As for the shop, please call them on the phone and tell Hung Hau to quickly buy more rice.' My brother-in-law Pak-ho was really someone I could trust.I was truly grateful to him. I called the shop, and Hung Hau said that Uncle Yu-pui had bought two bags of rice on their behalf which would be delivered that day.I thought that was quite definite, but unfortunately because the situation was getting very tense, too many people were trying to buy rice, order was very bad and so the rice shops had stopped working. I told him about the safe key. He said Hung Nung had already gone to the shop. Hung Nung went to the phone and spoke to me.I was very surprised and asked him how he managed to cross the harbour. Hung Nung said ... So I told him to ask Hung Hau for three hundred dollars to take back for my family so we could buy some rice. He agreed. So I talked to Pak-ho about what was said on the phone and then I went home. By 5.00 Hung Nung-cheung had returned from Hong Kong with the money. When I got the money, I felt more settled and less worried than before.
After dinner, because of the confusion of the war, I decided not to go out but to go to bed early for some rest. At midnight, the anti-air raid siren sounded again. I woke up from my dreams and my family wanted to go downstairs to take shelter. Having seen the leaflets that the Japanese military had distributed telling people not to run away in fear, I told my family that they did not have to seek shelter. Moreover, it was midnight and very cold, and so they did not go away and we slept till the next morning, which was the third day after the outbreak of war,1 lth December by the Western calendar, and the 23 rd day of the Tenth Month by the agricultural calendar.
At eight o'clock in the morning when we were getting ready for breakfast, the air raid siren went off and the Japanese planes had come round again. Because my family had little courage, I had no choice but to go downstairs with them to seek shelter. We went back upstairs when the alarm had stopped.
After breakfast, Hung Nung came to say that he was crossing the harbour to go to Hong Kong to collect some money from the Bank of Canton. As I had little money on me, and did not know when the war was going to end, I thought it would be a good idea if I could give him my little seal to take to Hung Hau to collect five hundred dollars at the Bank of East Asia to buy food for the family and the shop.I thought carefully about this, made up my mind and entrusted him with my little seal to take over to Hong Kong.I thought Hung Nung would have been able to go and return in one day . But the wa r continue d t o be very intens e an d s o he coul d no t retur n t o Shamshuipo.I went to Universal to see if there was any news; Pak-hung said to me that h e had hear d tha t Tsuenwa n ha d alread y fallen an d tha t Britis h troop s wer e withdrawing to Kowloon. Pak-ho said Japanese troops using rubber boats were preparing to land that night at Cheungshawan . When I heard that , I went int o a panic.I immediately called the shop on the telephone to ask what the situation was like, and if Hung Nung had come over to the shop. Hung Hau said in answer that he had not seen Hung Nung, but the situation was very tense. The police had gone over to say that the y shoul d disperse . But the worker s i n the sho p had n o intentio n o f goin g elsewhere. By then, I knew that the British had lost and that Hong Kong and Kowloon were in danger. What could one do?
Immediately, I left the Universal and braved the danger to go home. Halfway there, the air raid sirens sounded again.I looked up and saw three Japanese planes. People on the street were running about .I chose a firm-looking staircas e and took shelter. Suddenly, I saw on Laichikok Road a car fitted with an anti-aircraft gun and three gunners coming from afar firing at the Japanese planes. Without my knowing, I had put myself into the war zone. It was a very dangerous situation, and as people might say, one ran for it. So immediately I went along Pak Yeung Street to go home.I took a rest when I got home, and shortly after that I went out onto the verandah.I saw that people on the street were all in fear.I looked up towards Wong Chuk Street and saw two young women stopped by ruffians. They were body-searched and robbed. They had to take even the shoes on their feet off.. . .This was quite frightening .
At that time, I was sure Pak-hung was right about the British withdrawing t o Kowloon, even though I did not know where he had found out . This was why th e ruffians were so blatant.1 went downstairs to go to Mau Shang Lung Tea Co. to see if I could hear anything. The owner of Mau Shang Lung, Wong Shiu, said to me that in the morning the British troops had retreated to Hong Kong Island. As the Japanese had not yet arrived, the world belonged to the ruffians .
1 did not know what to do and so I went home.I was frightened an d confused . From hereon, th e ruffians wer e fiercer tha n eve r on the street and screams becam e louder and louder. The wife and daughter-in-law of the resident on the first floor, Mui Yau-hong, came up to our door to ask us take pity on them by letting them in to take shelter. They had few people on their floor and were frightened that the ruffians migh t come up to harm them.I saw that it was a dangerous situation and so I firmly refused . My wife, woman Wong, begged me to save them on the grounds that they were good people living in the same building, and as these were women and children, there was no reason why they could do us any harm. As people might say, everyone has a sense of compassion, and so I let them in. But no sooner had I done that, Mui Yau-hong's son came to knock on my door to ask his wife, his mother and his children to go back downstairs to the first floor.I refused. This was a dangerous situation; how could we open th e doo r so easily? But he sai d he had paid thirt y dollars to some society fo r protection, and that I could let his family safely out.I was all confused an d angry, blaming my wife for getting me into this mess. At the time, it was becoming noisier in the street. My family hid away our finer clothes and our rice, while my wife, seeing the situation, tol d Mui Yau-hong's son to arrange for me to join th e society before w e opened the door to let his family out. In a moment, Mui's son came back with several men who asked for a hundred dollars as admission money. They said they would write us a receipt which would give us protection. I said I would pay thirty, but they refused. They looked quite fierce. I realized that in this dangerous situation, under their coercion I had no room to manoeuvre. So, in the midst of a sense of pain, I told my wife to fetch a hundred dollars to hand over to these robbers, and they wrote us. . . Lee and Chiu kept the shop.. . . After that they left and went elsewhere.
It was night. Soon, someone came and knocked on my door again.I thought it was the ward captain and it was more likely to be bad news than good. But it was my clan-brother Lau Shing.I welcomed him in and noticed that he had come with a strong man whom I had not previously seen. Lau Shing introduced him to me as Leung somebody-or-other. He asked me for pen and paper and he wrote on a page '555 and three-three-four'. H e told me to post that sheet of paper on the door, and said that if anyone wanted protection money, to say that we were all brothers and that they could go elsewhere to announce victory. He said there was no need to be afraid.I thanked him many times. Lau Shing and Leung left. I realized clan-brother Lau Shing bringing me help a t this tim e was an uncalled-for favour . Suc h favour s mus t be rare, and I should not ever forget it.
That night, the robbers came and went like the south wind. The whole city was robbed. Suddenly, you would hear from afa r th e cr y of 'robbery', the noise of doors being broken down, or iron bars being cut. These noises were very frightening.I could not sleep, and sat there waiting for the morning. At midnight, all the electric lights went out.I was sitting on my bed with nothing to do, when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and people knocking on my door, shouting loudly 'Victory!' I knew what sort of people these were, and so I calmly opened the little peep-hole on the door.I saw several ruffians holding electric torches, shouting 'victory'. So I said to them that we were brothers and that they could shout 'victory' elsewhere. The ruffians said , 'You impersonate as our brother. What proof have you got?' So I told them about Lee and Chiu. Fortunately, my concubine, woman Lo, had some courage, and helped me. But there was one ruffian who would not stop. He kept speaking, and demanded two dollars before he left. These were really devils.
On the fourth day, that is 12th December by the Western calendar and 24th day of the Tenth Month by the agricultural calendar, British troops had lost all of Kowloon. The Japanese were in control and had set up their headquarters. However, they had little time to take care of the place ... there were few troops on duty and so it was still a bandits' world. Rumours were all about. It was said that the people ofa certain society were going to return tonight to this street. My wife was very worried and frightened , and asked the owner of Shun Tak downstairs to plead with the leader of this society, because the owner, Mak Chiu, had once met him. The leader wanted two hundred dollars from me before he would give me protection.I was prepared to give him a birthday present of fifty dollars, but he refused. Mak Chiu went back and forth several times and finally settled for seventy dollars for my protection. He wrote me a piece of paper ('Wo Shing Wo Hall') that I could post on my door for my safety.I knew that this so-called protection was really robbery. But in any case, because I had paid my money, the robbers did not enter my house.I heard that many people were robbed, even of their rice, their blankets and their clothes. In the midst of winter, some families were deprived of food and clothes. Readers, don't you think this is very sad!
I also heard what happened to the Tai-yik Pawnshop in Mongkok, that was worth more than a hundred thousand dollars. When the ruffians first appeared, the owner offered to pay a thousand dollars for protection, hoping that he would be safe. But they came again and again and finally all the goods were taken. These robbers were worse than tigers and wolves: they would eat all of you, bone and all. Before the war, th e owner of Tai-yik was a rich man with a fortune o f more than a hundred thousand dollars. He was dressed in fine clothes, he went around in a fine carriage, he was served by pretty women, and he was fed on good food. Now, he had become a hawker selling vegetables on the street, weeping whenever he came across people he knew to tel l them of his disaster. How can there be such sorrow in the world! There might even be events that were more sad in this untold disaster.
On 13th December by the Western calendar, which was the 25th day of the tenth month by the agricultural calendar, the authorities had posted a notice to pacify th e people. People in the district also saw Japanese troops on patrol. The bandits became more quiet and were less fierce than the day before. There were still some robberies, and we heard ... .
On the 14th , which was the 26th day of the tenth month by the agricultura l calendar, peopl e organize d self-protectio n unit s an d calle d themselve s member s o f hygiene committees . Th e situatio n becam e calmer . Ther e wer e self-protectio n guardsmen on the streets, who wore white armbands and badges. They patrolled th e place and maintained order, carrying sticks in their hands. The people became calmer. But there was panic over food. Although members of the self-government committe e had in their enthusiasm asked the Japanese interior department for leniency and had bought a large supply of rice which they were selling at various stations to the people at 3 catties a dollar, it was supply enough only for four to five days. There were just too many mouths to feed.I sent my servant Ah Chai to go four times to the self-government rice station, and she bought altogether six catties of rice, at two dollars. For two days, she spent half a day waiting and came back empty-handed. There was a long queue, and some people waited all day without buying a grain of rice. It was very hard indeed. The food we had at home was being used up. One day, when I was just getting worried about it, my nephew Au Hua came to see me and asked if we had any rice. I told him it was getting used up. The next day , he went to Tsimshatsui, bought just over te n catties for ten dollars on my bahalf and brought it over.I thought that was praise-worthy of him, to be so helpful at his young age. Au Hua said to me that while he was in Tsimshatsui the day before, he saw a huge fire rising out of Central District. When I heard that, I thought of my staff at the Wah Shing Lung Store.I did not know if under aeroplane and gun fire they were dead or alive. I felt so uneasy I could hardly eat or sleep.
Two days later, not having anything to do at home, I went out onto the street. At Cheungshawan Road, I saw a passer-by with a liberation newspaper.I did not know him, but because I was worried about the shop, I asked him to lend it to me.I saw that
220 Society
in Central Market.... The news came to me like cold water being poured onto my back. ...I went home, and dropped into my bed, my grief coming straight from m y heart and tears out of my eyes. I could not help myself, and I cried. My wife and my concubine did not know what to do. They could only tell me to look after myself. In my mind, I found it so sad that my life's savings were coming to such an end, and the employees in my shop losing their lives in this way. Heaven had not helped us! But then I thought the Central Market area was still a large place. It was still not clea r where the bomb had dropped. That was not clear in the paper. If the bomb had bee n dropped on Victoria Street, it would have been beyond Tung Man Street. That might be frightening, bu t i t would not have affected me . However, i f the bomb had bee n dropped on Jubilee Street, Tung Man Street would have been affected .
Then I remembered that Hung Nung-cheung had taken my bank withdrawal seal on the 23rd day of the tenth month to Hong Kong to withdraw some money from th e bank and had not yet returned.I did not know if he was still at the store or if he had been robbed and killed by robbers on the way. If the misfortune ha d taken place, it would not just mean his coming to a sorry end, but it would also mean bankruptcy for me. This is because he had my bank seal and if this was lost, I could not withdraw the money I had saved up in the Bank of East Asia or the house deeds that I had in its safe-deposit box. That whole night I could not sleep. The next morning, my wife burnt incense to Buddha Wong and asked for guidance, using the fortune-telling blocks and sticks. Fortunately, both the blocks and the sticks showed a good omen. They predicted that Wah Shing Lung, the employees and Hung Nung-cheung were all safe.I could only half believe this, but, as they might say, a propitious god does not lie to a man in misfortune. So I forced myself to eat some breakfast, and then I went out.I went to Tai Nam Street and went inside Fook Hing Dyes-store to talk about recent developments in the war. A friend said that the day before British troops used big cannon to shell Kowloon, and some shells fell on Yam Chau Street. At the time, a verandah fell and killed or wounded more than ten people.. ..
Then it was 23rd December by the Western calendar, or the 5 th day of the eleventh month by the agricultural calendar. It was winter solstice. In former years, winter solstice was a festival. Every family and every shop would hold a feast, and people would enjoy themselves eating and drinking. Today, in the middle of this unfortunate war , wit h disaster looming above our heads, how could one think of a feast. But we were rearing a few fowl at home, and as rice was short, I thought we might as well take this opportunity to kill them for food and at the same time offer sacrifice to the deities to ask for a n early peace in this war. At noon, while we were sacrificing to the deities, and my young child Chuen-sheng was in my arms, suddenly we heard the sound of gunfire. It sounded like a clap of thunder, frightening heaven and earth and shaking this house. It was so violent that my child started crying in fright. My family was all confused, not knowing where the frightening sound had come from. I quickly had my meal and then went out to find what news I could. I found out that the sound had come from a cannon that the British troops on Hong Kong Island had used to shoot a shell over here. The shell fell on the playground on Cheungshawan Road at our back. Immediatley, nineteen people were killed and ten people were wounded. This was because two gambling stores and a congee store were located there, and this coincidence gave rise to the casualty. Afte r this frightening experience, I was forewarned.I felt that one could not be certain in the morning that one would still be living by night. Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were separated only by a stretch of water; with bombs flying in the sky, how could one feel safe? But one gained nothing by worrying about it, and one had to leave one's fate to heaven. The newspaper said that the day before, the Japanese commander had sent a peaceful mission to the British troops on the other side to ask them to surrender and they had refused .I thought this was very stubborn of the British; Kowloon having fallen, how could Hong Kong Island be held? All soldiers knew that when the lips had been cut the teeth would feel the cold.
I also heard that there was no water in Hong Kong. Each bottle of water sold for four to five dollars. So if people did not die from the bombs they would have died from thirst. Having no water was like having no food. It was also said that the Japanese had used rubber boats to land at Shaukiwan.
On 23 rd December, which was 6th day of the eleventh month, I bought a copy of the Hong Kong Daily which said that from Shaukiwan the Japanese had taken Mount Cameron. Some people also said that the Japanese had taken Central and hundreds of thousands of people had been killed or wounded. These were rumours; I did not know if they were true. I was feeling frustrated at home when I heard the droning of aeroplanes. I went out to the verandah and saw across the sky three Japanese planes coming from Hong Kong. The white smoke from anti-aircraft guns had not yet dispersed. Upon a closer look, the white smoke seemed to have come from Central. That made me worry about the safety of my employees in the shop. They were in such danger! I was so sad that I wept.
It was 25th December by the Western calendar, or the 8th day of the elevent h month by the agricultural calendar, 7 p.m., the night of Christmas. Hong Kong Governor Yeung Mo-kei [Si r Mark Young] and commander-in-chief Majo r Genera l Mo Yi-tat [Major General CM. Maltby] voluntarily and unconditionally surrendered to Japanese troops. One might say this was the end to a hundred years' dream of prosperity. It was night, and people in Hong Kong did not yet know about it. The next morning, when I went downstairs, I ran into Mui Yau-hong's son on the first floor and he told me that the night before the English had surrendered to the Japnanese military and that fighting had stopped on both sides. I did not believe him immediately.I went along to Pak Ho Street and bought myself a copy of the Hong Kong Daily and there it was really reported that th e English had surrendered t o the Japanese troops the night before .I could somewhat put my mind at ease.I went home immediately and told my family the good news. My wife said, T couldn't sleep all night but did not hear the sound of any gun fire.' So it seemed that fighting had definitely stopped.. . .
The next day, I went up to the ferry pier on the waterfront and looked across the harbour. The atmosphere was restful and the water was calm. I thought about the busy traffic across the harbour in former days and contrasted it to the quiestness. I looked around and realized that the war had caused a great deal of damage, that a dent had been mad e in the spirit of prosperity in Hong Kong, and wondered when i t migh t recover. Amidst mixed feelings, my worries came and I went home. Had some breakfast and worried about the survival of the employees in my shop. I felt as if I had a load of a hundred catties put on me that I could not put down. So I went out again, walking along without spirit. I found myself on Shek Kip Mei Street.I saw a blind man, Law Yung, a fortune-teller who had a stall there, and I asked him to foretell my fortune. The blind man asked me what I wanted to know.I told him I wanted to know if my business at Wah Shing Lung and my employees had survived. The blind man the n resorted to his tortoise shell several times. When he finished, he said to me that th e omen was very good, but it fortold of slight changes. He said if my question had to do with people, they were unharmed; but if if it had to do with things, then there were slight losses. I thought the slight losses might mean that the goods I had in the shop were taken by robbers. But that was not so. I paid him ten cents and left, and I wandered about not quite knowing what I was doing.I wanted desperately for Hung Nung t o come back and I wanted to write a letter and have someone take it to Hong Kong for Hung Hau. All these thoughts came to me, they were aggravating.
