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diff --git a/old/62191-0.txt b/old/62191-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f621246..0000000 --- a/old/62191-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10689 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hong Kong, by Gene Gleason - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Hong Kong - - -Author: Gene Gleason - - - -Release Date: May 22, 2020 [eBook #62191] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HONG KONG*** - - -E-text prepared by Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images digitized by the Google Books -Library Project (http://books.google.com) and generously made available by -HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 62191-h.htm or 62191-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62191/62191-h/62191-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62191/62191-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - HathiTrust Digital Library. See - https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015002199274 - - - - - -HONG KONG - -GENE GLEASON - - - - - - -The John Day Company, New York - -© 1963 by Gene Gleason - -All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be -reproduced in any form without permission. Published by The -John Day Company, 62 West 45th Street, New York 36, N.Y., and -simultaneously in Canada by Longmans Canada Limited, Toronto. - -Library of Congress Catalogue -Card Number: 63-7957 - -Manufactured in the United States of America - - - - -_To all who helped—particularly, Pat_ - - - - -Contents - - - INTRODUCTION 11 - - 1. UP FROM BRITISH BARBARISM 15 - - 2. AN AVALANCHE FROM THE NORTH 47 - - 3. CONFLICT AND COEXISTENCE WITH TWO CHINAS 85 - - 4. INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AND GROWING PAINS 113 - - 5. HIGH LAND, LOW WATER 155 - - 6. A NEW DAY FOR FARMS AND FISHERIES 175 - - 7. CRIME, POWER AND CORRUPTION 201 - - 8. TWO WORLDS IN ONE HOUSE 227 - - 9. RAMBLING AROUND THE COLONY 259 - - 10. SHOPPING BEFORE DINNER 289 - - INDEX 309 - -_Sixteen pages of illustrations will be found following page 160._ - - - - -Hong Kong - -[Illustration: BRITISH CROWN COLONY OF HONG KONG and Adjacent Areas] - - - - -Introduction - - Hong Kong is a high point on the skyline of the Free World. As - a free port operating on a free-world basis, it is too valuable - to lose.—SIR ROBERT BROWN BLACK, Governor of the British Crown - Colony of Hong Kong, 1962 - - -Except for Portugal’s tiny overseas province of Macao, Hong Kong is -the last Western outpost on the mainland of China. It is the Berlin of -East Asia, poised in perilous balance between two ideologies and two -civilizations. - -The government and people of Hong Kong have performed a matter-of-fact -miracle by saving the lives of more than a million refugees from Red -China. Without appealing for foreign aid or emergency subsidies from the -home country, the colony’s rulers have provided jobs, homes and freedom -for the destitute. Private charitable organizations overseas and outright -gifts from the governments of Great Britain and the United States have -achieved miracles on their own in feeding, clothing and educating the -poor of Hong Kong, but the main burden is too great to be borne by any -agency except the full public power of the royal crown colony. - -Most of Hong Kong’s people are too poor to afford what an American would -consider minimum comforts. They came to Hong Kong with nothing, yet every -day they send thousands of food packages back to Red China, hoping to -save their relatives from starvation. - -These are only the workaday miracles of Hong Kong; the greatest -miracle is that it exists at all. It has never had enough of the good -things—land, water, health, security or money—but always a surplus of the -bad ones—wars, typhoons, epidemics, opium, heroin, crime and corruption. - -It is one of the most contradictory and baffling places in the -contemporary world—a magnificent port and a teeming slum; a -bargain-hunter’s paradise and a nest of swindlers; a place of marginal -farmland and superlative farmers, efficient and orderly, sly and corrupt. -It has outlived a thousand prophecies of its imminent doom. Its people -dwell between the claws of a tiger, fully aware of the spot they’re on, -but not at all dismayed. - -Tourists and sailors come to Hong Kong by the hundreds of thousands every -year, half-expecting to discover inscrutable Orientals, or to be followed -down a dark alley by a soft-shod killer with a hatchet in his hand. -The Orientals turn out to be the noisiest, most gregarious people the -Westerner has ever seen. No one follows him down a pitch-black alley at -midnight, unless it’s a stray cat looking for a handout, or a shoeshine -boy working late. - -The real magic of Hong Kong is that none of it is exactly what you -expected. You prowl around for handicraft shops and find them next to an -automated textile mill. You’ve been told to keep your eye open for the -sprawling settlements of squatter shacks, and you find them slowly being -swallowed up by multi-story concrete resettlement estates. You turn on -the faucet in your hotel at noon and it issues a dry, asthmatic sigh; you -try it again at six and it spits at you like an angry camel, splashing -all over your suit. - -You look for a historic hill in Kowloon, and there is what’s left of it—a -stumpy mound, shaved down by a bulldozer, with the rest of it already -dumped into the sea to form the foundation of a new industrial city. You -look for the romantic hallmark of Hong Kong, a Chinese junk with bat-wing -sails, and it putt-putts past on a Diesel engine without a scrap of -canvas on the masts. - -You fear for your life as you stand on the crowded sidewalk, plucking -up the courage to bull your way through a fantastic tangle of autos, -motor-scooters, double-deck trams, rickshaws, massed pedestrians -and laborers carting bulky loads on bamboo shoulder-slings, but the -white-sleeved patrolman in the traffic pagoda parts the torrent with a -gesture like Moses dividing the Red Sea and you cross without a scratch. - -A small, slender Chinese beauty in a closely fitted Cheongsam strolls by -with a skirt slit to the mid-thighs, and you begin to perceive the reason -for the thousands of Caucasian-Chinese intermarriages in the colony. Such -unions go so well they hardly merit comment in today’s Hong Kong gossip; -a generation ago, they would have overturned a hornet’s nest of angry -relatives in both racial groups. - -Hong Kong is like the Chinese beauties in their Cheongsams; no matter -how often you turn away, your next view will be completely different and -equally rewarding. - - - - -CHAPTER ONE - -Up from British Barbarism - - The common disposition of the English barbarians is ferocious, - and what they trust in are the strength of their ships and the - effectiveness of their guns.—GOVERNOR LU K’U OF CANTON, 1834 - - -In 1841, the British crown colony of Hong Kong attached itself like -a small barnacle to the southeast coast of the Celestial Empire. The -single offshore island that constituted the whole of the original colony -was a spiny ridge of half-drowned mountains forming the seaward rampart -of a deep-water harbor. Before the British came, it had no geographic -identity. They gave it the Chinese name “Hong Kong,” usually translated -as “fragrant harbor,” which distinguished the one appealing feature of -its forbidding terrain. - -Sparsely inhabited from primitive times, Hong Kong, the more than two -hundred rocky islands scattered outside its harbor, and the barren -seacoast opposite them lay far out in the boondocks of China. Its -innumerable, deeply indented coves and mountain-ringed harbors made it a -favorite lurking place for coastal pirates. - -For centuries, fleets of pirate junks had apportioned their rapacity -between pouncing on coastwise ships and pillaging isolated farms and -fishing settlements. The Manchu emperors, lacking the unified navy -necessary to sink these cut-throats, attempted to bolster the thin -defenses along the pirate-infested coast of Kwangtung Province by -offering tax-free land to any of their subjects who would settle there. -Even so, there was no wild scramble to accept the gift. - -Less troublesome than pirates but hardly more welcome to the rulers of -China were the European traders who had been plying the Chinese coast -since the beginning of the sixteenth century. In the middle of that -century, Portuguese merchant-sailors overcame part of this hostility by -employing their well-armed ships to help the Chinese emperor crush a -pirate fleet. They were rewarded with imperial permission to establish a -small trading outpost at Macao, forty miles west of Hong Kong Island. - -Traders from Spain, Holland, England, France and America soon began to -operate out of Macao, and the British East India Co. opened a trade base -at Canton in 1681 to supply a lively English market with Chinese tea and -silk. Canton, the only Chinese port open to world trade, stood due north -of Macao and ninety-one miles northwest of the future colony at Hong Kong. - -Throughout a century and a half of dealings at Canton, European traders -enjoyed the same degree of liberty: they were all free to pay whatever -prices or imposts the Chinese Hong merchants and customs officials chose -to demand. The Chinese wanted neither foreign goods nor foreign traders, -but if the latter persisted in buying and selling at Canton, they were -expected to submit to strict Chinese regulations or get out. - -There were rules forbidding any foreigner to live in Canton except during -the six-month trading season, rules denying foreign women the right to -enter the city, rules against possessing firearms and an absolute ban -against bringing foreign warships past the Boca Tigris (Tiger’s Mouth), -the fortified strait on the Canton River estuary leading to the city. - -In practice, the rules were a kind of game; few were consistently -enforced unless the Western traders raised a howl over Chinese customs -duties or bumptiously insisted on dealing directly with the officials of -the Celestial Empire instead of its merchants. Then the reins were yanked -up tight, and the commercial interlopers had to obey every restriction to -the letter. - -Foreigners at Canton remained in a weak bargaining position until a few -European traders, particularly the English, discovered one product that -the Chinese passionately desired. It was compact, easy to ship, extremely -valuable, and it brought full payment in hard cash upon delivery. It -could be brought from British India in prodigious quantities, and because -it contained great value in a small package, it could slip through -Chinese customs without the disagreeable formality of paying import -duties. This was opium—the most convincing Western proof of the validity -of the profit motive since the opening of the China trade. - -The Chinese appetite for opium became almost insatiable, spreading upward -to the Emperor’s official family and draining away most of the foreign -exchange gained by exporting tea and silk. The alarmed Emperor issued -a denunciation of this “vile dirt of foreign countries” in 1796, and -followed it with a long series of edicts and laws intended to stop the -opium traffic. - -The East India Co., worried by repeated threats of imperial punishment, -relinquished its control of the opium trade and dropped the drug from its -official list of imports. Private traders with less to lose immediately -took up the slack, and after opium was barred from Canton, simply -discharged their cargoes of dope into a fleet of hulks anchored off the -entrance of the Canton River estuary. From the hulks it was transshipped -to the mainland by hundreds of Chinese junks and sampans. Chinese port -officials, well-greased with graft, never raised a squeak of protest. - -The Emperor himself seethed with rage, vainly condemning the sale of -opium as morally indefensible and ruinous to the health and property -of his people. Meanwhile, the trade rose from $6,122,100 in 1821 to -$15,338,160 in 1832. The British government took a strong official line -against the traffic and denied its protection to British traders caught -smuggling, but left the enforcement of anti-opium laws in Chinese hands. -A joint Sino-British enforcement campaign was out of the question, since -the Chinese had not granted diplomatic recognition to the British Empire. - -This insuperable obstacle to combined action was the natural child -of Chinese xenophobia. When Lord Napier broached the subject of -establishing diplomatic relations between Britain and China in 1834, the -Emperor’s representatives stilled his overtures with the contemptuous -question, “How can the officers of the Celestial Empire hold official -correspondence with barbarians?” - -The glories of a mercantile civilization made no impression on a people -who regarded themselves as the sole heirs of the oldest surviving culture -on earth. To the lords of the Manchu empire, English traders were crude, -money-grubbing upstarts who had neither the knowledge nor the capacity -to appreciate the traditions and philosophy of China. What could these -cubs of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution contribute to a -civilization of such time-tested wisdom? They could contribute to its -collapse, as the Chinese were to learn when their medieval war-machine -collided with the striking power and nineteenth-century technology of the -British Navy. - -After the East India Co. lost its monopoly on the China trade in -1833, the British government sent its own representatives to settle a -fast-growing dispute between English and Chinese merchants. Once again -the Chinese snubbed these envoys and emphasized their unwillingness to -compromise by appointing a new Imperial Commissioner to suppress the -opium trade. - -For a time, the British merchants comforted themselves with the -delusion that Lin Tse-hsu, the Imperial Commissioner, could be bought -off or mollified. He dashed these hopes by blockading the Boca Tigris, -surrounding the foreign warehouses at Canton with guards and demanding -that all foreign merchants surrender their stock of opium. He further -insisted that they sign a pledge to import no more opium or face the -death penalty. - -Threats and vehement protests by the traders only drove Lin to stiffer -counter-measures, and the British were at last forced to surrender more -than 20,000 chests of opium worth $6,000,000. Commissioner Lin destroyed -the opium immediately. British merchants and their government envoys -withdrew from Canton by ship, ultimately anchoring off Hong Kong Island. -None of them lived ashore; the island looked too bleak for English -habitation, though it had already been considered as a possible offshore -port of foreign trade. - -With the British out of the opium trade, a legion of freelance -desperadoes flocked in to take it over, leaving both the British and -Chinese governments shorn of their revenue. Further negotiation between -Lin and Captain Charles Elliot, the British Superintendent of Trade in -China, reached an impasse when Lin declined to treat Elliot as a diplomat -of equal rank and advised him to carry on his negotiations with the -Chinese merchants. - -Having wasted their time in a profitless exchange of unpleasantries, both -sides huffily retired; the Chinese to reinforce their shore batteries and -assemble a fleet of twenty-nine war junks and fire rafts, and Captain -Elliot to organize a striking force of warships, iron-hulled steamers and -troop transports. - -The junk fleet and two British men-of-war clashed at Chuenpee, on the -Canton River estuary, in the first battle between British and Chinese -armed forces. It was a pushover for the British; Chinese naval guns were -centuries behind theirs in firepower, and the gun crews on the junks -were pitifully inaccurate in comparison with the scientific precision -of the British. Within a few minutes the junks had been sunk, dismasted -or driven back in panicky disorder. The British on the _Hyacinth_ and -_Volage_ suffered almost no damage or casualties. - -No formal state of war existed, however, so Captain Elliot broke off the -one-sided engagement before the enemy had been annihilated. He pulled -back to wait until orders came from Lord Palmerston, British Foreign -Secretary, directing him to demand repayment for the $6,000,000 worth of -opium handed over to Lin. At the same time, Elliot was told to obtain -firm Chinese assurance of future security for traders in China, or the -cession of an island off the China coast as a base for foreign trade -unhampered by the merchants and officials of the Celestial Empire. -Palmerston, maintaining the calm detachment of a statesman 10,000 miles -distant from the scene of battle, thought it would be best for Elliot to -win these concessions without war. - -Elliot, mustering the full strength of his land and sea forces, blockaded -the Canton and Yangtze Rivers, occupied several strategic islands and put -Palmerston’s demands into the hands of Emperor Tao-kuang. Humiliated by -the irresistible advance of the despised foreigners, the Emperor angrily -dismissed Commissioner Lin. His replacement, Commissioner Keeshen, began -by agreeing to pay the indemnity demanded by Lord Palmerston and to hand -over Hong Kong Island, then deliberately dragged his feet to postpone the -fulfillment of his promises. Elliot, fed to the teeth with temporizing, -ended it by throwing his whole fleet at the Chinese. His naval guns -pounded their shore batteries into silence, and he landed marines and -sailors to capture the forts guarding Canton. - -The Chinese land defenders were as poorly equipped as the sailors of -their war junks; when they lighted their ancient matchlocks to fire them, -scores of soldiers were burned to death by accidentally igniting the -gunpowder spilled on their clothing. - -In a naval action at Anson’s Bay, the flat-bottomed iron steamer -_Nemesis_, drawing only six feet of water, surprised a squadron of junks -by pushing its way into their shallow-water refuge. A single Congreve -rocket from the _Nemesis_ struck the magazine of a large war junk, -blowing it up in a shower of flying spars and seamen. Eleven junks were -destroyed, two were driven aground and hundreds of Chinese sailors were -killed within a few hours. Admiral Kwan, commander of the shattered -fleet, had the red cap-button emblematic of his rank shot off by the -British and was later relieved of the rank by his unsympathetic Emperor. - -Keeshen hastened to notify Elliot that he stood ready to hand over Hong -Kong and the $6,000,000 indemnity. But even the shock of defeat had not -flushed the Emperor from his dream world of superiority; he repudiated -Keeshen’s agreement and ordered him to rally the troops for “an awful -display of Celestial vengeance.” Well aware of the hopelessness of his -situation, Keeshen tried to hold out by postponing his meetings with -Elliot. Elliot, not to be put off this time, countered by opening a -general assault along the Canton River. Within a month, his combined land -and sea offensive had reduced every fort on the water route to Canton and -his ships rode at anchor in front of the city. - -British preparations to storm the city were well advanced when a fresh -truce was arranged. The entire British force sailed back to Hong Kong, -having retreated from almost certain victory. Elliot, however, felt no -disappointment; he had never wanted to use more force than necessary to -restore stable trade conditions. He feared that full-scale war would -bring down the Chinese government, plunging the country into revolution -and chaos. - -Hong Kong had become _de facto_ British territory on January 26, 1841, -when the Union Jack was raised at Possession Point and the island claimed -for Queen Victoria. Its 4,500 inhabitants, who had never heard of the -Queen, became her unprotesting subjects. - -The acquisition of the island produced ignominy enough for both sides; -Keeshen was exiled to Tartary for giving it up and Elliot was dismissed -by Palmerston for accepting “a barren island with hardly a house upon -it,” instead of obeying the Foreign Secretary’s orders and driving a much -harder bargain. - -A succession of disasters swept over the colony in its first year of -existence. “Hong Kong Fever,” a form of malaria thought to have been -caused by digging up the earth for new roads and buildings, killed -hundreds of settlers. Two violent typhoons unroofed practically every -temporary building on the rocky slopes and drowned a tenth of the boat -population. The wreckage of the ships and buildings had scarcely been -cleared away when a fire broke out among the flimsy, closely packed mat -sheds. In a few hours, it burned down most of the Chinese huts on the -island. - -The flavor of disaster became a regular part of Hong Kong history. Its -own four horsemen—piracy, typhoons, epidemics and fires—raced through the -colony at frequent but unpredictable intervals, filling its hills and -harbor with debris and death. There is still no reason to assume that -they will not return, either singly or as a team, whenever the whim moves -them. - -Even imagining Hong Kong as an island bearing no more than a minimum -burden of natural hazards, it is difficult to understand how it became -settled at all. The London _Times_ scorned it editorially in 1844 with -the comment that “The place has nothing to recommend it, if we except the -excellent harbor.” - -The original colony and the much larger territory added to it in the next -120 years have no natural resources of value, except fish, building stone -and a limited supply of minerals. Only one-seventh of its total area is -arable land; at best, it can grow enough rice, vegetables and livestock -to feed the present population for about three months of a year. There -is no local source of coal, oil or water power. Fresh water was scarce -in 1841, and in 1960, after the colony had constructed an elaborate -system of fourteen reservoirs, the carefully rationed supply had to be -supplemented with additional water bought and pumped in from Red China. - -Hong Kong has an annual rainfall of 85 inches—twice that of New York -City—but three-fourths of it falls between May and September. At the end -of the rainy season, ten billion gallons may be stored in the reservoirs -but by the following May, every reservoir may be empty. Water use, -especially during the dry winter, has been restricted to certain hours -throughout the colony’s history. Running water, to the majority of Hong -Kong’s poor, means that one grabs a kerosene tin and runs for the nearest -public standpipe. Those lucky enough to reach the head of the line before -the water is cut off may carry home enough to supply a household for one -full day. - -The industries of the colony, which expanded at a spectacular rate after -World War II, could never have survived on sales to the local market. -Most of its residents have always been too poor to buy anything more -than the simplest necessities of food, clothing and shelter. No tariff -wall protects its products from the competition of imported goods, but -resentment against the low-wage industries of the colony continually -puts up new barriers against Hong Kong products in foreign countries, -including the United States. - -From its thinly populated beginnings, Hong Kong has been transformed -into one of the most dangerously overcrowded places on earth, with -1,800 to 2,800 persons jamming every acre of its urban sections. Eighty -percent of its population is wedged into an area the size of Rochester, -N.Y.—thirty-six square miles. About 325,000 people have no regular -housing. They sleep on the sidewalks, or live in firetrap shacks perched -on the hillsides or rooftop huts. A soaring birth rate and illegal -infiltration of refugees from Red China add nearly 150,000 people a year. - -Fire is the best-fed menace of contemporary Hong Kong. In the 1950-55 -period, flash fires drove 150,000 shack and tenement dwellers out of -their homes, racing through congested settlements with the swiftness and -savagery of a forest in flames. Tuberculosis attacked the slum-dwellers -at the same ruinous pace. No one dares to predict what would happen if -one of the colony’s older, dormant scourges—plague or typhus—were to -break out again. But the colony found cause for relief and pride when a -1961 cholera scare was halted by free, universal inoculations. - -More than a century of turmoil and privation has taught the colonists to -accept their liabilities and deal with their problems, yet they prefer to -dwell on the assets and virtues which have enabled them to endure, and in -many cases, to prosper tremendously. - -Hong Kong harbor has always been the colony’s greatest asset. Of all the -world’s harbors, only Rio de Janeiro equals its spacious, magnificent -beauty, with its tall green mountains sloping down to deep blue water. -Perhaps Rio has a richer contrast of tropical green and blue, but the -surface of Hong Kong harbor is so irrepressibly alive with criss-crossing -ferry lines, ocean freighters riding in the stream, and tattered junk -sails passing freely through the orderly swarm that it never looks the -same from one minute to the next and is incapable of monotony. - -An oceanic lagoon of seventeen square miles, the harbor lies sheltered -between mountain ranges to the north and south and is shielded from the -open sea by narrow entrances at its east and west ends. Vessels drawing -up to thirty-six feet of water can enter through Lei Yue Mun pass at the -eastern end of the harbor. Through the same pass, jet airliners approach -Kai Tak Airport, roaring between the mountains like rim-rock flyers as -they glide down to the long airstrip built on reclaimed land in Kowloon -Bay, on the northern side of the harbor. - -The intangible ramparts of the colony are as solid as its peaks: the sea -power of the British and American navies, and the stability of British -rule. At their worst, the colony’s overlords have been autocratic, -stiff-necked and chilly toward their Chinese subjects. - -The same British administrators who nobly refused to hand over native -criminals for the interrogation-by-torture of the Chinese courts could -flog and brand Chinese prisoners with a fierce conviction of their own -rectitude. Nevertheless, they brought to China something never seen there -before; respect for the law as an abstraction, an objective code of -justice that had to be followed even when it embarrassed and discommoded -the rulers. - -Almost from its inception, the colony attracted refugees from China. Many -brought capital and technical skills with them, others were brigands and -murderers fleeing Chinese executioners. - -Banking, shipping and insurance services of the colony quickly became the -most reliable in Southeast Asia. Macao, in spite of its three-century -lead on Hong Kong, was so badly handicapped by its shallow harbor, -critical land shortage, and unenterprising government that it sank into -a state of suspended antiquity. Hong Kong merchants, eager for new -business, kept in close touch with world markets. Labor was cheap and -abundant, still it was more liberally paid than in most of the Asiatic -countries. Labor unions numbered in the hundreds, but they were split -into so many quarreling political factions that they could rarely hope to -win a showdown fight against the colony’s business-dominated government, -although the Seamen’s Union did obtain many concessions after a long -strike in 1922. - -Notwithstanding the social gulfs between the British, Portuguese, Indian -and other national elements in the colony, all of them march arm-in-arm -through one great field of endeavor; the desire and the capacity to make -money. Hong Kong lives to turn a profit, and its deepest fraternal bond -is the Fellowship of Greater Solvency. - -Motivated by this common purpose, the British and Chinese dwelt together -in peaceful contempt during the first fifteen years of the colony’s -history, sharing the returns of a fast-growing world trade. The opium -traffic resumed as though there had never been a war over it. The only -enemy that worried the merchants became the Chinese pirates who preyed on -their ships. - -From Fukien to Canton, pirate fleets prowled the China coast. Two of -their favorite hangouts were Bias Bay and Mirs Bay, within easy striking -range of Hong Kong. With the arrival of the British, they began looting -foreign merchant-ships with the same unsparing greed they had previously -inflicted on Chinese ships and villages. - -British warships, superior to the pirate craft in all but numbers and -elusiveness, hunted them down with task forces. In four expeditions -between 1849 and 1858, the Queen’s Navy sank or captured nearly 200 -pirate junks. Thousands of prisoners were taken, and a fair share of them -were hanged. British landing forces, storming up the beaches from the -warships, leveled every pirate settlement they could find. - -The land-and-sea offensive had a temporarily restraining effect, but -new-born pirate fleets sprang up like dragon’s teeth to turn to the -practice of seaborne larceny. A fifth column of suppliers, informers, -and receivers of stolen goods within the colony obligingly assisted the -pirates in plucking their neighbors clean. Hong Kong’s oldest industry -has retained its franchise down to present times; in 1948, airborne -pirates attempted to high-jack a Macao-Hong Kong plane in flight. -The plane crashed, killing all but one person who was detained and -questioned, then released for lack of jurisdiction and sent back to China. - -Piracy was the fuse that touched off a second Sino-British war in 1856, -when the Chinese government charged that a Chinese ship manned by a -British skipper was, in fact, a pirate vessel. While the skipper was -absent from the Chinese lorcha, the _Arrow_, his entire crew was taken -prisoner and accused of piracy by China. - -The incident landed in the lap of Sir John Bowring, a former Member of -Parliament and one of the most curiously contradictory of all colony -governors. Philosophically a liberal and a pacifist, he was markedly -sympathetic toward the Chinese. A prolific author, economist and -hymn-writer, he had a brilliant gift for linguistics and was credited -with a working knowledge of 100 languages, among them Chinese. He -initiated wise and far-reaching improvements, including the first -forestry program, which were enacted into law by later governors. With -all these gifts, his five-year term (1854-1859) was marred by a series of -hot and futile wrangles with his subordinates. - -This mercurial man reacted to the capture of the _Arrow_’s crew -by demanding an apology and their release. When the apology was -not immediately dispatched, he assembled a military force and set -out to capture Canton. War in India delayed the arrival of British -reinforcements, and Canton withstood the assault. Meanwhile, Chinese -collaborators in Hong Kong poisoned the bread supplied to Europeans; -Bowring’s wife was one of scores of persons who suffered serious illness -by eating the bread. - -Shortly afterward the French joined forces with the English. Canton and -Tientsin were