CO_968_257_COMMUNIST_ACTIVITIES_IN_HONG_KONG_1952 — Page 76

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MISSION 12 HONGKONG

THE MARSTING SEEMED TO BE OVER AT ABOUT 1745 LOCAL Page 77 of 182

TIME CO945 GMT).

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THERE WERE STILL SOME DEMO STRATORS ON THE STREETS, BUT THEY WERE BREAKING UP INTO SMALL POCKETS.

DRIVEN OUT OF THE HEART OF KOWLOON CITTY, THEY WERE RETREATING TOWARDS SHAMSHUIPO, ABOUT THREE QUARTERS OF A MILE NORTH OF THE ORIGINAL RIOT SCENE AND A QUARTER OF A MILE FROM MONGKOK, WHICH IS PROBABLY THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED CHINESE DISTRICT.

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MISSIO 9 13 HONGKONG

HONGKONG ISLAND, 32 SQUARE MILES OF GREEN HILLS RISING STEEPLY OUT OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, WAS CEDED TO BRITAIN BY CHINA IN 1841.

KOWLOON, A THREE SQUARE MILE PENINSULA ON THE MAINLAND ACROSS THE FINE NATURAL HARBOUR, WAS CEDED BY A FURTHER TREATY IN 1860.

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A LARGER AREA OF THE MAIN AND BEHIND KOWLOON, THE NEW TERRITORIES - 355 SQUARE MILES OF PADDY FIELDS AND HILLS - WAS LEASED TO BRITAIN FOR 99 YEARS IN 1898.

BEFORE THE JAPA ESE INVASION OF CHINA IN 1937 THE POPULATION OF THE COLONY WAS ABOUT 850,000. AS THE

JAPANESE PUSHED SOUTH REFUGEES FLOODED INTO THE COLONY, BRINGING THE POPULATION UP ABOUT A MILLION AND A HALF. AFTER HONGKONG'S FALL TO THE JAPANESE IN 1941, MOST OF THE REFUGEES WERE FORCIBLY REPATRIATED TO THEIR HOMES IN KWANGTUNG PROVINCE, ACROSS THE BORDER.