On 29th December by the Western calendar, which was the 12th day of the Tenth Month by the agricultural calendar, I was sitting in my sitting room feeling frustrated, and my eldest son Chuen-tai was on the verandah looking at passers-by in the street. He came in to say that he saw .... Hung Hau, Tung-sheng, Au Wah, carrying a bagful of rice and two bottles of oil, came into the sitting room. We all sat down and talked about what we went through in the war.I was both delighted and frightened.I was delighted because my employees had come through unharmed, and frightened becaus e the warehouse of the Tung Yat Restaurant had been bombed and burnt. When I realized that the goods in the warehouse had been totally destroyed, and that several thousand dollars of my hard-earned capital had gone, I felt as if my heart was pierced through.I recalled what the blind man Lo Yung said the day before, and he was certainly very accurate. In this life, what we gain and los e is determined, an d i t must be heave n protecting us that has allowed us to live through all this disaster. Perhaps in future we will make a large fortune. Fortunately, Wah Shing Lung was safe, and so what we lost today we might regain tomorrow.
So we talked for a while. Hung Hau and Tung-sheng left. They wanted to go to Shun On Co. in Mongkok. Hung Nung wanted t o go home. After thi s frightfu l experience, I felt more at peace with myself. I became less frustrated and worried. My only hope was that the new government would quickly put order into the new Hong Kong and that prosperity would return. This was my new hope.
The next day, Tung-shing came to say he could not return to Hong Kong because there had been a curfew. He said the Japanese authorities did not allow people to go back and forth.
Some days passed, and soon it was New Year's Day 1942 by the Western calendar. We heard that after th e victory in Hong Kong, the Japanese troops had been give n three days' holiday, and that they would have a good time. People here became quite frightened, fearing that the Japanese troops might be up to no good, looking for women ... Girls dared not go out, and good families took great care. The girls were frightened and dressed up like country women. But I knew all this was really worrying to no purpose. So I did not worry about it and we got through peacefully .
But there was a food shortage, which worsened day after day. After the war, ordinary rice cost a dollar a catty, and a bag of wheat flour was forty-ninesen, which was more than forty silver dollars. Oil was 1.20 dollar a catty and kerosene 80 cents per catty. The cost of living went up daily and so the Japanese authorities issued a notice to tell people who had no occupation to leave Hong Kong and return to the home village. The authorities would give people departing half a catty of rice each and would escort them to the Chinese border.
Hung Hau and Tung-shing could not return to Hong Kong because of the curfew and they stayed at Shun On for a week. After that, they sneaked out by boat fro m Shamshuipo and went back to Hong Kong. I thought at the time that the rice shortage must be only temporary, an d tha t soo n th e authoritie s would mak e available larg e quantities for the relief of the local people. But I waited and waited and there was no news of rice being put on the market. Rice went up from a dollar a catty to two dollars, and wheat flour from forty dollars a bag to seventy dollars. After the war, things became so expensive that many people could not afford what they needed. Many starved.
On 10t h January, 194 2 by the Western calendar, which was the 24th day of the eleventh month by the agricultural calendar, Hung Hau wrote to report that there was only eight to ten days' worth of rice for congee in the shop, and that even though they had money there was no rice to buy. It looked as if their food supply would be exhausted. That was quite frightening. He wanted to disband the staff in the shop, and asked me for my view. I became quite frustrated when I saw that. One trouble had really come after another. With my limited energy, how could I face all that. Disbanding the staff was no problem at all, but neither land nor boat transport had resumed. . . On 15 th January, which was ....I received a letter from Hung Hau .... had chartered a junk from Macau to come to Hong Kong to take his family back to Macau and it was prepared to take other passengers. It charged 25 dollars for a person. He had decided to send Ah Tong, An Fai, Ah Ngau to go with Hung Shi to Macau, and had given each employee forty dollars in silver to take back to the village. I thought that was costing too much money. It was more than I could afford in the present situation, but with the present state of our food supply, there was not much to do but to disband thestaff.I also realized that with ten mouths to feed in my family, I needed 6 catties of rice per day, which cost 10 dollars, and at least another 300 dollars for a month's expenses. It was not yet clear when business might resume, and I was not able to collect any rent.I wondered what was to happen to us if this situation continued for much longer. I really thought it was better to be a dog at a time of peace than a human being at a time of war.
On 15th January by the Western calendar, which was the 30th day of the eleventh month by the agricultural calendar, after breakfast, I was frustrated at home thinking about people in the shop .I asked Hung Nung to go with me to the Office o f the Interior on Nathan Road to apply for a permit to cross the harbour at Tsimshatsui so that I might return to the shop for a look to see how things had become after the war. When I arrived at the Office of the Interior, it was full of people. Moreover, the process of obtaining a permit was very complicated, so I gave up my attempt.I went hom e with Hung Nung, and on the way went over to Yaumati for a visit, just so we did not have to so frustrated. W e soon found ourselves at the Tai-ping Restaurant. Our legs were tired and we were thirsty, and so we went up to the restaurant for some tea. It so happened m y old friends Kon g Ping-chung and Wong Pak-ho were there and the y invited us to join them. Soon, the waiter came with a plate of fried beef noodles.I saw that a plate of noodles was not enough for four people, and so I ordered another plate of beef noodles and two dishes of four lotus-seed-paste buns. Then we talked abou t current events. The waitress served ...I paid the bill, we left the restaurant and parted to go home.
On 18th January by the Western calendar, which was the second day of the twelfth month by the agricultural calendar, after breakfast, I bought a copy of theWah Kiu newspaper.I saw that transport between Hong Kong and Kowloon had been restored. It was possible to buy a ticket at Tsimshatsui and the local people were free to come and go.I had been thinking about the shop and so I arranged to take the bus with Hung Nung to Tsimshatsui pier to wait for a ferry. I found people to be in good order, because there were Japanese soldiers making passengers wait in the queue to buy their tickets. Hung Nung and I waited in the queue and bought two tickets, and we boarded the ferry Man-hong. In a minute, the ferry's siren sounded and th e boat was going towards Hong Kong. Soon it reached the other shore. We landed at the entrance of Ice House Street, and we turned into the banking district on Des Voeux Road. . . The department stores were still there, but the people had changed. Some companies had been closed by the Japanese military and some hotels had become Japanese militar y clubs. They might be called gardens or hotels, but some of them were being used to house British soldiers who had been captured. In the shops, people played mah-jong, but there were places of music where girls were singing. One might say 'commercial women knew nothing of the sorrows of national defeat, and across the river sang the tune 'the flowers of the back garden'.'
I could remember De s Voeux Road a s the only prosperous part of Hong Kon g before the war. There used to be people dancing, young people smartly dressed, tourist agencies, modern women, nightless lives, like the French capital Paris. Now, after th e fighting, it had become a scene of desolation.I felt sad as I walked along .I could remember the night before the war walking from the shop on the island to return t o Shamshuipo where I lived, and now I was retracing my footsteps I could not forget that.
1942 by the Western calendar, the last month of the 31st year of the Republic, the year of San Tzi.
b* Lif e in Occupied Hong Kong
DOCUMENT V.bl: Cultural activities (source: 'Cultural activities in the new Hong Kong, a special article from the Hong Kong Broadcasting Office',The New East Asia September 1942 , pp. 107-108.)
For someone who returns to Hong Kong after having left before the War, the first thing he will find surprising will be that all the signboards that used to be written in English are now gone. From this alone, it should be clear how the culture of the new Hong Kong is different from that of the old Hong Kong.
Strictly speaking, the Hong Kong of the past had no culture of its own. The most that might be said is that what little culture there was was a low-grade colonial culture. So, for more than a hundred years, although the British in Hong Kong wanted to win the heart s of local people b y encouraging th e stud y of the classic s and respec t fo r Confucius, ultimately, they produced such laughable Hong Kong Chinese sentences as 'If you want to stop the car, you can do it here.'
Now, Hong Kong is in the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. It has become a Hong Kong for the East Asians. The poison of the former British colonial policy must now be thoroughly eradicated. For this reason, the poisonous remains of British cultural leftovers must also be eradicated. The new Hong Kong culture must not only include Chinese culture but also elements of new Japanese culture. Only in this way may Hong Kong bear the new responsibility of a centre of cultural exchange between China and Japan.
At present, Hong Kong cultural activities are proceeding towards this direction. Not only have these activities quite recovered, but also new life has been injected int o them. They have far exceeded the former confines to move towards a new future.
The new cultural activities in Hong Kong can be discussed in several parts. First, we can discuss the newspapers.
Newspapers are the voice of the people. In the past, there were too many newspapers in Hong Kong, and their backgrounds were too complicated. On the one hand, they all reported the same news, but on the other hand, they all made conflicting comments. Every day, they fought one another with pen and ink. Such newspapers were a waste of human and material resources. Such laxity had been purposely cultivated by the British. The ne w Hong Kong certainly cannot permit this warped phenomenon. Sinc e th e restoration of peace in Hong Kong, this situation has been remedied. Pornographi c tabloids are no longer published. The major newspapers have been negotiating mergers, and plans for them will take effect on 1st May. At present, there are four morning and one evenin g newspaper s i n Hon g Kong . They are : daily newspaper s suc h a s th e Xianggang, theXingdao, theHuaqiao, theNanhua, an d the Dongya Evening Post. These are all published in Chinese. In addition, there is the Hong Kong Daily published i n Japanese, and the Hong Kong News i n English. The newspapers come out daily in a single sheet, and are sold at 5 sen Military Currency each.
When the newspapers have been merged, talent will be concentrated, and their contents will be more substantial. Moreover, in order to compete, everyone will do his best at what he can do well. Consequently, on the one hand, they will be coordinated, but on the other hand, they will also be less dry.
As for cultural organizations, the first organization to be established after the war was the East Asian Cultural Association . The secon d wa s the South Chin a Fil m Association. At the time, they included all the notable people in the cultural spheres in Hong Kong. The chairman was Mr. Yang Qianli and the Vice Chairman Mr. Ma Jian. They contribute d greatl y to th e promotio n o f early cultural activities. Thes e organizations are now being reconstituted into a new East Asian Cultural Association.
On schools resuming after the war, the situation is more complex. This is because under British rule, all schools offered either a Western education or a 'slavery education'. The choice of subjects and the quality of teachers were often absurd. For these reasons, it was necessary to completely overthrow the old and to start all over again from th e foundation. In order to do this, a teacher training school has been established to train teachers, while the quality of existing teachers is being examined. So far, two classes of students from the teachers' training school have graduated. Several dozens of private and church schools have also resumed classes.A new curriculum and new textbooks are being examined and printed.
Because there is the actual need, there has been much support in Hong Kong for learning Japanese. At one time, there were many express classes and Japanese language schools. Nevertheless, the educational authorities have not for this reason been lax in the establishment of Japanese language schools. On the contrary, they maintain very strict control on the the quality of Japanese language taeachers, and disallow all those schools that fai l to come u p to standard. A t th e sam e time, i n order to populariz e Japanese language education, on the one hand they have set up voluntary Japanes e language school s i n which specialist s ar e hired t o hold voluntar y classe s i n man y institutions, and on the other hand, the y includ e Japanese language courses in th e radio programmes of the Broadcasting Department, so that residents can have mor e chance to learn.
As for publication, there is now in Hong Kong a sizable Da tong Book Publishing Co. This company has been set up jointly by Mr Au Boonho and Mr Ho Tung. The publications that are now available incude the New East Asia Monthly an d theDatong Pictorial. In terms of both content and printing quality, they have broken all records of Hong Kong publications. This is something in the new Hong Kong cultural activities that one can take pride in. The company has also started to edit a book series that introduces Chinese and Japanese cultures, and they will soon be published.
On the question of other artistic activities, artists in the Chinese as well as the Western styles who have remained in Hong Kong, such as Bao Xiaoyou, Wang Taoyuan have formed the Hong Kong Artists' Association. Mr Jian Qinzhai last month staged a large-scale exhibition o f bronzes, stone inscriptions, calligraphy and paintings tha t included well-know n ancien t an d modern item s held by collectors i n Hong Kong . Thousands of spectators attended. This was a rare and exciting occasion in artisti c circles in Hong Kong. Recently, artists in Hong Kong and Kowloon organized an art exhibition in aid of orphans. They collected items that they sold to provide relief for orphans. That also received much warm support.
Other branches of cultural activities have also been active. Film and drama are really holding hands, for actors in both have formed theatrical companies that perform in the theatres. Newly written plays include'The One Hundredth Christmas in Hong Kong' that describes life during the war in Hong Kong. Ba Jin's famous'Family' has also been dramatized . I n music, the musicians who have remaine d i n Hong Kon g hav e formed the Hong Kong Orchestra, which has already given one performance. This is the first time there has been an orchestra of a large scale in Hong Kong.
What used to be the Fung Ping Shan Library has also actively collected paintings that used to be in public or private collections but have now scattered. It has been putting them in order and soon they will be available for exhibition. It will become a public library for the use of Hong Kong citizens.
This i s the general situation o f cultural activities i n Hong Kong since the war. Together with other activities, under the bright sun, on the calm of the South China Sea, under the all-embracing defence of the Great Japanese Imperial Army, the new Hong Kong has taken on its shoulders one of the responsibilities for building the Great East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere, and is moving forward in peace and joy.
DOCUMENT V.b2 : The Po Leung Kuk under occupation (source: Faure, Luk and Ng, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, p. 557)
In commemoration of the Recovery
The fires of war spread to Hong Kong. Lives were put in hardship, the city was deserted. In particular, in the fourth year of the occupation, residents there led lives that were hardly fitting for human beings. Speaking about it brings pain.
Truly, the price of rice rose from just over 10 dollars per catty to more than 20 0 dollars. Even the rich found i t hard to have enough to eat, how could the poor not starve to death and remain unbuned? At this time, we succeeded into our positions in the Kuk.
More than two hundred pitiable orphaned and neglected children noisily waited to be fed. How could we bear this painful sight ? We knew that our resource did not match our needs, but we would not call ourselves human if we watched them without doing something. So we exhausted our finances and our strength, first to maintain a supply of food for the orphans in our care so that there would be no shortage and their health might recover. However, when the children in the Kuk had fortunately had an abode, many weak an d small children wer e crawling abou t o n th e streets , pitiabl y starved of the last grain and breathing their last.
We considered that in the realm of charity there could be no barrier. We wanted to help all as we had helped some . We developed our conscience into a source of strength, and we distributed congee in front o f the Kuk, thereby saving a thousand people a day. We gave suitable relief, and looked after people both inside and outside the Kuk. From the day we took over office, t o the recovery of Hong Kong, 123 days passed. This enormous expenditure came from our own donations and the support of enthusiastic men and women. With good fortune, we passed this serious and dangerous bend. We take comfort in this act and report it to gentlemen of this realm. When i t comes for our term t o be succeeded, ou r successors, will firmly an d solidly presen t themselves as parents-of-rebirth for the foresaken. This will be their offer to us.
Directors of the year: Law Chi-hing, Ko Cheuk-hung, Wong Siu-hing, Tong Luk-kut, Law Wai-kwan, Ku Cheuk-lun, Lee Shu-yuan, Wong Ping-ying, Yeung Shu-cheung, To Tin-han, Ma To-sang, Lee Chun-nung
On a fortunate day in summer, 1946, 35th year of the Republic.
DOCUMENT V.b3 : Internment (source: Type-written manuscript, in David Fame's possession)
A Message to all Christians in Stanley
'Ye that follow the vision of this world's weal afar':-
More than two years ago a message was addressed to the Camp which had as its theme the phrase, 'Redeeming the Time' . Today we face a different situation , an d there is need for something else to be said.
Many people have had a clearer vision of God and of duty than was theirs before internment. High resolves have been made by many�X two years ago. There is a danger that the moment of vision will be forgotten, an d that resolution will weaken. Many facing the future today are aware of little but the small things of life that will be possible once again. The old round and routine is to be resumed.
Now, unless life has come to mean more to us than it did prior to internment we have not 'redeemed our time', we have wasted it. Each one must face for himself the question, 'After internment , what?'
God has nothing greater to give to man than the gift of life with its truly amazing range of opportunity and of service. Are you going to be of the type of whom Kipling wrote,
'But now, discharged, I fall away
To do with little things again. . . '
or, has life awakened desires,
'Not to be satisfied as men appease
Hunger of food or sex or market gain'
and are you going to give yourself to the battle that will continue ceaselessly after the present battle is over, the achievement of the Kingdom of God upon earth?
If so, you are proposing to enter a contest from which there is no discharge, and which will require reserves of energy and resolution that you should be seeking and possessing NOW!
We celebrate the third anniversary of our Camp Services on Sunday, 28th January. We invit e you to the service at 9.45 a.m. , tha t togethe r we may seek strength an d wisdom for the future that lies beyond our present sight, and that, with St. Paul, we may say-
T was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.'
Frank Short
Chairman, Stanley Ministers 6k Clergy
DOCUMENT V.b4: Letters from occupation (source: Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 21 1981, pp. 187-190)
31 Shelley Street, 2nd floor, Hong Kong. 22nd March, 1942.
Dear Mr. Lum,
I trust you 6k your family are well, as we all are here. Things have been fairly quiet since you all left, but of course prices are soaring higher. We have had several letters from Mrs. Lee since she arrived in Macao & she has given us news of things there. It seems you are suffering the same hardships as we are as far as cost of living goes.