captured, and the Chinese government was forced to agree to -add more trading ports to the five provided by the 1842 Nanking Treaty. - -The ensuing short-term armistice was broken by sporadic Chinese attacks -on British supply lines and a general resumption of hostilities, ending -in the occupation of the Chinese capital at Peking. - -The Kowloon Peninsula, jutting from the Chinese mainland to a point one -mile north of Hong Kong Island, became involved in the war when its -residents rioted against British troops encamped there. The British -had considered the annexation of Kowloon for several years, realizing -that if the Chinese decided to fortify it their guns would command -Hong Kong harbor. Treating the riot as a compelling reason for taking -possession, the British obtained an outright cession of the peninsula -and Stonecutters Island, a little body of land about one mile west of -Kowloon, under the terms of the 1860 Convention of Peking. - -Bowring, meanwhile, had created a public Botanic Garden—still a beautiful -hillside haven at the heart of the colony—laid down new roads and -erected a number of public buildings. But his daily relations with -other colony officials had degenerated into a battle-royal of insults -and counter-accusations. The home government, appalled at Bowring’s -un-British disregard for good form, rushed in a new minister to direct -negotiations with China and replaced Bowring as governor with Sir -Hercules Robinson, an unusually able colonial administrator. Bowring -left the colony with his reputation at low ebb, snubbed by its English -residents. The Chinese of Hong Kong, inured to snobbery but grateful for -Bowring’s attempts to help them, saw him off with parting gifts. - -Sir Hercules began his administration with a piece of good fortune; -practically all the contentious subordinates who had made Bowring’s -tenure a long nightmare resigned or retired. The colony’s military -leaders kept the pot simmering by demanding most of Kowloon for their own -use, although Robinson wanted to preserve it for public buildings and -recreational grounds. - -In England, where the brimstone smell of the Bowring affair lingered for -many months, the London _Times_ was moved to describe the China outpost -as a “noisy, bustling, quarrelsome, discontented and insalubrious little -island” whose name was “always connected with some fatal pestilence, -some doubtful war, or some discreditable internal squabble.” Robinson’s -skirmish with the military attracted no more attention than a stray -pistol-shot after a thundering cannonade. - -Between wars and internal bickering, the colony was growing up. The -California gold rush of 1849, followed by a major gold strike in -Australia two years later, created a surge of prosperity as goods -and Chinese laborers funneled through the port on their way to the -goldfields. Japan was opened to world trade in 1853, and American -whalers and seal hunters had begun to call at Hong Kong. Total shipping -tonnage cleared through the port rose 1,000 percent in the fifteen years -after 1848. With skilled labor and well-equipped dockyards at hand, the -building, refitting and supplying of ships became the colony’s most -important industry. - -Overseas shipment of Chinese laborers from mainland China to perform work -contracts in Central America, Australia, and the islands of the Indian -Ocean created grave human problems. - -Chinese were being kidnaped, abused like slaves and packed into the -airless, filthy holds of sailing ships where they died at an alarming -rate. From 1855 on, the colony imposed tighter and tighter restrictions -on the trade, prescribing better living conditions aboard ship and -prosecuting kidnapers of labor. But the labor suppliers evaded the laws -of the colony by taking on provisions at Hong Kong and calling at other -ports along the China coast to shanghai contract workers. - -The first of many waves of refugees to seek asylum in Britain’s -“barbarian” enclave arrived with the outbreak of the Tai Ping Rebellion -in 1850. Led by Hung Siu Tsuen, a Christian student, the rebels attacked -the ruling Manchu Dynasty and fomented wild disorder in Canton. Thousands -of apprehensive Chinese fled to Hong Kong, throwing themselves on the -mercy of the foreign devils. - -Governor Robinson and the land-hungry generals eventually compromised -their conflicting claims to Kowloon real estate, but the colony -government spent years of patient effort in straightening out the fuzzy, -inexact and spurious titles to individual land-holdings on the peninsula. -On the whole, British courts achieved a fair adjudication of claims. - -Sir Hercules did not permit his administrative successes to alter the -colony’s reputation for day-to-day blundering. He housed prisoners in -a hulk off Stonecutters Island where it was accidentally swamped by an -adjoining boat with a loss of thirty-eight lives. On a kindly impulse, -he belatedly moved the hulk closer to shore, and a group of convicts ran -down the gangplank to dry land and freedom. - -Such oversights were exceptional; when Sir Hercules ended his term in -1865, he could look back on an administration which had put the unpopular -colony on its feet by reforming its courts and modernizing and expanding -its public works. This was no fluke, for he went on to similar successes -in Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa before being elevated -to the peerage. - -During its formative period, the colony was predominantly a society of -adult males. Its merchants and workers came from China to earn a living -and to send their savings back to their wives and children; when they -grew too old to work, they returned to their native cities and villages. -But there was always a number of families among the population, and after -the refugees began pouring in, the percentage of children rose. In 1865, -children numbered 22,301 in a total population of 125,504. Only 14,000 of -these were of school age, and less than 2,000 of them attended school. - -Missionaries began to run schools for Chinese and European children -almost from the time the colony was established, but the scale of their -undertakings was modest. The Chinese organized native schools, and like -the missionary ventures, floundered along with ill-trained teachers, -inadequate buildings and loose supervision. Government schools, low in -quality and enrollment, freed themselves of religious control in 1866. A -private school with advanced ideas instructed Chinese girls in English, -only to discover that its pupils were accepting postgraduate work as the -mistresses of European colonists. - -Five Irish governors, starting with Sir Hercules Robinson in 1859, -ruled Hong Kong in succession, and three of them ranked among the -ablest executives in its history. Each one was in his separate way a -strong-minded, individualistic, and occasionally rambunctious chief. -After the Hibernian Era came to an end in 1885, no later governors -emulated their mildly defiant gestures toward the home government. - -Sir Richard Graves Macdonnell, second of the Irish governors, was a tough -and seasoned colonial administrator who tackled the unsolved problems -of crime and piracy with perception and vigor. He saw that naval action -against the pirate fleets would bring no lasting results while the -sea-raiders had the assistance of suppliers, informers and receivers of -stolen goods within the colony. He put all ship movements in Hong Kong -waters under close supervision, and assigned police to ferret out every -colonist working with the pirates. To a greater degree than any of his -predecessors, he succeeded in checking piracy, but no governor has ever -stamped it out. - -Macdonnell also intensified the campaign against robbery, burglary and -assault. Commercial interests applauded his increased severity in the -treatment of prisoners and his frequent reliance on flogging, branding -and deportation of offenders. Macdonnell himself saw no contradiction -between such rough-shod methods and, on the other hand, his generosity in -donating crown land for a Chinese hospital where the destitute and dying -could be cared for in a decent manner. Previously, relatives of ailing, -elderly paupers had deposited them in empty buildings with a coffin and -drinking water, leaving them to suffer and die alone. - -Sir Arthur Kennedy, who followed Macdonnell, was one of the colony’s -most popular governors. He knew his job thoroughly and he combined this -knowledge with sound judgment, a lively sense of humor, and a rare talent -for pleasing the traders and the Colonial Office. He initiated the Tai -Tam water-supply system and continued Macdonnell’s relentless fight -against crime. - -Kennedy threw his more orthodox colleagues into a dither by entertaining -Chinese merchants at official receptions in Government House, his -executive residence. He went so far as to invite these Chinese to suggest -improvements in the laws of the colony, and they promptly asked for a law -to punish adulterous Chinese women. Knowing that each of the petitioners -had several wives and concubines, Sir Arthur realized that his volunteer -legal advisers were actually looking for government sanction to hobble -their restless bedmates. He tabled the petition with tact. - -External changes produced surprising mutations in the progress of the -colony. Its isolation diminished with the opening of the Suez Canal in -1869 and the completion in the next year of direct overland telegraph -connection with England. No longer was a governor left to his own devices -for days and weeks, improvising policy at the peril of his job until -orders arrived from home. - -The hazards of life on the South China coast remained. In 1874, the -colony was devastated by the worst typhoon since 1841. Flying rooftops -filled the skies above the island, and 2,000 Chinese fishermen and their -families drowned in the ruins of their floating villages. - -Sir Arthur’s departure to become the Governor of Queensland was a -melancholy time for the colony’s Chinese. They were openly devoted to -him—the first governor who had treated them more or less as equals. Even -the English liked him, and he became the first and only governor to have -a statue erected to his memory in the colony’s Botanic Garden. The statue -disappeared during the Japanese Occupation of World War II. - -Kennedy’s successor, Sir John Pope Hennessy, not only preserved this -solicitude for the Chinese but provoked a storm of protest from European -residents by practicing leniency toward Chinese prisoners. When murders -and burglaries increased, his humanitarian policies were blamed. -Hennessy, a resourceful debater who was at his best in defending his own -policies, was not intimidated. The weak side of his administration showed -in a quite different area—his habitual neglect of essential paper work. - -Hennessy’s friendliness toward the Chinese unexpectedly involved him in -controversy with the Chinese themselves. For centuries, wealthy Chinese -families had “adopted” little female domestic slaves by purchasing them -from their parents or relatives. In the households of the rich, these -Mui Tsai could be identified at once by their shabby clothing and their -general appearance of neglect. - -Even families of limited means purchased Mui Tsai, so that the mother -of the family could take a job outside her home while the juvenile -slavey cared for the children and contended with the simpler household -drudgery. For the poorest families, sale of a daughter as a Mui Tsai -was the natural solution to an economic crisis. But the institution, -unacceptable to Western eyes from any aspect, had become the vehicle for -gross abuses—the kidnaping and sale of women as prostitutes in Hong Kong -or for transportation overseas. Kidnapings had become so numerous and -flagrant by 1880 that Governor Hennessy and Sir John Smale, the colony’s -Chief Justice, condemned the Mui Tsai system as contrary to British law. - -The Chinese protested that Mui Tsai was not slavery; it was an ancient, -respectable adjunct of family life. Indeed, it was quite humane, for it -saved the daughters of many impoverished families from being drowned. -The English didn’t want that, did they? The Chinese offered no defense -of kidnaping and forced prostitution arising from the institution of Mui -Tsai. - -Under pressure of the colony government, influential Chinese set up the -Po Leung Kuk, or Society for the Protection of Virtue, to rescue women -and girls from flesh peddlers, provide a home for them in a section of -the Chinese-operated Tung Wah Hospital, and train them for respectable -occupations. - -Hennessy, like Governor Bowring, entangled himself in a series of -acrimonious disputes with other colony officials, antagonizing them in -groups by lashing out at the school system, prison maladministration -and the harsh treatment of convicts. His most combative foe was another -Irishman, General Donovan, head of the colony’s armed forces. Their -verbal Donnybrook erupted over the perennially thorny question of how -much Kowloon land the military was entitled to. - -General Donovan hit back at Hennessy with a sneak attack; he complained -to the home government about the outrageous sanitary conditions in -the colony—the lack of proper drainage, the polluted seafront, and -the verminous tenements where entire Chinese families shared one room -with their pigs and other domestic animals. All these conditions had -existed in Hong Kong since 1841, but no one had called them to the home -government’s attention with the holy indignation of Donovan. - -Osbert Chadwick was sent from England to investigate and he found -sanitary conditions every bit as bad as Donovan had described them. -Chadwick’s report became the basis, after long postponement and inaction, -for the creation of a Sanitary Board and fundamental sanitary reforms. - -Hennessy left the colony in 1882 to become Governor of Mauritius and to -lock horns with a new team of associates. Four administrators and two -governors passed through the colony’s top executive position in the next -decade, but none effected any substantial improvements in sanitation. -Every attempt to clean up pesthole tenements was balked by cries of -persecution and government interference from the landlords; they would -consent to no improvements unless the government paid their full cost. - -In other directions the colony advanced steadily. It completed a new -reservoir system and central market and rebuilt the sewage and drainage -system. Ambitious land-reclamation projects were pushed ahead at Causeway -Bay and Yau Ma Tei to meet the unabating demand for level sites in the -crowded, mountainous colony. Kowloon, a wasteland of undulating red rock, -in the 1880s began cutting down its ridges and using the spoil to extend -its shoreline—a process that continues at an amazingly accelerated rate -today. - -Hong Kong has never known an age of serenity; its brief interludes of -comparative calm have always been followed by cataclysmic upheavals. In -the spring of 1894, the colony was invaded by plague, long endemic on -the South China coast. Within a few months, 2,485 persons had died of -pneumonic, septicemic and bubonic plague, and Western medicine had no -more power to check it than had Chinese herb treatments. - -The onset of plague was so terrifying that long-deferred sanitary reforms -were rushed through and rigidly enforced. Deaf to the protests of all -residents, British military units began regular inspections of Chinese -homes. Sanitary teams condemned 350 houses as plague spots and evicted -7,000 persons from infected dwellings. Resenting foreign invasion of -their privacy and mistrustful of Western medicine, the Chinese retaliated -by posting placards openly in Canton and furtively inside the colony -accusing British doctors of stealing the eyes of new-born babies to treat -plague victims. - -Business came to a stop and ships avoided the plague-stricken port. The -plague abated for a year, then returned in 1896 to take another 1,204 -lives. The Chinese kept up a rear-guard action against sanitary measures -with strikes and evasions, hiding their dead and dying or dumping their -bodies in the streets and harbor. Sometimes they exposed their dying -relatives on bamboo frames stretched across the narrow streets, hoping -that the departing soul would haunt the street instead of its former -house. - -The benighted traditionalism of the colony’s Chinese awoke the British -administration to one of its most serious weaknesses; a half-century of -British rule had failed to give to 99 percent of the colony’s residents -any clear idea of the civilization they were expected to work and live -under. The tardy lesson eventually took effect, and the British embarked -on a long and intensive program of improving and enlarging their school -system. In the Tung Wah Hospital, English and Chinese doctors learned to -their surprise that therapies unlike their own were not necessarily sheer -quackery, and that they could work together for the benefit of their -patients. - -With the population of the colony exceeding 160,000 in the early 1880s, -military and commercial leaders turned to the possibility of acquiring -more land on the Chinese mainland. They pressed the British Foreign -Office to seek the territory running north from the Kowloon Peninsula to -the Sham Chun River, about 15 miles away. The suggestions were rejected -as prejudicial to Sino-British relations until other foreign powers -started to thrust into Chinese territory for commercial concessions and -spheres of political influence. - -France, Russia and Japan were the spearheads of this infiltration of the -Celestial Empire, which had been weakened by internal rebellion. Japan -defeated China in the 1894-95 war and exerted ever-stronger commercial -control over the mainland. Russia made its bid by advancing through -Manchuria and occupying Port Arthur. Germany hastened to join the -commercial invaders. Hacked at from four directions, the Chinese people -attempted to close ranks in defense of their homeland. - -The United States, with no apparent desire to annex Chinese territory, -nevertheless heightened both British and Chinese apprehension by -launching its naval attack on Manila from Mirs Bay in May, 1898. The -Chinese feared another land grab, and the British felt they could best -protect Hong Kong if they were able to deal with a strong, unified China. - -Despite its earlier reluctance to disturb the status quo, Great Britain -was now convinced that it had to acquire the territory between Kowloon -and the Sham Chun River as a protective buffer for Hong Kong. On July 1, -1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease to this mainland territory and 235 -adjacent islands with a total land area of 365½ square miles. - -Chinese guerrilla forces in the New Territories—as this leased area is -still called—opposed the British occupation but were defeated and driven -out by British troops in a ten-day campaign. That was the easiest part -of it. It took four years of wrangling with the uncooperative Chinese -residents to establish valid titles to private plots of land in the New -Territories. Kowloon City, an eight-acre patch on the border of Kowloon -and the New Territories, became a kind of orphan in the transaction, -with the British firmly insisting it was part of the lease and the -Chinese arguing somewhat inconclusively that it was not. Nationalist -China claimed it as recently as 1948, but Red China has not so far pushed -a similar claim. Britain regarded it as hers in 1960, and sent in her -police to clean out the robbers and murderers who had long used it as a -hiding place. - -A general deterioration of Sino-British relations followed the leasing of -the New Territories. The two empires were at odds over the maintenance of -Chinese customs stations in the New Territories, the presence of Chinese -warships in Kowloon Bay and the treatment of Chinese prisoners in Hong -Kong jails. Moreover, each disagreement was intensified by the patriotic -fervor which led to the Boxer Rebellion. - -At the opening of the twentieth century, the Chinese Empire had been -driven into a hopeless position. Bound and crippled like the feet of her -women, she had neither the weapons nor the industrial capacity to repel -the encroaching armies of Europe and Japan. By any reasonable standard, -she was beaten before she started to fight back. - -Out of China’s desperation grew a super-patriotic secret society, The -Fist of Righteous Harmony, or Boxers, who claimed that magical powers -sustained their cause, making them invulnerable to the superior weapons -of foreigners. Occult arts and a rigorous program of physical training, -the Boxers professed, would carry them to victory. It was a crusade of -absurdity; foolish and foredoomed, but plainly preferable to unresisting -surrender. - -The Boxers opened their offensive by murdering missionaries and Chinese -Christians, causing a new rush of refugees to Hong Kong. They burned -foreign legations in Peking and sent the surviving Chinese Christians and -foreigners fleeing to the British legation for safety. An international -army, composed of French, German, Russian, American and Japanese units, -lifted the siege of the legation on August 14, 1900, and remained in -Peking until peace was signed eleven months later. - -Recurrences of plague killed 7,962 persons in the colony at the turn of -the century, but the discovery that plague was borne by rats prompted -a war to exterminate them. Rewards of a few cents were paid for their -carcasses, and profit-hungry Chinese were suspected of importing -rats from Canton to claim the bounty. The threat of plague gradually -decreased, but malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and cholera remained to -ravage the refugee-jammed colony. - -On September 18, 1906, a two-hour-long typhoon hit the colony without -warning, drowning fifteen Europeans and from 5,000 to 10,000 Chinese. No -one could accurately estimate the deaths, which were concentrated among -the fishermen and boat people, but nearly 2,500 Chinese boats of all -types were hammered into kindling wood or sunk without trace. Fifty-nine -European ships were badly damaged and a French destroyer broke in two. -Piers and sea walls were breached and undermined, and 190 houses were -blown down or rendered uninhabitable. Roads and telephone lines were -washed out, farm crops and tree plantations were laid low by the power of -the worst storm in local history. Damage estimates ranged far into the -millions. - -In the aftermath of the typhoon, all elements of the population -cooperated to raise a relief fund. The money collected was used to repair -wrecked boats, recover and bury the dead, feed and house the homeless and -provide for the widows and orphans of storm victims. (The horror of this -catastrophe was reenacted on September 2, 1937, when a typhoon and tidal -wave engulfed a New Territories fishing village, drowning thousands.) - -The dawn of the twentieth century marked the final collapse of the -Celestial Empire. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who had been banished from Hong Kong -in 1896 for plotting against the Chinese government, steadily intensified -his revolutionary activities until, in 1911, he led the revolution which -overthrew the tottering monarchy and replaced it with the Republic of -China. The unrest that accompanied this violent change-over caused more -than 50,000 refugees to cross the Chinese border into British territory. - -The transition from empire to republic did not end China’s internal -turmoil, and for many years afterward its political disturbances were -felt in Hong Kong. Piracy flourished in the waters around the colony; -one band of corsairs set fire to a steamship, causing the deaths of 300 -passengers. Brigands and warlords preyed on southern China, sometimes -making forays across the colony’s border to pounce on villages in the New -Territories. China was torn by political struggles during the 1920s, and -these provoked strikes within the colony and Chinese boycotts of Hong -Kong goods. All through this period, refugees poured across the border in -unending lines. - -The worldwide depression of the 1930s brought a sharp drop in colony -trade, but the government created jobs for thousands with road-building -and other public works. - -Japan opened its war against China in 1937, and within a year Hong -Kong was bursting with the addition of 600,000 refugees. Poverty and -overcrowded housing offered ideal conditions for epidemics of smallpox -and beriberi which killed 4,500 persons in 1938. Still, the total -population climbed to 1,600,000. Government refugee camps housed about -5,000 people; another 27,000 regularly slept in the streets. - -Emboldened by victories in China and an alliance with Nazi Germany, the -Japanese militarists launched their “Greater Far Eastern Co-Prosperity -Sphere” by attacking Hong Kong, Pearl Harbor and the Philippines on -December 7-8, 1941. Crossing the Chinese border at Lo Wu in the New -Territories, two Japanese divisions supported by overwhelming air power -invaded and conquered the colony within three weeks. They proceeded -without pause to loot its warehouses and strip its factories of machinery -for shipment to Japan. - -The Japanese imprisoned the remaining British residents and raped and -pillaged at will. By torture, starvation, and main force they drove a -million Chinese residents from the colony and maintained a merciless -control over the survivors by propaganda, intimidation, imprisonment and -the use of Chinese fifth-columnists. - -With their smashing victories in the Philippines, East Indies and at -Singapore, the Japanese should have found it comparatively easy to unite -Asiatics against the whites who had once lorded it over them. But they -suffered from the same compulsion as the Germans; at a time when they -had a chance to win allies among the people they had conquered, they -botched it by senseless cruelties. When their firecracker-like string of -victories had burned out, they had gained no friends, but instead had -earned millions of new enemies. - -Nearly four years passed before the Japanese were beaten into -unconditional surrender and the British rulers returned to Hong Kong. -Their return had a kind of spectral quality as the British Pacific Fleet, -commanded by Rear Admiral C. H. J. Harcourt, steamed through Lei Yue Mun -pass, gliding under the silent muzzles of Japanese guns emplaced along -the mountainsides with their crews standing at attention beside them. - -This was on August 30, 1945. The British went ashore to find thousands -of their countrymen and other Allied prisoners gaunt and starving in -prison camps. Many had been crippled and deformed by torture. Others -had been killed in Allied bombing raids on Hong Kong. Seven large and -seventy-two small ships had been sunk in the harbor, 27,000 homes had -been destroyed. The fishing fleet was in ruins and the fishermen were in -rags. Nine-tenths of the surviving residents were dead broke, while a few -collaborators and black-marketers had accumulated fortunes. Livestock -had virtually disappeared. Millions of carefully cultivated trees, -planted to check erosion and retain the run-off of tropical rainfall for -drainage into the reservoirs, had been chopped down to provide firewood. -Schools were almost entirely suspended. Railroads and ferry lines were -in an advanced stage of disrepair. Disease and crime had reached their -highest rates in many years. - -The British, who are inclined to procrastinate in the solution of small -crises, can be indomitable in the face of major emergencies. Within six -months after reoccupying the colony they had restored its government and -society to working order. Six years after the British return, the colony -was more prosperous, more congested, and more progressive than it had -ever been before. - -Nationalist China was driven from the mainland in 1949, and a new -Communist state took its place. Britain promptly recognized Red China -as the ruling power on the mainland, but relations between the Chinese -Reds and Hong Kong were strained by Communist-caused disturbances in -the colony and shooting “incidents” at sea and in the air. There was no -apparent danger of war, however. In 1951, the colony’s trade amounted to -$1,550,000,000, the highest point it had ever reached. - -If there were signs of complacency in Hong Kong, they were erased by -the outbreak of the Korean war. The United Nations clamped immediate -restrictions on the colony’s trade with Red China, and Red China slashed -its imports from Hong Kong. Trade volume declined still further when Hong -Kong voluntarily halted its exports to Korea and the sending of strategic -materials to Red China. The United States at first included Hong Kong in -its embargo of all trade with Red China, but the colony prevailed upon -America to ease the ban. America agreed to accept goods from Hong Kong, -provided that they were accompanied by a Certificate of Origin attesting -that they were made in Hong Kong and had not simply been transshipped -from Communist China through the colony. - -With the China market gone, as well as Hong Kong’s traditional role -as a transshipper to and from China, the colony executed its most -spectacular economic somersault since 1841; it switched from trading -to manufacturing. In six years, the great entrepôt became an important -industrial producer. By 1962, over 70 percent of the goods it exported -were made in the colony, and about half its workers were employed in -industry. - -Having performed this overnight flip-flop without suffering an economic -set-back, Hong Kong has become more prosperous than ever. Except that it -has too many people, hasn’t enough land to stand on, can’t raise enough -food or store enough water, is incessantly harried by rising tariffs and -shipping costs, and has no idea what its testy, gigantic neighbor to the -north will do next, Hong Kong would appear not to have a worry in the -world. - - - - -CHAPTER TWO - -An Avalanche from the North - - “When one reads of 1,000,000 homeless exiles all human - compassion baulks and the great sum of human tragedy becomes a - matter of statistical examination.”