I now have a favour to ask of you 6k would be most grateful if you can help me.I am now in close touch with my younger sister ck brother who were living in Kowloon Tong when war broke out. They are both well, & as a matter of fact are now staying with us until things clear up a bit. We are very anxious that our mother 6k father should know we are safe 6k well 6k that my sister's house is intact. Since I heard that it is possible to cable to Australia from Macao, I hasten to ask this favour of you. Would you be kind enough to enquire for me the cost per word or per telegram of so many words, for cabling to Australia as follows:-Address:
SUEON
HANIDCRAFT
SYDNEY
SAFE IN HONG KON G
LILAILDER
Please note the signature 'LILAIDER' which is a combination of our three names Lily, Aileen 6k Derek so that our parents will know we are all safe 6k well; I think it can pass for signature, I don't know the regulations in Macao.
We should like to let our parents know that they can communicate with us via Macao, so if you have a short address to which they may send a reply will you kindly add the words 'Reply (address) Macao' after 'Hongkong', i.e.:
SUEON HANDICRAFT SYDNEY SAFE IN HONG KONG, REPLY MOCTO MACA O LILAILDER
If the cost of such a cable is under HK$50 I shall be glad if you will send it off straightaway 6k let me know, when I will send you payment. Should the cost amount to over HK$50, will you please let me know the exact amount first? We will be waiting anxiously for your reply to this letter as our mother will be worrying terribly about us 6k we wish to allay her anxiety as soon as possible. If you can help us in this way, we shall be most grateful .
With best wishes ck kindest regards to you all,
Yours very sincerely, Lily Tam
31 Shelley Street, 2nd floor, Hong Kong. 22nd March, 1942.
Dear Mr. Lam,
I have not thanked you for your letter written to me many months back 6k I do so now. I believe Tsuen has written to you in the meantime.
I trust you 6k your family are well as it leaves us at present. We are finding the new exchange of HK$4.00 to yen 1.00 very difficult. I suppose you know this was announced officially on the 24th July, i.e. 4 days ago. So now instead of one yen being worth $2 it is worth $4. Everything has gone up double the price in Hong Kong Money. Peanut oil is y. 1.80 per catty which is equal to HK$7.20, as against HK$3.40 last week. Vegetables are twice the price in H.K. currency, but remain the same in yen.
My sister-in-law (Yung Ngan) has asked me to write you a few lines for her. She asked me to say that several people in Macao have asked her to buy things for the m here, which you probably already know. As she could not get the permit to leave Hong Kong 6k as it has been raining for the past month here, she thought she would wait until she got permission to leave before buying the goods, because if she bought them first ck couldn't get a permit to leave, it would be difficult t o find someone to bring them over.
Now she has fortunately received papers 6k has handed them in on the 25th instant. However, as you know, the yen has gone up within the last few days, 6k everything is twice the price, or nearly that. Sister-in-law now wants to know whether these people still wish to buy what they asked her to. If so will you please let her know immediately, as she will get the permit any day now, 6k will have to hurry 6k buy them.
She also wants to know the exchange in Macao, what is the Hong Kong dollar worth in Macao money?
Hoping to hear from you soon 6k with kindest regards to you all,
Yours sincerely, Lily Tam
31 Shelley Street, 2nd floor, Hong Kong. 19th February, 1943.
Dear Mr. Lam,
My sister-in-law, Yung Ngan, has asked me to write you a few lines to let you know her news. She wishes to be remembered to all.
Everything is very expensive now, ever since Chinese New Year the prices have gone up twice. Will you please tell Mrs. Ho that the 'Lee Kung Man' singlets with long sleeves are approximatley HK$8 per piece, 6k that she is not going to buy for her 6k asks her to buy for herself in Macao. Also the short socks which she bought last time for 80 sen at 'Shui Hing' are now Y1.20. Now the prices are going up for a third time. Prices vary from day to day, so Yung Ngan cannot buy anything. She says that if the prices are reasonable for the things you want for your family, she will buy, if not, you will have to buy them yourself, as she doesn't know how much you are willing to go up to.
I hope you 6k your family are well as it leaves us here. Everything is very difficul t with these high prices but we struggle along somehow. I received a letter from my sister Gertie, 6k was very happy to get it. I hope we can all meet again soon.
Please excuse this short note.I must close now with kindest regards from us all.
Yours sincerely, Lily Tam
DOCUMENT VJb5 : Victory (source: F.W. Webb, The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports, London: The Royal Philatelic Society, 1961 , pp. 39-40)
29 August 1946 , Victory Issue; recess printed by De La Rue,Perf. 13x12-3/4; designed b y E.I. Wynne-J ones an d W.E . Jones; invalidate d fo r posta l purpose s 1 September 1956 .
The two special adhesives of the Victory Issue were designed in captivity. A full face portrait of the King surmounts a phoenix rising from flames and a motto 1941' 1945 RESURGO. Values in English and Chinese appear in the lower corners.
The story behind this issue deserves to be recorded more fully, and the following is condensed from the account of Mr E.I. Wynne-Jones, Postmaster General before an d after the Occupation.
The design of these adhesives was conceived and executed during internment i n Stanley Camp. In 1943, it occurred to Mr Wynne-J ones that it might be a good idea to have a commemorative issued when Hong Kong was finally liberated, and he set about designing one. Though by his own account no artist, he roughed out the design which was finally adopted, choosing the Phoenix. This was not only the obvious symbol of resurrection from the flames and ashes of the years of Japanese occupation, but had the further significance that in Chinese mythology the appearance of the Phoenix is held to indicate the return of good government.
Mr Wynne-Jones then enlisted the help of Mr W.E. Jones, a fellow internee and Senior Draughtsman of the Public Works Department, who is not only a keen philatelist but an artist who had already designed the Centenary Issue of 1941. He elaborated the rough design into a large scale drawing. The original dates optimistically chosen were 1941-1944, which had subsequently to be altered to 1941-1945. The originators toyed with other designs�X time hung heavy on their hands�X but always came back to the original design as representing what they firmly believed would be a fact: the liberation and resurrection of the colony to its former greatness.
The tw o characters on the shields supported by the Lions of England represen t Hong Kong, and on the side panels are inscribed Chinese characters for 'The resurrection of the Phoenix is the symbol of general peace for Chinese and British'. In the background on both sides of the King's head are two bats, symbols in China of good luck and long life.
Mr Wynne-Jones kept the design carefully, a matter of some danger, for the Japanese would not have appreciated it; on the voyage home in one of H.M. ships he showed it to a young Chinese naval officer of considerable literary achievements, who pointed out that two characters chosen for the last part of the inscription on the left pane l meaning literally Great Peace were also used in classical Chinese to mean Japan! Others were therefore substituted, and on reaching home the amended design was put to the Colonial Office and duly approved.
The commemoratives were originally intended for issue on 15 August 1946, first anniversary of VJ. Day, but owing to delay in their arrival in the Colony the date was altered to commemorate the arrival of the British Fleet at the end of August.
It should be realized that Mr Jones ran very considerable risks in producing th e full scale designs while in Japanese hands. When he was working, pickets had to be thrown around his hut in order to signal the approach of any of the guards. The courage, optimism and faith i n victory which led to the planning o f this issu e under suc h circumstances provide an epic in the philatelic history of Hong Kong which deserves to be placed on permanent record.
CHAPTER SI X
THE RETURN TO IMMIGRAN T SOCIETY, 1945-196 6
From the 1840s to the 1920s, Hong Kong the Chinese city established a foothold in the south China-Southeast Asian nexus oftrading cities consisting of Guangzhou, Foshan, Shantou, Hong Kong, Macau, Saigon and Singapore. Came the 1930s, when within a few years, upwards of half a million peopl e went into Hong Kong to escape from the war in China, and equally quickly, the population was depleted as war broke out in Hong Kong itself. Many people returne d quickly enoug h a t the end of the war, for i n 194 7 th e population stood at 1,750,000, which was slightly higher than the count conducted i n 1941. Perhaps another half a million entered Hong Kong between 1947 and 1966, but Hong Kong's was a young population* and they gave birth to more than a million more people in the same period. The numbers add up to congestion, housing shortage, the need for social services, in particular, schools, and, of course, poverty, poverty and more poverty.
Social structur e continued very much a s it was before the war. The need for the Western community i n Hong Kong to work closely with it s Chinese population continued to nurture an English-speaking Chinese elite that was imposed upon statuses attained through wealth. Just as before the war, the Hong Kong government drew support from traditional communa l organizations. Chines e tradition , however , wa s rapidl y becomin g a n anachronism as an aid to administration. The strikes of the 1920s, and then the riots of 1956 �X which arose out of an incident in which the hanging of a flag was the centre of dispute �X taught the Hong Kong government to be wary of issues that involved the politics of China. Chinese tradition became the venue by which th e Hong Kong government sought to relate to the
40 percent of the Hong Kong population was aged 14 or below in 1961
Chinese communit y a t larg e and Chines e custom cam e t o be preserve d with a sense of pragmatic reverence that was quite out of step with changes going on in Chinaitself.
a. Restoratio n o f Traditiona l Communa l Institution s
Like many other local-place associations, the Dongguan Charity Hall was founded wit h the avowed purpos e of providing facilities fo r burial an d sacrifice. When i t diverted it s focus to the provision o f schooling i n the 1920s, it was reacting to the increasing numbers of its countrymen that had settled i n Hon g Kong . In the 1950s , provision o f schooling remaine d it s focus. The association's report makes no reference to the curriculum, which was closely supervise d b y the Educatio n Departmen t o f the Hon g Kon g government.
The involvement of Chinese communal institution s in the running of schools without a say in the content of education put the onus of coming to terms with Chinese culture on the Hong Kong government. Much too timid in the face of tradition, the Hong Kong government tread cautiously �X and slowly �X in areas that involved a departure from traditional Chinese values. British la w dealt with lega l issue s the bes t way i t could, bu t reform s o f Chinese marriages , overdue i n the 1950s , were a long time i n coming . Concubinage was not dealt with by ordinance until 1971.
DOCUMENT Vl.al: The Dongguan Charity Hall (source: The Dongguan Industry and Commerce Association Journal (Dongguan gongshang zhonghui huikan), 1956, pp. 38-37.)
This hall, having been established in the Kuei Tzi year at the end of the Qing dynasty (1893), has had a history of sixty-three years. It was originally founded for the purpose of maintaining contact among people from the same county and promoting their common welfare. In the early days of its foundation, it set up a communal graveyard to bury the remains of their relatives and friends, it attended to annual sacrifice for them, and sent the bones of their departed friends home for burial. Subsequent to these activities, it established a charity school for the education of poor children who had no schooling. In all these activities, there was considerable achievement, as all know. When the Pacific War began, Hong Kong fell, members of the hall dispersed, and the activities of the hall were interrupted. The charity school that had been established for many years ceased to function. When the occupation was over, members of the hall met to discuss its revival. It bought a school building so that there might be a foundation for education. The achievement of today is built upon the difficultie s that were overcome by the early founders, and the enthusiastic support given by the gentlemen who succeeded them. They deserve the admiration of all of us who come after them.
There was once in circulation a brief history of our hall. However, owing to changes and turmoil, few copies of that have remained. The following is a report of the work of this hall, with an account of the origin of its activities. It serves the purpose of pointing the way to all comers, to enable them to promote and improve upon its work, so that it may go from strength to strength.
A histor y
Our county is adjacent to Hong Kong. Transport is convenient, and so it is possible to go from one place to the other within a day. For this reason, there are 300,000 people from our county who make their living in Hong Kong. Of all counties, ours has the largest number of people living in Hong Kong.
Sixty to seventy years ago, in the days before the Kowloon-Canton Railwa y o r even the steamer, people who came to Hong Kong came by sailing junks via Guangzhou. At th e time, business in Hong Kong was not yet very prosperous. It was a time of peace, when the people lived contentedly at home and did not think about travelling afar. In those days, most of the people who came from our county to Hong Kong were coolies, hawkers and artisans. Merchants in business of scale might be counted on the fingers of one hand. There were fewer of them from our county than from other counties.
When more people stayed in Hong Kong, there were naturally those who died but whose bodies, for reasons of poverty, were not sent back home for burial. When th e coffins were stored in communal mortuaries or buried on crown land, sometimes they were lost track of. In those early days, we set up a charity cemetery on Telegraph Hill, collected the bones of departed friends that were not sacrificed to , and buried the m there. However, that was a small water-logged place where many graves were already located nearby, and so there was little room for expansion. In order to ensure that the bones of our departed friends might not be exposed in the wild and become lost, people of our county who worried about such matters agreed that the establishment of another charity cemetery was urgently needed. They also saw that many counties at the time had set up halls to promote charitable activities. They all had public cemeteries, and we regretted that we did not. So we followed in their footsteps.
In the autumn of 1893, the Dongguan Charity Hall was set up by [names omitted] in August. In September, under the joint names of the Managers for the Promotion of the Dongguan Charity Hall, a donation drive was mounted from door to door. A poster was also posted, which said, To all readers, our county intends to set up a charity site in Hong Kong for the convenience of the temporary burial of those departed friend s whose coffins have not been sent [home], and to offer sacrifice annually for the repose of sojourning spirits. These activities will be costly, and the contribution of all will be necessary. Immediatel y upo n th e cal l fo r donation , man y shop-owner s hav e enthusiastically responded. However, there are still many whose whereabouts are not known, and i t is difficult t o approach them in person to ask for donations. For this reason, this notice is posted for their information. Friends from our county who wish to donate any amount large or small may register their names on the ground floor of Yan Wo Company. When payment is made, a receipt will be given, and the donor's name will be recorded on stone to be noted for perpetuity. In this way, philanthropy and humanity become one' Donation books were then distributed, so that donations might b e asked for fro m prosperou s merchants fro m ou r county who were residin g overseas, and that small sums might gather into large amounts. Many people donated. Later, because for some years there had been an epidemic, and people in their alarm had moved away, it was not possible to hold discussions on this matter. The Dongguan Charity Cemetery at the Chinese Permanent Cemetery at Aberdeen was, therefore, completed only shortly before the Qingming Festival in 1897. This Hall was established in 1893, and until 1901 , for nine years, it was managed by Mr Wei Minchai withou t any change in personnel. In April of that year, Mr Wei resigned when he found that he was too busy at his own business, and he was succeeded by Messrs Lo Tso-shen, Chow Siu-kei and Wong Kat-yu. The term of office was not fixed. They were responsible for the safe keeping of public funds, sacrifice at Qingming and the distribution of sacrificial pork.
In 1910, it was found that remaining funds were limited, and a donation appeal was organized. Immediately 2,000 dollars was raised, and a further 4,000 dollars was donated by our overseas countrymen. At the end of that year, the post of chairman was instituted. Every three years, the managers cast their votes to elect three persons t o serve in turn as chairman-cum-treasurer. In addition, two auditors were elected.
In 1916 , it was suggested that th e distribution of sacrificial pork be terminate d and a school be started. In 1920 a charity school was started. In order to raise funds for regular expenses for the school, all those who pledged to donate 5 dollars per year towards school expenses might become Hall managers. For this reason, the number of managers rose to 180 . Out o f this number, eight school managers were nominated , who were in charge of school affairs, takin g turns each month to inspect all charity schools. It was also agreed that the funds being kept by the chairman should accrue an interest at 0.7 per cent per month.
From 1923, it was decided that all Hall officials be elected annually, the election being held three months before the end of term. In that year, a chairman-cum-treasurer was elected. Also elected were nineteen school managers, who formed the educatio n department, to be managed by a section manager and deputy manager elected among the managers. Moreover, because Hall affairs had increased, a director was added who was to assist the chairman in his management of Hall affairs.
In 1926 , during the election of the director, two candidates received the sam e number of votes. It was decided that votes would not be cast a second time. Instead, there was to be a deputy director as well as a director. From that time on, this became an established rule.
In 1930, a school supervisor was engaged to assist the education department t o improve school affairs and to supervise the charity schools. By this time, the number of Hall managers had increased to 200.
In 1931, the Hall was reorganized. The number of manager-officers increase d t o
50. Hall affairs were decided by the council of manager-officers an d executed by the chairman. Other posts remained unchanged .
In 1941, Hong Kong fell. The students dispersed and nothing was left of the school buildings. All document s disappeared . I n th e earl y years of Hong Kong' s recovery , while military rule was imposed, the affairs of the Hall ceased.
In the autumn of 1946, civilian government was revived and members of the Hall gradually returned to Hong Kong. In August, Mr Yip Tsak was elected the first chairman of the Hall after the War and he sought quickly to resume its affairs. So many activities had been set aside that had now to be revived that the chairman was kept very busy, and because it was unsuitable in these circumstances for him to serve also as treasurer, another person was elected to share his labour. Because the current term was to end within a short time, it was decided that from the following year the treasurer should be separately elected. Also, because there was much work to be done, it was necessary to consolidate the internal organization of the Hall. Therefore, 63 manager-officers an d 30 school managers were elected.
In 1947, Mr Lau Cheuk-kwong was elected chairman. The post of treasurer was separately filled, and in order to strengthen the education department, a department chairman was added and an honourary school supervisor was engaged. In that year , two evening charity schools were started. A site for the school building was purchased, and donations were invited for the building.
In 1949, Mr Chan Lan-fong was elected chairman. Immediately, a school-building committee was formed jointly with the Industry and Commerce Association, whil e efforts to raise funds intensified . Mr Chan was the first to contribute a donation to promote the cause, and he contributed both money and strength, bearing all blame and labour. From that year, two deputy chairmen were added, and the organization of the Hall became even better. Mr Chan's leadership as chairman was the wish of all our members, and he was re-elected i n all subsequent years, up to the present. I n May, 1952, work was begun on the new school building. In September, the building was completed. On 6th September, the new school was opened in a key-turning ceremony, officiated b y Mr Chow Chun-nin, Industry and Commerce Association Chairman. After that, for the reason that there was no regular income for the school, and it was necessary to work towards providing for it, a four-storey building was built on the vacant land on th e side of the school. This building was to be rented out, the ren t providing an incom e fo r th e school. This building was completed i n 1954 . By this stage, our Hall had laid a foundation for educating the young. This difficult task in the post-war era has been completed thanks to the methodical leadership of Chairme n Chow an d Chan , th e cooperatio n o f th e school-buildin g committee , an d th e enthusiastic support of many people in society.
DOCUMENT VI.a2 : Britis h la w and Chines e custom s (source :Chinese Law and
Custom in Hong Kong, Report of a Committee Appointed by the Governor in October,
1948, pp. 92-108)
Cases in the Hong Kong Courts which Throw Light on the Application i n Hong Kong of Chinese Law and Custom
Ordinance No.1 of 1857 extended certain imperial Acts to Hong Kong. Among these was an act for the uniform administration of intestates' estates and in the column of the schedule specifying how much of the act was extended to the Colony the following appears:-
The whole of the act except so far as it may be deemed to affect the customs and usages of Chinese people touching the distribution of the personal estate of Chinese persons dying intestate.
Nobody has given a satisfactory explanation as to why it was ever thought necessary to apply this act to Hong Kong. The effect of the act was to abolish the special customs of London and York which had been preserved by the Statutes of Distribution*. Unless those special customs could be carried to Hong Kong by persons coming here fro m London and York, why apply the abolition of the customs of London and York to Hong Kong and in any event how could Chinese possibly be affected? The exception made to the application of the act has, nevertheless, been relied upon by the courts in Hong Kong as an expression of the views of the legislature�X
(a)
tha t the Statutes of Distribution did not apply to Chinese at all; and
(b)
tha t if it did not apply its non-application must affect leaseholds (which in English law are classed as personal estate) and should not be confined t o the movable property of a Chinese intestate.
An expressio n o f the views of the legislatur e which doe s not tak e the for m o f legislation is not a satisfactory basis of judicial decision and though the judges in Lau Leung Shi v. Lau Po Tsun appear to have realized this, there i s little doubt tha t i t influenced the decision in the leading case of Ho Tsz Tsun v. Ho Au Shi and others, 10
H.K.L.R.
69 with the possible result that insufficient heed was paid to the vital problem, namely, the true construction of section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance, 1873 . The following references may assist those who wish to pursue the matter further�X 6
H.K.L.R.
at p. 164 and 172, 10 H.K.L.R. 71, 72 and 81.
Cases in Hong Kong courts
A. Lau Leung Shi v. Lau Po Tsun, 6 H.K.L.R. 149. In this case the deceased was a Chinese person domiciled i n China. He died possessed of leasehold property i n th e Colony as well as of shares in companies registered in Hong Kong and in firms carrying on business in the Colony. There was a bequest of shares of his estate to ancestor s sacrificial fund which infringed th e Rule Against Perpetuities. The Full Court foun d that the Rule Against Perpetuities applied, but whereas both the Chief Justice and the
* The Statutes of Distribution governed the distribution o f property left by a deceased person without a will.- Ed.
Puisne Judge agreed in applying it to the leasehold property, the Puisne Judge considered that it should not apply to movable property. As a result there was an intestacy and it became material to decide whether the Statutes of Distribution or Chinese law should govern the devolution of the leaseholds. Held that the Statutes of Distribution applied. Both judges concurred in holding that any movables as to which there was an intestacy should devolve in accordance with Chinese law. Both judges considered the Schedule to Ordinance No.1 of 1857 and came to the conclusion that it could not have the effect of applying to the leaseholds the law of the testator's domicile, i.e. Chinese law, but the Puisne Judge (Gompertz J.) went further in that he said that in his view 'it was nothing more than a saving clause for Chinese customs and usages, with reference to the personal property t o which thos e customs properly relate: that i s to movables' . Had he qualified his words by saying 'so far as the saving can apply at all to Chinese persons not domiciled in the Colony', he would, in my view have stated the law correctly and there is no doubt that the decision in the particular case was correct, i.e. that the movable property only could be affected by the law of the testator's domicile and that the Statutes of Distribution must govern the devolution of the leaseholds because the lex loci applied, and although as we shall see, thelex loci in the case of Chinese domiciled in the Colony was Chinese law and custom there could and can be no justification for so interpreting selection 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance as to make it derogate from the ordinary principle of Private International Law as applied by English courts, that no matter what the personal law of a foreigner may be if he dies intestate possessed of land within the Court's jurisdiction, that land devolves in accordance with ordinary domestic law. See Dicey, Conflict of Law, 6th Edition, p. 536. Nevertheless, in Ho Tsz Tusn's case(infra) a justification was found.
B. Ho Tsz Tsun v. Ho Au Shi and Others. No. 83 of 1910, 10 H.K.L.R. 69.
The testator i n this case was apparently a Chinese domiciled i n China.I say apparently, becaus e the expression used i n the report i s 'domiciled Chinese ' whic h might also mean a Chinese domiciled in Hong Kong. It seems clear from the case, however, that the Full Court was dissenting from and refusing to follow that part of Lau Leung Shi's casesupra which decided that leaseholds in the Colony should devolve in accordance with the Statutes of Distribution. Now the testato r i n that cas e was clearly domiciled in China and if the testator in Ho Tsz Tsun's case was not so domiciled Lau Leung Shi's case would have been distinguishable on that ground and much of the judgments in Ho Tsz Tsun's case would be unintelligible. Moreover, in Ho Cheng Shi
v. Ho Sau Lam, 15 H.K.L.R. 35, Gompertz J. at p. 37 says�X
I agree with Mr. Potter that the only question before the Full Court in Ho Tsz Tsun's case was what was the law governing the distribution of the leaseholds of a Chinese intestate? The importance of the decision lies of course in the recognition fo r th e firs t tim e i n thi s Court , o f the principl e that , i n tha t connexion, domicile is immaterial, and that the Chinese law of distribution is part of the law of the Colony.
We may therefore assume that the testator was domiciled in China. The testato r had made a bequest for ancestral worship which was found t o be bad as offending against the Rule Against Perpetuities with the result that there was an intestacy. I n consequence the Chief Justice considered himself bound by Lau Leung Shi's case to order that the leaseholds of which the estate consisted should devolve under the Statutes of Distribution. On appea l i t was held by the Full Court consisting of Haviland d e Sausmarez President and the Chief Justice that the Statutes of Distribution did no t govern devolution of the leaseholds because thelex loci in such a case is the Chinese law and custom of inheritance. In other words the Court did not purport to depar t from the principles of Private International Law on the question of thelex loci applying but held that in Hong Kong there were two such laws, one for the Chinese, namely Chinese law and custom as it existed in 1843, and another for everybody else, namely English law. The President qualified the word 'Chinese' by adding in one part of his judgment the word 'residents' and in another the word 'inhabitants'. In view of the wording of section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance, 1873, some such qualificatio n was clearly necessary. It is interesting, however, that in the Chief Justice's judgment no such qualification wa s made and he referred merel y to Chinese. In fact both judge s proceeded on the footing that the Statutes of Distribution could not have been applied to the Colony unless it was confined to non-Chinese and therefore gave no meaning to the word 'inhabitants' because in their view, whether the Chinese intestate was or was not an inhabitant of the Colony was irrelevant, i.e. not only was domicile irrelevant but residence in the Colony was irrelevant. It must be frankly admitted that bot h judges gave extremely cogent reasons why the Statutes of Distribution could not b e applied to Chinese successions and although we have seen that the difficulties wer e overcome in the Straits Settlements, the decision that they were totally inapplicabl e is obviously preferable t o the confusion o f the two systems that has resulted i n th e Straits Settlements. The fac t remain s tha t consideration s o f inapplicability d o no t prevent Englis h law from applyin g the English law of succession to land owne d i n England by a Turk or a Chinese or by any national whose personal law may be entirely at variance with the law of England. So that unless we can derive comfort from some other sources we are driven back to section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance or to the general principles applicable where the inhabitants of a Colony have a law of their own and English law is introduced.
The President sought to derive support for his judgment from the following�X
(a)
th e proclamation of Captain Elliott;
(b)
th e practice of the Supreme Court and the Chinese residents;
(c)
Ordinanc e No.1 of 1857.
Let us examine each in turn.
(a)Th eProclamations. Although the President admits that these were subject to Her Majesty's pleasure he seeks to draw comfort from the fact that the words in th e first proclamation 'they are further secured in the free exercise of their religious rites, ceremonies, and social interests and in their lawful private property and interests' were not made expressly subject t o Her Majesty's pleasure and are wide enough to cove r succession to property. It is clear, however, that in the case of a ceded Colony the new sovereign has an untrammelled right of legislation and that even if Captain Elliott had been given authority to qualify such right in any way, it would have necessitated th e clearest indication of such intention to qualify the right in the sense suggested by the learned President. Moreover, in view of the fact that immediately after the words cited the Proclamation continues to say that pending Her Majesty's pleasure the inhabitants will be governed by village elders according to Chinese law and custom subject to the control of a magistrate, it is more than clear that Captain Elliott was purporting to do no more than create an interim administration. Those persons therefore that attribute the survival of Chinese law and custom to the Proclamations are building their castles upon sand. See also in this connexion th e judgment o f Sir Henry Golla n i n Cha k Chin Hong's case 20 H.K.L.R.1 at pp.9 ck 11, where he quite clearly was of opinion that English law in 1843 was to apply unless it was inapplicable.
(b)The practice of the Supreme Court and the Chinese residents. So far as the Court was concerned the President admitted at p. 73 'There is, however, nothing to guide us as to the extent to which the Courts have followed thes e customs', and Lau Leung Shi's case had decided that they did not apply to Chinese domiciled in China. There was, however, evidence that the Chinese had been guided solely by Chinese law and custom and would be unlikely to apply anything else and presumably such Chines e must have included Chines e not domiciled i n Hong Kong, but much a s one ca n understand th e Court's reluctance to declare as the law something which was quite contrary t o th e wa y i t had bee n applie d an d possibly , understood, b y the Chines e inhabitants of the Colony, unless this practice was sanctioned by law it could not be the basis of a judicial decision.
(c)
Ordinance No. 1 of 1857. (Originally Ordinance No. 3 of 1857.) It is of course admitted that the words 'personal estate' in the exception to the application of the Act for the uniform distribution of Intestate Estates is wide enough to include leaseholds and that the Statutes of Distribution applied to leaseholds. The observation of Gompertz
J.
in Lau Leung Shi's case that the saving should be restricted to movables, was therefore on the face of it open to criticism and both the learned judges dissented from it, but that was not th e end of the matter. The real question was could the saving be read either as in fact applying Chinese law and custom existing in 1843 to any part of the estate of an intestate Chinese not domiciled in the Colony, or as indicating that th e word 'inhabitants' in section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance in a matter of this kind should be read to include persons who had not made Hong Kong their permanent home and consequently were not domiciled here. If the saving could not be so read then Gompertz J. would be right in saying thatso far as Chinese domiciled in China were concerned, and that was the only case before him, it must be taken as a saving for movables only . In my opinion the only reasonable inferenc e t o draw was that th e draughtsman was anxious not to give the impression that an Act which amended the Statutes of Distribution was being applied to the Colony without any qualification as otherwise i t might b e argue d tha t thi s showe d a n intentio n tha t th e Statute s o f
Distribution itself applied to Chinese domiciled in the Colony and this might be fatal to those Chinese laws and customs to which the Statute was clearly inapplicable. As the legislature must be deemed to make its own the words of the draughtsman it would also be fair t o sa y with Si r Henr y Golla n C.J . (2 0 H.K.L.R. 7 ) tha t i t was in th e contemplation o f the legislature that despite the earlier Supreme Court Ordinance s introducing English law, at the time of the passing of the Ordinance under discussion there were customs and usages in force referrin g t o the distribution o f the persona l estate of a Chinese person dying intestate. So far so good and to this extent the judges were entitled t o say that thi s confirmed thei r ow n view for which the y gav e goo d reasons that the Statute was inapplicable to the Chinese inhabitants, but surely it was a slender thread upon which to hang the proposition that contrary to the usual rule of English law the legislator was in section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance intendin g to legislate for all Chinese? The answer that the word 'Chinese' in the saving is not qualified i s not a sufficient one. So it is also in numerous other Ordinances and i n Ordinance No.1 of 1856 passed in the previous years to validate wills in the Chinese form the legislature had been careful to say after the words 'Chinese testator'('whether a native of or domiciled in this Colony or China'). I t is at least equally arguable from the omission in the saving that it was not to apply to Chinese not domiciled in the Colony. Moreover, if the real intention of the legislator had been to override the ordinary rule of Private International La w as administered b y English Courts would he not hav e used some more specific words both in the saving and in the various Supreme Court Ordinances? It may be said that the word 'inhabitants' is ambiguous but unless there is some good reason to extend it to temporary residents it should in my view be confined to permanent residents. In fact, as we shall see, there is good reason for so confining it. Meanwhile, let us examine the judgment of the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice sums up his own judgment as follows:-
We have express sanction for the recognition of the dual system of law both in the Proclamations an d i n No.1 of 1857 . Further, Chinese customs are expressly recognized i n a number o f local Ordinances�X 7 of 1875 (th e Marriage Ordinance), 1 0 o f 1905 (th e Married Wome n (Desertion ) Ordinance, now replaced by 49 of 1935), 15 of 1908 (Widows and Orphan s Pensions Ordinance), 34 of 1910 (New Territories Regulation Ordinance) , 42 of 1912 (Chinese Marriage Preservation Ordinance). A perusal of the law of the Colony taken collectively, shows that the object has been to establish in a British Colony a system of British jurisprudence in so far as it is not inconsistent with Chinese usage and custom. With these authorities befor e us,I think we shall be giving effect t o the intention o f the legislature i n holding that the Statutes of Distribution cannot be applied to meet Chinese family law and customs, and so far it is inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony ; tha t successio n i n the cas e of Chinese i s governed b y th e aboriginal law, i.e. the laws of customs in force in that part of China of which Hong Kong formed an integral part before the cession to Great Britain; further, that succession to the property in question by other than Chinese is governed by the Statutes of Distribution.
In substance the Chief Justice adds nothing to the reasons given by the President except that he cites in support of his view a number of local Ordinances.
The Marriage Ordinance 1875 restricted the right of Chinese persons to contract a marriage under the Ordinance and applied the Ordinance to all marriages excep t marriages betwee n person s neither o f whom professe s th e Christia n religion , dul y celebrated according to the personal law and religion of the parties. As the exception was a statutory exceptio n i n favour o f all non-Christian marriage s duly celebrated according t o the personal la w and religion of both partie s and not merel y o f inte r marriage between Chinese, if it can be called in aid at all, it seems a far better example of the oppressio n theor y tha n o f the dua l system o f law theory expounde d b y th e President and the Chief Justice.
In the Married Women (Desertion) Ordinance, 1905, 'married woman' include s the first wife (kit fat) or second wife (tin fong) of any Chinese man married to him in accordance with the laws and customs of China, and any woman married to a man of Asiatic race (not being Chinese) in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of his religion.
Apart from recognizing the form of marriage the ordinance could hardly be said to support Chinese custom. It ignored the tsips* and gave the wife rights she never had under Chinese law. Moreover, it equally recognized marriage in accordance with th e personal law and religion of other Asiatics and gave the wives of such marriages similar rights.
The Widows and Orphan s Pension s Ordinance, 1908 , dealt anothe r blo w a t Chinese Marriage by refusing to class the tsips or their children as beneficiaries.
The New Territories Regulation Ordinance, 1910 , legislated expressly for giving effect t o Chinese custom in the New Territories. The fact that such legislation was deemed necessary can hardly be cited in support of the judgment that a dual system survived in the Colony as a whole. The Chinese Marriage Preservation Ordinance, 1912, was special legislation to give the husband o f a Chinese marriage a right t o damages for adultery against a Chinese committing adultery with a kit fat or tin fong wife.
The Ordinance s cite d by the Chief Justice therefore d o no more to show tha t partial recognition had been accorded to marriage in accordance with Chinese la w and custom and as in most cases the same treatment was afforded to other marriages in accordance with other personal law and religion they would not advance the theory expounded.
In fairness to the judges in Ho Tsz Tsun's case it must be admitted that as [sic] at the time they decided it the law in force in the greater part of China was that same law
Concubines
and custom which they declared in matters of intestacy to be thelex loci of Hong Kong. But even at that time the effect o f the decision was that if a Chinese domiciled i n Singapore acquired leasehol d property in Hong Kong, on intestacy his adopted so n would succeed in Hong Kong and not in Singapore, whereas his daughters would succeed in Singapore and not in Hong Kong. Other examples could be given, since 1930 when the ne w Nationalist cod e was introduced i n its full vigou r the discrepancy i s eve n more marked. A Chinese domiciled in China who leaves leasehold and movable assets in Hong Kong will, if he does not leave a will, find that the leaseholds in Hong Kong will devolve accordin g t o Tsing* law whereas the movable s devolv e i n accordanc e with modern Chinese law. Nowadays the Statutes of Distribution would approximate more closely to modern Chinese law than the Tsing law of intestacy, so the shoe is on the other foot. There was the further explanation for the error, if it be an error, made by the Court, tha t th e Court did not consider itself bound by Lau Leung Shi's case because�X
(a)
th e question of the true effect of Ordinance No.1 of 1857 was not argued by Counsel in that case; and
(b)
th e question whether in the case of all Chinese, including those who had not made Hong Kong their permanent home, Chinese law and custo m and not the Statutes of Distribution could be thelex loci of Hong Kong was never argued.