—“A PROBLEM OF PEOPLE,” Hong - Kong Annual Report, 1956 - - -From the end of World War II until the fall of 1949 the mainland of -China rumbled with the clash of contending armies. Thousands of Chinese, -uprooted and dispossessed by the Nationalist-Communist struggle, streamed -southward across the Hong Kong border in a steady procession. - -The orderly nature of the exodus ended when Mao Tse-tung, having beaten -and dispersed the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek, turned his -guns on all people suspected of thinking or acting against the People’s -Republic of China. What had been a slow withdrawal became a headlong -flight for life. - -For six months after the Reds took over the mainland, Hong Kong clung -to its free-immigration policy. Then it reluctantly adopted a formula of -“one in, one out”—accepting one immigrant if another person returned to -China. But the refugee flow continued at a reduced rate in spite of land -and sea patrols on both sides of the international boundary. - -In 1956, the British relaxed immigration rules for seven months, hoping -the refugees would go home. Instead, 56,000 new refugees arrived from -China, and the colony reimposed its restrictions. - -The Chinese side of the frontier unexpectedly opened in May, 1962, and -70,000 refugees dashed for Hong Kong. The colony, alarmed and already -desperately overcrowded, strengthened and extended its boundary fence and -returned all but 10,000 of the new arrivals to China. - -This race for freedom aroused the Free World’s tardy compassion. The -United States moved to admit 6,000 Hong Kong refugees, including some who -had applied for admission as long ago as 1954. Taiwan, Brazil, and Canada -also expressed willingness to accept a limited number. Until this change -of heart, Taiwan had taken only 15,000 colony refugees, and the United -States only 105 a year. None of these offers will materially reduce the -number of Hong Kong refugees, whose total is officially estimated at -1,000,000. Unofficial estimates set the total around 1,500,000. - -Whatever the total within this range, it stuns the imagination. The -well-intentioned observer who has come to sympathize finds himself -backing away from this amorphous mass, unable to isolate or grasp its -human content of individual misery, privation and heartache. He wants to -help, as he would do if he saw a child struck down in the road, but when -the whole landscape is a panorama of tragedy, he hardly knows where to -begin. - -There are a dozen landscapes like that in Hong Kong; the hills of Upper -Kowloon with thousands of flimsy shacks perched uncertainly on their -steep granite faces; the heights above Causeway Bay where squatter -settlements flow down the mountainside like a glacier of rubbish; the -rooftops of Wanchai, maggoty with close-packed sheds; the rotting -tenements of the Central District strewn in terraces of misery across -the lower slopes of Victoria Peak; the sink-hole of the old Walled City -in Kowloon with its open sewers and such dark, narrow alleys that its -inhabitants seem to be groping around in a cave with a few holes punched -through the roof. - -Yet there are people in the colony who have chosen to cut their way -through this thick tangle of indiscriminate suffering. Going beyond -that first fragile desire to help and the secondary conclusion that no -one person can do anything effective against a problem of such vast -dimensions, they have learned to stand in the path of an avalanche and -direct traffic. They have opened a way to solve the refugee problem by -the simple process of starting somewhere. Ultimate solutions, in the -sense of housing and feeding all the refugees by giving them productive -jobs in a free economy, lie many years and millions of dollars away. -Meanwhile, people of courage and resolution, dealing with individual -human needs instead of wallowing in statistics, have achieved wonders in -improving the lot of Hong Kong’s refugees. Who they are and what they -have done offer the real key to Hong Kong’s problem of people. - -Sister Annie Margareth Skau, a Norwegian missionary nurse of towering -physical and spiritual stature, began her work among Hong Kong’s refugees -with invaluable postgraduate training. She herself was a refugee from -China, driven out by the Reds. - -Born in Oslo, she studied nursing at its City Hospital and decided -to become a “personal Christian,” dedicating her life to labor as a -missionary nurse of the Covenanters, or Mission Covenant Church of -Norway. The work was certain to be arduous, for the Covenanters sent -their workers to such remote corners of the world as Lapland, the Congo -or the interior of China. Annie, who has an almost mystical intensity of -religious faith, had no qualms about her probable assignments. Besides, -she looked about as large and indestructible as Michelangelo’s Moses, and -possessed a temperament of ebullient good nature. - -After serving successfully in several other missions, she was sent to -China in the late 1930s. Establishing herself at a mission in Shensi, -northeastern China, she was the only Western-trained medical worker among -the 2,000,000 residents of this agricultural region. In all likelihood, -she was the largest woman ever seen by the Chinese children under her -care—over six feet, four inches tall, with a Valkyrie’s frame—but -so gentle that none of the children were awed by her presence. Her -appearance anywhere was a signal for laughter and games; she never seemed -too tired to play with children and teach them little songs. - -Invading Japanese armies passed within two miles of her mission and -clinic in 1938, but none of the villagers ever betrayed the foreigner’s -presence. She had a quick, retentive mind, and learned to speak Mandarin -Chinese almost as well as she knew her own language. On the rare -occasions when an English-speaking visitor reached the out-of-the-way -settlement, he was surprised to find Sister Annie speaking his language -quite capably. Throughout the war and into the postwar era, she continued -to bring Christianity and expert medical care to her adopted people. - -When the Communists seized control of China, however, the Christian -missionaries were doomed. The Christian God became a hateful image in -a shrine reserved for Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, and a beloved -missionary nurse in a farming village was transformed into an enemy of -the people. The commissars and their lackeys began by hedging Annie -about with arbitrary regulations, then they confiscated medical supplies -intended for her patients. - -None of these measures succeeded in halting her work. Exasperated at -their failure, the local party leaders finally dragged her before -a kangaroo-style People’s Court. The word had been passed that any -villager who arose to denounce her for crimes against the state would -be handsomely rewarded. Not a single accuser appeared. Having lost face -before the entire village, the Reds were more determined than ever to -punish her. - -If no one who knew Sister Annie could be lured into a denunciation of -her, the obvious solution was to haul her off to a distant village where -no one knew her. Having done this, the Reds threw her into jail as an -object-lesson to anyone who befriended Christians. An old woman, knowing -nothing of Annie but remembering the humane work of other missionary -nurses in the village, begged the Communists to put her in jail with the -foreign prisoner so that she could comfort her. - -“Even the guards were kind to me,” Annie recalls. “The village people -didn’t jeer at me or try to hurt me; they kept trying to pass food to me. -They were loyal to the last minute!” - -Under the relentless persecution and mistreatment, Annie’s strong body -broke down, and in the summer of 1951, she was close to death from -pneumonia and malaria. The Reds, who refused to let her leave the country -when she was well, hurried to get rid of the ailing woman. Exhausted and -gravely ill, she left China and returned to Norway for a long rest and -the slow regaining of her normal health. - -Eighteen months later she came back to Asia knowing that she would never -be readmitted to a Communist China. But there was still work to be done, -and she turned her efforts to a squalid shacktown in Hong Kong called -Rennie’s Mill Camp. - -Three years earlier the routed remnants of Chiang’s army, left behind -on the mainland, had thrown together a cluster of shacks beside Junk -Bay, a backwater of the British colony without roads, water, light or -sanitation. Nearly 8,000 persons, wounded soldiers and their wives and -children, camped haphazardly on the steep shores of the bay, ran up the -Nationalist flag and claimed the forlorn site as their own. - -When Annie reached the camp in March, 1953, traveling by sampan and -clambering over the high hills like a lost Viking, she found it haunted -by despair; a dirty, disease-ridden place, dragged down by the decline -of the Nationalist cause. Another nurse had started a small clinic in a -wooden hut, eight by ten feet in floor area, which treated 600 patients -a day. Annie and the other nurse shared sleeping quarters in a cubicle -attached to the hut. - -Sometimes the cases were so numerous and critical that the two nurses put -the worst cases in their own cramped beds and spent the night on their -feet treating other patients. Their medical equipment consisted of one -thermometer, a few antiseptics and dressings, and a rickety table that -wobbled groggily on the half-decayed floorboards. - -With the approach of Christmas, 1953, the fortunes of the clinic sank -to a new low. Both nurses were quite broke, unable to buy the food and -medical supplies their patients needed so critically. Acting more from -faith than reason, Annie set out to pick her way over the precipitous -rocks to Lei Yue Mun pass and cross by sampan to Hong Kong Island, hoping -to beg for help. - -To her delighted surprise, the mission’s post-office box on the island -produced a windfall—$200 in contributions from ten persons overseas. -Charging into the shopping crowds, Annie spent every cent on food and -medicine. She scarcely noticed the weight of her purchases as she trekked -the hard route back to Rennie’s Mill. Until three o’clock Christmas -morning, the two nurses were on their feet, handing out life-saving -presents and exchanging holiday greetings in Mandarin and Cantonese. - -“The money problems weren’t so bad after that,” Annie says. “Gifts came -in from welfare organizations and individuals, and we were able to build -a little stone clinic and a home for ourselves.” - -At the same time, health problems grew worse at Rennie’s Mill. Drug -addiction and tuberculosis spread through the camp as its inhabitants -abandoned hope of an early return to China. - -“Bad housing and poor food started the TB,” she explains. “But it got -much worse when people gave up hope, or heard about their relatives -being killed by the Communists. Chinese people are devoted to their -parents, and to be separated from them, or learn they’ve been killed—it’s -heartbreaking. - -“That was when we realized we’d have to build a rest home for those -patients,” Annie says. “We didn’t have any money; all we had was a -mission to do the best we could. One day I boarded a sampan with a group -of children and we rowed out into Junk Bay until we came to a little -inlet. I saw a hill just above us, jutting right out to the shore. I knew -right then we would build our chapel on that hill.” - -Annie discusses the incident with the fervor and conviction of one who -has received a private revelation. - -“I saw the whole rest-center arranged around that chapel almost as if -it were already completed, built around love. I had no idea where the -money was coming from, not any kind of an architect’s plan, but it didn’t -matter. I knew that Christ would find a way.” - -A way began to appear when a nurse who had worked with Sister Annie -visited the United States in 1954, telling children in Wisconsin schools -about their work. The response was electrifying. One small boy stood up -beside his desk to announce with utter seriousness, “I want to give my -heart to Jesus.” The appeal spread like a prairie fire; by February, -1955, Wisconsin school children had sent more than $2,500 for the new -rest home, which was called Haven of Hope Sanatorium. An anonymous -contributor donated another $5,000 through the Church World Service, Hong -Kong welfare agency of the National Council of Churches of Christ in -America. - -“Now our sanatorium had walls and a roof,” Annie says. “So we prayed for -furniture and food for our patients—and for bedpans, too. - -“It was a hand-to-mouth existence,” she remembers without a trace of -self-pity. “Our staff had no resources—we were so short of staff that -some of us worked for two years without a day off. We didn’t mind it at -all; we worked with one mind and one spirit, as if that sanatorium and -what it stood for was our one reason for living.” - -In its early stages, the sanatorium was nothing more than a rest home. -One day, almost as an afterthought on a busy round of duties, Annie asked -a few of her patients to help her with some routine tasks. They pitched -in at once and returned the following day to volunteer for more duties. -They kept at the work for several days, then called on Annie in a kind -of delegation. - -“Give us instructions, show us what to do,” they respectfully demanded. -“We want to learn how to be real nurses.” - -Annie agreed, taking care to see that none of the volunteers exerted -themselves beyond the limits of their precarious health. After three -months, they insisted on examinations to show what they had learned. - -From modest and tentative beginnings, the courses multiplied and expanded -into a full-scale nursing school, offering a two-and-a-half-year -progression of classes in eleven different subjects, with stiff exams. -Most of the pupils are girls between eighteen and twenty who specialize -in TB nursing. The eleventh class was graduated in February, 1962, and -the demand for new enrollments was so brisk that Annie, as Director of -Nursing Services, could accept only five out of sixty eager applicants. - -The sanatorium grew into a 206-bed institution of modern and spotless -appearance, and a 40-bed rehabilitation center for chronic and infectious -TB patients has been built nearby. Church World Service cut a road -through to the isolated site and it was later paved by the colony -government. Tuberculosis has been brought under control at Rennie’s Mill -Camp, and the Haven of Hope is drawing many of its patients from outside. -There is no danger of a shortage; TB strikes everywhere among Hong Kong’s -poor. - -Haven of Hope is administered by the Junk Bay Medical Council, which also -operates a clinic at Rennie’s Mill. Four doctors comprise the sanatorium -staff. Except for Annie and Miss Martha Boss, the assistant matron, -from Cleveland, Ohio, all the nurses are Chinese. Miss Boss, trained in -the same diligent tradition as Annie, spends three days a week at the -sanatorium, three days on church work and school duties in Rennie’s Mill, -and the seventh day on an industrial medical project. - -Rennie’s Mill Camp no longer looks like a shacktown. Catholic and -Protestant mission schools have been established, and many residents are -employed in handicraft shops. A new police post has been erected beside -the camp, and a bus line carries camp residents to the business and -shopping districts of Kowloon. Soon a reservoir is to be constructed with -government aid on a hill above the camp, and a modern housing development -will replace inadequate dwellings. - -Taiwanese flags still fly in the breeze at many places in the camp, and -Nationalist Chinese contribute to its support. But its main lease on life -comes from the churches and the colony of Hong Kong. - -Although the scope of Annie’s activities has become much wider, she -has lost none of her personal and religious attitude. When she walks -through the wards she is followed by the smiles of hundreds of children. -At any moment, she will stop to lead a grinning group of little girls, -perched on their beds like sparrows, in a song. With Annie joining in the -gestures, the kids sing out in Cantonese “Jesus loves little children ... -like me ... (pointing to themselves) ... like you ... (pointing at Annie -or the girl in the nearest bed) ... like all the others” (with a big, -wide-open sweep of the arms). - -Annie hugs a lively, black-haired youngster and says quietly, “Her -mother was seven months pregnant when she swam from China to Macao with -this little one on her back. The girl’s been here two years, and she’s -gradually getting better. Her mother went back to China, and has probably -been liquidated by the Communists.” - -Another girl reacts to Annie’s pat on the head with the wiggly cordiality -of a puppy. - -“This little one was scared to death of ‘imperialists’ when she came -here,” Annie explains. “It took us a long time to persuade her that the -Red propaganda wasn’t true.” - -Her first two patients at Haven of Hope, a brother and sister, have now -completely recovered. Both had seen their parents tortured and killed by -the Reds. - -“When the girl came to us, her face was like stone,” Annie says. “For two -years I played with her, trying all kinds of funny things to bring her -out of that frozen stupor, but she never smiled once. - -“I wasn’t getting anywhere,” she continues. “Then I tried something -different. On July 6, 1955, I put her in a sampan with eleven other kids, -and took them all to see the wonderful new building we’d just finished. -You know, the first time she got a look at it she broke into a big smile! -It was the first time she looked happy. Now she’s fourteen, and her -greatest ambition is to be a nurse.” - -A magnificent chapel, built exactly where Annie had visualized it, was -completed in time for Christmas services in 1961. A group of Norwegian -seamen donated an illuminated cross to surmount its roof. At night, when -their ships sail out from Hong Kong, they can see it glowing above a line -of hills that cut back from the sea like the fiords of Norway. - -To Annie, the chapel embodies the same spirit she expressed in naming the -eleven wards at Haven of Hope Sanatorium: Love, Peace, Joy, Patience, -Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Neatness, Temperance, Hope and Courage. - -For qualities like these, exemplified in her work at Rennie’s Mill Camp -and the sanatorium, Sister Annie Margareth Skau was given the Florence -Nightingale Award of the International Red Cross on May 18, 1961. Annie -regarded the award not as a personal tribute, but as an honor earned and -shared by everyone who worked or contributed to make the Haven of Hope a -reality. - -“There is so much that needs to be done for these poor, homeless people,” -she says. “Why, we’ve hardly begun the job.” - -In 1951, the same year that Annie Skau was exiled from Red China, the -Communists drove out a remarkable European-Chinese couple who had been -helping moneyless families to support themselves by setting up home -industries. Their house, with all their savings invested in it, was -seized by the state and they reached Hong Kong with a total capital of -thirty-four cents. - -The husband, Gus Borgeest, had been a production expediter in a Shanghai -textile mill for twenty years. His background was almost as international -as the U.N.; a British subject, he was born in Shanghai of mixed -British, Danish, Portuguese, Italian and German ancestry. Mona, his -Christian-Chinese wife, was born of Cantonese parents in the Hong Kong -fishing town of Aberdeen. - -During the Japanese invasion, Gus was interned for two years. He spent -his time in prison reading about the Quakers and became converted to -their ideal of helping others. When the war ended, he returned to his -Shanghai job until Mona contracted tuberculosis. To aid her recovery, -the couple moved to the more favorable climate of Hangchow. It was only -a stopover, for the political climate that developed after the Reds took -control made the survival of Christian welfare workers an impossibility. - -Arriving in Hong Kong, Gus found a job in the Fish and Vegetable -Marketing Organization of the colony government. Mona had regained her -health, and the two of them spent their spare hours doing refugee welfare -work in the squatter settlements. It was thoroughly discouraging; living -conditions were deplorable and the refugees, subsisting on handouts, were -losing their pride and initiative. - -“We aren’t accomplishing anything,” Gus told Mona. “It’s a waste of -time—unless we can do something, find some way to help people earn their -way out of these miserable firetraps.” - -After a long series of discussions in which they considered and discarded -a variety of self-help schemes, Gus and Mona agreed to stake all their -resources on one hopeful but wholly untried plan. They put aside every -spare penny until they had saved $700. Now Gus was ready to present their -plan to the appropriate officials of the colony government. - -He went to K. M. A. Barnett, District Commissioner and the colony’s top -authority on the Chinese people and their customs. Mr. Barnett listened -in some wonderment while Gus outlined a proposal to build a refugee -rehabilitation center on a desolate island seven miles west of Hong Kong -Island. He would teach people how to make a living by farming marginal -land—and there was plenty of such land lying idle in the colony. - -The Commissioner was friendly, but he needed the answers to certain -questions. What was Gus’s farming experience? Twenty years in a textile -plant. Why did Gus think he could grow anything on that island? Hadn’t -the Chinese farmers abandoned it?—and they could grow almost anything, -anywhere! Gus was positive he could make it go. Did he have any money? -Gus mentioned the $700 and said he was sure it would be enough for -a starter. On the face of it, the plan looked highly unfeasible to -Mr. Barnett, but he sensed something out of the ordinary in Gus’s -determination. Besides, the Commissioner reflected, his office was never -crowded with people who intended to do something simply for the benefit -of their fellow men. - -Having weighed the matter thoroughly, District Commissioner Barnett -recommended that the strange couple from Shanghai be given a chance. -The colony government leased the barren, 200-acre island to Gus for -thirty-four dollars a year, and he and Mona spent most of their savings -to buy two tents, bedding, a sack of rice, cooking utensils and farming -tools. - -On June 5, 1953, Gus, Mona, their five-year-old daughter, Naomi, and two -refugee farmers set sail for their new home, which Gus had rechristened -Sunshine Island, in a hired junk. On their first night ashore it rained -four inches in two hours, but they stuck it out with Mona doing the -cooking and Naomi scampering around for field grass to ignite the fire. -Twelve days after they landed, a refugee fisherman, his wife and daughter -nosed their leaky boat against a sandy beach and became the next settlers. - -Within a month, Gus and his helpers had tilled a small patch of land and -were raising some chickens, geese and nanny goats. Three-fourths of his -capital had been consumed by these improvements and the farming books he -pored over every night. An interest-free loan from a Quaker friend kept -the venture afloat, and they sweated through the humid summer building -grass huts, planting crops, and slashing paths through the shoulder-high -sword grass. - -Any heavenly blessings they received did not cover weather conditions, -for Typhoon Tess flattened their huts and tore up their garden. Yet the -improbable colony earned its first income at the end of five months—$2.60 -from the sale of rabbits they had raised. Loans and small gifts from -friends overseas furnished additional support. Virtually nothing went -swimmingly; the first few families who joined them on Sunshine couldn’t -stomach the solitary island and had no interest in working to pay their -way. - -One of the worst catastrophes in Hong Kong history—the Shek Kip Mei -fire that destroyed the shacks of more than 60,000 squatters—created an -unsought opportunity for Gus. Strapped for cash, he landed a temporary -job helping to relocate the fire victims and sent his earnings back to -Mona, who kept the Sunshine Island project breathing. He returned in -a few months to find the island earning about one-third of what the -Borgeests had spent on it. - -Both of them decided on some major changes. He talked to welfare agencies -and secured their help in selecting people who had the desire and the -qualifications to benefit from the scheme; farmers and those who wanted -to learn simple trades, or people like Professor Ting, a former lecturer -at Hangchow Christian College, who was willing to mind the geese while -building up his shattered health. Every worker on the island earned $.35 -a day, plus food and lodging for his family; a puny income, even by Hong -Kong standards, but in their view, infinitely preferable to handouts. - -Welfare organizations in Hong Kong had been watching the progress of -the fledgling colony and were quick to appreciate its value. The United -Church of Canada donated $960, the Hong Kong Welfare Society put up $30 -a month to pay families working on the island, and other agencies joined -in—Church World Service, Catholic Relief Services and the Lutheran World -Federation—sending cash, supplies and carefully chosen settlers. - -When the first stone houses on the island were completed in 1955, -Gus struck a note of triumph by giving them the high-sounding name of -Villa Borghese—a salute to his Italian ancestors. Twenty families, -comprising 100 persons, had entered wholeheartedly into the spirit -of the plan, digging terraced gardens from the rocky hillsides and -planting pineapples. Bamboo, banana, and pine trees were set firmly on -the hillsides or in the sheltered hollow between Sunshine’s two highest -hills. Refugee students, earning their tuition from welfare agencies, -excavated a fish-breeding pond. - -For the first time Gus was able to pay himself a salary of $36 a month, -but as often as not in succeeding months he turned it right back into -the kitty to balance his accounts. Periodic crises like typhoons, crop -failures, and the death of valuable livestock regularly badgered the -colony, but Gus contrived to ride them out. - -In 1957, Gus was laid low by a serious case of tuberculosis. For six -months he reluctantly remained in a chair placed on a sunny terrace in -front of his house. From there he directed Mona in the management of the -colony. Gradually regaining his strength, he recovered fully in two years -and resumed active charge of the enterprise. - -Increased aid from the outside enabled Gus to raise every worker’s daily -pay to 70 cents. Sunshine Island lost its bleak look; besides its new -stone buildings, it had over 800 fruit trees and 300 pigs, including 30 -breeding sows. Roads had been chopped through its spiny ridges, knitting -the whole project together. - -Hong Kong’s government staff, satisfied that Gus was doing something -solidly beneficial for refugees, furnished district officers, -agriculturists, forestry and fisheries experts as consultants on various -Sunshine Island jobs. - -But the human dividends of Sunshine Island were far more impressive -than its physical achievements. More than 700 men and women, including a -number of drug addicts, had found new hope on the island. After working -there for six months or a year and creating a small nest-egg from their -savings, they applied their newly acquired skills to start their own -farms on marginal land or get jobs in the city. A large majority of them -are now earning their own living in the British colony. - -Gus, having conceived Sunshine Island as a pilot project for farming -marginal land, schooled a group of his “graduates” in a marginal-farm -resettlement at Cheung Sheung, in the New Territories. Each new farmer -received two acres from the Hong Kong government, plus a cow, farm tools -and a small cash allowance. Practically all of them made the grade as -independent farmers. - -Activities expanded once more on Sunshine Island when the Hong Kong -Junior Chamber of Commerce donated $2,500 to build a piggery for -30 animals, and 20 more sties were added to it in 1961. Papaya and -pomegranate trees were added to the orchard. The island became a local -attraction for visitors, with Boy Scouts and other youth organizations -camping and swimming at a beach on the side of the island most distant -from the farm area. - -With the knowledge he paid a steep price for on Sunshine Island, Gus has -set up marginal-farm projects at three more locations besides Cheung -Sheung. - -“I think that Mona and I have reached our first major objective,” he -said, early in 1962. “That is to show refugee families a better way of -living than handouts and squatter settlements, and to help strengthen the -over-strained economy of Hong Kong.” - -Several other organizations have adopted the self-help system pioneered -by the Borgeests, and Gus is ready to move on to fresh challenges once -the Sunshine Island settlement becomes self-supporting. He believes -this can be done within three years; from there on, he would like to -turn Sunshine over to an administrative committee capable of running it -without him. - -The island has become a bustling work center. A one-handed stonemason who -has built hundreds of feet of stone-and-cement walls for pig pastures is -erecting the walls of another piggery. Dozens of Hakka women in their -black-fringed straw hats are transporting dirt in straw baskets to clear -the site of a new road. One man tirelessly splits boulders with a heavy -hammer and a chisel; while he works, he listens to Cantonese music -issuing from his transistor radio, perched on an adjoining rock. A sampan -taxi, operating between Sunshine and the nearby island of Peng Chau, -supports a family with several children and a seaworthy chow dog. - -Gus is absorbed in new plans to help others. Two years ago he undertook -a complete survey of the island of Shek Kwu Chau, two miles west of -Sunshine, to determine whether it could be made into a rehabilitation -center for some of Hong Kong’s 250,000 narcotics addicts. With only -slight modifications, the survey has become the blueprint for the center, -opening in 1962 under the administration of the Society for the Aid and -Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts. He was one of the early developers of -Hei Ling Chau, the island leprosarium run by the Mission to Lepers, and -remains a member of its administrative council. - -On the last day of August, 1961, Gus and Mona became winners of a Ramon -Magsaysay Award, the “Nobel Prize of the East,” for their Sunshine -Island accomplishments. The award also carried a $10,000 prize, and the -Borgeests decided to save it for the education of their three daughters. - -“We have no other funds,” Gus explained. “But a lot of people who heard -about the prize must have decided that old Gus is on easy street. Our -contributions fell off, and our debts started shooting up again.” - -At fifty-two, Gus is a ruggedly built man whose face and bald head have -been burned dark brown by the sun. His one gospel is the doctrine of -helping others to help themselves. - -“The Chinese people don’t want to live on anybody’s charity,” Gus said. -“And that’s doubly true of the refugees; they wouldn’t have come here, -most of them, if they’d been willing to become stooges for a government -that did all the thinking for them.” - -Gus has a well-defined conception of the way he prefers to spend his own -future: - -“I’d like to devote the rest of my life to work among the lepers and drug -addicts. We couldn’t do much for the addicts on Sunshine; we’d get them -accustomed to living without drugs, but they’d slip back into addiction -when they met their old companions back in the city. - -“And if there’s time enough, I’d like to go to one of the rural areas in -the Philippines with Mona and set up another place like Sunshine Island. -With what we’ve