The decision has in any event been the law of Hong Kong for so long that i t is doubtful whethe r th e criticisms levelled at it would be considered sufficient b y th e Privy Council to upset it, and if it is not to be the law the matter must be set right by express legislation. Moreover, so far as concerns Chinese domiciled in the Colony, the decision was eminently sensible in holding that the Statutes of Distribution were totally inapplicable and not applicabl e with modifications a s was decided i n the Strait s Settlements, but in view of the Privy Council decisions it would be desirable to legislate expressly for the method o f devolution upon intestacy of the estate of a Chinese domiciled i n Hong Kong even if , a s would appear to be the case, the necessity fo r legislation did not also arise from the fact that the Tsing law of succession is quite out of harmony with modem conditions.
(c).A series of cases, of which the leading case is In the Estate Chak Chiu Hang, Chan Shun Cho v. Chak Hok Ping, 20 H.K.L.R. 1, have decided that the Tsing law does not gover n who i s entitled t o a grant o f administration but only th e beneficia l distribution of the intestate's estate. The widow of Chak Chiu Hang, who had die d intestate was admitted by the parties to have been domiciled in Hong Kong, claimed that a grant of letters of administration should be made to her whereas the defendant, who was the father of the deceased intestate, claimed that by the law and custom of China th e estate of the intestat e vested i n him a s trustee for the infan t so n of th e intestate and that he was the proper person to administer the estate.
Qing dynasty
Under Chinese law and custom no grant of administration is necessary and a good deal of evidence was also called to show that i n Chinese law and custom wome n occupied an inferior position, that the widow was under the authority of the defendant as the senior male relative, and that, although she was the natural guardian of her children and could administer without handing over to the defendant, sh e was in a number of important matters subject to his control. The Chief Justice was prepared to concede that had the point been raised in 1843, it might have been argued that th e position of a Chinese widow in the family under Chinese law and custom was such that she could not be entitled to a grant of administration of the property of her deceased husband. Nevertheless, for many years past the Court proceeding on the principles of English law had consistently granted letters of administration to the widows of Chinese intestates without Chinese family life having been subverted and he considered that it would be pedantic to upset a rule which had been consistently followed. In view of the foregoing, stated the Chief Justice, had a question of discretion arisen, he would have been prepared to exercise his discretion in the widow's favour.
In the course of his judgment th e Chief Justice reviewed th e earlier cases an d pointed out that those cases had held that as a result of the various Probate Ordinances which applied to Chinese as well as to other inhabitants, the rule of Chinese law as to its being unnecessary to take out letters of administration had been expressly overruled. The Chief Justice also shared that view.
d.The case of Ho Cheng Shi v. Ho Sau Lam, 1 5 H.K.L.R., which was one of those cited by the Chief Justice in Shak[sic] Chiu Hang's case, is interesting in showing that Chinese law and custom as to the inferior status of a woman has not been accepted. In this case the plaintiff as administratrix claimed from the defendant an account of the intestate's share in a family partnership. The defendant was the deceased's brother and in the previous case between the same parties of Ho Sau Lam v. Ho Cheng Shi, 1 1
H.K.L.R. p. 92, he had previously unsuccessfully applied for a revocation of the letters of administration granted to the concubine as next friend of the infant son by adoption. Now he contended tha t unde r Chinese la w and custom the plaintiff, who was a concubine of the intestate, was not entitled to administer the estate but that the proper persons were the nearest male relatives of the intestate. Mr. Justice Gompertz disposed of the argument of the inferior status of a woman and particularly of a concubine, as follows:-
So much for the disabilities of a woman; especially a concubine in China. The answer is, I think, that the status of a woman is different in our law. She is competent to be administratrix, and as such to do anything that is necessary for the administration. In dealing with assets which are,ex hypothesi, Hong Kong assets, her status under the law of China is immaterial. In dealing with an estate i n Hong Kong it cannot be material that th e proper tribunal i n China would be the elders of the clan, or that she must manage the property under their direction during the minority of the person entitled. The place of such tribunals is taken in the Colony by our own Courts.
It must of course be remembered tha t the argument seeking to exclude wome n from administration on the ground of their incapacity under Chinese law was in any event ver y far fetched . Quite apart from the general applicability o f the Probat e Ordinance, and the Married Women (Disposition of Property) Ordinance, 1885, which had long been the law when the argument was advanced, it is extremely doubtfu l whether English law would be held to be inapplicable in cases where the result of its application, so far from removing injustice or oppression, would result in removing a defect of capacity. This is really the basis for the express or implied non-recognition of slavery (express in the case of Hong Kong) as the institution is contrary to the right of individual freedom an d while a refusal to recognize the disabilities of women is not such a clear case, recognition of such disabilities would certainly not be required by a necessity to remove injustice or oppression.
Similarly it is a fundamental principl e of English law that the Courts should be open to all and are the proper arbiters of legal disputes. While agreements to refer to other tribunals may in certain instances be good, it is difficult to see how a mere custom whereby certain matters are dealt with or supervised by family councils could derogate from thi s fundamental principle . This may perhaps prove relevant i n other matter s customarily dealt with by the family council. A stronger case for the exclusion of the concubine might perhaps have been made not on the above grounds but on the ground that th e legislatur e ha s signally failed t o recognize her position. We hav e see n fo r example that she is not mentioned in any of the Ordinances relied upon by the Chief Justice in Ho Tsz Tsun's case. As against this, however, the rights of her children t o succeed on intestacy have never been challenged and recognition of the marriages in accordance with the personal law and religion of the parties must, in the absence of express legislation t o the contrary , includ e all unions i n the nature of matrimonia l unions which are part and parcel of the Chinese institution of marriage. Moreover, we have seen that in Singapore the divorce of a secondary wife has been upheld. There seems little doubt therefor e tha t whether o n the grounds actually expressed by th e Courts or on more general grounds the arguments for not making a grant of letters of administration to the widows and especially to concubines because of Chinese law and custom, were rightly rejected.
E.The case of Chan Yeung v. Chan Shew Shi, reported in 20 H.K.L.R. 35, further decided that the previous practice of making a limited grant of letters of administration to a concubine in cases where a grant could be made at all, was misconceived and that she was entitled to an ordinary grant. Under the previous practice, according to th e evidence of the clerk in charge of the Probate Office, where a grant was made to the concubine, it was usually made for the use and benefit of the children. In other cases it was only made during the minority of the children.
This case was decided by the same Chief Justice (Sir Henry Gollan) before whom evidence as to the limited rights of a widow in connexion with custody of the children and her right of administration had been called in Chak Chiu Hang's case. The evidence called in Chan Yeung's case was, as not infrequently occur s with expert evidence of Tsing law and custom, however, a little different in that it showed that under Chinese law and custom th e kit fat or tin fong wife was designated as the proper person t o administer her husband's estate. The Chief Justice further held that the law of England being clearly inapplicable (as it did not recognize more wives than one) he must look to the law of China t o discover who was the proper person to be the legal personal representative of the deceased. He did so and arrived at the conclusion that on th e true interpretation o f section 38 of the Ta Tsing Lu Li* a Shu Mo, or compassionate mother (i.e.a surviving concubine who by order of her husband brings up the sons of the husband upo n the death of the natural mother) wa s entitled t o the grant bot h because she was a Shu Mo and because she was his concubine or tsip. He expressed himself thus�X 'In my opinion, the widow of an intestate, if she was his kit fat or tin fong, is primarily entitled; if there is no such widow then a Shu Mo comes next i n order; and if there is no Shu Mo than a concubine or concubines'. He examined the position of a concubine both in Chinese law and before the Courts of this Colony, and appears to have come to the conclusion that in the absence of a tsaf* or Shu Mo the concubine was entitled to treatment similar to that which would have been accorded to a tsai or Shu Mo.
This case is also interesting for three other reasons:-
(a)
I t is one of the few cases in which the Hong Kong Courts appear to have been made aware of the decisions in the Straits Settlements and of the Privy Council but the Chief Justice dismissed the matter briefly with this comment: 'Fortunately, express local enactment avoids any necessity for discussing the propriety or otherwise of the procedure adopted in Hong Kong in regard to similar case.' Although he does not specify which enactment it would seem probable he was referring to Ordinance No.1 of 1857.
(b)
I t shows the dangers of having to rely on expert evidence to prove Chinese law and custom in that there was not only a conflict of evidence between the evidence of the plaintiff and defendant in Chak Chiu Hang's case but between such case and the present.
(c)
I t contains an instance where the Courts had to consider whether a Chinese family had in fact split up into two separate families, which, in the circumstances, the Court considered had occurred.
F. In the matter of the Estate of Kishen Das, 26 H.K.L.R. 42. the report i s rather meagre, but it appears that a Hindu went through a form of marriage ceremony known as' Anand' with a Chinese woman. This form of marriage was lawful for Sikhs and it is not altogether clear that it was lawful for the Hindu. The case was, however, decided on the ground that the exception made by section 37 of the Marriage Ordinance 187 5 could only operate where the non-Christian customary marriage was shown to have
Penal Code of the Great Qing Dynasty
" Wif e
been duly celebrated according to the personal law and religion ofboth contracting parties. In the present case this had not been shown. The judge accordingly declined to allow the Official Administrator to apply the estate of the deceased Hindu Kishen Das for the maintenance o f his son by the Chinese woman aforesaid. A s had bee n previously mentioned the Courts in the Straits Settlements have decided otherwis e and it is for consideration whether a marriage in a form sanctioned by the personal law and religion of the husband should not be made by legislation to suffice .
Effect of the Hong Kong decisions
With th e exception o f the case o f Kishen Da s which doe s not assist i n th e interpretation of section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance, 1873, the relevant cases in Hong Kong have all been concerned with the following topics:-
(a)Is a formal grant of letters of administration necessary? Yes.�X English law applicable.
(b)Who is entitled to grant letters of administration? This must be determined in accordance with English law except to the extent where, e.g. because the position of a Shu Mo or tsip has to be considered, reference has to be made to Tsing law.
(c)Actual devolution upon intestacy Chinese law and custom as it existed on the 1st of April, 1843, applies and, in the case of leaseholds, whether or not the intestate was domiciled in Hong Kong, provided h e was of Chinese race. If, however , only movables ar e concerned thelex domicilii and not thelex loci applies and it becomes necessary to ascertain the actual domicile of the deceased Chinese. This last proposition would appear to follow from the reasoning in Lau Leung Shi's case and Ho Tsz Tsun's case. It must, however, b e remembered tha t when thos e cases were decided thelex domicilii and Tsing law were for practical purposes one and the same. Inquiries addresse d t o the Registrar o f the Supreme Court a s to th e practice in making grants of letters of administration have not elicited an y definite reply on this issue. The Registrar is only concerned with the question as to who is entitled to a grant and he determines this in accordance with the principles of English law. Usually there is expert evidence as to who would be entitled to a grant according to the law of the domicile and this is sufficient to enable him to make a grant. He has not been able to find a case where there has been a conflict as to who is entitled which would necessitate an inquiry as to the beneficial interests under Tsing law and the law of the domicile and thus raise in a net form which of these two laws applies.
b. Povert y and the Need for Welfare
The pressing problem of the 1950s was the provision of social services for Hong Kong's mounting population, and in no other area of social services
was nee d a s accute a s i n housing . Shoul d governmen t buil d th e housin g that members of the community needed? Member of the Legislative Council, Sir Man-kam Lo, opposed the proposal of government involvement . Ho w many flats was government prepared to build for the poor? Could it be as many as 1,000? He asked in 1949. Little did he know that by 1966, almost 800,000 peopl e live d i n 150,00 0 subsidize d units , mostly singl e rooms . I t became a myth that was propagated through the textbooks in Hong Kong's schools that the fire at Shek Kip Mei in 1953 was the reason for the Hong Kong government's programm e i n subsidized housing . That was no more than an excuse to overcome opposition from some prominent members of the Chines e communit y fo r a polic y tha t wa s suggeste d b y th e Housin g Commission o f 1935 .
DOCUMENT Vl.bl : A problem of refugees (source : Commission o f Labour an d Commissioner of Mines, AnnualReport, 1957-58, pp. 60-61)
The majority of the working population in Hong Kong are wage earners and Hong Kong is basically a trading and industrial community, although there are important sections engaged in agriculture and fishing. The population is now fairly stable, although the movement into and out of the Colony during the year was over 1-1/2 million each way, out of a total population estimated at the end of 1957 to be 2,677,000. The natural increase was slightly less than 80,000 in the year 1957.
The ingress of over 700,000 refugees from mainland China since 1949 has had a marked effect on the labour situation in the Colony, the chief characteristic of which is an excess of unskilled labour. Previously the ebb and flow of the working population was closely aligned t o th e economi c opportunities i n Hong Kon g and China . Th e refugees, however, have shown no desire to return to the mainland, even though Hong Kong is unable to offer to all the prospect of earning a reasonable living. Since 1950, with th e exception o f a short period i n 1956 , restrictions have been imposed on immigrants into the Colony from China .
The internal mobility of labour is generally high. Workers quickly acquire ne w skills or brush up old ones in order to adapt themselves to the best market for thei r services. The small geographical area of the Colony makes transport less of a problem. With the expansion of new industrial areas, such as Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong, this mobility i s becoming les s marked because of the need to change place of residence with the new job.
There are, however, from the workers' standpoint, factors which prevent him from moving toward better economi c opportunities, i n particular th e system of personal introduction and the preference to employ clansmen or fellow villagers. This does not mean that vacancies are left open, but that individuals, without the correct surname, antecedents and ancestral village, think and, in many instances, are right in thinking, that the job is not open to them. This is particularly so in the retail trade, in work such as building where sub-contractors are involved, and in the smaller commercial firm s and workshops. In large industrial establishments which employ direct labour in quantity this is not the case.
DOCUMENT VI.b2 : Housing (source : Address by Hon. Si r Man-kam Lo , Hon g Kong Legislative Council, 30 March 1949, Hong Kong Hansard, Session 1949, pp. 99-100)
This question is of course one of vital importance to the public and I therefore feel I should say a few words on this matter.
To begin with I venture to think that some of the bitterness which has crept in in the criticisms of Government housing policy, especially in regard to building houses for Government employees, which have appeared in the local press, has been due to an inadequate appreciation of some of the circumstances affecting this problem, which include the following :
1.
Th e majority of domestic premises are old buildings subject to controlled rent . (Incidentally I may mention that since the landlord's expenditure is increased, say, from 3 to 6 times as compared pre-war, and since his permitted increase in rent for domestic premises is only 30% on pre-war rentals, this arbitrary restriction in rentals represents an important subsidy to the cost of living in Hong Kong by the landlord.)
2.
I t costs so many times more to build a house now than pre-war.
3.A fair return on any new building must be governed by 2 above. Moreover in case of a slump in property, when there is no housing shortage, and when rentals of new buildings cannot compet e with rentals of pre-war buildings, the owners of new buildings must 'carry the baby'�X unless, indeed, they charge such premia and rent as will enable them to depreciate within a short time the value of the building to pre-war value.
4.A fair remuneration to an employee must be such an amount as will enable him to obtain accommodatio n suitabl e t o hi s positio n b y expendin g a reasonabl e percentage of that remuneration for this purpose.
It is because of the consequences and of the inter-play of these circumstances that large employers have found it expedient to provide accommodation for their employees. In so far as the rent charged to the employee does not represent a fair return on the cost of the accommodation, under 3 above, it represents a subsidy to the employee and the justification is that the employer regards such a subsidy as a necessary and proper expenditure to retain the services of a contentedstaff.
This policy has in fact been followed by large commercial firms in the Colony for a great number o f years, and i s being followed today . And i t should be appreciate d that, in so doing, they do make a contribution to the solution of the housing problem itself; to the extent to which new accommodation is created the shortage would thereby be eased.
I can see nothing against, and every reason for, Government as employer to adopt a similar policy and I can only hope that this policy will be continued so that in time Government may have buildings to house their white-collar employees and the labour class as well as their senior officers .
It is suggested that Government should build houses for members of the public, rather than its employees.I confess I cannot follow this argument. Let us however assume that Government is to build for members of the public. On what principle are the members of the public to be chosen for the honour of being Government tenants ? Then what is the rent to be charged? If the rent is to be 'fair return' under 3 above, these tenants will get no special benefits, and the only effect of Government's enterprise is that Government will have become landlords and builders. If however the rent is to be so fixed as to include an element of subsidy, then all I can say is I do not see why the taxpayers who include the humblest artisan who smokes a few cigarettes should be made to pay this subsidy!
Finally how many houses or flats is Government to build? Say, 1,000 flats? Well, on the basis that each flat costs $100,000 the capital sum involved is 100 millions!