learned here, I know we could do a lot better.” - -The heroic works of the Borgeests and Sister Annie Skau, outstanding -though they are, have directly affected the lives of less than one -percent of Hong Kong’s refugees. But the dimensions of the crisis are -so great that they have engaged the attention of scores of humane and -intelligent people. They have gone far beyond routine assistance to -devise creative and practical solutions to the colony’s refugee problems. - -Monsignor John Romaniello, a Maryknoll missionary from New Rochelle, -N.Y., used his noodle to produce millions of meals for hungry refugees. -A roundish man with nothing on his mind but the Lord’s work and noodles, -he revels in his title as “noodle king of Hong Kong.” He sings about -noodles, writes about noodles, puns about noodles and buttonholes every -American tourist he meets for contributions to buy more noodles. - -It is showmanship with a purpose. Behind the kidding lies an idea so -obvious that no one ever thought of it until Monsignor Romaniello -came to Hong Kong in 1957 as director of Catholic Relief Services. He -noticed that millions of dollars’ worth of American surplus foods like -milk powder, corn meal, and wheat flour being sent to the colony to -feed refugees were winding up on the black market. Having lived among -the Chinese for thirty years, he decided to keep a close eye on the -surplus-food traffic. - -One day he observed a young girl taking a sack of surplus flour into a -bakery, then paying the baker to convert it into noodles. The simple -incident stayed in his mind, nagging at him. Later, while riding across -the harbor on the Star Ferry, the answer to a gigantic riddle came to him -in one reflective flash; the little girl was paying to have the flour -made into noodles because her mother, like most refugee mothers, had -no way of turning the flour into an edible meal. The same was true of -com meal; there was neither space nor cooking facilities for it in the -average refugee cubicle. In their raw state, the surplus foods were alien -to a Chinese palate. - -Why not convert these foods into noodles? No colony baker was equipped -to handle the job on the scale Monsignor Romaniello envisioned. On -any scale, the cost was too high for the refugee feeding program. -Monsignor Romaniello, helped by other Maryknoll fathers, constructed a -noodle-making machine out of scrap parts and an old engine. It looked -like nothing ever designed by engineers, but it rolled out the noodles. - -The Maryknoll noodles caught on at once with the Chinese, who found them -easy to prepare and agreeable to eat. With funds provided by Catholic -Relief Services and the Hong Kong Junior Chamber of Commerce, the first -noodle-making contraption was replaced by a production-line model. Within -four years, Hong Kong noodles were pouring out of the machines at the -rate of 5,000,000 pounds a year, and welfare organizations like the -Church World Service had adopted them. Noodle machines were exported to -the Philippines, Macao, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam as the noodle mania -grew. - -Another Catholic priest, working in a phase of welfare work wholly unlike -that of the “noodle king,” has achieved a degree of success comparable -to that of Monsignor Romaniello. He is Father P. J. Howatson, an Irish -Jesuit who has become a key figure in the colony’s youth leadership -program. - -Welfare workers will tell you, holding their breath as they do so, that -gangs of young hoodlums have not yet infested Hong Kong. Widespread -poverty, overcrowded housing, and a predominantly young population seem -to offer fertile soil for their growth, but welfare people believe -juvenile gangs have not appeared primarily because of the integral unity -of the Chinese family, with its respect for parents and elders. - -There is a second line of defense, the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs -Association, which embraces 13,000 of the poorest youngsters in its -recreational and leadership programs. Father Howatson is the prime mover -in the Association, doing some of its finest work among rooftop squatters -in Wanchai, a waterfront jungle of bars and cabarets where shiploads of -pent-up sailors are regularly turned loose. - -Because of the magnitude of Hong Kong’s welfare needs and the bewildering -assortment of private organizations attempting to deal with them, there -is an absolute necessity for a central clearinghouse to eliminate -overlapping in some areas and neglect in others. This is the function -of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a coordinating agency of -ninety welfare organizations which regularly checks the balance sheets of -its affiliates. If they pass muster, the colony government grants them -substantial aid to supplement their own resources. - -The Council, under its executive secretary Madge Newcombe, is also -charged with discovering where and what the needs of poor people are, and -then of assigning the religious or welfare societies best equipped to -satisfy them. There is no shortage of needs; the Council’s concern is to -avoid imbalance and wasted effort in meeting them. - -Five years ago the Council created the Central Relief Records Office. -With its file of approximately 200,000 cards, listing the name of every -relief client and the aid he is receiving from each agency, the office -has drastically reduced the duplication of welfare-agency work and -chiseling by potential recipients. There is no need for begging; relief -is so well organized that any hungry person can get a meal at a welfare -agency. - -Apart from feeding and housing the colony’s displaced persons, there is -a human problem of especial poignance. A resettlement estate, at its -outset, is an assembly of strangers from all over China, some from big -cities, some from back-country hamlets, tossed together like beans in a -bowl. - -At Wong Tai Sin, one of the largest resettlement estates, 60,000 people -are packed into long rows of multi-story concrete blocks. Physically, -they are far better off than they were in the shacktowns they came -from, but when they first moved in they were strangers lost in a crowd, -rootless and with no sense of community interests. - -During World Refugee Year (1959-60), the United States government met -the problem of building community consciousness at Wong Tai Sin with one -of its most effective gifts—$210,000 to build a community center there. -Now completed and in full operation, it is a large, modern, five-story -building teeming with community enterprises. - -The variety of its activities is bewildering: classes for the deaf, -courses in Diesel mechanics and refrigeration engineering, Chinese opera, -day nurseries, social events, libraries, movies and a hundred other -interests—all of them designed to form a congenial community out of -thousands of isolated families. - -The idea worked so well that the United Kingdom put up an equal amount -of money to build a second center in the new-born industrial city of -Tsuen Wan. The Toronto and Canadian World Refugee Year committees donated -$75,000 for a third community center at Chai Wan, on Hong Kong Island. -Others are planned, and the public response to the centers has been so -enthusiastic that the colony hopes to establish one in every resettlement -estate. - -The Hong Kong branch of Church World Service, a department of the -National Council of the Churches of Christ in America, picked up fresh -vigor a few years ago. Dr. Elbert E. Gates, Jr., pastor of the First -Baptist Church of Westfield, N.J., made an incidental stop at Hong Kong -during a trip to Australia. He and his wife, June, had a close-up look -at the colony’s refugees, and what they saw made an unforgettable -impression on them. In 1959, he gave up his pastorate and took a -one-third cut in salary to become director of the Church World Service -branch in Hong Kong. - -Working together, the couple have become leaders in colony refugee -activities. The statistical side alone is enormous—distributing 53,000 -quarts of powdered milk a day and 2,500,000 balanced-ration biscuits a -month, and operating a noodle factory and a central kitchen with a daily -capacity of 40,000 meals. There are scholarships for young people, dental -clinics, foundling homes, homes for orphaned girls and a dozen other -undertakings. - -Dr. Gates, a cheerful, tireless advocate of the colony’s poor people, -interrupts his work many times to show overseas visitors what is being -done, and still needs to be done, to help the refugees. He takes most -pleasure, perhaps, in displaying the “self-help” projects of Church World -Service. - -At one school in the hills of Kowloon, he directs a home where girls are -taught to make dresses, sweaters and ties for the American market. All -were formerly homeless, most are under twenty years old, some are blind, -others have only one hand or one arm. They have all learned to knit, -including the girl with one arm, and are earning their living by making -high-quality products for sale in the best stores. - -“We don’t want to produce curios, or something that tries to play on -people’s sympathy by calling itself a refugee product,” Dr. Gates says. -“These girls have proved they can turn out goods that will hold their own -in a competitive market.” - -It is obvious that Doctor and Mrs. Gates are enjoying themselves as much -as those they help when they drop into the Faith Hope Nursery, a joint -enterprise of Church World Service and the YWCA. The nursery children, -two to five years old, are shack-dwellers whose mothers work during the -day. At the nursery, the kids receive daytime care, meals, clothes and a -daily bath, with plenty of time left over for group singing and dancing. -When the pastor and his wife appear, moppet grins spread the width of the -classroom and there is a spirited exchange of Cantonese greetings. - -Church World Service, together with CARE, Catholic Relief Services and -the Lutheran World Service, form the recognized “big four” of Hong Kong’s -private welfare organizations. Each one does its own work and cooperates -willingly with the other three, as well as scores of other Catholic, -Protestant and non-denominational groups. One hears a certain amount of -subdued muttering about this or that religious group pushing hard for new -members, but there is no sign that it has seriously impaired their aim, -which is to help all poor people without regard to finicky distinctions -of race or religion. - -CARE, the non-denominational American member of the big four, made a -brilliant and original addition to its long-established welfare program -in 1961. This was the Ap Chau Island settlement, built for the families -of fishermen. - -The people who fish the waters around Ap Chau, a three-acre island in the -northeastern corner of the New Territories, had for generations spent -their entire lives on fishing junks, never establishing homes on shore -or attending schools. But the technical demands of the modern fishing -industry put them at a competitive disadvantage, and they petitioned the -colony government for permission to build homes on Ap Chau and send their -children to school. - -Graham French, a Philadelphia philanthropist who was in Hong Kong to -observe CARE operations, heard about the petition and became curious -enough to investigate it thoroughly. He discovered that the petitioners -were so deeply indebted to loan-sharks that they had no real chance to -finance housing ashore unless they got outside funds. He offered to give -$17,500 to get the settlement started, CARE added another $20,000 and the -colony government spent $14,000 to clear a site for the houses. - -With these combined funds, a settlement consisting of houses for -forty-eight families, or 360 people, was completed in December, 1961. -The Royal Engineers laid an undersea 1,000-yard pipeline from a mainland -reservoir to supply the island with fresh water. The fishing families, -for their part, formed a community cooperative to administer the scheme. -Rents go into a revolving fund, and members of the co-op can borrow from -it at one percent interest to repair and mechanize their boats. - -The fishermen’s wives were at first so naïve about living on shore that -they tried to furnish their houses with a piled-up heap of boards and -braces resembling the poop deck of a fishing junk. - -After a time, the seagoing ladies learned to adjust themselves to -conventional tables and chairs. Using sewing machines supplied by -CARE, they took instructions from the government teacher on the island -and learned to sew their own curtains. Their husbands took carpentry -instruction at the same school and produced some acceptable furniture. -Ultimately, the entire project will become self-supporting. - -A similar cooperative settlement has been launched at Sai Kung, a market -town in the New Territories. Lawrence and Horace Kadoorie, Hong Kong -industrialists and philanthropists, donated pigs to bolster the domestic -economy of Sai Kung. Three other allied ventures have been okayed by the -government for construction at Tai Tam, on Hong Kong Island, and on the -outlying islands of Tsing Yi and Po Toi. - -Numerically, the most extensive of all private welfare groups in Hong -Kong are the Kaifongs, or Chinese neighborhood welfare associations, -with 665,000 members. Operating on slim budgets, they have nevertheless -managed to provide medical care, distribute emergency relief supplies, -conduct hundreds of free classes, set up noodle factories and give -anti-cholera shots. - -The Kaifongs are a departure from the older Chinese practice of limiting -charity to your own family or clan; they branch into such community-wide -interests as traffic safety and antinoise campaigns. Once they even put -on a drive to persuade Kowloon kids not to fly their kites in the path -of airliners approaching Kai Tak Airport! (This last one sounds a bit -overzealous, but not to anyone who has stood in the streets of Kowloon -Tong while the jets roared overhead, all but untying his shoelaces with -their vibrations.) - -Although the United States government has conducted no regular -foreign-aid program in Hong Kong, it has given the colony almost -$30,000,000 worth of aid, either as surplus foods or as part of its Far -East Refugee Program. - -The main burden of relief falls, as it should, on the colony government. -The Hong Kong administration spends $10,000,000 annually on social -welfare work and more than $55,000,000 a year on every form of direct and -indirect aid to its millions of poor residents. - -The problem of what to do about its refugees had been with the colony -throughout its history. Whenever China was afflicted by famine, unrest or -revolution, thousands of its people sought temporary haven in Hong Kong. - -Perhaps the most noted refugee of the pre-British era was Ti Ping, the -last boy Emperor of the Sung Dynasty, who was driven out of China by the -Mongols in 1279 A.D. He encamped on the Kowloon Peninsula for almost -a year, then resumed his flight to the west, where he was defeated and -drowned in a sea battle with the Mongols. An inscribed rectangular rock -called the Sung Wong T’oi, or Terrace of the Sung Emperor, stands near -Kai Tak Airport to commemorate his stopover. - -The British had barely settled in their new colony when a group of -refugees who had been plotting to overthrow the Manchu emperors fled -there in the 1840s. Unwilling to endanger their relations with the -Manchus, the British branded the plotters under the arm and shipped them -back to China. The Tai Ping Rebellion of 1850, fomented by a Christian -Chinese, Hung Siu Tsuen, to depose the Manchus, provoked serious disorder -in Canton and brought another wave of frightened Chinese to Hong Kong. - -Thousands of Chinese streamed into the colony during the next decade, but -most of them moved on to the goldfields of California and Australia, or -to contract labor in the Americas and the islands of the Indian Ocean. -Their passage was expedited by labor-traders who often recruited manpower -by kidnaping Orientals and shipping them out in barbarously overcrowded -vessels. - -The Boxer Rebellion of 1900, bringing a rash of murders of missionaries -and Chinese Christians, forced thousands to seek safety in Hong Kong. A -far greater number arrived in 1911 when Dr. Sun Yat Sen overthrew the -Manchu Empire. In the early chaotic days of the Chinese Republic about -100,000 refugees came to the crown colony, jamming its housing and -creating prime conditions for a plague outbreak which presently killed -nearly 2,000 persons. - -There was a brief reversal in the direction of the refugee procession -when Britain entered World War I and 60,000 Chinese turned back home. -But continuing disorders in China brought many right back to Hong Kong, -and the southward drift persisted through the 1920s. - -When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, the drift became a tidal wave; -in two years 600,000 refugees crossed the border. The population had -reached 1,600,000 when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong in December, 1941. - -Having no desire to support such a large population, the Japanese -conquerors set to work to reduce the head-count. Their methods were a -model of brutality; starvation, execution and driving the Chinese back to -their homeland with bayonets. All who attempted to detach themselves from -the northbound herd were instantly killed. By the end of the war, the -Japanese had cut the colony population to less than 600,000. - -During the war, the colony came perilously close to losing its chances -of ever being returned to its place in the British Empire. At the Yalta -Conference, President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Stalin privately -that he thought Hong Kong should be returned to China or made into an -internationalized free port after the Japanese were defeated. - -Nothing was said to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had flatly -opposed every attempt to whittle down Britain’s colonial possessions. Ten -years after, when asked about the Roosevelt proposal, Churchill replied, -“According to the American record [of the Yalta Conference], President -Roosevelt said he knew I would have strong objections to this suggestion. -That was certainly correct—and even an understatement.” - -Chiang Kai-shek also campaigned for the return of Hong Kong to China and -almost as soon as the war ended, James F. Byrnes, American Secretary of -State, announced that the future status of Hong Kong would be determined -at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. As soon as they learned -about this, the British, led by Prime Minister Clement Attlee, registered -their emphatic disapproval and the idea died without further discussion. - -Although Hong Kong did not go back to China, the Chinese went back to -Hong Kong. During the postwar struggles of Nationalist and Communist -forces, thousands of their Chinese countrymen removed to Hong Kong, -including virtually all who had been driven from the colony by the -Japanese. But the great human avalanche came in 1949, when the Reds -gained absolute control of the country. Fugitives from Communist -“liberation” swarmed into Hong Kong at the rate of 10,000 a week. - -One year after the Communists took over, the colony’s population reached -2,360,000. More than 330,000 people were living in hillside squatter -settlements, sleeping on the sidewalks, on tenement rooftops, even in -the center strip of the widest Kowloon streets. A shacktown fire in -1950 drove 20,000 persons from their homes. The next year a single fire -dishoused 10,000 people, and a series of fires in 1952 burned out 15,000 -others. - -Sooner or later, colony officials told themselves, the refugees would -return to China as the immigrant waves of other years had done. The -government took a firm stand on the doctrine that it was not supposed -to become the landlord for millions of its residents, but it yielded -sufficiently to erect temporary wooden huts and bungalows for 40,000 -squatters. - -All the high-principled resolutions to stay out of the public -housing business were swept away on Christmas Night, 1953. A roaring -conflagration broke out at Shek Kip Mei, in Upper Kowloon, racing up -the tiers of hillside shacks as if it were mounting a flight of steps. -Somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 people were left homeless. About half -of them found shelter with friends or relatives, and the government was -plunged into the enormous task of feeding, clothing and rehousing the -fire victims. - -Pausing just long enough to permit the displaced people to sift their -few remaining possessions from the ashes, the government bulldozed -the 45-acre site, leveled the ground, and had erected emergency -accommodations on it in fifty-three days. The streets had hardly been -cleared of homeless people when a new shack fire at Tai Hang Tung -dishoused 24,000 others. - -Simultaneously, the colony recognized the inadequacy of its -cottage-and-bungalow housing, which required too much land and provided -for too few people. It began the construction of multi-story resettlement -estates—six- and seven-story blocks of reinforced concrete clustered -together in populous communities. Eleven such estates, lodging 360,000 -people in fireproof and typhoon-proof structures, have been completed -since 1954 at a cost of $32,000,000. One toilet is shared by hundreds -of people and there is no electric light in the rooms unless the tenant -pays extra for it. But when they are seen beside the remaining shacks, -the multi-story blocks seem immeasurably superior. In addition to the -multi-story estates, 80,000 persons have been housed in fourteen cottage -resettlement areas. - -An apartment in a resettlement block is a concrete-walled room, renting -for $1.60 to $4.60 a month. The Hong Kong Housing Authority has built a -higher-quality low-cost apartment in skyscraper developments, renting -from $8 to $23 a month, and 106,000 persons are to be accommodated in -them by 1964. - -Around 30,000 people live in flats built by the Hong Kong Housing -Society, a voluntary group aided by government loan funds, and this -number will be doubled in a few years. If the colony maintains its -present rate of building, it can provide new apartments for 100,000 -persons annually for the next five years. - -This small mountain of statistics looms large on the landscape until you -consider that there are now about 500,000 to 600,000 people living in -squatter shacks, on sidewalks and rooftops and in tumbledown firetrap -tenements. Theoretically, they could all be rehoused in five or six -years, but the colony’s population is rising meanwhile at the rate of -150,000 a year. - -The dreams of Hong Kong housing officials are haunted by figures; a baby -born every five minutes and illegal immigrants sneaking across the border -at an incalculable rate. Illegal immigration is never estimated at less -than 10,000 a year and often set as high as 40,000. Popular guesswork may -jack it up to 20,000 a month. - -In its own protection, the colony has been forced to forbid further -immigration, except at an approximate rate of fifty a day. Its -only shield against a smothering horde of advancing people is the -effectiveness of its land and marine police. To the extent that the -border police can restrain illegal immigration, the colony may be able to -catch up with its housing needs, provided, of course, that the birth rate -tapers off. - -The colony’s marine police are a small, well-trained force contending -with overwhelming odds. Their fleet of 27 boats and 610 men is charged -with patrolling 400 miles of coastline and 728 square miles of -territorial waters. They have one 58-foot boat with a top speed of 22 -knots and three jet boats of 20-foot length, useful in hot pursuit, with -a maximum speed of 42 knots. Their 70-foot launches mount a 50-caliber -Browning machine-gun on the foredeck and carry a cache of smaller arms, -but they deliver no more than 11 knots. - -As many as five of the patrol boats may be out on duty at one time, but -the sea lanes from Macao and China are crowded with ships at all hours. -A police launch cruising along the western edge of Hong Kong waters on a -clear day will often have forty vessels within its sight. - -There are red sails in every sunset off Lantau, largest and westernmost -of Hong Kong’s 237 islands. The skipper of a police launch may spend -every spare moment scanning the horizon for suspicious-looking craft, -but even in full daylight he cannot hope to detect and halt all the -smugglers. At night, when the smugglers slip through fog or run without -lights, the skipper’s chances are considerably slimmer. The Red Chinese -gunboats are also on the prowl just beyond territorial limits, hoping to -catch their runaway countrymen, but they are often unsuccessful. - -The Hong Kong courts charged 1,551 illegal immigrants in 1961; another -1,763 were intercepted by the marine police and sent back to China. -Thousands of others slipped through the net either at Macao or Hong Kong. -Here are a few typical incidents that occurred during two months in the -winter of 1961-62. - -Eighty-three men, women, and children stole a Chinese military launch and -escaped to Macao. Marine police caught seventy-three illegal immigrants -in a motor junk off Lamma Island. Police discovered thirty-two men and -women attempting to slip past Castle Peak in a sailing junk. A woman and -two children were arrested in Tai Tam Bay, Hong Kong Island. A Communist -gunboat intercepted a sampan near Lappa Island, opposite Macao, firing -shots into the hull and driving the dozen women and children aboard back -to Red territory. A Red gunboat fired on a junk at the mouth of the -Canton River estuary, sinking it with all twenty-nine immigrants aboard. - -During the same period, an unknown number of illegal immigrants swam -across Starling Inlet from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, using rafts -and basketballs to keep themselves afloat. A middle-aged man swam from -Lappa Island to Macao under the muzzles of Communist guns to visit his -son. On every dark night or at any time there is a chance of screening -their passage in foggy or overcast weather, the immigrants keep coming in. - -Marine police inspectors say there is a well-organized traffic in -smuggling illegal immigrants. Smugglers can buy a second-hand junk in -Macao and stuff its hold with twenty to forty immigrants. They have -a regular scale of prices based on the financial blood-count of each -customer; $40 for well-heeled Shanghai Chinese, $30 for a moderately -solvent Fukienese, and $13 to $20 for a Cantonese farmer or laborer. If -the smugglers fall into the hands of the marine police, they may spend -a year in prison, and their passengers will be sent back to an ice-cold -reception in Red China. Jail sentences seldom keep smugglers from -returning to the trade; the profits justify the risk. - -“If we catch a boat with people that look like genuine fishermen, we -may warn them to get a Hong Kong operating license and let them go,” a -marine police inspector said. “If we spot one that looks like a regular -smuggler, we arrest the whole bunch.” - -The marine police crews are predominantly Cantonese; first-class seamen -and courageous policemen, but at best they can scarcely hope to snare -more than a minority of those who are determined to break through the -blockade. When the successful ones reach Hong Kong Island or one of -the sheltered coves of the New Territories, they are met by friends, -relatives or confederates of the smugglers. They vanish into the almost -impenetrable masses of Chinese and emerge a few months later to register -as residents. In most cases the British have no alternative but to accept -them. - -Many of the police are themselves refugees from Red China. They perform -their antismuggling duties conscientiously, but if refugees get through -despite their best efforts and vigilance, they may be something less than -heartbroken. - -Protection of the land border with Red China is the responsibility of the -200 uniformed men of the Frontier Division, with headquarters at Fanling, -four miles south of the border. Measured in a straight line, the border -is only thirteen miles long, but 22 miles as it follows a snaky line from -Deep Bay in the west to Mirs Bay in the east. On the colony side, it is -backed up by a closed zone which varies in depth from a few hundred yards -to a mile. No one except police, farmers living in the area, or persons -carrying special passes from the Commissioner of Police is allowed to -enter or move about in the closed area. - -Before the dramatic refugee surge of May, 1962, only nine-tenths of the -border was fenced on the British side, and the stoutness of the fence was -variable—high and topped with barbed wire at some places, but no more -than a plain, low fence at others. The storming of the barrier in 1962 -caused the British to build an entirely new one which stretched the full -length of the border. Crowned with many strands of barbed wire, it stood -10 feet high and was laid out like a long cage, with 20 feet of enclosed -ground between the outer, parallel fences. - -Between the marshlands on the west and the hilly country in the east, the -Frontier Division police have three main stations and nine police posts. -From each of these, police observers scan the border with binoculars. -Foot patrols also keep a continuous watch along the boundary. At night, -when the closed area is under curfew, searchlights and dogs are added to -the regular patrols. When the integrity of the border is as seriously -threatened as it was by the spring invasion of 1962, the closed area may -be increased to a depth of three miles, as Governor Black ordered on May -19, 1962. - -Under normal conditions, farmers who live along the border enjoy a -kind of twilight-zone immunity. Known to the patrols, they may cross -the border during the day to work either in Hong Kong or China without -molestation, but they must be home before nightfall, because the border, -with all its rail and road connections, shuts down at dark. Night -crossings, even before the 10-foot barrier went up, were discouraged by -peremptory challenges and bullets. - -The Reds have no fence on their side of the border. They do not need it; -nobody wants to get in. - -Why did the Red Chinese permit the transborder flight of May, 1962? -At first it was interpreted as a deliberate attempt to embarrass the -British, and certainly the colony’s police and military units had a -thankless assignment. When they transported the captured refugees back to -the border, they were jeered at and reviled by colony residents. Protests -were issued by international relief officials. - -The onus soon shifted to Red China, which was revealed by the exodus as a -land of hunger. All news from Communist China is censored or second-hand, -so no accurate explanation of the flight could be made at the time. It -appeared, however, that industrial retrenchment in the cities of China -had caused many city-dwellers to move to rural areas, perhaps to seek -food, perhaps to bolster the country’s sagging farm production. - -Most of those who crossed the border in the big May surge were from -the adjoining province of Kwangtung, indicating that free movement of -people within China was confined to this one southern area. Most of those -interviewed in Hong Kong complained that they were hungry, and that -they had lived on a substandard diet for months with no real hope of -improvement. - -There was a momentary temptation to regard the flight as a sign that -civil government had collapsed in Communist China, but this hope faded -on May 25, when the Reds again sealed off the border. No official -explanation for the turn-about was made, but newspapermen in the colony -suspected that a sharp British protest to Peking may have prompted the -clamp-down. - -To the refugees in Hong Kong, the world spotlight meant very little, -except that it may have made other countries aware that no place in the -world has shielded so many fugitives from Communist tyranny as the crown -colony. - - - - -CHAPTER THREE - -Conflict and Coexistence with Two Chinas - - “There is a saying in China; ‘If the east wind does not prevail - over the west wind, then the west wind will prevail over the - east wind.’ I think the characteristic of the current situation - is that the east wind prevails over the west wind; that is, the - strength of socialism exceeds the strength of imperialism.”—MAO - TSE-TUNG, MOSCOW, 1957 - - -So spoke the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party at a time when all -the winds seemed to be blowing his way. For eight years the People’s -Republic of China had performed with the disciplined enthusiasm of a -collegiate cheering section, expanding its industrial capacity at a -prodigious rate and disseminating its political influence throughout -Asia. Soviet Russia had given complete ideological support and technical -assistance to its junior partner in world Communism. - -Since then, the winds have shifted to a new quarter. The Great Leap -Forward that began in 1958 has struck a dead calm. Backyard factories -and foundries have failed to attain either the standards or quantity of -production anticipated, but they succeeded for a time in clogging the -country’s transportation system and in interfering with the distribution -of food and other consumer goods. The same confused planning that turned -the emphasis from large-scale industrial production to backyard factories -also transformed the traditional small Chinese farm and the medium-sized -collective farm into titanic agricultural communes. By a combination of -mismanagement and adverse growing conditions, the communes have brought -about the worst food shortage in China’s recent history. - -In the summer of 1961, the prevailing winds from Moscow turned -unseasonably icy as an ideological split developed between Russia and -China. No one outside the Communist partnership could assess the full -significance of the break, but it offered very little prospect of -increased Soviet assistance to Communist China. - -Every change in the political winds of mainland China creates an eddy -in Hong Kong. In the eight years when Red China was swept along by -the momentum of its revolutionary spirit, the colony was beset by a -succession of incidents. British ships and planes became the target -for Chinese Communist guns. Long after the mainland fell under the -unchallenged domination of the Reds, the grim warfare between Communists -and Nationalists continued in the streets of Hong Kong. - -Whether by coincidence or direct cause, the second year of the Great Leap -Forward brought an unexpected lull in the Communist harassment of the -colony. Left-wing agitation in the schools and trade unions persisted, -but colony officials noticed that Communist sympathizers, once so avid -for violent strikes and street demonstrations, seemed to have lost their -appetite for both. The assumption was that Peking had told them they -could expect no further support from that source. At the same time, -shooting incidents and border clashes virtually ceased. - -There was no disposition in the colony to regard this undeclared -armistice as a bid for reconciliation. The news that the Great Leap had -made its first big stumble was already in circulation, and the colony -administration, quite unofficially, reached its own conclusion; Communist -China was temporarily too busy mopping up its own mess to indulge its -normal passion for badgering Hong Kong. When China’s house had restored -order, its Communist leadership would be right back at the colony’s -throat. - -Hong Kong’s colonial administration has never deluded itself with -the belief that it could survive a massive assault by Red China. In -population and the size of its armed forces, Hong Kong is outnumbered by -approximately 200 to 1. Against Japan in 1941, Hong Kong’s resistance -lasted less than three weeks; against Red China, it might last about half -as long. - -But there are certain restraining factors unreflected in the comparative -strength of the opposing land forces. The most tangible of these are the -ships of the British and United States navies, continually riding at -anchor in Hong Kong harbor or cruising in the surrounding seas. Aircraft -carriers, submarines, cruisers and destroyers equipped with planes and -missiles tend to put the brakes on impulsive acts of aggression by an -inferior naval power. - -A Communist grab for Hong Kong would almost inevitably involve Red China -in a major war. Great Britain has shown no disposition to surrender this -profitable possession without a fight, and although the United States -has made no specific pledge to defend the colony, it is not likely to let -the Chinese Communists snatch it from her principal ally. - -Red China’s instinctive belligerence may be tempered by the fate of its -first outright aggression, which did not keep the United Nations out of -Korea, but did a great deal to keep Red China out of the United Nations -for years thereafter. - -Aided in part by these considerations, Hong Kong has sat since 1949 on -the doorstep of a country dedicated to its destruction. In the late -1940s, it was felt that a substantial cut in the colony’s trade with -China would ruin the British enclave by purely peaceful methods. Most of -the trade has been lost since then, but Hong Kong has perversely grown -more prosperous than ever before. - -The overriding reason why Hong Kong continues to thrive in the shadow of -its hostile neighbor is economic. Ideologies apart, they need each other. - -Despite the drop in their total trade, Hong Kong remains Red China’s -chief non-Communist trading partner. In recent years it has become a -lop-sided arrangement, with the Chinese Communists shipping ten times -more goods to the colony than they purchase from her. Yet the imbalance -appears to suit the purposes of both sides. - -Hong Kong, which cannot produce enough food to sustain its population -for more than a few months of the year, has imported an average of -$200,000,000 worth of goods from Red China in each of the last three -years, and food represents more than a third of the total. In the same -years, Red China imported about $20,000,000 annually from the colony. -Thus the Reds earned a favorable trade balance of $180,000,000 a year, -giving them the foreign exchange they need as critically as Hong Kong -needs food. - -It may be wondered why the Chinese Communists, with three successive crop -failures, are willing to export any of their food. But they must earn -foreign exchange to pay for grain, flour, powdered milk and sugar to save -themselves from starvation, and their food purchases in the world market -during 1960 and 1961 ran up a bill of $360,000,000. - -The whole pattern of mainland-colony trade has been reversed since -1950. In that year, their trade came to $406,000,000, or about a third -of Hong Kong’s total world trade of $1,314,000,000. By 1960, the total -colony-mainland trade had skidded to $228,000,000 and represented only -one-seventh of the colony’s world trade volume of $1,716,000,000. - -In 1950, Hong Kong exported $255,000,000 to Red China, but imported -only $151,000,000 from her. The crown colony still serves as a major -transshipment port for China’s trade with other countries, but her -importance as an exporter and re-exporter from other countries to China -was painfully diminished by United Nations and United States embargoes -during the Korean war. - -The pinch of those embargoes was so tight that it looked for a while -as if Hong Kong, which had prospered on its Chinese export trade for -110 years, would wither from the loss of it. To the amazement of its -economic obituary writers, the colony side-stepped its assigned grave -by developing its own industries. Within a few years, Hong Kong became -bigger as a manufacturer than it had ever been as a trader. - -Red China’s benefits from the existing trade with Hong Kong go further -than the earning of foreign exchange from a favorable trading balance. -She also trades profitably in human misery. The Chinese refugees who fled -to Hong Kong are the prime victims of this merciless squeeze. - -No matter how intensely the refugees dislike the Communist regime on the -mainland, they have not severed their ties with friends and relatives in -China. They are the first to know of economic reverses and crop failure -inside China because the news is brought to them by travelers crossing -the colony border. It is a story repeated by almost every new refugee who -escapes from the homeland to Macao or Hong Kong. - -The effect on the Chinese in Hong Kong is irresistible; by every -tradition of family loyalty they are compelled to help their starving -kinsmen in China. In obedience to this obligation, the Hong Kong Chinese -sent 13,000,000 two-pound packets of food and other household needs -through the colony’s post office in 1961 to friends and relatives across -the border. - -The squeeze takes the form of customs duties which often exceed the value -of the goods shipped. If the sender mails his parcel from a Hong Kong -post office, the receiver in China pays the duty when it arrives. But the -duty can be any amount the Red Chinese officials choose to assign, and -many recipients refuse the parcels because they cannot pay for them. If -a parcel agent handles the shipment, sending it through the Chinese post -offices across the frontier or through his own agents inside China, the -Hong Kong sender has to pay all the duties in colony currency before it -starts on its way. - -One Chinese resident who came to the colony in 1962 told _The South China -Morning Post_, a Hong Kong English-language daily, that the Red Chinese -government was taking in about $53,000 a day on these parcel duties, -with the peak of the loot coming at Chinese New Year, when presents -are shipped home in the greatest numbers. A vast percentage of the -parcel-senders were poor people, and each parcel cost them anywhere from -a day’s to a week’s wages, or more. - -The external harmony which has prevailed between the colony and the -mainland since 1959 offers a glaring contrast to the discord that -preceded it. Ever since 1949, the Reds have been taking angry swipes -at the colony, a game in which their worst enemies, the Chinese -Nationalists, frequently joined. - -In the year that the Reds gained control of the mainland, trade relations -and communications between China and Hong Kong were broken off. The -Kowloon-Canton Railway suspended transborder operations and Communist -guerrilla forces lined up threateningly along the frontier. - -While the Communists pressed the colony from the north, the Nationalists -launched a blockade of all ports along the Chinese coast. Caught between -the opposing forces, the colony banned political societies with outside -allegiance and bolstered its own defenses. Additional lands and buildings -were requisitioned for military use and 900 volunteer soldiers were added -to its garrison. - -Great Britain sought to relieve the existing tension by recognizing -Red China on February 6, 1950, but there was no exchange of diplomatic -representatives. Swelling tides of Chinese refugees continued to pour -across the frontier and the colony instituted its first immigration -controls in May, 1950. - -The initial breach in Hong Kong’s policy of cautious neutrality came on -June 5, 1950, when two Nationalist warships, enforcing their own blockade -against the Reds, attacked the 800-ton British merchant vessel _Cheung -Hing_. This dreadnought, steaming along with a cargo of fertilizer -from Amoy, was raked with Nationalist shells which killed six of her -passengers and wounded six others. - -Early in August, 1950, the Reds produced their own series of incidents. -Communist gunboats fired on three British ships just outside Hong Kong -territorial waters and an armed Red junk bombarded the American freighter -_Steel Rover_. The day after the _Rover_ incident, a Communist shore -battery on Ling Ting Island, a few miles outside the southern limit -of Hong Kong waters, directed its cannon and machine guns against the -British freighter _Hangsang_, wounding two British officers. Communist -forts in the same area fired on the Norwegian freighter _Pleasantville_ -on August 6, but no hits were scored. - -The shootings were collectively interpreted as a Red warning to keep all -Allied shipping away from her installations on Ling Ting and the nearby -Lema and Ladrone islands. On August 17, the British destroyer _Concord_ -replied to the warning by exchanging a half-hour of shellfire with the -Communist forts. - -None of these incidents was as disruptive as the Communist agitation -inside the colony. Here the core of the trouble arose from the Hong Kong -Federation of Trade Unions, or FTU, an openly pro-Red group with more -than sixty member unions whose power was concentrated in shipyards, -textile mills and public utilities. The FTU succeeded in fomenting a -streetcar strike in 1949. With zealous devotion to the party line, -the FTU unions shoved themselves into every labor dispute they could -penetrate. They also displayed a touching concern for the unhappy living -conditions of the refugees, undeterred by the fact that most of the -refugees obviously preferred them to conditions in Communist China. - -A flash fire in a refugee settlement on November 21, 1951, drove 10,000 -persons from their shacks and enabled Red China to rush in with the offer -to send a relief mission. The Communist angels of mercy were to be met at -the Hong Kong terminus of the Kowloon-Canton Railway by a banner-waving -group of left-wing welcomers. They failed to show up, and a riot broke -out in which there was one fatality and thirty injuries before police -brought it under control. - -The left-wing unions trumpeted their public concern for the refugees by a -number of street demonstrations which police barely managed to keep from -exploding into new riots. Wearying of the skirmishes, Police Commissioner -Duncan MacIntosh tried a new tack. With the consent of Governor Alexander -Grantham, he offered to satisfy the strident Communist demands to improve -the refugees’ lot by paying full transportation costs and expenses of ten -Hong Kong dollars to every person who wanted to return to any part of Red -China. The only acceptance came from an old man who wanted to be buried -with his ancestors in Northern China. - -The sea-lane incidents resumed on September 25, 1952, when a Communist -gunboat halted the Macao ferry with a burst of warning shots, searched -the ship and removed a Chinese passenger. In the same year, there were -two other Communist and three Nationalist attacks on British ships. - -A Communist warship came upon a Royal Naval launch in the Pearl River -estuary on September 10, 1953, riddled it with shells and killed six men, -wounding five others. A stiff British protest was delivered to Peking -without bringing either an apology or compensation. The Nationalists kept -up their end of the harassment in that month with one of their warships -firing on the British destroyer _St. Bride’s Bay_ off the China coast. - -Each of these incidents stirred the British government to send protests -to Peking or Taipeh, but they usually elicited only transient interest -outside the countries directly involved. - -The Chinese Communists’ capture of two American newsmen and an American -merchant-marine captain on March 21, 1953, brought the United States -government into the long succession of Hong Kong incidents. The reaction -was quick and angry, for the Reds had subjected the United States to an -unceasing campaign of vilification and had already imprisoned more than -thirty American civilians in China. The Dixon-Applegate case came as a -kind of climactic tail-twister. - -Richard Applegate, National Broadcasting Company correspondent in Hong -Kong, and Donald Dixon, International News Service correspondent in -Korea, were sailing five miles west of Lantau Island on Applegate’s -42-foot sailboat, the _Kert_, when they were stopped by a Chinese gunboat -manned by Chinese soldiers. The newsmen, accompanied by merchant marine -Captain Benjamin Krasner, his Chinese fiancée and two Chinese sailors, -were in international waters, bound for Macao on a pleasure cruise. -Protests that they were violating no law had no effect on the Reds, who -accused them of straying into Chinese waters. - -The _Kert_ and its six passengers were towed to the Communist base at -Lap Sap Mei, transferred to Canton and held prisoners until September -15, 1954. The United States protested vehemently to Peking, and Great -Britain joined in demands that the group be set free. Harry J. Anslinger, -United States Commissioner of Narcotics, had a private revelation which -he duly reported to the United Nations: The _Kert_ had been captured -by Chinese narcotics smugglers, led by Lu Wang-tse, a notorious woman -pirate! Nothing more was heard of the lady known as Lu—Applegate said -after his release that he could not imagine how the preposterous tale had -originated, but the Red Chinese let many months pass before they admitted -the capture. - -When the three Americans were finally released, they had suffered -physically from a skimpy diet of practically inedible food. Captain -Krasner’s fiancée, and one of the crewmen, a British subject living in -Hong Kong, were subsequently allowed to leave China, but the other -Chinese crewman remained a prisoner. - -The international repercussions of the Dixon-Applegate affair were -intensified by a fresh provocation which called ships and planes of the -United States, Britain and France into emergency action. This was the -callous and apparently senseless shooting down of a British-owned Cathay -Pacific Airways C-54 Skymaster on July 23, 1954, with the loss of ten -lives, by three Red Chinese LA-9 Lavochkin piston-engined fighter planes. - -The Skymaster, carrying twelve passengers and a crew of six, took off -from the Bangkok airport at 8:28 P.M., heading northeast in bright -moonlight over Thailand and Indochina for the 1,071-mile flight to Hong -Kong. The passenger load was light, so most people occupied window seats. -The sun rose soon after the plane flew out over the South China Sea. Cape -Bastion, the southeastern tip of Hainan Island, a Communist possession -about the size of Denmark, became visible 50 miles away. Below, a brisk -southwest wind whipped the sea into whitecaps. - -Co-Pilot Cedric Carlton suggested a time-saving route nearer to Hainan, -but Captain Phillip Blown decided to hold his present course, keeping -far away from Hainan to avoid another of the Red charges that their -twelve-mile limit was being violated by non-Communist flyers. At 8:45 -A.M., Carlton looked out a starboard window and shouted to Captain Blown -that two cream-colored fighter planes with Red Chinese markings were -coming up fast from the rear on his side. Captain Blown put the plane on -automatic pilot, took a quick look back through the port window and saw a -third fighter zeroing in on his side of the tail. - -“Without any warning, they opened up with machine-gun and cannon fire,” -Captain Blown later wrote in his report. “The noise and the shambles from -their guns was terrific. It was obviously a premeditated attack.” - -The hail of bullets from short range immediately set fire to the -Skymaster’s left outboard engine, and the No. 4 engine on the far right. -Flames burst from the auxiliary and main fuel tanks beside the No. 4 -engine at almost the same moment. - -Captain Blown, flying at 9,000 feet, instantly went into a dive. He -turned sharply left and right as he descended, trying to shake the -pursuing fighters, and headed for the sea at 300 miles an hour. He was -fighting to get out of the line of fire long enough to dump his gas and -check the flames that were eating away a broad section of the skin on his -right wing. - -The guns of the LA-9s kept up their clatter on his tail and bullets -tore through the plane cabin, splintering the interior and killing -several passengers. Bullets whizzed past the two pilots and smashed the -boost pressure and fuel-flow gauges. At 5,000 feet, the rudder controls -snapped; at 3,000, the right aileron control was shot off. The No. 4 -engine was feathered, but its extinguisher failed to stifle the raging -flames. - -The Skymaster began to stall groggily toward the right, but Captain Blown -checked it by throttling back his two left-wing engines and pouring full -power on No. 3, the only operative engine on the right side. The ship’s -speed dropped to 160 miles an hour, and the right wing began to dip. - -With the small degree of control remaining, Captain Blown plunged the -Skymaster through the shoulder of a 15-foot wave as the right wing and -No. 4 engine snapped off, then slammed into the middle of the next -wave. The solid impact of the water caved in the cockpit windows. The -tail broke off, up-ended in unison with the fuselage and headed for the -sea bottom. Less than two minutes elapsed between the attack and the -ditching. - -Thirty seconds after hitting the water, the fuselage sank out of sight. -Two of the Red fighters executed a U-turn around the wreckage before -heading back to their base at Sanya, on the southern end of Hainan -Island. Few of the victims had time to put on life jackets. When the -cabin went down, only those washed clear of it had a chance to survive. - -The eight survivors clambered or were dragged aboard the twenty-man -inflated rubber raft. Captain Blown spread a weather awning over the -raft and warned all passengers to keep out of sight under it in case of -another attack. - -Steve Wong, the Chinese radio operator, had died in the wreck. Captain -Blown remembered seeing him talk into the mike all during the dive -toward the sea and sending a final message, “Losing altitude, engine on -fire.” The message was heard at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong and rescue -operations started immediately. - -Two hours later, rescue planes began to circle over the raft—Hornets, a -Sunderland, Valetta, York and a French B-24, but none could land on the -water. A pair of U.S. Air Force SA-16 Grumman Albatrosses were dispatched -from Sangley Point in the Philippines. One of the big amphibians landed -in sheltered water on the lee side of Tinhosa Island and taxied out to -the raft in a perilously rough sea. - -The rescuers were guided to the spot by smoke flares dropped by the -French B-24. Dozens of Chinese junks wallowed and rocked on the waves at -some distance from the raft, making no attempt to interfere as American -fighter planes flew cover over the raft. The survivors had been on the -raft for seven hours before being rescued. - -Besides the three fatalities among the crew—Stewardess Rose Chen, Steve -Wong and Flight Engineer G. W. Cattanach—there were seven passenger -deaths, including a tea merchant, a Hong Kong University student, an -American exporter and his two sons, and the owner of a Hong Kong curio -shop. Captain Blown, who continued as a Cathay Pacific Airways pilot for -many years, received a Queen’s Commendation for his cool-headed efforts -to save the Skymaster and the lives of those aboard. - -Humphrey Trevelyan, British Chargé d’Affaires at Peking, delivered his -government’s strongly worded protest, and the Red Chinese ultimately paid -$1,027,600 indemnity for the loss of the plane. No explanation of the -shooting was given, except for undocumented guesses that the Communists -may have been trying to kill or kidnap some person on the plane or to -scare off all ships approaching her territorial limits. - -The shooting prompted John Foster Dulles, American Secretary of State, to -issue a hot denunciation of the “further barbarity” of the Chinese Reds. -The U.S. Navy Department dispatched two aircraft carriers, the _Hornet_ -and the _Philippine Sea_, to join in the rescue. Their planes raced to -the rescue scene, ready to start shooting if there were any Red Chinese -interference. It was one of the angriest moments between the U.S. and Red -China since the Korean war. It passed without further raising of American -tempers, but reinforced the already intense American antipathy for Mao’s -Communist state. - -Less than one year later, the destruction of a second airliner in -the South China Sea thrust Hong Kong into the Communist-Nationalist -crossfire. A Lockheed Constellation of Air-India International took -off from Kai Tak Airport, bound for the first Afro-Asian Conference -at Bandoeng carrying eight Red Chinese delegates. The conference was -intended to assure the uncommitted nations that Communist China had put -aside its warlike ways to become an exemplar of peaceful coexistence. - -There was an appalling roar as the Constellation approached Sarawak; a -bomb burst in the baggage compartment, setting the aircraft afire. Pilot -Captain D. K. Jatar, showing incredible skill and nerve, managed to guide -the shattered plane to a jolting belly-landing at 150 miles an hour. -But the impact with the sea tore the Constellation apart and it sank in -moments, leaving a circle of flames on the surface. Before the radio went -dead, the ship had issued an international distress call. - -Eleven passengers and five crewmen, including Captain Jatar, died in -the crash and explosion. Three surviving crew members drifted in a life -raft for nine hours until they were picked up by the British frigate -_Dampier_. All the Chinese delegates were among those killed, and Peking -charged sabotage. The accusation proved to be well-based; the bomb had -been planted by a Nationalist saboteur, employed as a cleaner by the -British maintenance company at Kai Tak Airport. Hong Kong police offered -a $17,500 reward for his arrest, but he escaped to Taiwan on another -airplane. - -The Hong Kong government issued a warrant for the bomber’s arrest, but -the Nationalist authorities replied that they had no legal basis for his -extradition to the colony. There the matter rested, with the abiding -hatred between Peking and Taipeh continuing as before. - -Each of the sea and air incidents threatened the security of the -colony to some degree, but none rocked its internal structure with the -earthquake power of the Double Ten riots of October, 1956. No other -crisis since World War II has presented such a frontal challenge to -its ability to preserve law and order. Three days of savage guerrilla -warfare raged through thickly congested streets, and when the fight was -over, the British administration had had the fright of its life. - -Statistics convey none of the heat of these bloody battles, but they -measure a few of their dimensions: 59 people killed, 500 injured, nearly -$1,000,000 in property damage, 6,000 arrests, 1,241 prison sentences -and four executions for murder. Nearly 3,000 police and several army -battalions were engaged in subduing the rioters. From east to west, -the riots extended across eleven miles of Upper Kowloon and the New -Territories, and were marked by fifty-four skirmishes between mobs and -the uniformed forces. - -If the genesis of the riots were to be narrowed down to a single -proximate cause, it would have to be something as trivial as an argument -over a few paper flags pasted on a concrete wall. Physically, that was -where they started, but their true origin goes back at least three -centuries. - -The riots took their name from the common designation of a patriotic -holiday on October 10, the tenth day of the tenth month, marking the -anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1911. In -Hong Kong, it is preceded by the October 1 celebration of the birthday -of Red China. Each holiday gave Nationalist or Communist sympathizers -an opportunity to explode strings of firecrackers, hold rallies and fly -their national flags. On both days, police were out in full force to -prevent riots between the opposing Chinese groups, and they managed to -keep the lid down fairly well until 1956. - -The October 1 holiday in 1956 passed without undue commotion and October -10 began with no indication of Communist violence. Nationalist flags were -displayed by refugees all over the colony, particularly in the heavily -populated resettlement estates of Upper Kowloon. The refugees were -predominantly pro-Nationalist, having been driven from their homeland by -the Reds. After years of exile and grinding poverty, many of them were -steeped in bitterness and yearning for revenge against the Communists. - -The Triad gangs, whose members played a key part in the Double Ten riots, -had been established in China three centuries ago as a patriotic society -dedicated to the overthrow of the foreign Manchus who dethroned the -native Ming Dynasty. Their professed ideals slowly rotted away and they -devolved into a band of thugs, living on protection rackets, shake-downs -of street peddlers and petty criminals, enforced by fear and strong-arm -brutality. Since World War I, crime has become their primary business and -their patriotism survives only as a front. - -On October 10, 1956, pro-Nationalist residents of the Shek Kip Mei -Resettlement Estate began to take down the paper flags they had pasted on -the concrete walls of the housing blocks. Housing officials had objected -that the pasted flags were difficult to remove after the Double Ten -holiday was over, and the tenants, who could still fly flags from poles -or ropes, accepted the cleanup job unprotestingly. - -At Li Cheng Uk, a resettlement estate about a quarter of a mile to -the northwest of Shek Kip Mei, housing officials themselves removed -Nationalist flags and symbols stuck on the walls. It was early in the -morning of the Double Tenth, when an unfriendly crowd of about 400 -gathered quickly and demanded that the flags be restored. Police were -called, but the crowd swelled to more than 2,000 by early afternoon -and its demands became more extravagant. Impatient for action, some of -the crowd attacked two resettlement officials, beating them severely. -Police units, hurrying to help the injured men, were met with a barrage -of flying bottles. They replied with tear gas and the mob, turning its -anger on the police, showered them with rocks. A resettlement office was -set afire but police reinforcements succeeded in dispersing the mob. By -midafternoon, with two persons arrested and four injured, peace