DOCUMENT VI.b3 : Excuse for intervention (source: Address by the Governor , Hong Kong Legislative Council, 30 December 1953, Hong Kong Hansard, Session 1953, pp. 354-355)
Honourable Members, I am sure that I am voicing the sentiments of every member of this Council, indeed of the whole Colony, when I express my sympathy to all those who have suffered from the terrible catastrophe at Shek Kip Mei. The only consolation that we have is that the casualties were low.
In a disaster of this magnitude the first essential is to feed the people and to care for the sick. This has been done and is being done. The second essential is to clothe those who are in need of it. This again has been done and is being done. The thir d essential is to house those who have been rendered homeless. This is the most difficult task of all in view of the numbers involved. The total is roughly equal to the whole of the population o f Tsun Wan, o r o f a fair sized town i n England. There i s little accommodation immediatley available, for we have no really large buildings that will be suitable, whilst the overcrowding that exists in all our domestic buildings is well known. Therefore al l that is possible at the moment is to house the very young, the aged and the sick. This is being done. The rest will for the time being have to take shelter under verandahs. The necessary water, latrine and washing facilities are being provided. However, it is Government's intention to rehouse these people on the existing site at the earliest possible moment. This means that th e site must be cleared, an d clearing has already started. As soon as the site has been cleared and roads and drains provided rows of simple houses of fire-proof construction will be erected by Government and fire victims will be allocated to them. They will be required to pay a small rent, probably a good deal less than they were paying in those dreadful dwellings that have just been burnt down. If there is not accommodation on the site for all, the balance will be rehoused elsewhere.
Those are the immediate problems and plans. They will require much effort an d considerable money: probably as much as $16 millions from Government funds. Th e greater part of this expenditure, of course, will be for feeding, site clearing and more particularly housing. None the less I am quite sure that this Council will vote whatever is necessary. Meanwhile there is still urgent need to help the victims in other ways and I therefore hope that subscriptions will continue to pour in from the public.
It has been a terrible disaster, but the help that has been given by all and sundry has been truly magnificent. Never before in Hong Kong have I seen such a display of neighbourliness. Th e wa y i n whic h th e voluntar y organizations , th e kaifong , th e churches, the Army, private individuals, Government departments and officials, th e way i n whic h al l thes e swun g int o actio n wit h spee d an d intelligenc e wa s mos t heartening and also most efficient. Trul y it may be said that out of tragedy has come kindness.
Dr. Chau Sik-nin: Your Excellency, as Senior Unofficial Member and on behalf of my Unofficial Colleagues I wish to associate myself with your expression of sympathy which I know will be gratefully appreciated not only by the sufferers but by the whole Colony.
The community is gratified to learn of the swift relief that has been rendered by Government and the voluntary organizations to the victims of this tragic disaster and of the planned and practical measures that are being instituted to rehouse them with all possible speed. The stricken will be heartened by your words, Sir, just as they have been comforted by that kindness of which you have spoken�X the spontaneous and overwhelming charity manifested by all sections of the community.
DOCUMENT VI.b4: Social policy�X Address by the Governor (source: Address by the Governor, Hong Kong Legislative Council, 3 March 1954, Hong Kong Hansard, Session 1954, pp. 20-21)
I turn now to our greatest social problem, that is housing, with which is connected resettlement. Practically every civilized country in the world suffers from a shortage of low cost housing. We are not unique in this. What makes our difficulties exceptional is the proportion of our total population which is living without proper housing and the fact that such a large percentage is not our own people but the influx ofa neighbouring country where thousands more are waiting to pour into houses as fast as, or even faster than, we build them. Consequently progress here is bound to be even slower than it has been in most other countries. In addition we have the further disadvantage tha t land here is much scarcer than it is elsewhere. As regards the size of the problem, it is estimated that at least 350,000 people should be rehoused. It is unnecessary for me to stress the scarcity of land in Hong Kong. That is so well known and so obvious as to call for no further commen t fro m me . It may mean tha t w e shall have t o develo p satellite towns outside the urban areas, but this is also bound to be a slow process because it is no good having low cost houses if they are too far away from the places of work of the people livin g in them. To give some idea of the high cost of low cos t housing I would mention the latest scheme of the Hong Kong Housing Society t o erect 1,000 flats at Hunghom. This does not sound like a tremendously large project, but when I tell you that the site preparation will cost $2 millions it does give one some idea of how much more difficult th e problem i s here than i t i s in other places. Incidentally, the $2 millions is a grant from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund. In addition to this a loan of $72 millions from our Development Fund has been promised to the Housing Society for the erection of the flats. In out of town sites there would be lacking water and similar services which already exist in urban areas such as Hunghom. These services would have to be provided at no little cost. It is a difficul t but not an insoluble problem. We have got to feel our way. At the same time we should realize, as we all do realize, that it should be pressed on with as rapidly as possible. We are gaining experience all the time and we should not throw that experience overboard. That is why it is intended that when the Housing Authority, to which I referred last year, is set up the Authority will not, at any rate to begin with, be the exclusiv e organization to deal with low cost housing. Schemes of other organizations such as the Housing Society will continue simultaneously, beause we want all the assistance we can get. Before, however, approval or Government assistance is given to schemes of other agencie s i t is essential that we should be satisifed tha t th e particular schem e proposed is a sound one. The legislation to establish the Housing Authority is already in draft form and will, I hope, shortly be presented to this Council. One thing we should bear in mind is that low cost housing either by the Housing Authority or by other organizations which receive financial aid from Government, whether by direct grant or by loan, is subsidized housing. This means that it will compete with private low cost housing. We do not want to get to the stage where subsidized housing will kill private housing. However, this is unlikely to happen for a long, long time as there is so much t o b e done. Meanwhile w e shall have to devote the greater part o f ou r Development Fund to low cost housing.
DOCUMENT VI.b5 : Poverty (source : The Famil y Planning Association o f Hon g Kong, Eifth Annual Report, 1955, pp. 9-10)
Of the 4,724 new cases [during 1955], 161 attended the clinic for wives of Services personnel, 32 the clinic for English Speaking Women, and 116 were sub-fertile cases. 4,415 over-fertile cases, therefore, attended the ordinary clinics. The following averages are based on these 4,415 overfertile cases:
Salary per month: $136.0 2 Surviving children per family: 3.8 9 Age of mother: 30.8 9
The averag e salary of $136.02 per month doe s not give a clear picture of th e extreme poverty of many of the patients who attend clinics on account of the fact a number of women from higher wage groups make use of the facilities offered . Th e average age of women attending clinics is high and the majority have already had their family before coming for advice. On study of each case it is found that the majorit y have had over an average of five pregnancies and i n some cases as many as eleven pregnancies or more. Here, for example, are particulars of five cases, from the many in our records, who have come to the clinics for advice during the year:
Woman aged 35, married 19 years, had 11 pregnancies with normal births.6 children surviving, 7 died, husband a cobbler earning $100 per month.
Woman aged 37, married 21 years, had 13 pregnancies: 9 normal births, 4 miscarriages. 9 children surviving. Husband a farmer earning $120 per month.
Woman aged 38, married 19 years, had 12 pregnancies with normal births. 10 children surviving, 2 died. Husband unemployed .
Woman aged 39, married 20 years, had 1 2 pregnancies: 10 normal births, 2 abortions. 8 children surviving (3 given away), 2 died. Husband a Foki* earning $80 per month.
Woman aged 43, married 26 years, had 1 5 pregnancies: 11 normal births, 4 miscarriages. 6 children surviving, 5 died. Husband a tailor earning $100 per month.
DOCUMENT VI.b6: More poverty (source: The Hong Kong Family Welfare Society, Annual Report for 1959, p. 6)
A typical family receiving such assistance is that of Mrs. 'H'. Her husband died of
T.B. in February 1959 leaving her with 4 young children. The family live in a very poorly constructed roof-top shelter. Mrs. 'H' tries to support her family by doing odd cleaning jobs but two of the children suffer from T.B. and she has to take them regularly for medical treatment which takes much of her working time. She herself is weak and undernourished, and cannot sustain long hours of work. The Family Welfare Societ y have given them extra nourishing food and clothing and a regular monthly grant to help with their daily expenses. School fees have also been paid for one of the children.
DOCUMENT VI.b7: And more poverty (source: Elsie Elliott, Crusade for Justice, an Autobiography, Hon g Kong: Heinemann Asia, 1981, pp. 173, 186-187, 190-191)
Our pupils all lived in huts, and inevitably some were involved in fires. We would rush to the scene of the fire, usually during the night, to see how we might help. The
Shop or store assistant other children would then take the fire victim, if he was a student, to buy new books and clothes. The poor understand the sufferings of the poor and they try to help each other.
I enjoyed living in the midst of things in Kowloon. It was noisy, being in the flight funnel and very close to the airport. The first time a plane flew over the building, I fell flat as we had been taught to do during an air raid.I was sure the plane was going to land on the house, but I am not sure how falling on the floor would have helped if it had. We had to stop teaching every time a plane passed over. But eventually I became so used to the noise of planes that they left me undisturbed. Yet the sound of a single cockroach flying through the window would wake me up in a sweat of fear.I have never become reconciled to intruding cockroaches, though they no longer make my hair stand on end.
In Kowloon City I was right among the people.I came to know and respect the hawkers, and to understand their problems. I watched how they were hounded from a street on the excuse that they obstructed traffic; but as soon as they moved, thei r places were immediately take n over by parked trucks , whose owners could be see n paying bribes to the authorities for their privilege.
I was especially interested in the many street sleepers in the area, which is not far from the notorious Kowloon Walled City, that area which belongs to no one and is full of drug activitiy and vice. China claimed certain rights over it, while Britain denied them, until a claim in the Supreme Court decided in favour of the latter. Certainly China once had special rights there, but these are never used today. At any rate, the area was neglected, both for cleanliness, public services, and law and order, and provided a hide-out for all kinds of illegal activities and still does to some extent. Yet some of our finest students have come from that area, where rents are cheaper.I used to buy cotton quilts in the winter, and go out at night dropping them on street sleepers who had inadequate bedding. When I did this I always had to run away quickly, in case I was surrounded by many asking for quilts.
It was mid-February, the coldest February on record.A delegation of squatters came to tell me their huts in Jordan Valley had been demolished by the authorities , leaving them without shelter in the biting cold wind.. . . On this occasion I went at once to see the victims. There were about 400 of them, people of all ages, many young children and old people. Their huts had not only been dismantled, but the poles had been hacked through to prevent them rebuilding to the same height.I saw children sheltering from the cold in chicken pens; I saw a very old couple huddled on a bed in front of which some kind person had hung a sheet of iron to keep off some of the wind as it swept down the valley.I was introduced to a woman whom the villagers had just saved when she jumped to attempt suicide.
I was shaken.I knew that squatters' huts were being demolished on sight, but I could not imagin e any human bein g demolishing huts to this extent durin g recor d cold weather.
Shocked an d angry, I went straight to the headquarters o f the Social Welfar e Department in Causeway Bay, to ask what might be done for the homeless.I saw the Assistant Director, a Chinese. I explained the situation and asked if he could help the homeless.
'Why don't these people go and rent themselves a flat?' he asked. 'Their average wage is $150 to $180,'I replied, 'and I know that to rent a room costs that amount. What is the family then supposed to eat?'
DOCUMENT VI.b8: Environment and accommodation (source: Journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Social Research, vol. 1, 1965, pp. 1-8, 25-28, 33-38, 90-93)
Wanchai tenemen t
Wan Chai, formerly called East Point, was among the first areas to be inhabite d on the island of Hong Kong and it has a long history of settlement. More than half the households visited in the Wan Chai area had been in the district for twenty-five t o fifty years. Six of the household heads were born in Hong Kong. All other household heads came to Hong Kong when they were under twenty years of age. There were also fifteen households which had been in the area for eighteen years. That is to say then, that they arrived in the area right after World War II. They must have been part of the great influx of people from China immediately following the liberation of Hong Kong. Some of those who came at this time were newcomers to Hong Kong, while five had been here before the war but had returned to the homeland during the occupation.
During the war, Wan Chai suffered heavy bombing because of its proximity to the Naval Dockyard, so many people moved away at that time. As a result, many of the tenement blocks were still vacant in 1945 for the new arrivals to occupy. Only thre e households in the Hong Kong sample had been in Hong Kong for fourteen years or less, that is , since the beginning of the Communist regime in China. This might be related to the fact that houses in Wan Chai were already quite filled by the continued immigration during the post-war interim. . .
The houses in the Wan Chai district wherein most of the households dwell fall into three main types:�X
(1)Th e oldest type is built on the gentle slope south of the original shoreline of the Hong Kong Island. These buildings are mainly three storeys high.A very steep wooden staircase serves two adjacent buildings. The treads are so worn that hollows are formed in the central parts, and sometimes one or two treads are missing altogether. As the cleaning and maintenance of the stairs are nobody's responsibility (caretaker s are unheard of) dirt and dust have accumulated over the years. The stairways are dark even in broad daylight and artificial lighting is never installed so that drug addicts who take advantage of the protective darkness are encountered on the landings.
Each floor at the time of completion of the building was devoid of partitions either temporary or permanent, although an enclosed kitchen room was provided. Whe n there is a principal tenant renting a premise, he usually divides the living space into cubicles by a maze of wooden partitions six feet high.* This leaves a wide passage on the side of the entrance along which two to three-tier bunks are usually erected. As the houses are built side by side, there are windows at the front opening into a veranda about two feet wide, if facing side streets, and about seven feet wide if facinga main road and alsoa window in the rear onto a backyard. The cubicles in the middle are therefore without windows and are in permanent semi-darkness so that artificial lighting (usually by 25 watt electric lights or kerosene lamps) is necessary whenever the cubicles are in use. Through-draught between the front and the rear windows is prevented by the intervening partitions. The air within the cubicles is stagnant and stuffy. This is especially so in the middle cubicle. Electric fans are thus not unexpectedly found to be a common item of capital outlay to offset the heat in summer. In one instance, the investigator visiteda top floor rear room with a window. Despite the fact that there was a window an electric fan was in use. When questioned about the necessity of the fan in a room which has a window, the household head replied, 'You would not be able to stay in this cubicle for five minutes if I turned the fan off�X so intense is the heat'. The only possible means of natural lighting and ventilation is through the space lef t between the top of the partitions and the ceiling, and there is no insulation in the roof.
The kitchen in this kind of building is always shared among all the households of the same floor. These kitchens are usually small, about thirty square feet in area. The floor is of concrete, graded to permit drainage. Cooking is done on fire-buckets burning discarded shuttering from building construction works. They are placed on a concrete bench under a smoke trap leading to the chimney. There is only one water tap to each floor. In the 1963-4 water crisis, the supply was sometimes inadequate so that man y carried water home from standpipes several blocks away.** As the kitchens are so small and are shared between so many households, cooking utensils and water buckets have to be stored within each household's own accommodation.
There are no flush lavatories and bathrooms. Dry-pan lavatories are used by the children and the very old. These are kept under the bed. The night soil is removed by the Urban Services Department without charge. The adults avail themselves of the nearby public conveniences. The kitchen serves as the bath-space also.
The passage between th e cubicles and the bunks is very narrow: seldom mor e than tw o feet wide . This serve s as the sole thoroughfar efo r internal traffic . Th e investigator o n several occasion s while interviewin g bunk-dweller s had to squeez e
# Thi s height is in accordance with Urban Services Regulations. ## At the time of investigation Wan Chai received a house supply of water (for those with
taps on the premises) of four hours every fourth day. In addition water was available at
standpipes (intended for the use of those without taps in their homes) every other day for
a period of four hours .
herself against the partitions to allow somebody to pass, often with wet washing, from the kitchen to the veranda.
The monthly rent for a bunk space in this type of building is ten to twenty dollars while that for a cubicle is twenty to thirty dollars." Rent for a ground floor shop is about $150-$300. Shop-keepers included in the Hong Kong sample operated on a very small scale. Their shops occupied usually one-third of the area and frontage of a ground floor, and they paid about fifty to a hundred dollars for such premises.
(2)
Th e second type of housing was built on the Wan Chai reclamation area after 1925. It consists of buildings grouped in blocks arranged in grid-iron pattern reaching to the existing praya. They are uniformly three storeys high with flat roof-tops. These houses are built of reinforced concrete with brick walls on both sides. The staircase s and floors are also of reinforced concrete, some of the latter being tiled. The buildings have wide verandas (about eight feet). The main difference between this and the first type of accommodation i s that these buildings have flush-toilets. I n general, othe r arrangements are similar to the first type. The most notable difference to the investigator is that they are less decrepit than the previous type.A bunk space in this kind of building costs about twenty dollars a month, while cubicle costs approximately twenty-eight dollars.
(3)
Th e third type of housing consists of multi-storey buildings constructed within the last five years. The buildings are built over sites previously occupied by premises of the above two types. They are often called in Chinese�X modern 'Chinese tenement-type buildings' (JHJe)- They are comparatively smaller than the first tw o types of building. The layout is also very different fro m that of the previous two types. The kitchen is tiled but without a chimney so that only kerosene stoves can be used with comfort; communal bath-rooms with bath tubs, wash-basins and toilets are available. The living space is built without permanent partitions. The arrangement of the cubicles follows no set pattern and may vary according to the shape of the living space and the number of cubicles to be accommodated. The rent for a cubicle in this type of building is eighty to a hundred dollars a month.