appeared -to have been restored. - -Right after the dinner hour, a newly formed mob at Li Cheng Uk renewed -the rock-throwing attacks on police. Nationalist flags were unfurled and -a shouting mass of rioters charged into police lines. Four riot units of -240 men were called out and the strengthened force threw a cordon around -six blocks while a sporadic exchange of rocks and tear gas continued. The -area enclosed by the cordon became relatively quiet, but new disorders -broke out along its southern edge. Police vehicles were attacked, and -members of Triads were sighted in the center of the commotion. - -Rioting became general and violent by 10:30 P.M. and police set up -roadblocks on main routes into the area. The mobs altered their tactics, -splitting into small fighting squads that pounded a segment of the police -lines with a swift, sharp attack, then scattered and ran before police -could bring up reserves. Within a few minutes, the attack squads would -re-form on another block and hit police lines again. As the evening -advanced, the riot zone kept expanding into other parts of Kowloon. -Police units were alerted on Hong Kong Island to forestall possible riots -there. - -Police were only one of the mob targets. A fire engine returning from -a minor blaze near the Kowloon resettlement estates was bombarded with -bricks, bottles and chunks of concrete. The engine driver, struck on -the head by a flying object, lost control of the truck and it plunged -erratically into a crowd, killing three and injuring five. Ambulances -were stoned as they arrived to pick up the casualties. An Auxiliary -Fire Service vehicle was dumped over and set on fire. Hordes of rioters -swarmed into the area, more police were summoned and a four-hour battle -ensued. - -The looting phase of the riots began with an attack on a bakery in the -heart of the disturbed area. After smashing the bakery windows and -setting it afire, rioters turned their rock-and-stone batteries on -firemen called to put out the flames. Two floors of the building were -destroyed before the firemen could extinguish the blaze. Meanwhile, -rioters went berserk on the streets, looting and burning shops until -the massed strength of police laboriously regained control of the -neighborhood. - -Another battle was fought in the crowded streets of Mongkok. Rocks were -dropped on the police from balconies while Triad gangs embarked on -the looting of shops. Marauding gangs roamed the Kowloon streets down -to Austin Road, the northern edge of the tourist and luxury shopping -section, before police hammered them into submission. - -General restoration of order in Kowloon was still far off. October 11 was -only a half-hour old when police learned that a mob infiltrated by Triad -gangsters was preparing to set fire to a pro-Communist private school. -Police sent to investigate were pelted with rocks and forced to withdraw -with five men injured. A riot unit used tear gas to pen the rioters -inside the resettlement buildings while other police went to the school. -They found looters and arsonists busily at work and arrested eleven men. - -About 3:45 A.M., hoodlums became active near Kai Tak Airport, a mile and -a half east of Tai Hang Tung, wrecking a traffic pagoda. - -Sunrise on October 11 brought a lull, but at 10 A.M., there was renewed -rioting at Li Cheng Uk. Triad thugs peddled Nationalist flags by -threatening to beat up anyone who refused to buy. Looting and mob -barricades again confronted police who had been hard-hit by injuries. - -One mob launched a full-scale attack on the Sham Shui Po police station, -but were repelled by gunfire and scattered into the side streets when an -armored car pursued them. Mobs of ever-increasing size were fast-moving -and elusive, and tear gas did little more than drive them to another -location where they attacked again. They lighted bonfires in the streets -and then heaved rocks at the firemen called to extinguish them. - -The Kowloon rioters displayed no signs of a unified battle plan, nor any -concerted push toward a strategic objective. But their actions revealed a -consistent pattern of criminality after the looting and extortion began, -confirming the police belief that Triads were in control. Police decided -to shoot to kill, but realized that even this last-ditch measure would be -useless unless they deployed their units to surround the rioters and take -them prisoner. Shortly after noon of October 11—and very late by many -people’s judgment—three battalions of the Hong Kong army garrison were -thrown into the fight. - -With army battalions in action, the mob spirit began to die down -throughout Kowloon by evening. A curfew was imposed, cross-harbor ferry -service suspended, and the main impetus of the Kowloon riots came to an -end. - -Rigid enforcement of the curfew slowly cleared the streets of bystanders, -but failed to drive the active rioters to cover. Looting and stoning of -police persisted in Mongkok until after midnight, when riot guns and -tear gas finally halted it. Strong-arm gangs armed with rocks, hammers, -and iron bars prowled through eastern Kowloon, extorting money from -shopkeepers, looting factories and battling police. Three rioters were -killed and more than 400 arrested before the plundering was checked. - -Looting and arson continued for the third day, October 12, at many -places in Kowloon. The mass riots of the first two days were replaced -by a merciless street war between bands of gangsters and the uniformed -services of the colony. Three looters were shot to death in a raid on a -provision shop in Mongkok. Firemen, ambulance crews and practically every -man in a uniform was stoned or beaten if he ventured into a riot area. - -On the afternoon of the 12th, police began dragnet raids on the hideouts -of rioters and looters, taking 1,170 prisoners. The next day, raids at -Li Cheng Uk by police and military units took 1,000 prisoners, and 700 -others were rounded up at Tai Hang Tung. - -On the morning of October 14, the curfew was lifted in Kowloon and most -of the army units were relieved. But a night curfew continued for three -more nights in northwestern Kowloon. - -The day after the Kowloon riots erupted, a related but different kind -of rioting broke out in Tsuen Wan, a New Territories factory town five -and one-half miles west of Li Cheng Uk. In this area of textile and -enamelware factories, most of the workers lived in company dormitories; -physically close, but divided into intensely hostile pro- and -anti-Communist unions. - -Tsuen Wan had experienced some friction over the refusal of factory -owners to display Nationalist flags on plant buildings during the Double -Ten holiday, although pro-Nationalist workers could display the flags in -their dormitories. No open protest was made until the afternoon of the -next day, when a mob gathered outside a cotton mill and insisted that -Nationalist flags be shown. The company acceded, and even granted the -crowd leaders a small amount of money. - -But the right-wing unions were in no mood for peaceful solutions that -same evening when they launched a series of raids on Communist union -offices; they looted and burned the offices and beat some leftist workers -so savagely that five of them died. Sixty other leftist union members -were collared by a mob and dragged off to a Nationalist rally where they -were kicked and punched until many were unconscious. Meanwhile, another -group of right-wing unionists continued to raid Communist union offices, -assaulting any members they could find. Army troops were called to -restore order, and their heavy vehicles crashed through mob barricades to -remove the injured and clamp a strict curfew on Tsuen Wan. - -One mile south of the town, mobs were still on a rampage, attacking a -canning factory and setting it on fire. Four other factories on the -outskirts of Tsuen Wan were besieged by mobs carrying Nationalist flags. -Their demands were identical; either the plant would put out Nationalist -flags and pay protection to the mob, or the place would be burned down. -Management officials hastened to comply. - -Several large textile mills were also favored with mob visits and a -peremptory demand that they fire all pro-Red workers. Four miles west of -Tsuen Wan, a Nationalist union group combined forces with a Triad gang, -looted a textile factory, set fire to an automobile, stole a factory -truck and withdrew after having their demands satisfied by management. -Five houses and shops identified with Communist interests were invaded -and wrecked. - -The Tsuen Wan curfew was extended to surrounding areas and remained in -force until October 16 while police and the army locked horns with -the Nationalist rioters. Left-wingers were not an immediate problem, -most of them having fled to the hills for their lives. But the rightist -demonstrators were tough; they were disciplined fighters, ably led -and guided by whistle-blast commands. Eight persons were killed, 109 -seriously injured and 684 arrested before the rioters capitulated. - -Long after the restoration of law and order, fear continued to keep -workers away from their jobs. Full production did not resume at factories -and mills in the Tsuen Wan area until early in November. - -When the last of the Double Ten disorders ended, the hard-pressed colony -government had a chance to assess events. Most of the property damaged -by mobs belonged to Communists or their sympathizers, but Nationalist -vengeance was by no means the only reason for its destruction; the longer -the riots continued, the more inescapable became the conclusion that they -were directed by criminals bent on manipulating patriotic emotions to -enrich themselves. - -The Double Ten riots did more than weaken the prestige of the -Triads, whose leaders were either arrested or deported; it helped to -illustrate the futility of waging a street war in Hong Kong over the -Nationalist-Communist issue. Partisanship toward either side still -burns strongly among the older Chinese, but it is a dwindling flame. -Younger people, and many Chinese intellectuals within the colony, seem -indifferent or hostile to both camps. Practically no one wants to return -to Red China, and Taiwan had shown little inclination to welcome Chinese -immigrants from Hong Kong until the border rush of May, 1962. - -The turmoil occasioned by the Double Ten riots was succeeded by a period -of comparative calm between Red China and the colony. But it ended in -1958, when the Chinese Communists clamped tight restrictions on inshore -fishing by boats from Hong Kong. The Reds, perennially belligerent over -the suspected invasion of their territorial limits, demanded that any -boats fishing in their waters must have a Communist registration in -addition to their colony registry. The registration also involved a -Communist share of the fisherman’s catch, and Hong Kong boats resented -the gouge. The apparent solution was to keep their craft out of Communist -waters. - -The Reds made the problem more complex by invading Hong Kong waters on -numerous patrol swoops to seize Hong Kong junks. The first of these came -in October, 1958, when Red patrol boats grabbed several junks near Po Toi -Island, on the southern edge of colony waters. In December, a Communist -gunboat fired on junks in colony waters, killing two fishermen and -injuring several others. A month later, a Chinese gunboat crossed into -colony waters and captured two fishing boats with six persons aboard. In -May, 1959, an armed Communist tug pushed nine miles into Hong Kong waters -to round up a pair of large fishing junks. - -In self-defense, many Hong Kong fishermen abandoned inshore fishing, and -ventured much farther out to sea. Without intending to, the Reds helped -to stimulate the mechanization of the colony’s fishing fleet and improve -its efficiency. - -The colonial administration at Hong Kong carefully avoids comment on -the Nationalist-Communist issue. It can, of course, initiate no foreign -policy of its own, but must keep precisely to the line set down by the -British government. It is expected to get along as best it can with both -Red China and Taiwan, and leave the high-level thundering to London. - -While the colony’s officials are well aware that the United States and -other Western powers are using Hong Kong as an observation post on Red -China, and that both Red China and Taiwan have their corps of spies in -the colony, they take no official cognizance of such activities until -they become too conspicuous. Unfortunately, they often do. Toward the -end of 1961, the colony had 21 Nationalist spies in custody, including a -former leader of guerrilla forces in Southeast Asia. - -Even more embarrassing are the cases in which one of the colony’s -officials turns out to be a foreign spy. On October 2, 1961, the colony -government arrested John Chao-ko Tsang, an Assistant Superintendent of -Police and one of its most promising career men, and deported him to Red -China on November 30. The case created a sensation, for Tsang had the -highest post of any colony official ever involved in an espionage case. - -With its customary delicacy in matters affecting Red China, the -government announced only that Tsang was being deported as an alien. -Fourteen other “aliens” were rounded up for questioning in the case, and -four of them were sent across the border at Lo Wu with John Tsang. Tsang -was later rumored to be in charge of public security for the Reds at -Canton. - -Tsang’s arrest was pure luck. A Chinese detective returning from Macao -on another case noticed a man dressed as a common laborer take a bundle -of $100 banknotes from one pocket and put it into another. The detective -questioned him about the large amount of money, but found his answers -pretty thin. He was accordingly hauled to a police station, questioned -further and searched. A letter found on him was eventually traced to John -Tsang. Unofficially, the letter was said to contain instructions from a -Communist espionage cell in Macao. - -The former Assistant Superintendent was thirty-eight years old, and so -intelligent and popular that he looked to be headed for a top place in -the department. Born in China, he had come to Hong Kong before the Reds -ruled the mainland, joined the police in 1948 and rose rapidly from the -ranks. He had gone to Cambridge University in 1960 for advanced studies, -married while there, and returned to the colony in mid-1961. He was then -one of the highest-ranking Chinese officers in the department. - -The nature of Tsang’s work gave him an expert’s knowledge of the colony’s -defenses and internal security, information of obvious value to the Reds. -His associates in the police force still doubt that he came to Hong Kong -as a spy, believing that he turned Communist after he became established -in the colony. His wife and mother remained in Hong Kong after his -deportation. - -The Tsang case was also an embarrassment to Hong Kong Chinese who aspired -to high office in the colony. It bolstered the anti-Chinese bias of -old-school colonialists, giving them an opportunity to say, “See! When -you give those Chinese a good job, they sell you out.” - -The stream of political abuse which Peking had directed at Hong Kong -for a decade was superseded in 1960 by a stream of fresh water flowing -at the rate of 5 billion gallons a year. On November 15, 1960, the two -governments signed an agreement under which Red China was to tap its -newly built Sham Chun reservoir, two miles north of the colony border, -to provide an auxiliary supply for Hong Kong. The colony put up its -own pumping station and laid ten miles of steel pipeline, four feet in -diameter, to convey the water to its own large reservoir at Tai Lam, -near Castle Peak. The water began flowing in December, 1960, and the -arrangements for receiving and paying for it have proceeded smoothly -since then. - -No one has assessed the symbolic or political significance of the deal, -which meets only a small fraction of the colony’s water needs, but it -disconcerts many American tourists. - -“Do you mean to tell me I’ve been drinking Communist water?” they ask. -Most of the food they ate in Hong Kong probably came from Red China, -but water is different. Some of them eye it suspiciously, as if they -expected it to have a reddish hue or to contain traces of poison. The -water is purified and filtered in Hong Kong, however, and thus far it has -maintained a crystal-clear neutrality. - -The life-or-death issue between Red China and Hong Kong is one that may -not be decided until June 30, 1997, the termination date of the New -Territories lease. If it is not renewed, more than 90 percent of the -colony’s land will revert to China, leaving Great Britain with Hong Kong -Island, most of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island. - -If China refuses to renew, as she has a clear legal right to do under the -terms of the 99-year lease, she will get much more than the land itself. -With it will come the colony’s only modern airport, practically all its -productive farmland, its chief industrial centers at Tsuen Wan and Kwun -Tong, by far the greater part of its reservoirs and water-supply system, -from one-third to one-half its population and all its mineral resources -except a few quarries and clay pits. - -“It would be folly to try to foresee what will happen in thirty-five -years,” said one of the colony’s principal officials in 1962. “In this -age of fission and fusion, it’s impossible to see even five years ahead.” - -On one point, there is little doubt among the colony’s officials: without -the New Territories, Hong Kong would be untenable. - -Outside of the colony, the 1997 deadline looms like doom; inside, -it is just another of those far-off worries, like an epidemic or a -catastrophic typhoon. Everyone knows it is coming; meanwhile, they go on -making money, putting up new factories and hotels and planning gigantic -public works. - -Some of the colony’s leading businessmen expect the Chinese Communists, -or any other power ruling the mainland in 1997, to drive a tough bargain -for the New Territories and then renew the lease for another 99 years. - -Red China, which holds all the cards, hasn’t tipped its hand. - - - - -CHAPTER FOUR - -Industrial Growth and Growing Pains - - “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have - greatness thrust upon them.”—SHAKESPEARE, _Twelfth Night_ - - -In 1951 the economy of Hong Kong set two memorable precedents; it reached -the highest level in the colony’s 110-year history and then fell flat on -its face. When the year ended, it looked as if Hong Kong was finished as -a world trading port. - -Twelve months earlier all indicators had pointed toward a continuing -boom. Red China, frantically buying goods to equip itself for the -Korean war, had pushed the colony’s trade volume to an all-time high of -$1,314,000,000 in 1950. Buying continued at the same furious rate until -May 18, 1951, when most of the trade was choked off by the United Nations -embargo on shipments to Red China. Even so, Hong Kong’s total trade -volume reached a new high of $1,628,000,000 in 1951. - -The U.N. embargo administered the _coup de grâce_ to the crown colony -trade with Communist China, but it was only the last of a series of trade -restrictions arising from the Korean war. The United States embargoed -all its trade with Red China when the conflict broke out in June, 1950, -and at first included Hong Kong in the ban. The colony voluntarily -stopped its trade with North Korea in the same month and banned a list of -strategic exports to Red China in August, 1950. In December, 1950, and -March, 1951, the colony increased its list of strategic items banned for -export to China. - -The cumulative effect of these restrictions, which were critically -important in checking Chinese Communist aggression, was to push Hong Kong -to the edge of economic disaster. With the loss of the China trade, the -colony lost half its export market and about one quarter of its imports. -This was the trade which had always been the main reason for the colony’s -existence. - -Prospects for reviving the China trade when the Korean war was over did -not look encouraging. Long before the embargoes and restrictions had gone -into effect, the Chinese had begun to shift their trade from Hong Kong to -Soviet Russia and Europe. - -Hong Kong had grown and prospered on its ability to receive, process -and reship the products of others, but its own productive capacity was -insignificant. With a few minor exceptions, its industries—chiefly the -building, repairing and supplying of ships—existed to serve its trade. -Its banks and insurance companies, too, lived almost entirely on the -colony’s trade. Accordingly, when trade collapsed toward the end of 1951, -the whole economy of the colony came crashing down with it. - -In the aftermath of the 1951 debacle, there was at first no thought of -substituting industry for trade. For a variety of reasons, industry in -the colony had never been developed independently of trade. Certainly -Great Britain had not established the colony to produce goods which -would compete with English manufacturers. The Hong Kong market was too -small and its people generally too poor to support its own industries. -There was no tariff wall to protect the colony’s goods from outside -competition, and this factor alone had stifled several early attempts to -launch local industries. - -Many natural handicaps combined to make the colony a most unlikely place -for industry. Its mineral resources were few and limited in quantity. -It had no local source of power to run a plant. Its water supply was -chronically short of ordinary needs and suitable land for factories -was scarce and expensive. The colony could not raise enough food nor -provide enough housing to take care of its potential factory workers. -And if anyone were imprudent enough to invest his money in an expensive -industrial establishment, how could he be sure that the Reds would not -move in and take it over, just as they had grabbed the mills and plants -of Shanghai? - -The colony had a few assets worth noting, however. Its government was -stable and orderly, and had attracted a heavy influx of capital from -pre-Communist China and the shaky regimes of Southeast Asia. Its banking, -shipping and insurance services were the most efficient on the mainland -of Asia, and its merchant community had well-cultivated connections with -the world market. Its sheltered deep-water harbor was one of the best in -Asia. - -The colony’s possibilities as a future industrial power were further -enhanced by an unlimited supply of cheap labor and the immigration of -skilled workers and experienced industrialists from Red China. Its labor -unions numbered in the hundreds, but were so weakened by factional -fights and political objectives that they were unable to drive a hard -bargain in wage negotiations. Under Imperial Preference and the Ottawa -Agreements of 1932, colonial products paid a lower tariff rate within the -British Commonwealth than their foreign competitors. - -Finally, any industry in Hong Kong could rely on one intangible asset of -unique value; the character of the average Chinese workman. In most cases -he was a refugee, uneducated and penniless but determined to reestablish -himself with any job he could find. Having landed a job, he worked at it -with a diligence, energy and skill that astounded Western observers. - -Although industry had accounted for a very minor part in the colony’s -economy before 1951, its beginnings go back to the earliest years. Its -first recorded product was the eighty-ton vessel, _Celestial_, built and -launched by Captain John Lamont at East Point, on Hong Kong Island, on -February 7, 1843. The California gold rush of 1849 and the Australian -gold strike two years later caused a shipping boom in Hong Kong as -scores of sailing ships carried Chinese labor to work in the goldfields. -Shipbuilding expanded rapidly, a dry dock was constructed on the island -and a whole new industry of refitting and supplying ships came into -being. A foundry for the casting of ship cannon was established in the -same era when cannon were the only valid insurance against South China’s -coastal pirates. - -A group of ship-repair yards was consolidated in 1863 as the Hong Kong -& Whampoa Dock Co., which subsequently sold its Chinese facilities and -established its headquarters at Hung Hom, on Kowloon Bay. The Taikoo -Dockyard & Engineering Co. began operations at Quarry Bay, on the north -shore of Hong Kong island, in 1908. Between them, the two yards have -completed nearly 1,400 ships, ranging from large cargo and passenger -vessels to light harbor craft. Each company employs about 4,000 men, -which is still the largest number employed by any Hong Kong industrialist. - -These two companies, equipped to build 10,000-ton ships and capable of -repairing practically any ocean liner that enters the harbor, remain the -giants of local industry. But where they and about two dozen smaller -shipyards employed 28 percent of the colony’s industrial workers in 1938, -they now hire around 3 percent. Theirs is not a declining industry, but -it has become a hopelessly outnumbered one. - -The colony’s oldest export industry has a rather spicy history, -antedating the establishment of Hong Kong by at least twenty years. A -Cantonese hawker with an eye for trade discovered that the roots of -the ginger plant when boiled in syrup had a strong appeal for British -traders. Following the line of the most susceptible palates, the -merchant, Li Chy, moved his ginger-preserving plant to Hong Kong in -1846. Some helpful soul introduced the product to Queen Victoria, who -was so taken with its flavor that she made it a regular dessert at royal -banquets, and suggested that it be named the “Cock Brand.” Whether or -not the Queen’s intervention actually occurred is open to question, but -there is no doubt that preserved ginger became a favorite English and -European delicacy. Li Chy’s Chy Loong Co. and a dozen eager imitators -kept Caucasian tongues tingling until 1937, when U Tat Chee, the Ginger -King, formed a syndicate to standardize quality and prices. During the -Korean war, the United States detected a perceptible Marxist taint in -the ginger that grew in Red China and banned its importation. A more -democratic strain was then planted in the New Territories, and with -suitable documentary evidence, permitted to enter the United States. -Preserved ginger exports currently bubble along at 225 tons a year, -pleasing overseas tastes and being credited by the Chinese with curing -the lesser debilities of old age. - -Sailing ships were insatiable rope-consumers, and from this demand grew -the Hong Kong Rope Manufacturing Co., formed in 1883, and still doing -business in Kennedy Town at the west end of Hong Kong Island. - -The Green Island Cement Co., founded in Macao and transferred to Hong -Kong in 1899, drew most of its raw materials from outside the colony -to supply the local building industry. After replacing a kiln and four -grinding mills hauled away by the Japanese in World War II, it got back -into production in time to ride upward with the postwar building boom. - -The Taikoo Sugar Refinery Co., established in 1884, was one of the first -local companies to provide houses for its workers. Extensively modernized -in 1925, it prospered until the Japanese looted and wrecked its plant so -thoroughly that it was unable to resume production until the fall of 1950. - -A 55,000-spindle cotton mill made a pioneer beginning in 1898, but the -unrelieved humidity of the climate damaged its machinery and impaired its -efficiency. Stiff competition did the rest and it was out of business -before World War II. Flour mills and shell-button factories prospered for -a time, then wilted in the heat of competition. - -As cattle country, Hong Kong is slightly superior to the Sahara Desert. -Nevertheless, Sir Patrick Manson, a doctor who specialized in tropical -medicine, decided to establish a dairy company in 1886. He leased 330 -acres of semi-vertical pasture from the crown and his first herd of 80 -cows clambered and skidded around its dizzying slopes for a decade until -an epizootic of rinderpest exterminated them. A new herd which soon -outgrew its pasturage was stall-fed thereafter, living on fodder grass -hand-gathered by patient Chinese women. Today’s herd includes about half -the colony’s 3,000 dairy cows and is the chief domestic source of milk -and butter. The dairy company has proliferated into a nutritional combine -called The Dairy Farm, Ice & Cold Storage Co., which runs a chain of food -stores, restaurants, soda fountains and ice and cold storage plants. - -The match-making industry, dating from 1938, offers a gloomy illustration -of Gresham’s Law. Factories were built on Peng Chau, To Kwa Wan in -eastern Kowloon and at Yuen Long in the New Territories, turning out -tiny, cheap wooden matches. Factory equipment was primitive, wages low -and the matches, more often than not, splintery and unpredictable. At -its peak in 1947, the industry employed almost 1,000 workers, chiefly -women. Then Macao entered the market with still lower wages and skimpier -matches. Every box of Macao matches ought to bear the warning: “Take -Cover Before Striking Match,” but they far outsell the colony product. -They have also done a lot to stimulate the manufacture of low-cost -cigarette lighters. - -Because of the colony’s habitual preoccupation with trade, many of its -industries existed for decades without attracting much attention outside -their own circle of customers. With the collapse of trade in 1951, -they assumed such unexpected importance that they seemed to have been -invented for the occasion. Some of them, like the printing and beverage -industries, were a century old. Cosmetics, furniture manufacturing and -the fabrication of nails and screws dated from the early 1900s. Three -industries of considerable importance in the export market—electric -batteries and flashlights, rubber footwear, and canned goods—had been -around since the 1920s. Enamelware, electro-plating, machinery, tobacco, -and motion picture industries appeared during the depression decade, and -the leather industry emerged in 1947. - -Cottage industries, or small enterprises operating out of the home or -a back-room workshop, are as old as Chinese civilization, embracing -everything from wood and ivory carvings to musical instruments, jade, -coffins, toys, beadwork, lanterns and silk-covered New Year’s dragons. -They average perhaps a dozen employees each, and number in the thousands. - -The colony government has kept a careful record of total employment in -registered factories (with 20 or more employees and subject to government -inspection) and recorded workshops (15-19 workers and subject to -inspection), but it has never had a statistical record of the number of -industrial workers outside these two categories. - -There are government estimates, but no precise figures, for the number of -persons working in cottage industries, or such major industrial groups -as building construction, engineering construction, agriculture, fishing -and public transport. Estimates of