Apart fro m thes e mai n categories , ther e ar e thre e additiona l type s o f accommodation in the Wan Chai area and which are occupied by households in the Hong Kong sample:
(i)Som e of the type (1) buildings are without partitions. The living space is occupied by two lines of two-tiered bunks with a passage six to seven feet wide between them. These premises are usually occupied by Chiu Chau rickshaw pullers who live as households. (The Chiu Chau come from the Swatow area of Kwangtung). The bunks are erected by the principal tenant and sublet to the worker-households at about te n dollars a month. Bunks down each side of the house are part of a single continuous framework. Simple boarding separates the adjacent bunks transversely.
(ii)Roof-to p huts are usually built on the flat roofs of type (2) accommodatio n
# H.K.$1 6 = �G1 Sterling .
described above. They are temporary wooden sheds built a little over ten years ago, largely by refugees from China. These structures are tolerated by the Squatter Control Section of the Resettlement Department. Roof-top squatter huts are built of timber and iron sheeting. It is usual to find the roofs of a whole block completely occupied by these huts, with a lane two to three feet wide between two rows of them down the length of the block. The huts are normally built by the occupants themselves and no rent is paid. However repair expenses after typhoons may be considerable.
Each household usually occupies two to three interconnecting huts so that th e area of accommodation is roughly three times that of a cubicle-dweller's. Ventilation and natura l lightin g ar e fairly goo d du e t o th e presenc e o f windows i n eac h hut . Electricity supply can sometimes be arranged with the tenant of the top floor of the building. Water is normally obtainable in the same way, but during the 1963-4 crisis/ such arrangements were suspended an d the roof-top household s had t o draw wate r from public standpipes. Owing to the greater area available to a roof-top household it is usual to find an adjoining shed used as a kitchen. Toilet facilities other than dry pans are non-existent.
(iii)One household was found to occupy a shelter in a back lane between tw o blocks of houses. The lane is about six feet wide. A shelter made of iron sheeting on a wooden frame spanned the lane. Underneath were placed a narrow two-tiered bunk, a few stools and a small table. A small area, outside the sheltered space, served as kitchen. Ventilation was very poor and the air stale. Natural lighting was almost absent and it was very dark even in the early afternoon.A single kerosene lamp gave the only illumination. Water was provided free by a shop in the adjoining building .
Most of the households investigated lived in either a cubicle or bunk space, in the three main types of buildings.
(1)Cubicles: These are usually sixty square feet in area, i.e., about 8' by 8'. The cubicles are formed on one side by the side wall of the house, and on the other sides by the wooden partitions six feet high. The doorway facing the passage has no prope r door. A piece of cotton cloth fixed over the entrance provides a little privacy. In the hot weather this is usually lifted to increase ventilation. Inside, the greater part of the cubicle is occupied by a two tier bunk either of wood or iron. The upper tier is reached by a small vertical ladder. Mattresses are never used. The bed-boards are covered with straw mats or more usually with fibre boards. Shelves are nailed on to the wall between the tw o tiers along the side and a t the foo t o f the bed. These shelve s provide th e principal storage space. Clothing is put into large paper bags placed on the shelves. Occasionally an old suit-case can be seen. Cotton quilts and off-season clothin g are wrapped in newspaper and hung from hooks driven into the ceiling. The rest of the cubicle is occupied by a few pieces of simple furniture.A small table and two or three stools stand near the doorway. Often there is a small cupboard near the bed on which water bottles, glasses, clocks, fans and transistor radios (if any) are placed. Over this
This is a reference to severe water shortage at the time.
cupboard are framed photographs of the family or occasionally the family altar with soul-tablets used in ancestral worship. The remaining corner is generally occupied by the cooking utensils and water buckets. Rice, firewood an d more water buckets are stowed under the bed. After accommodating all these things, generally less than te n square feet of foot-space is left in the cubicle.
(2)Bunk spaces: this usually measures 7'x 4'. A two-tier bunk of this size is the total accommodation available to the household. Water buckets, firewood, rice cooking utensils and tools are stowed under the bed. Clothing is put on shelves between th e two tiers. Privacy is non-existent.
These people appear to live a very simple life. The wage earners work long hours in the day-time. Wives seldom work full time as they have to take care of the children as well as do all the house work. They usually take in some work to do at home in their spare time to contribute to the household budget. As the accommodation is so limited in area, such work is usually done on the beds, as is also the children's home-work . Sometimes if a child is in secondary school, he studies in another classmate's home or finds a 'quiet' spot to study, e.g., on the traffic-ridden waterfront near Harcourt Road. For the bunk-dwellers even the meals have to be taken on the bed.
As there are generally six to seven households on a floor, thirty to forty persons may crowd closely together in the small living space. The children, rather than stay on the beds all day, play in the streets until it is time to go to sleep. The adults also seek relief from the heat and congestion by sitting about in the street below, talking with the neighbours.
At night the small foot-space within the cubicle is taken up by camp beds. If a bunk-dwelling household is large, the father, and perhaps a son, sometimes sleep in the street, especially in the summer.
Income
Sources of income
A total household income is usually the combined income of two or three members.A typical situation i s for the father t o be the chief earning member, and the wife or a child or both to supplement his income with earnings of something less than a hundred dollars a month. Exceptions were found, however, where wives were chief earning members due to special circumstances and became virtually heads of the households, i.e., they had major control over allocation of money to be spent on household expenses. In one household in Kowloon, the husband was an ice-cream vendor who had earned about $150 a month. During the past few years he had been continuously ill, however, and as a result his earnings dropped to sixty dollars a month. The wife, after discussing their financial difficulties with the principal of the school which their children attended, went to work as a servant in the school and received a salary of $160 by working for the morning, afternoon an d evening sessions. One effec t o f the wife becoming th e chief earning member, whic h i s not eviden t i n the household describe d abov e was clearly demonstrated in another household in Kowloon. Here, the husband used to be a rattan-worker but he had been out of work for the past five or six years because of his failing strength. When th e investigator visited the household, she found that it was the wife who went out to work while the husband stayed home to look after the children. When th e investigator further aske d who controlled the budget, the reply from th e husband was that since he did not earn anything, he had no say in such matters.
A household with more than three earning members was unusual. This is perhaps due to the fact that most of the households had few adults and several children who were quite young.
Sometimes a man and his wife shared the task of providing income by working together. It was common to find in hawker households that both the head and his wife were engaged in the business. Hawkers had to make a daily trip to the wholesalers to get their wares and unless a hawker was content with half a day's trade, he needed another person to help with sales while he was away buying goods. Furthermore two persons could do more business than one. Wives whose husbands were tailors were often their husbands' only assistant as these tailors operated on a very small scale and could not afford extr a help. The wives usually helped to sew on buttons or to make button-holes and do any other small tailoring jobs that might be required.
Sometimes a man and his wife were employed as wage earners in the same kind of work. One couple explained that both had been working in an electro-plating factory even before their marriage and they had continued doing so afterwards. There were a few cases in which a husband engaged in sewing work and using a sewing machine, taught his wife how to do the work. He was able to get work for the two of them, then. In one household, th e head wa s engaged i n removing garbage from on e restauran t while his wife did th e sam e work for another restaurant operated by the sam e management.
There were some instances both in the Hong Kong and Kowloon samples where there was only one earning member: the mother. Sometimes the head of the household was a widow, who, after the death of her husband, had to provide for herself and her children as best she could. Such widows were commonly unskilled and consequentl y had to struggle very hard to make ends meet. An instance of such a person was the widow of a rickshaw coolie. She earned money by doing ironing in the street getting about fifty cents to two dollars per day. After deducting the cost for charcoal for her iron, her net income was about twenty-five dollars a month. In addition she received twenty dollars each month from St. James Settlement for the school fees of her children. With a total income of forty-five dollars a month she had to support her family of three children. The eldest child, aged twelve, was a hunch-back. This household had been living at about subsistence level for five years and there seemed to be little prospect for improvement in the near future.
Other widows though better off in comparison with this woman, often could not earn much as they had to take care of their children. An exception was a widow who was able to work as a full time vegetable hawker because she was helped with th e housework by her twelve year-old daughter. The nature of her work allowed her t o visit her home at intervals during each day. Most widows however took in work that could be done at home. For example, a widow who sewed at home for a textile factory earned $120 a month. Another widow earned approximately the same by selling to the staff of a small ballroom prepared dinners which she cooked at home. For a dollar, she provided rice, a small bowl of soup and three small dishes of vegetables and meat or fish per person, but since she had to do all the cooking in a kitchen shared with the rest of the tenants on the same floor, she could provide only fifteen t o twenty suc h meals each evening. Another widow living with her only son in Kowloon could only earn thirty to sixty dollars a month by doing handicraft work such as pasting fur on to slippers. Her health was poor and she complained of frequent dizzy spells, even when going to the market to buy food. Her son was thirteen and a half years old and was still studying. But in one sense they were more fortunate than other households headed by widows in that they had relatives, the husband's sister and her son�Xwho helped regularly either by paying the rent for them or by buying rice they needed. In general, most of the widows visited had only themselves to depend on for income, because their children were still too young to contribute. There was only one case of a widow (in Kowloon) who had children earning: a son and a daughter.A possible explanation for the fact that there were so many young children without fathers i s that quite a few of these widows were second wives. Their deceased husbands had been much older than the y were.
Wives' contributions to income from work at home
When the husband was the chief earning member, the other main contributing member was usually his wife. Many wives could not take full-time employment because of the pressure of housework but most of the housewives visited augmented the househol d income by doing some handicraft work at home�X such as sewing or making plastic flowers. Work was paid on a piece-rate basis. Wages for making a gross of plastic flowers appear to vary from fifty cents to a little over a dollar depending on how elaborate the flowers are.A woman could make from about fifteen to forty dollars a month without leaving home. A person who could devote her time entirely to making plastic flowers, as in the case of a housewife whose household was looked after by the husband's mother, was able to make $100 to supplement her husband's income as a barber. Two housewives in Shau Kei Wan assembled plastic toys at home and lived near to the factory providing such work. They earned about fifty to eighty dollars each per month.
Other handicrafts whic h could be engaged i n at home include d the making of paper bags , threading o f necklaces, and th e making o f wristwatch bands . Som e housewives who supplemente d incom e b y doing needlework earne d te n t o twent y dollars a month by sewing together gloves, sewing together sweaters, or by embroidering woollen gloves or sweaters. Some wives worked with sewing machines and a woman earned in one case as much as $100 a month in her spare time sewing shoes. She said that if she could work in a factory she would be able to earn $300 a month but as she had to look after the family she had to stay at home earning less.
Some housewives supplemente d thei r husband's income s by taking in washin g and ironing. Such women can earn about thirty dollars a month. In one household where the wife shared the housework with her sister-in-law, she was able to earn about seventy dollars a month.
As can be gathered, housewives are very reluctant to work outside, chiefly because they have to look after thei r family an d home . Exceptions wer e cases where th e housework could be performed by a relative, for example, the husband's mother o r mother-in-law, o r where the children were capable of taking care of themselves. I n one household where the wife worked in a factory and the husband i n a mahjong school four o f the five childre n attende d school . Since on e attende d th e mornin g session, two the afternoon, an d one the evening session, there was always a child in the house to look after the youngest child aged three even when both husband an d wife were away working. Another exception concerned a wife who worked as a binder in a printing firm. She was not regularly employed but worked ten to twenty days in a month. She could earn about fifty dollars a month and said she used the money to pay for her children's school fees. In another case, the wife of a driving instructor worked away from home as a daily amah (domestic servant) in a European household earning $200 a month. There were a few housewives in the Hong Kong sample who worked as part-time amahs during the time their children were away at school each day. This left the rest of the day for looking after their own households. They could earn about fift y dollars this way a month.
Other outside workers
When there were more than two outside earning members in the same household, the third membe r wa s usually one o f the children. Traditionally i n Chinese familie s daughters did not work outside but in Hong Kong this is changing. Daughters ofte n work in factories. For example an eldest daughter in one household worked in a garment factory as a sewing machine operator. She worked from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. with only an hour off for lunch and was paid a dollar for every dozen shirts finished. At the most she could earn about $4-50 a day but due to the present limited quota for export there was not alway s work enough to go around and on some days she was in fact given onl y three dozen shirts to sew. The amount of work she did each day was recorded and she was paid at the end of the month.
The eldest daughter of another household worked in a glove factory. She was also paid piece-rates. However she had two days off each month and she was paid every fortnight.
Some daughters worked at daily calculated rates paid monthly, in metalwork or plastic factories. They were paid two to three dollars a day, and were usually employed for about twenty-five days in a month.
Sons who were earning members of their households were often employe d on a regular monthly basis. Several worked as errand boys in stores or restaurants. Others were apprenticed t o a particular trade and though thei r earnings during th e apprenticeship were small, they were provided with free board and lodgings.
Most children who are working contribute from about 30%-80% of their earnings towards the household budget. They usually keep something back to pay for their fares and lunches and to buy their clothes. A few however contribute their entire earnings. The proportion handed over by working children varied considerably because in some cases earnings of parents were so meagre that the household depended greatly on the child's contributions; in other cases the chief earner�X father or mother�X was able to take care of the main items of expenditure and the children's' supplement was not of such importance.
Sometimes older relatives living with households, such as the husband's or th e wife's mother, earn a small sum by working at handicrafts in the home, as occasional hands in a factory, or selling toys at a small sidestall. When mothers and sisters of the husband or wife of a household were members they usually contributed their total earnings towards the household income.
Other contributions to income: occasional members
Sometimes the total income of a household included contributions from occasional members such as an absentee husband, who lived at their place of work. Some husbands live away from their home because their place of work is far away
�X in the New Territories, or even abroad, e.g. in the Philippines. There was a case in Kowloon of a household consisting of a wife, and four sons aged thirteen, eleven , seven and four. There were three grown up daughters living in the Mainland. Th e woman was married as first wife in a village in China, but since the first three children born to her and her husband were girls and the husband's mother wanted a grandson, the husband had taken a concubine. When the Communists took over the Mainland, the husband and his two wives came to Hong Kong leaving behind his mother an d their three daughters. Since coming to Hong Kong the first wife had borne four sons. At present the husband contributes sixty dollars a month to this first wife's household but he himself lives most of the time with his second wife and their six children i n other premises.
Others contributing to income: outside sources
Sometimes member s of other households contribut e income , e.g. married childre n living elsewhere. Other relative s sometimes also contribute regularly to help out a household. For example, the wife in one household used to receive U.S.$50 six times a year from her father who was working in the United States. Recently, however, there had been no remittance and so the wife had started working as a servant in a restaurant to supplement their income.
There were two households where the income was entirely provided from outside sources. One was a household in Hong Kong which consisted of five orphans. Their father had died from an accident. The firm he was working for paid compensation and his colleagues donated money so that his widow and children received about $20,000 at that time. With this money, the widow had bought a flat which she let out at $280 a month. She died recently, however, and the children's expenses were provided fo r out of this rent money. This arrangement was only temporary as the Social Welfar e Department was soon to place the three younger children in a children's home and their flat was to be held in trust under Government control until the eldest child was twenty-one years old. A household in Kowloon consisted of a man and wife and the two children of their son who was in China. The man had recently returned to Hong Kong after working for forty years in Canada. The whole family now depended on his monthly pension of sixty Canadian dollars. The man and his wife were over seventy and the two grand-children aged nine and ten were attending school.
The heads of some households were the principal tenants of a floor. Such households usually occupied the front portion of the floor and the veranda and the rest of the area was divided into two cubicles and two bunk-spaces which were let to subtenants. The rent received mor e or less covered th e rent th e principal tenan t ha d t o pay to hi s landlord so that in fact by acting as a principal tenant, he had earned for his household free or virtually free accommodation .
Charitable source s
A source of income very common among the households investigated was some form of paymen t fro m charitabl e an d welfar e organizations . Mos t o f th e household s benefitting from these sources belonged to the income group which had less than $250 a month. However, it must also be pointed out that there were quite a number belonging to this group who did not receive any help. About a quarter of the households in the Hong Kon g sampl e wer e give n assistanc e b y th e St . James ' Settlemen t (t o b e distinguished from St. James' Primary School. Many of the children in St. James' School belong to clubs run by the Settlement. Both organizations are run by the Anglica n Church in Hong Kong). People send donations to the St. James' Settlement, mostl y from abroad, under a Sponsorship Scheme. The personnel of St. James' Settlement visit the homes of the St. James' School pupils to investigate their financial conditions. If it is decided that they need help, each child attending St. James' School is given a monthly ten dollar subsidy by a sponsor. The money is used for school fees, pocket money and to pay for the ten cent lunch children can obtain at school each day. The Sponsor also pays for the child's stationery at the beginning of term. The assistanc e continues until the child leaves school. Any Sponsored child who has finished primary school and has managed t o continue t o secondary schoo l will continue t o receiv e assistance through the Sponsorship Scheme until graduation.
Daily lif e
In one household in Hong Kong there were eight persons: Cheng Ying, the father, his
wife, and six children who were two sons and four daughters. They lived in a cubicle in the middle of the first floor of an old Chinese tenement building. The cubicle measured seven feet by eight feet, and was partitioned off from the rest of the floor by wooden boards, six feet high. There was no door, and an opening in the wooden partition s served as the doorway, over which a piece of cotton cloth was draped. There was no window. The room was dark, and artificial lighting had to be used throughout the day. The air in the room was stale and stuffy. Often the cotton cloth hanging over the door was lifted to encourage ventilation.
As the household shared the use of the kitchen with the other occupants of the floor, there was not enough space in the kitchen to store their cooking utensils and so all the pots and pans, as well as the water buckets, were stored within the cubicle. This made the living conditions very crowded. The small cubicle with a total area of less than sixty square feet wa s very small for the siz e of this family. In an attempt t o accommodate every member, a seven feet by four feet two-tier bed had been made. The father and the two sons slept on the upper deck while the wife and daughters slept below.
Early every morning, at about six o' clock, the father, who was the chief earning member, got down from the upper deck of the bed, fetched some water from the water bucket under the bed, and carried it down to the street when he washed himself. Then, without an y breakfast a t home he went to look for work. As he was a casual, but skilled, laboure r working i n th e buildin g constructio n industry , and specialisin g i n masonry and bricklaying, he had to wait for employment every morning outside th e Southorn Playground. As he waited for the contractors to come he would perhaps buy a bun or two for ten cents from a nearby store, and this would serve as his breakfast. At about seven in the morning the contractors would come to pick the men for the day's work. For about a dozen days a month he would be chosen and told to go to a certain construction site. If the place was far, a lorry was provided to take him there, otherwise he would have to make his own way before eight o'clock. On the days that he was not chosen, he might go with others of the same trade to have something to eat at a tea-shop or road-side stall, where the group would discuss opportunities for employment. In the summer months of 1963 there were many days when he was not employed. This was because the contractors could not store enough water during the water crisis, and construction wor k had to be stopped o n some days. On th e days when he was no t working, Mr. Cheng would go to a coffin shop opposite their house and collect the leftover wood chips as firewood. If it was water-supply day he would take a couple of buckets and queue for water from a standpipe in the street. Ordinarily the childre n took care of storing water. But they had to wait for their turn in the kitchen and this took up so much time that they sometimes could not finish their school work.
The second to leave in the morning was the first son. He was sixteen years old, and studying in a secondary school . Before he left for school his mother gave him thirty cents as pocket money, which he spent on bread or cakes on his way to school. The rest of the children were still in primary schools, which operated in the afternoo n only. When Mrs. Cheng had washed her two younger children, she gave each of them ten cents as pocket money and sent them down to the street to play and to buy their breakfast while she did the laundry. Then she went and bought about a dollar and fifty cents worth of vegetables, fish or meat. She cooked half of this to go with the rice for lunch. The elder son came home for his lunch since the school was quite near. Afte r lunch all the children walked to school together.
In the afternoon, when all her children were away in school, Mrs. Cheng went to work as a part-time amah in a doctor's home. For doing the washing and ironing every afternoon, she was paid fifty dollars a month, and was provided with an evening meal.
While Mrs. Cheng ate her dinner at the doctor's place, the children had finishe d school and her husband had come back from work (if he had been working that day). The eldest daughter, who was fourteen years old, cooked the rice and the other half of the food her mother had bought in the morning. When they had finished their dinner, at about eight o'clock, Mrs . Cheng returned fro m he r work. If the father ha d bee n working tha t day , he woul d giv e about te n dollar s o f his earnings t o hi s wife, fo r housekeeping. Then he would take his bamboo pipe down to the street and sit round with the neighbours chatting all evening.
The eldest son, after dinner, took his books and went to a classmate's home to do his homework as his own home environment was not conducive to study. Then th e other children scrambled on to the bed to do their school work. The bed served also as their desks, for the only other pieces of furniture in the cubicle were a tiny table and a couple of stools. When the children had settled down to study, Mrs. Cheng would take out her needlework. Becaus e her younger childre n were studying in St. James P.M. School, they were sometimes given old clothing by St. James Settlement which Mrs. Cheng altered for her family's use. Sometimes, when she had nothing to sew for her children, sh e altered clothe s for her neighbours, or she sewed on buttons for som e garment manufacturers. In this way she not only saved on the amount spent on clothing but she could also earn an extra ten dollars or so a month.
At abou t eleven, she put away her sewing and sent one of the children to buy twenty cents worth of bread. This was for the eldest son's later supper when he returned from his studies.
By midnight, every one was home, and they prepared to go to bed. On some hot and damp evenings, the heat in the crowded cubicle was very oppressive. Then th e father and the younger son slept on a camp bed in the street. This left the upper deck of the bed to their elder son. The lower deck, however, was still very crowded. They tried to relieve this to some extent by spreading a mat on the small floor space still left in the cubicle, and this accommodated the two youngest daughters.
And thus the days followed one another. The parents attended to their work and the children their studies. There are few recreational activities to add variations t o their lives. For this particular household, however, there was some hope for better days to come�X when the eldest son completed secondary school and might be able to earn a good living. For this hope the family was sacrificing much. The mother left her home to go out to work every day. The younger children took on chores which would otherwise have been done by mother. They all had to cut down on unessential expenses. Many of the othe r households i n the samples were less fortunate however , being withou t children in secondary school. They passed their lives without very much hope of future betterment.. .
c* Change s in Personal Characteristic s
DOCUMENT VLcl : 196 6 bi-census , comment s o n th e table s (source : K.M.A . Barnett, Hong Kong, Report on the 1966 By-Census, Hon g Kong: Government Printer , 1968, vol. 1, pp. ix-xi)
As compared with the 1961 census the total number of households has increased less rapidly than the population (13.0 % against 18.5 %; land population 14.5% against 20.5%) and the distribution of household size shows the reason for this to have been a reduction in the number of single person households. Such households, as shown in Table 020 of the 1961 census report, then amounted to 15.5% of the total, and this was affected by the failure of new domestic building to keep up with new industrial building. As a result, a substantial number of young married men used to live apart from thei r families so as to be nearer to their work. This has been reduced (13.6% of all, or 13.9 % of domestic households) resulting in an apparent increase in the average size of domestic households, indicating not that households are really larger but that better opportunities are now provided for the whole family to live together. And although the phenomenon of a one-person household is now rare in the newly developed areas, it is still far from uncommon in Tsim Sha Tsui, Cheung Sha Wan, Yau Ma Tei and Wan Chai.
A feature of [Tabl e 6.1] worthy of observation is the extent to which the sharing of domestic premises diminishes as you go from the older to the newer urban districts. In Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong Island and Yau Ma Tei district o f Kowloon, shared domestic premises well out-number unshared; but in Ho Man Tin district of Kowloon an d i n Ngau Ta u Kok district o f New Kowloon such sharing i s quite uncommon, as it is in most of the New Territories.
In paragraph 20.4 of the 1961 Census Report it was observed that out of 2,396,364 persons found living in houses built of permanent materials , 130,095 (5.4%) wer e using substandard accommodation such as basements, cocklofts and non-domestic space. Table 006 now shows that in August 1966 , 3,228,600 persons were living in houses built o f permanent material s an d 211,00 0 (6.5% ) o f these were using substandar d accommodation.
The 1961 Report went on to add in the roof-dwellers and wooden-hut 'squatters', those living in hawker stalls and similar 'non-house' accommodation and thus reached a total of 726,577 for those whose housing condition appeared to be gravely inadequate.
Table 6.1 Quinquennial Age Groups by Sexes Compared with Previous Censuses*
Age group 192 1 193 1 196 1 196 6 Male Femal e Mal e Femal e Mal e Femal e Mal e Femal e
0 --4 27,930 27,095 44,193 44,338 257,699 243,007 261,150 249,470
5 --9 23,931 25,281 32,694 32,644 220,432 204,916 275,190 253,810
10--14 30,658 26,218 42,322 34,339 185,884 165,097 233,630 214,760
15 --19 50,660 23,702 59,713 34,818 90,240 74,857 204,000 180,340
20 --24 50,547 23,187 67,485 37,554 111,242 91,499 106,770 93,990
25 --29 46,290 24,297 51,290 35,487 137,216 116,780 112,870 97,260
30--34 38,927 20,655 46,171 30,945 140,885 122,236 129,390 114,980
35 --39 36,848 20,099 35,389 26,181 123,332 111,621 132,540 127,440
40 --44 24,859 13,103 31,862 21,911 107,321 95,717 118,840 115,800
45 --49 19,716 11,564 24,311 18,179 86,523 80,715 98,090 93,310
50 --5 4 12,590 7,335 18,480 13,467 60,078 63,802 82,490 82,690
55 -59 8,421 6,411 11,783 10,643 37,217 49,800 54,160 64,000
60--64 4,543 3,859 7,334 7,153 23,582 40,032 35,460 55,050
65 -6 9 3,836 2,647 3,823 4,520 13,203 27,815 18,620 38,340
70 -7 4 1,166 1,641 1,750 2,403 7,559 18,497 11,040 26,950
75 & ove r 718 1,372 986 2,155 5,366 15,478 6,630 19,860
Not statec ] 1,21 7 3,843 2,994 1,156 _ _ _ _
Total 382,85 7 242,30 9 482,58 0 357,89 3 1,607,77 9 1,521,86 9 1,880,87 0 1,828,05 0
*Simplified from original
Adding up the corresponding categories from the 1966 tables gives a total of 505,600 who then were inadequately housed. The tables show a great reduction in the number of roof-top dwellers, especially in Kowloon.
By far the most important part of any census report on which all the other tables revolve are the tables showing individual characteristics, especially those in which the population is analysed by sex and age. These are collected in Section B.
The most useful table for general purposes is No. 023 [Table 6.01], which shows the 196 6 population by sex and quinquennial ag e group compared with the thre e previous censuses. The trends observed in 1961 have continued, namely the sex ratio is approaching equality and the age distribution shows a more even gradation, except for the gap caused by the Pacific War, which was observed in 1961 in the groups 15-19 and 20-24 and therefore in 1966 has moved up to the groups 20-24 and 25-29.
Tables 022 and 022A show the sex ratio by census areas compared with the last three censuses. Table 021 shows population by sex and individua l year of age, an d those under one year of age by month of age. It also divides the population into Hong Kong born and those born elsewhere.
It will be observed from Table 021 that whereas in 1961 the sex-ratio among those claiming Hong Kong birth was lower than the rest (1038.9 against 1072.7) in 1966 the position appears to have been reversed. Males claiming Hong Kong birth number 1065.5 to every 1000 females claiming Hong Kong birth, whereas males born elsewhere number only 987.1 to every thousand females born elsewhere. Out of many possible explanations for this curiosity the simplest may be that our young people (aged 1 5 and down) ar e now overwhelmingly Hong Kong born and, since women live longer than men bu t more males are born than females, the sex ratio decreases with age. Nevertheless for a change of this magnitude to show in 5-1/2 years implies either that a significant group of males claimed Hong Kong birth in 1966 after having not claimed it in 1961, or that a significant group of females claimed Hong Kong birth in 1961 but did not claim it in 1966.
The importance of Table 026 is the light it throws on the attitude towards age of marriage, which has a strong bearing on estimates of future fertility. In the absence of a complete system of marriage registration (since Chinese customary marriages do not yet require to be registered) thi s information ca n be sought only from the census . Therefore to facilitate study , the percentages compared with 196 1 are shown i n a subsidiary Table 26A and area percentages in 26B. These indicate how rare, even in the New Territories, are teenaged marrie d persons; also how th e tendency , alread y observed in 1961, for men to defer their marriage to after 30 has continued to develop, though not to so marked a degree among the rural and marine populations as it has in the cities.
In connection with language, which is the theme of Tables 027-030, the reader is invited to study paragraph 11. 2 of the 1961 Census Report, in which the reasons for
Table 6. 2 Usual Language, Totals and Percentages Compared with 1961
Usual language 196 6 196
1
Total % Tota l %
Cantonese Hoklo Hakka Sze Yap Other Chines e English Others
2,968,420 298,470 121,430 112,230 101,580 29,300 11,400
81.43 8.19 3.33 3.08 2.79 0.80 0.31
2,076,210 164,537 128,432 114,484 95,544 31,824 16,329
79.02 6.26 4.89 4.36 3.64 1.21 0.62
focusing attention on certain linguistic groups were explained in detail. In Appendix 13 [Table 6.2] Table 029 is summarized in percentages and compared with 1961, showing how the Cantonese languag e continues t o spread. The onl y linguistic group whic h holds its own is Hoklo, which was already observed in 1961 to be highly resistant to assimilation.
Although English as a 'usual language' continues to be rare, ability to speak English is shown by Tables 027 to 029 to have increased greatly. Over 20% of the population can now speak some English, as against less than 10% in 1961. It can be seen, as might be expected, tha t English speakers are few among the rural and marine population , and commonest among young city dwellers. But little correlation can be found wit h place of birth, place of origin, or usual language where this is some kind of Chinese.
Table 030, 030A and 033 study place of origin crossed with language, sex, age and birthplace. The importance of this is more clearly seen in Tables 036 to 039A to be its bearing on fertility. Although paragraph 20.7.7 of the 1961 Census Report could not detect any significant difference in size of family between married women from differen t parts of China, subsequent analysis of 1961 census table 147 showed this judgment to have been hasty. For when the family sizes of women aged 35-39 and 40-44 (by which age childbearing would normally be completed) are analysed, it is seen that women of Chiu Chau origin have significantly large r numbers of children than women fro m other parts of China; always excepting the boat people, who have the biggest families of all. Table 039 shows this distinction to be still valid; and the proportion of Chiu Chau women who have already had two children before the age of 25 being no less than before, leaves small room to hope for an early reduction in the fertility o f this sturdy and unassimilable group.
Tables 031 and 032 both show employment status by sex and age group, totalled in census areas, and form a useful introduction to the economic tables in Section D.
Appendix 1 4 [Table 6.3] is a condensation of Table 031 and the indices indicate tha t the Hong Kong born are more than proportionately represented in the 'modern sector' for the definition of which see notes (a), (p) and (q) to Code 12 in Appendix 4.* And since a greater proportion of unemployed at the younger ages are found in the Hong Kong born, a likely explanation i s that immigrants are less reluctant than locals to accept jobs in the 'traditional' sector. This finding is in contrast with that of paragraph
21.2.6of the 196 1 Census Report. Table 032 indicates that ability to speak Englis h does not alter the chances of obtaining employment in the modern sector, or at all, but modern sector employers and self-employed contai n a higher proportion of English speakers.
Some progress, however, has been mad e toward s general literacy outside thes e two groups. It will be recalled that in 1961 all persons aged 10 and up who had been to school were found to be literate and all persons aged 10 and up who had never been to
The notes state
(a)
Th e modern sector of the economy is distinguished by these typical characteristics:
(1)
Premise s usually specially designed for the industrial undertaking .
(2)
Undertaking s are often large .
(3)
Equipmen t often includes power-driven machinery .
(4)
Labou r (i) works set hours; (ii) is paid an agreed or contracted rate per month, per day or per hour, with extra for overtime; or on piece work at an agreed or contracted rate; (iii) is union organized.
(5)
Th e capital i s that of a joint stock (limited) company, the capital-labour rati o is high, the levels of technology and productivity are high and bear an economic relationship to the rewards.
(p)
Th e traditional sector of the economy is distinguished from the modern sector by these typical characteristics:
(1)
Premise s usually not designed for the industrial undertaking, e.g. domestic premises, the street, a village out-house or squatter shack.
(2)
Undertaking s are small, usually under 20 persons.
(3)
Equipmen t consists of craft tools or simple machinery; power-driven machinery is the exception.
(4)
Labou r (i) is usually from one family, clan village or district; (ii) hours and conditions of work are not specified; (iii) receives no agreed or contracted rat e of pay per month, day or hour; but either piece-work on a customary basis, or profit-sharing with pocket money; unpaid family help is very common; (iv) is not organized into unions.
(5)
Th e working capital is provided on a family or partnership basis and the capital-labour ratio is low. Productivity and rewards are related.
(q)
I n the traditional sector there is usually no time-keeping. To those unfamiliar with local customs there often seems to be a lack of defined function. A farmer's wife is often both a full-time housewife and a full-time farmer. A farmer's old mother, though 'retired' is probably doing as much work on the land as anybody will let her. But the wives of a business director, who hel p their husban d entertai n som e business associate and hi s wives, are regarded as non-working partners.
Table 6. 3 Economically Active by Place of Birth
Sex Category Local bor n Figures Index Immi grant Figures Index Total Figures Index
M Modern secto r Traditional secto r Unemployed 135,090 102,080 13,370 54 41 5 335,640 348,520 21,050 48 49 3 470,730 450,600 34,420 49 47 4
Total* 250,540 100 705,210 100 955,750 100
F Modern secto r Traditional sector Unemployed 76,340 71,080 10,410 48 45 7 118,710 187,410 7,880 38 60 2 195,050 258,490 18,290 41 55 4
Total* 157,830 100 314,000 100 471,830 100
*Total economically active
Aged 10-34 Aged 35 and up
Table 6.4 Hong Kong Censuses 1961 an d 1966: Literacy
1961 1966 1961 1966
Hong Kon g M F T 96.20 % 82.22 89.83 97.90 % 92.57 95.42 91.07% 41.29 64.89 90.53% 43.79 65.50
Kowloon M F T 96.37 83.57 90.56 97.11 90.47 94.11 91.88 41.74 65.05 91.99 48.41 68.81
New Kowloo n M F T 94.98 76.66 86.19 97.34 89.32 93.44 90.12 36.95 62.39 88.28 36.98 61.25
Tsuen Wan M F T 94.10 72.57 84.97 94.70 83.24 89.30 86.45 28.97 61.82 83.50 31.43 58.74
NT. (excep t Tsuen Wan) M F T 91.79 61.69 77.72 95.33 77.37 86.34 82.69 21.36 51.80 79.50 22.30 46.46
Boat people M F T 39.68 14.70 28.46 42.84 17.64 31.53 31.48 21.88 17.69 22.62 20.54 13.73
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