the number of people working in shops, -offices, and other commercial establishments are even hazier. - -A purely statistical assessment of changes in Hong Kong industry that -followed the 1951 trade collapse must necessarily be limited to the -registered and recorded industries. Luckily, it has been the registered -and recorded factories which most clearly reflected the colony’s recent -economic revolution. - -Between 1947, when the postwar boom began moving, and 1951, when the U. -N. embargo was imposed, the number of registered and recorded industries -rose from 1,050 to 1,961 and their employed force nearly doubled. The -colony’s trade had been shooting upward at almost the same rate, and the -Net Domestic Product (the total value of all its goods and services) had -increased by 75 percent. - -The embargo halted the trade boom and reduced its volume by almost -one-third in 1952. Not until 1960 did the total climb back to the record -level of 1951. Colony traders, abruptly cut off from the China mainland -market, had to find new markets or liquidate their accumulated stocks. -Some found new markets in Southeast Asia; others liquidated their -stock for whatever it would bring. Colony imports rose uncomfortably -above exports, investment capital began searching around for better -opportunities outside Hong Kong and unemployment became an additional -cause for anxiety. - -One obvious need was to step up the colony’s export volume at once. It -was in this situation that the “poor relation” in Hong Kong’s economy—its -industry—came into its own. - -Despite its rapid postwar growth, the colony’s industry had supplied only -about ten percent of the products it exported. In simple desperation, the -traders invested their Korean war profits in local industry. So also did -the transplanted Shanghai industrialists who had lost their factories -to the Chinese Communists but had retained their capital and managerial -skills. The effect on Hong Kong was basic and far-reaching. - -After a two-year period of readjustment, the number of industrial -undertakings, or individual registered and recorded manufacturers, -increased at the rate of 500 a year. Employment in the industries more -than doubled; by the end of 1961, the colony had 6,359 companies with -271,729 workers. The climb continued into 1962. - -Local industry, which had once contributed only ten percent of the value -of colony exports, contributed more than seventy percent by 1962. Trade -had made its comeback by then, but it showed no sign of regaining the -dominant position it had occupied until 1952. - -Entirely without warning and almost against its will, Hong Kong had -become a manufacturing center instead of an entrepôt. New industries -had cropped up from nowhere, taken a firm hold and climbed to the most -important positions in the colony’s productive economy. A few of the -old industries had slumped, but most were expanding with the general -prosperity. - -During the uneasy two-year period of transition from trade to -manufacturing, the colony had to lay down two sets of regulations to -stabilize its trade relations with Japan and the United States. - -Japanese industry, swiftly reviving during the American Occupation, began -pouring cotton yarn and piecegoods, household utensils and metalware into -the Hong Kong market. In 1952, Hong Kong imported four times more from -Japan than it exported to her. But the colony was less concerned about -export-import balances than it was over reducing the Sterling Area’s -adverse balance of payments with Japan. Japanese imports were tightly -restricted or suspended from early in 1952 until the second half of 1953. -Meanwhile, local industries enjoyed a welcome breather from Japanese -competition, especially in their home market. - -Restoration of trade with the United States was essential. The volume of -this trade had taken a steep dive after the U.S. and U.N. embargoes -on trade with China, and the United States wanted no Communist products -funneled through Hong Kong, nor any Red Chinese raw materials fabricated -in the colony. The Hong Kong Commerce and Industry Department and the -U.S. Treasury Department finally worked out a solution: the Comprehensive -Certificate of Origin, covering every kind of goods that might be -suspected of Red Chinese origin. Among these were silk, linen, cotton, -jade, furniture, Chinese antiques and handicrafts. Goods of North Korean -origin were similarly classified. - -In enforcing the Comprehensive Certificate of Origin regulations, the -Commerce and Industry Department directly supervises the raw material -supply and the finished products of the factories; in some cases, it -seals the goods after examination and keeps them under surveillance until -they are exported. Severe legal and administrative penalties are slapped -on manufacturers or dealers who are caught falsifying a Comprehensive -Certificate of Origin. The colony government protects the validity of -the certificates to insure trade relations with its biggest customer, -and because it gives the colony a monopoly on certain goods for which -Red China would otherwise have the market sewed up. The most vociferous -critics of the Comprehensive Certificate of Origin are American tourists -who recoil from it as if they had been handed two sets of income-tax -demands for the same year. - -With the road clear for industrial expansion, the response was -overwhelming, and more than half the growth came in six light industries. -Between 1948 and 1958, the six light-industry groups showed these -increases in employment: garment-making, 20,000; metal products, 13,000; -cotton spinning, 11,000; cotton weaving, 9,000; plastic wares, 8,000; and -rubber footwear, 3,000. - -At the end of 1961, registered and recorded industries employed a round -total of 272,000 persons, with 42 percent of these workers concentrated -in two categories; textile-making with 69,000, and garment-making with -45,000. Metal products were third in line with 28,000. Shipbuilding and -ship-breaking employed 13,000. Plastics, non-existent until 1947, had -separated into two major industries, plastic wares and plastic flowers, -with each employing around 13,000 workers. Food manufacturing, printing -and publishing, rubber products, machinery, electrical apparatus and -chemicals were the other leaders. In the metal-products line, just one -of its many specialized products, the manufacture of flashlight cases, -employed more than 6,000 persons. - -The success of Hong Kong’s light industries is typified by three of its -leaders in plastics, textiles and metal wares. The Three Ts—H.C. Ting, P. -Y. Tang and John Tung—were prosperous Shanghai industrialists when the -Chinese Communists closed in on them. Each one managed to reestablish -himself in Hong Kong as the head of a major industry. Together, they -represent one of Red China’s unintentionally generous gifts to the -colony—the exodus of capital and management skill. A whole new complex -of tall, modern buildings in the North Point section of Hong Kong Island -called Little Shanghai is a monument to this newly arrived capital. - -H. C. Ting, managing director and principal owner of Kader Industrial -Co., Ltd. at North Point, began as a battery salesman for a Shanghai -factory, set up his own company, the Wei Ming Battery Works, in 1925, and -began tinkering around in a laboratory to develop a long-lived battery. -He picked up his chemistry as he went along and painstakingly dissected -hundreds of messy cells until he evolved a really durable battery that -sold well. He branched into flashlights, bulbs and carbon rods, survived -the Japanese invasion of China and planned to try his luck in the -plastics industry after the war. Foreign exchange limitations made it -impossible to equip a plastics factory in Shanghai, so he sent a group of -his employees to Hong Kong in 1947 with instructions to set up a plant. - -The new factory was to include a cold-storage unit which could cool and -store plastics and also make ice for sale. It was a dismal flop and Mr. -Ting hurried down the following year to untangle the snarls. He soon -discovered that he had, in effect, enrolled himself for a cram course in -refrigeration engineering, but he learned enough to make the plant pay. - -Today the North Point plant, greatly enlarged, employs 1,300 people -and makes 400 different plastic items. Its four-story building of -prestressed, reinforced concrete backs into a rocky hillside which is -being blasted away to make room for a new ten-story plant. Mr. Ting -trains all his own workers, pays them straight wages instead of the usual -piece-work rates and hands out annual bonuses, in some instances, equal -to ten months’ pay. - -Operating on the general premise that he’ll try anything until he makes -it work, Mr. Ting designs many of his own products, and if he can’t find -a machine to make it, designs that also. One machine molds a plastic -automatic pistol and its bullets in a single operation; the model is so -precisely fitted that it works as smoothly as the original gun. Other -machines mold a pair of binoculars with one press, then equip it with -accurate lenses stamped out of clear Styrene plastic. A plastic doll, -including the eyes, is pressed out in seconds, but the mold has been -carefully developed from a hand-made clay original that is reproduced -first in plaster of Paris and then in polyester before the steel die is -cut. Dressing the dolls keeps 100 girls busy at Kader sewing machines. -The plant works three shifts daily, but Mr. Ting sleeps through one shift -at his penthouse on the roof. His latest venture is transistor radios, -jointly undertaken with a Japanese electrical appliance company. - -“We can compete with anything except junk,” Mr. Ting said. “If Hong Kong -turns out quality products at reasonable prices, we can gradually raise -the living standards of our labor to the level of other countries. It -can’t be done overnight; they tried it in Red China and failed.” - -P. Y. Tang, head of the South Sea Textile Manufacturing Co. at Tsuen Wan, -is an engineering graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -and the largest producer of cotton yarn and grey cloth in the colony. His -main plant covers nine acres along the waterfront and contains 45,000 -spindles and 900 looms. Its employed force numbers 2,100. - -Tsuen Wan, now an industrial center with more than 60,000 residents, -was a village with a few huts and no roads when Mr. Tang erected a -pilot plant there in 1948. He had brought 300 technicians and skilled -workers, plus his own administrative experience as managing director of -the gigantic Ching Foong Cotton Manufacturing Co. in Shanghai and other -cities of China. - -Experience was not enough; Hong Kong had practically nothing to help the -mill get started—no cotton, power, spare parts, skilled labor or parallel -industries, such as weaving and garment-making, that could use yarn and -doth. There was no local market and the humid climate quickly rusted the -machinery. - -Mr. Tang beat the rust problem and shaved his operating costs by keeping -the machines in continuous use, running 8,500 hours a year, compared -with 3,700 hours a year in German mills and 1,500 hours in English ones. -He opened up new markets for his prolific output in Great Britain, the -United States, Australia, Africa, and elsewhere. His early sales were -made at a loss, but with his markets established and Red China knocked -out of the market by the U.N. embargo, South Sea sales and profits soared. - -The main plant is completely air-conditioned, reducing summer working -temperatures by twenty degrees. The spindles and looms, imported from -Japan, England, Switzerland and the United States, are the finest -obtainable. Much of the carding, combing, and sizing machinery is fully -automatic, tended by Chinese girls in their early twenties. Some of the -girls appear to be prematurely grey, but it’s nothing more than loose -cotton that has settled on their black hair; all wear breathing masks to -protect their lungs from floating cotton. Every phase of the operation is -under strict quality control, preserving the uniform diameter of the yarn -and testing its tensile strength. - -The South Sea plant sometimes disconcerts visiting textile executives, -who expect a Hong Kong textile mill to look like an over-extended cottage -industry. What they find here, and in several other Hong Kong mills, is a -streamlined efficiency equal to the best in the world. - -The young men and women employees, most of them single, live in free -dormitories near the plant, pay an average of 27 cents a day for meals -and have a choice of Cantonese, Shanghai or Swatow cuisine. They have -workmen’s compensation, a barber shop with electric hair-dryers for -the women, a vocational training program, and for high-performance -workers, a lounge and recreation center. The plant is non-union, with a -six-day, 48-hour week. Wages are slightly above the colony average for a -registered factory, ranging from $1.38 to $2.25 a day. - -Mr. Tang has been in the thick of the fight to protect the colony’s -textile industry from demands—especially clamorous in England and the -United States—that its exports be reduced. - -“I just can’t see the wisdom of Western powers in restricting Hong Kong -textile exports,” he told David Lan, a reporter for _The China Mail_, a -colony daily. “We have no hinterland or diversified industries to which -refugees may turn from a threatened textile industry.” - -“From 1959 through 1961, total colony exports of cotton piece goods were -less than 5 percent of Great Britain’s production, and 0.53 percent of -United States output,” he stated. - -“We are asking for no aid but only a fair chance to trade,” he said. - -John Tung, third of the alliterative industrial Taipans, has been -connected with the colony’s metalware industry since 1937. Like Mr. Tang, -he was the son of a Chinese industrialist. His father started the I. Feng -Enamelling Company in Shanghai shortly after World War I and established -a Hong Kong branch in 1937. John, working part-time for his father while -he attended the University of Shanghai, left both school and job and -founded his own firm, the Freezinhot Bottle Co., to manufacture vacuum -flasks. By 1940, he, too, set up a Hong Kong branch. When the Communists -expropriated Shanghai industries, he moved to the colony to direct both -the I. Feng and Freezinhot branches. - -The I. Feng enterprise prospered, and in the familiar Hong Kong pattern, -dozens of small operators rushed in to cut some of the pie. By 1956 there -were approximately 30 of them in the field and Mr. Tung had to cut back -his production. The marginal companies went broke in the glutted market, -but I. Feng remained the largest in its line. Mr. Tung proceeded to build -the Freezinhot bottles by handling all the manufacturing processes in -his own plant, instead of the usual practice of contracting them out, -and successfully invaded Japanese markets in Africa, Latin America and -Southeast Asia. - -Like many other Hong Kong manufacturers, he set up subsidiary companies -outside the colony. Bet-hedging is widely practiced among colony -entrepreneurs; the economic climate is unpredictable and no one wants -to be caught flat-footed. In the colony, Mr. Tung also runs a firebrick -works, a marble plant and a trading company, shuttling daily between his -various offices. - -He takes a coolly realistic view of tomorrow’s prospects, declaring that -the market for enamelware and vacuum bottles in underdeveloped countries -will drop when hot running water, electric percolators and refrigerators -make his products less useful, or the countries develop their own -industries to meet the need. He probably would not be offended if his -potential competitors subscribed to this pessimistic outlook. - -Mr. Tung’s survival in the 1956 enamelware boom illustrates a recurring -weakness in the colony’s economy, the perennial, headlong dash to make a -fast dollar. The urge is irresistible, with new industries coming over -the horizon and eager money lying in wait for them. At the first sniff -of profit, the money swarms into the latest bonanza, fresh companies -pop up like dandelions and products flood the market. Older firms slash -prices repeatedly to meet each competitive assault; presently, the bottom -falls out and half the old and new companies disappear in a welter -of bad debts. The frantic cycle has swept through the apparel, film, -glove, plastic flower, and enamelware industries without losing any of -its momentum or lure. It is often and justly deplored, but in Hong Kong -it will always be difficult to find an investor panting to turn a slow -dollar. - -The race for a quick profit careens along at a perilous pace in the -colony’s building industry, where the investor in a large apartment -or office building may get all his capital back within four years, -or go broke in six months. The industry moved ahead at a moderate -$25 million-a-year rate until about two years after the post-embargo -manufacturing boom began. Then it took off, reaching a new record of -$42,000,000 in 1959. In 1960 it shot up to $69,000,000, and held the -steep angle of climb into 1961. - -It is the building aspect of Hong Kong’s industrial spurt that strikes -every visitor at once. A skyscraper bank building and two hotels, of -600 and 1,000 rooms respectively, are going up in the central business -district of Hong Kong Island. There is hardly a square block in the main -business area where there is not at least one building under construction. - -The transformation of the Tsim Sha Tsui section at the tip of Kowloon -Peninsula is even more startling. In the 1920s, it was predominantly a -quiet house-and-garden neighborhood strung along both sides of Nathan -Road, the main north to south street. The Peninsula Hotel opened at the -south end of Nathan Road in 1928 to become the new social center of the -colony, and its Peninsula Court annex was added in 1957. - -During the 1950s, Tsim Sha Tsui slowly became an area of small hotels and -luxury shops catering to tourists. An epidemic of building fever swept -over it in 1959, and the place will never be the same again. Three huge -hotels—the Ambassador, Imperial and Park—opened in 1961 with a total -of 1,025 rooms. Two years later, the 800-room President was to join -the Kowloon tourist parade. Tall apartment buildings, reaching almost -as high as their rents, and an assortment of compact luxury hotels, -sprouted through the thick crust of tourists and shoppers. Guests at -the top of the newly opened Imperial Hotel looked down on a scene of -general devastation at the opposite side of Nathan Road; dozens of old -structures being demolished to make way for larger and more expensive -ones. - -New hotels opening throughout the colony in 1963 will add 3,368 rooms, -doubling its tourist capacity. Many of them will show the familiar marks -of speculative building—undersized rooms, insufficient elevator service, -thin walls and cracked masonry. The best hotels will stay the course, -but the merely flashy ones may be pulled through the same wringer as the -overly eager, overnight speculators in other industries. - -The construction industry, which employs 160,000 people, roughly -estimated, was also active in less speculative projects. From 1957 -through 1961, it erected more than 200 factories, many of them on -reclaimed land. Government construction on water-supply facilities, -land reclamation, and resettlement estates ran just over $40,000,000 in -1960-61, and was scheduled to increase considerably in the next fiscal -year. - -All of the large new hotels in Hong Kong were built to serve a tourist -trade which could scarcely have supported three of them in 1940. For -well over a century, Hong Kong had about as much tourist appeal as the -islands of Langerhans; and in its early days, the English used to sing a -derisive song, “You can go to Hong Kong for Me.” In the popular mind, it -was associated with such disagreeable phenomena as rainstorms, typhoons, -floods, pirates, malaria, bubonic plague, squalor and poisoners. Most -of these scourges have disappeared, but it took travelers many years -to forget them. People went to Hong Kong only on government or private -business or because, being either rich or retired, they had been -everywhere else and wanted to add one more odd-sounding place to their -itinerary. - -Distance alone was a formidable obstacle; by today’s shortest air route, -Hong Kong is 10,611 miles from New York and 7,286 miles from London. -It was much farther by ship, and it took weeks to get there. Imperial -Airways opened the first regular airline service from Europe in 1936, -and Pan American World Airways started weekly transpacific flights in -1937. Early flights from New York or London still required a week, more -or less, and although faster piston-engined planes gradually pared down -the time, it took the introduction of jet airliners in 1958 to cut the -longest flights to approximately 24 hours. - -The new Kai Tak Airport, whose 8,350-foot runway juts into Kowloon Bay -on a strip of reclaimed land, opened on September 12, 1958, six weeks -earlier than the first oceanic jet passenger service. Scheduled ocean -liners and cruise ships continue to call at Hong Kong, but four-fifths of -all tourists arrive by air at Kai Tak. More than 210,000 of them came in -1961, with Americans and residents of the British Commonwealth comprising -the two largest groups. Not included in this total are the 132,000 -members of the American armed forces who had shore leave in the colony -during 1961. For many years they have been the largest group of colony -visitors; liberal spenders and generally law-abiding. - -After ignoring Hong Kong effortlessly for decades, Americans had their -attention drawn to it by a variety of stimulants. Hollywood motion -pictures such as _Soldier of Fortune_, _Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing_, -_The World of Suzie Wong_, and _Ferry to Hong Kong_ were of varying -artistic merit, but they all helped the tourist business. Television, -radio and film personalities—Arthur Godfrey, William Holden, Jack Paar, -Ed Sullivan, and David Brinkley—presented documentary reports on the -colony. There was even a television adventure serial about Hong Kong, -but with the exception of a few on-the-spot film clips spliced in for -authenticity, it dealt with people, places and customs unknown to any -colony resident. - -Tourism stands next to the textile industry as a source of foreign -exchange and it has created thousands of jobs for hotel and restaurant -workers, entertainers, guides and shop clerks. Recognizing its economic -value, the colony government set up the Hong Kong Tourist Association a -few years ago. The association beams its Lorelei serenade to tourists -overseas, but in its own yard, it functions as a watchdog. Its warning -yip is brief: Don’t flim-flam the tourists, or you’ll kill a $120 -million-a-year industry. - -Transportation facilities in and out of the colony are equipped to handle -any foreseeable increase in freight or passenger traffic during the next -few years. Seventy-six shipping lines sail to 234 ports around the world. -Nineteen airlines operate out of Kai Tak, with the four busiest—Cathay -Pacific (chiefly regional), British Overseas Airways, Pan American and -Japan Air Lines—averaging two or more arrivals and departures every day. - -No one has the exact figures on how many people are employed in all the -industries of the colony beyond the registered and recorded factories and -including every category. But 1,200,000 have some sort of job, whether -working at home, in factories, on farms, at sea or for the government. -Government employs about 50,000. - -There is no minimum wage. Most workers are paid by the day or on a -piece-work basis. Normal daily wages of industrial workers are 50 -cents to $1.30 for the unskilled, $1.20 to $1.70 for semiskilled, and -$1.30 to $3.50 for skilled men. Women get 30 percent less than men. -Overtime is at time and a quarter or time and a half, with the latter -prevalent. Incentive pay is given for good performance and attendance. -Some companies provide free or subsidized food to compensate workers -for cost-of-living jumps. A bonus of one month’s wages is paid by many -companies just before the Chinese New Year. - -As a rule the European firms and a few westernized Chinese firms provide -a cost of living allowance on top of the basic wage. Yet in spite of -rapid industrial expansion, inflation has been slight; the index rose -only 22 points between 1947 and 1961. The eight-hour day and six-day, -48-hour week are observed by most European companies, but some Chinese -companies have an 11-hour day. Women and all workers under eighteen are -given a second rest day a week by law. Many big companies, especially -those dealing in textiles, provide dormitories and free bedding for -unmarried workers; some house the families of married workers, and the -government encourages this practice by providing land for such quarters -at half the market price. A few companies provide recreation rooms and -free transportation to and from the job. Workmen’s compensation insurance -has been prescribed by law since 1953. Women, as well as children under -fourteen years old, may not work between 8 P.M. and 7 A.M. - -Hong Kong wages look tiny to an American worker who earns more in an hour -than a colony factory hand receives in a day. But the chasm between the -two standards of living is not so vast. The Hong Kong worker takes the -bus, streetcar or ferryboat for less than two cents a ride; his lunch -costs about ten cents, and his month’s rent is under $5.00 if he lives in -a resettlement estate, and below $23 a month if he occupies a low-income -Housing Authority development unit. - -There are 245 labor unions in the colony, but they lack biting power -in wage negotiations. Three have more than 10,000 members each: the -seamen’s union; the spinning, weaving and dyeing workers; and the motor -transport workers. These three, with the unions of the seafarers, workers -in Western-type employment, restaurant and café employees, government -workers and teachers, represent 40 percent of all union membership. -The unions split into a pro-Communist Federation and a pro-Nationalist -Council. The pro-Red unions are strongest among seamen, public utilities, -shipyards and textiles; the anti-Reds are most influential in the -building trades, food and catering and numerous small industries. Only -25 of the 245 labor unions are free of political leadership. Collective -bargaining is generally confined to the transport, printing, and -enamelware industries, and to taxi drivers. - -Most wages are set by agreement between the worker and his employer; -the agreement is verbal and follows no uniform wage-scale. Family -connections, references from friends, or the contracting system are -used to get jobs. Except in the large shipyards and textile mills, the -apprentice system is mostly a matter of observation and imitation. -Several private trade schools train boys and girls in various jobs, and -Hong Kong Technical College and Hong Kong University teach engineering, -commerce and highly advanced technical specialties, with the university -giving a full range of professional training. But when all are combined, -they fall far short of the demand. - -The majority of the colony’s industrial workers impress both employers -and outside observers as industrious, purposeful, capable and -intelligent. They are unwilling to make bold, independent decisions, some -employers complain. On the other hand, they are seldom encouraged to do -so. - -In the last few years, an increasing number of American businessmen -have found the risks and rewards of the colony’s economy well worth -their interest. The first American trading concern, Russell & Co., was -established there in 1850, but the road was rocky, and Russell, along -with several later Yankee traders, faded out of the picture before 1900. -About a dozen American companies located agencies in Hong Kong in the -early 1900s. Most notable of these was the International Banking Corp., -which opened a Hong Kong branch in 1902; after a series of mergers and -name changes it became a major branch of the First National City Bank -of New York, occupying its own large building in the central financial -district. - -Except for First National City, Singer Sewing Machine Co., National Cash -Register Co. and a few others, most of the American offices were agencies -or area representatives until the last decade. - -Anker B. Henningsen, a Montana-born businessman of Danish ancestry, came -to Hong Kong from China, where his family had been in business since -1913. With his son A. P. Henningsen, he heads a group of companies that -distribute Coca-Cola and other soft drinks, export and import women’s -wearing apparel, run a quality dress shop called Paquerette, Ltd., and -act as agents for a number of American chemical, pharmaceutical and -manufacturing companies. They employ 300 people. - -The older Henningsen’s father, a Danish immigrant to the United States, -had built a prosperous produce business in the Northwest and later -supplemented it by shipping eggs from China to the U.S. Eggs came -in by the boatload until his competitors sabotaged the business by -circulating the canard that the Chinese eggs were hundreds of years -old. Mr. Henningsen turned then to Europe for his primary market, but -his American produce operations took a beating in the 1919 to 1921 -depression. A. B. went out to China in 1923 to start his own ice cream -and frozen-drink-on-a-stick business. He had to install refrigeration -units in all his retail outlets, working out of a central plant with -3,000 employees. In cold months, he packed and shipped eggs; in summer, -he made and sold 125,000 frozen suckers a day. Sticks for the suckers -were stamped out of Idaho pine planks, shipped from the U.S. in the form -of heavyweight packing crates to avoid lumber duty. It was no small item; -the Shanghai plant used 250,000 board feet of Idaho pine a year. - -In 1933 he set up a dairy business, imported 500 head of American cattle -and a full line of equipment for a modern dairy farm. A few years later, -Japanese bombers killed the entire herd. He was president of the American -Association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai when he and -1,500 other Americans were interned by the invading Japanese. As head of -the American business community, he was permitted to organize a hospital, -school and food facilities for the prisoners. Repatriated to the United -States in September, 1943, he operated a dried-egg plant for the Army -during the rest of the war. He returned to China after the war, and ran -produce and export companies until the Reds began to gain control of the -country. Liquidating his interests in China, he came to Hong Kong and -organized a soft-drink bottling company in 1948. - -He and his son extended branches to Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but closed -them down after a time, he said, because he could not find executive -personnel capable and willing to run them. He expects Hong Kong to -survive and prosper, despite the ever-present threat from Red China. - -“Hong Kong is China’s best source of foreign exchange,” Mr. Henningsen -says. “If the Reds took it over, the whole economy would collapse, just -as it did in Shanghai. The Communists have mismanaged their food supply -so badly that their people can’t work. All they get to eat is a small -rice ration, a few vegetables, very little fish and no meat at all. If -people are underfed, they just die on the vine.” - -Robert J. Newton, another native of the American Northwest, has -established his own prosperous business in the colony. Born in Salem, -Oregon, he worked as a construction engineer in California, Hawaii and -the Philippines. He made his first Hong Kong visit in the early 1930s, -found it easy to do business with the people there and was deeply -impressed by the skill of its workmen. He returned to the colony often in -succeeding years. - -He had made the building of boats his lifetime hobby, and was frequently -praised for the quality of his craftsmanship. But it was not until the -1950s that he began to consider boat construction as a possible business. -His two sons, Whitney and John, became his associates, with John heading -a distributorship for Bireley’s soft drinks. Whitney became the manager -of American Marine, Ltd., the boat-building yard established by his -father. - -In 1958, the company set up operations in a tin-roofed shed that was not -much larger than a two-car garage. The yard site was along the shore of -an inlet on Clear Water Peninsula, nearly five miles due east of Kowloon. -Well away from other industrial areas, it lay just across Junk Bay from -the Chinese Nationalist refugee settlement at Rennie’s Mill Camp. - -American Marine, which produces pleasure boats for the American market, -outgrew its corporate cradle in a few weeks; its present shed is 500 feet -long and 300 feet wide, and will be doubled in area during 1962. The -company turns out 40 to 50 yachts a year, selling from $7,000 to $70,000 -each. Mr. Newton and his son are the only Americans in the company; all -of their 300 workmen are Chinese. - -Mr. Newton’s basic assumption was that he could produce a sailboat, -modified luxury junk, motor sailer, or power cruiser to the finest -design specifications, ship it to the United States as deck cargo on a -freighter, and still undersell American boat-builders by a fair margin. -The idea appears to be sound. His yard crew is working on 30 boats at a -time and expects to raise its annual output to 80 or 100 boats a year -when the enlarged shed has been completed. - -Wood for his boats comes from many countries—Sitka spruce, for spars, -from the American Northwest; teak from Thailand; and other hardwoods from -Borneo and mahogany planking from the Philippines. Engines and fittings -come from the United States. The largest of his boats to date is a -59-foot motor sailer, and all are built to the specifications of American -marine designers and architects such as Sparkman & Stephens, Inc. of New -York, and William Lapworth of Los Angeles. It takes six to eight months -to finish most boats. - -One problem he has, Mr. Newton explains, is training Chinese workmen to -use power tools. Ten years ago power equipment was a great rarity in the -colony; now American Marine has 50 electric drills, planers, bandsaws and -a bolt-threader. Some of his workmen had never seen a power tool before -they were trained to use them at the boatyard. Whitney Newton’s ability -to speak Cantonese is helpful, but the instructor has to proceed with the -utmost caution in introducing a greenhorn to a bandsaw. - -American Marine builds a few modified junks, using American equipment -and finishing them like yachts. The three masts of the typical Chinese -junk are retained, but the rigging is simplified and the usual ponderous -rudder is greatly reduced in size. They sell for $10,000 or more. The -Newtons built one for Don the Beachcomber, Hollywood restaurant owner. -Americans are often infatuated with the romantic outline of a large -working junk, but they would soon go aground trying to handle its -complicated sails. - -American Marine follows the Chinese practice of paying one month’s -bonus to its workers at the New Year. Trucks carry the men to and from -work. A barracks and mess hall accommodate those who live at the yard. -The hamlet of Hang Hau, half-destroyed by fire years ago and still in -ruins, was American Marine’s only neighbor in 1958. Now there is a mill -for cold-rolled steel and a ship-breaking shop, with the light-colored -buildings of Haven of Hope Sanatorium arrayed along the hills of the -opposite shore. - -Mandarin Textiles, Ltd., best known in the United States for its Dynasty -line of high-styled women’s apparel, is also directed by an American, -Linden E. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, who served with the U.S. armed forces -in China during World War II, stayed on to become a Shanghai textile -executive. When the Reds drove him out of China, he came to Hong Kong -and founded Mandarin with a Chinese partner who was murdered by a -fellow-Chinese in 1957. Mr. Johnson kept the business going, completed an -eight-story plant in Kowloon, near Kai Tak, in 1958, and expanded it into -one of the colony’s finest tailoring and designing houses. - -Mandarin, which makes the Empire line in cottons in addition to the -Dynasty silks and brocades, employs up to 1,300 workers. It provides a -recreation room, catered meals and classes in English for its work force. -Most of its permanent staff are highly skilled people, like the young -sewing-machine operator who stitches intricate rose and tea-leaf designs -on quilted fabrics at high speed, working from memory with unerring -accuracy. The cutters, tailors, and pressers are advanced craftsmen, -trained by long apprenticeship. - -Mandarin introduces about fifteen new silk and brocade patterns each -year, originated by its own designer, Doris Saunders, with such names -as Cherry Blossom, Ivory Blue, Sing Song and Garland. Its stockroom -carries nearly 500 patterns, including as many as eight different color -variations on a single pattern. Wives of visiting VIPs often tend to go -haywire when exposed to this exciting inventory, and have had to be led -or dragged away from the shelves. Most of the brocades are woven by the -Fou Wah mills in Tsuen Wan. Finished garments are packed in waterproof -paper and special shipping boxes and sent to the U.S. by air express or -sea freight. - -Mandarin keeps its finger on the high-fashion pulse through its Dynasty -Salon in the colony’s Hotel Peninsula, but it also cagily remains in -touch with a wider and less sophisticated market by noting what the -American sailors buy at its servicemen’s outlet in Wanchai, where the -fleet comes in. - -Textiles have become the largest single factor in the colony’s economy. -Textile exports totaled $273.5 million in 1960, or 55 percent of the -colony’s entire domestic exports. In 1961, textiles constituted 52 -percent of all exports. The industry employs 42 percent of all the -workers in registered and recorded industries. It has a capacity of -614,000 spindles and 18,700 looms. - -All this is cause for rejoicing in Hong Kong textile circles, but to -textile producers in England, the United States and Canada, it is a -problem that becomes greater all the time. The United States absorbed 31 -percent of the colony’s textile exports in 1960, and the British Isles -were a close second with 26 percent. Textile exports to the United -States took a sharp drop in 1961, while those to the British Isles showed -only a slight decline. - -There was much concern among Lancashire mill-owners when Hong Kong -cottons began to hit the English market. American textile producers -and textile union leaders joined in a protest that was echoed with -lesser volume by the Canadian textile industry. In all three countries, -textile men declared that if they had to compete with Hong Kong’s low -wage-scales, they would be driven to the wall. - -American textile producers have their own special complaints against the -Hong Kong industry. They point out that because of the existing price -differential, Hong Kong can buy U.S. cotton at 8½ cents less per pound -than American mills can, and that the colony has been stocking up heavily -on it. In 1960, Hong Kong imported 55 percent of its raw cotton from -the United States. The U.S. textile men say that while Japan’s textile -exports have been held down by a five-year quota limitation, Hong Kong -has rushed in to sell America the items that Japan agreed not to sell. - -The demand for restrictions on colony textile exports to the United -States began in 1958. United States officials visited the colony in 1959 -with a proposal for a voluntary cut in the exports. The Hong Kong garment -manufacturers proposed a three-year quota arrangement, starting in July, -1960, to hold exports to the 1959 level, plus 15 percent on cotton -blouses and blouse sets, shorts and trousers, sport shirts, brassieres -and pajamas. American textile producers immediately rejected the proposal -as far too generous to Hong Kong competitors. - -During the negotiations, American importers placed huge orders with Hong -Kong to get in ahead of the threatened limitations. When the agreement -blew up, they found an interesting variety of reasons why they couldn’t -accept most of what they had ordered, such as late deliveries, and -unsatisfactory quality. Exports to the U.S. dropped and the decline -persisted into 1961. - -In May, 1961, President Kennedy proposed an international textile -conference to work out some agreeable way to control textile exports. -The United States then suggested that Hong Kong cut its textile exports -at least 30 percent below the levels of 1960. But the word “quota” had -assumed a fearsome aspect in Hong Kong because of a textile agreement -involving the colony, England, India and Pakistan. Hong Kong had agreed -to limit its exports to the British Isles, provided that Pakistan and -India would do the same. In 1961, the Hong Kong industry began to suspect -that India and Pakistan might jump the traces, leaving the colony -interests holding the bag. - -A large section of the Hong Kong press is rabidly pro-textile industry, -and every American move toward textile controls is headlined as a thrust -at the heart of the colony’s principal industry. Communist papers shoved -their way into the act by crying that American restrictions would starve -the refugee workers who left the People’s Republic of China to escape -that very fate. - -After the July 1961 International Textile Conference at Geneva, the Hong -Kong government, following long bilateral discussions with the U.S., -agreed to limit its exports according to the Geneva Textile Agreement, -with July 1960-June 1961 as the base year, and dividing the affected -export items into 64 different categories. Starting date of the agreement -was October 1, 1961. - -Meanwhile, the United States Tariff Commission began to study the -8½-cents-a-pound cotton export differential at the direction of President -Kennedy. Genuinely alarmed, Hong Kong business groups hired Dean -Acheson, lawyer and former American Secretary of State, to represent them -before the Commission and help to retain the price differential. - -The textile volcano erupted again in March, 1962, when the colony -government, acting under the one-year agreement that went into effect -the previous October, banned eight categories of textile exports to the -United States. The Hong Kong _Tiger Standard_, clamorous advocate of the -textile interests, excoriated the move as a prelude to economic ruin. -Pandemonium ran through the industry. The government ban was lifted -almost immediately. Prospects of a peaceful solution seemed as poor as -ever. - -On September 6, 1962, the U.S. Tariff Commission voted to retain the -8½-cent export differential and rejected a proposal to raise the duty on -cotton imports. This action coaxed the Hong Kong manufacturers out of -their sulks, but it sent the American textile-makers into a fresh tantrum. - -Hong Kong’s motion picture industry is one of the world’s most prolific, -and least-known, producers of feature films. More than 300 feature-length -pictures were made in 1961 by its six major studios and scores of -independent producers who rented working space from the big studios. All -were in Cantonese or Mandarin, aimed at the Overseas Chinese market in -Taiwan, the Philippines, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Mandarin features -are generally based on heroic or historical themes, with rich costuming -and elaborate sets; each one takes 35 to 40 days of shooting and costs -around $40,000. A few Mandarin films have contemporary stories. Cantonese -films, usually drawing on time-tested plots from Cantonese opera, can be -run off in 10 or 15 days for less than $20,000 and are more popular than -Mandarin with the Hong Kong fans. - -As might be guessed from their shooting schedule, many of these quickies -are rubbish. But the quality of the Mandarin films has improved, and a -few super-productions costing as much as $175,000 are made every year. -Hong Kong films have won top honors at the East Asian Film Festival for -the last four years. - -The Shaw Brothers, Run Run Shaw and Run Me Shaw, bill themselves with -typical cinematic restraint as The Greatest Purveyors of Entertainment in -the Far East, and are the kings of the local industry. Late in 1961 they -moved their Hong Kong organization into a modern and elaborate studio at -Clearwater Bay in the New Territories. Its four sound stages were to be -increased to six within a few months, and its employed force numbered -several hundred, plus an equal number of low-paid extras. - -Lin Dai, twenty-six-year-old beauty and box-office queen of the Shaw -Brothers studio, took the 1961 best-actress Golden Harvest Award. As the -highest-paid star, she earned $42,000 annually on a three-picture-a-year -contract. A singer, actress and dancer, she is stunning by any standards, -East or West, and the studio plans to release some of her best films in -the American art-theater circuit. Thus far, their American audience has -been restricted to Chinese-American viewers. - -The Shaws, who also own studios in Malaya and a chain of 120 theaters in -Southeast Asia, began operations in Hong Kong three years after Grandview -Film Co. founded the local industry in 1933. After a slow start, the -industry boomed in the early 1950s, overexpanded and crashed, leaving -only four companies in the field by 1956. Pro-Nationalist studios such as -Shaw Brothers have no market in Red China, but there are a number of Hong -Kong film-makers who have a pro-Communist slant. Shaw’s new studio can -produce wide-screen pictures, overcoming one of the handicaps that has -limited the growth of the industry in the colony. Generally speaking, -there is still plenty of room for technical and artistic improvement. - -The 1961 Hong Kong census reported a total of 337,000 women in all -the employed forces, yet women have played a disproportionately small -part in the direction of industry and public affairs until the last -twenty years or so. It is not surprising that Chinese women were -excluded from public life, since they had few rights outside their -homes until the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1911. But -British women, presumably well-educated and qualified to take executive -responsibilities, found few opportunities to do so. The fact that Queen -Victoria ruled the colony for the first sixty years of its existence -should have helped, but it didn’t. What influence women had was unseen, -and was exerted through their husbands or other men. - -Even today there is not one woman in the top echelon of Hong Kong -government, although women constitute about one-twelfth of the -government’s Class I and II administrative staff officers (more than a -third of these women are Chinese). - -In nongovernmental posts, there are about ten women conducting their own -retail shops, chiefly in fashions, jewelry and objets d’art. Rosalind -Henwood, an American, heads an air freight forwarding business. - -There are about a dozen women of prominence in writing, advertising and -publicity. Two of them, Mrs. Beatrice M. Church and Miss Elma Kelly, -direct their own advertising and publicity agencies. Mrs. Church, a -former Far Eastern correspondent for the _London Daily Mail_, survived -Japanese air attacks and ship-sinkings during World War II, served in the -SWANS, a women’s service affiliated with the British Navy, and returned -to Hong Kong to reestablish the pioneering advertising and publicity -firm she had founded with her husband, Captain Charles Church. Captain -Church, his health shattered by Japanese tortures during imprisonment -at Singapore, died of the effects of his injuries in 1950. Mrs. Church -assumed sole control of the business, the Advertising and Publicity -Bureau, and has successfully operated it since then. Miss Kelly, a native -of Melbourne, Australia, began her career as an analytical chemist. -She also was a Japanese war prisoner before setting up her own agency, -Cathay, Ltd., in Hong Kong. - -There are about 20 women executives and administrators in private -or semipublic health and welfare agencies. Women staff officers in -government health and welfare work number approximately 150—by far the -largest group of women in civil-service staff posts. The colony has a -small number of women doctors, educators and lawyers, plus one architect, -but most women professionals in these fields are government officers. - -Women employed in art or cultural activities total about fifteen, -including several Chinese movie actresses. Miss Aileen Woods, a colony -resident for nearly forty years, is widely known for her Down Memory -Lane program over Radio Hong Kong, which she conducted from 1947 to -1954. A Japanese prisoner in Hong Kong during the war, she subsisted on -a semistarvation diet of rice, fish and boiled sweet-potato leaves; her -weight fell to 81 pounds and many of her fellow prisoners died. Miss -Woods, now seventy-five years old and in excellent health, was honored by -a personal visit from Princess Alexandra of Kent during the Princess’s -tour of Hong Kong in November, 1961. She was awarded the Coronation Medal -in 1953, and the Member of the British Empire in 1958. She still does -occasional programs for Radio Hong Kong, a government agency, and is -regarded as the unofficial dean of the colony’s working women, having -begun her career as a world-touring featured dancer in the _Ziegfeld -Follies_ and other shows more than fifty years ago. - -In private business and professional activities, as in government staff -positions, about one-third of the colony’s career women are Chinese, and -both groups of women have achieved much greater prestige and success than -any previous generation of the colony’s women. Among the Tanka fishing -people of Hong Kong, women own most of the fishing junks. On Po Toi, a -small island southeast of Hong Kong Island, a Chinese woman, who died in -1957, held the rank of village elder; as such, she was the arbiter of all -local disputes, having an authority rarely given to women. Many women -in the colony hope that the lady from Po Toi will become a trend-setter -instead of a legend. - -What are the prospects for Hong Kong industry and trade? Among the -many persons who have weighed these prospects are three of the most -influential men in the commercial life of the colony: Hugh Barton, -chairman and managing director of Jardine, Matheson & Co.; Sir Michael -Turner, chairman, general manager and a director of the Hongkong & -Shanghai Banking Corp.; and John L. Marden, chairman of Wheelock, Marden -& Co. A listing of their combined directorships would fill two closely -printed pages, and it would be only a mild exaggeration to say that -they and the companies they head are in everything of a business nature -in the colony. Each man also holds an important position in the colony -government; Sir Michael as an unofficial member of the Executive Council, -Mr. Barton as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, and Mr. -Marden with unofficial membership in the Urban Council. - -Mr. Barton heads one of the oldest and most respected business houses -in Hong Kong, with financial or operational control of companies in such -diverse lines as real estate, shipping, wharves, warehousing, insurance, -utilities, textiles, transport, engineering, airlines and trading. -Jardine’s, as it is commonly called, was deeply engaged in the opium -trade during the colony’s early years, but has long since turned to other -interests. - -One of its recent investments, the Jardine Dyeing & Finishing Co., -was established two years ago and now produces two million yards of -high-quality cloth per month. - -Barton believes that if the United States drops the 8½-cents-a-pound -cotton export differential, most of the cloth produced in Hong Kong will -not be able to compete in the world market. Of the 500 million yards -of cloth produced annually by Hong Kong, a relatively small amount is -exported to the United States. - -However, Barton feels, removal of the 8½-cent differential would cripple -the local industry’s efforts to produce its cloth cheaply enough to -compete in the markets of Southeast Asia and elsewhere. - -“Many people urge the textile industry to accept tight controls of its -exports, or they want our textile producers to diversify by going into -new industries,” he says. “But the imposition of such controls doesn’t -fit the character of Hong Kong, which has prospered because it is a free -port with a minimum of controls. - -“Of course it is easy to advise diversification, but what about the -Shanghai textile industrialists who spent a lifetime becoming experts in -the business? The Hong Kong textile industry is built on that knowledge, -and it can’t be reconverted to some other industry overnight,” Barton -states. - -He feels that some degree of diversification is certainly desirable, but -that Hong Kong cannot afford to drop its textile industry. - -“There is a fresh Indonesian market for low-grade textiles produced -here,” he says. “And there are many good markets for Hong Kong’s made-up -cloth.” - -He points out that local industry in many lines was hit by a 1961 -substantial rise in shipping costs and port charges. In turn, the -shipping industry has taken a loss from the invasion of the dry-cargo -field by the super-tankers originally built to ship oil. Freighters, -tramp steamers, and ocean liners have all experienced a drop-off in -profits because of this invasion, he declares. Many new nations, partly -influenced by national pride and prestige, have launched their own -shipping lines, further crowding and depressing the profit margins of -existing lines. - -“Industrial production and tourism are our two lungs,” Barton says of -Hong Kong’s economy. “We not only have to maintain our present employment -levels; we must also find jobs for thousands and thousands of young -people in the next few years.” - -He cites one of the major discoveries of the 1961 census—that 40.8 -percent of the total population of Hong Kong is under fifteen years of -age—as evidence of the coming demand for new jobs. - -Accustomed to economic upheavals, Jardine’s has adapted itself to changed -conditions by investing in growth industries, and by developing new -industrial sites at Tsuen Wan, Kwun Tong and West Point. It is selling -some of its land holdings to finance a six-year modernization of the -wharf operations of the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf & Godown Co. Its new -international ship terminal in Kowloon, costing $7 to $8 million, will -include a pier 1,200 feet long, and will have car parks, shopping areas -and a bowling alley. - -Sir Michael Turner, head of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, emphasizes that -local industries, confronted with restrictions in their export markets, -must seek new markets for their output. - -“Our land and labor costs are rising,” Sir Michael says. “But we must be -able to compete with Japan, Formosa, and ultimately, Red China. Red China -can ignore costs and flood our markets, as they did previously in shoes -and textiles.” - -Sir Michael has a limited faith in the doctrine that the colony’s market -problems can be solved by diversification of its industries. - -“Even diversification means that we’ll encounter resistance in the new -lines we enter.” He believes that the colony’s industries must maintain -quality and raise it where possible, rather than lowering standards to -compete with inferior products. - -He says that Hong Kong has attracted investment capital from all over -Southeast Asia because of its exceptional political stability, and -because local industry was not disrupted by union work-stoppages. He -cites the traditional Chinese dislike of regulation and regimentation as -a factor inhibiting the expansion of union power. - -“The shortage of land and water is still our greatest limitation,” Sir -Michael says. “Land development is very costly, and although the builder -of an apartment house may recover his costs in one year, that is not -possible in the construction of factories.” - -He notes that the colony has a serious problem of “under-employment,” -rather than unemployment. He adds that the colony’s predominantly young -population would necessitate a sharp increase in government spending for -schools and hospitals. Like Mr. Barton, he recognizes that thousands of -additional jobs must be ready for young people when they begin moving -into the employment market. - -He regards the preservation of Imperial Preference as vital to the colony -in meeting Japanese competition, but he believes that Hong Kong will not -be injured by the European Common Market if the colony’s economic needs -are recognized in the agreement. - -Although the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank is commonly viewed as the -incarnation of everything British, its founders included an American, -two Parsees, two Germans and an Ottoman Jew. For many years it has been -a leader in employing and training Portuguese office workers, accepting -them on individual merit instead of drawing a rigidly British line. The -bank celebrates its centennial in 1964. - -John L. Marden is the chief executive of a company which dates from 1933 -under its present title, but has corporate origins going back to the -opening of the China trade. The Wheelock Marden companies have interests -in shipping, shipbuilding, textiles, finance, aviation, land, insurance, -merchandising and many other lines. - -Among Hong Kong’s industrial assets, Mr. Marden lists its freedom from -controls, its political stability, its low income tax on individuals and -corporations and its resistance to inflation. - -It is his conviction that Hong Kong industry should concentrate on -quality products, and those which require a high labor content. He cites -transistor radios of the less complicated type as an example of the -colony’s high-labor products. - -“I think we should emphasize that there is something more at stake than -profits,” Marden says. “The colony is seeking to create 300,000 new jobs -for the young people who will be coming on the job market soon; if we can -do this without appealing for outside aid, then we’ve made a contribution -to the economy of the entire free world.” - -In the past, he believes, colony industries just took orders as they -came. Now, in his opinion, the industries must develop their own -marketing facilities to discover what products are needed, and then work -to meet these needs. He feels that there must be greater diversification -if Hong Kong is to hold its place in the industrial world. - -These three men, like practically every leader in its industrial and -political community, are acutely conscious of the many hazards that Hong -Kong faces. - -And not one of them acts or speaks as though he were not solidly -confident that Hong Kong will overcome its handicaps and external dangers -and go on to greater prosperity. - - - - -CHAPTER FIVE - -High Land, Low Water - - “It is unfortunate that the space between the foot of the - mountains and the edge of the sea is so very limited.”—HALL & - BERNARD, _The Nemesis in China_, 1847 - - -Hong Kong has always had more land and water than it could use, because -most of the land is a hilly waste and most of the water is salty. - -From the first years of the colony until today, the persisting shortage -of usable land and fresh water has confronted every governor with a -problem that he could neither solve nor ignore. They have all wrestled -with it, none more vigorously than the governors of the last fifteen -years, and the problem has become more costly, complex and acute than -ever. - -In any community, land and water problems are related to each other; -in the peculiar circumstances of Hong Kong’s climate, geography and -population, they intersect at more points than Laocoön and the serpents. - -Consider the governor’s alternatives: If he stores the entire run-off of -the summer rainy season in the reservoirs it will barely meet the minimum -needs of the urban millions on Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, and it will -cause the withering of the crops of farmers in the New Territories during -the winter dry season. If he cuts the city supply, how can he meet the -ever-increasing needs of the new industrial centers, like Tsuen Wan and -Kwun Tong, that the government is building on land reclaimed from the sea? - -The if’s are endless: If he stops the reclamation program to reduce -the demand for more water, real estate costs will climb so fast that -local industries will price themselves out of the export market. If he -builds all the reservoirs the colony needs, who will pay for them? If he -doesn’t, how can the fast-growing population of the colony survive? If -the reservoirs displace more farmers, who will raise the food? - -The present disposition of the colony government is to provide as much -additional land and water as it can, and let the if’s fall where they -may. To that end, it has spent about $60 million on reclamation and -$55 million to increase its water supply since World War II. Over the -next decade, its further expenditures in these two areas may reach $300 -million. Many projects have not yet been authorized, but much of the -preliminary surveying has been done. With the need for them becoming more -imperative as the colony’s population continues to increase, it is not so -much a question of if as of when. - -Allocation of several hundred million dollars to correct deficiencies -of the topography is none too large for the job that must be done. When -one has noted that Hong Kong has a sheltered deep-water harbor (probably -the bed of an old river that flowed from west to east), that one-seventh -of its land is arable, and that its mines and quarries yield a modest -amount of iron ore, building stone, kaolin clay, graphite, lead, wolfram -and a few other minerals, one has exhausted the list of its terrestrial -assets. Its liabilities are unlimited. - -Three broken lines of perpendicular hills cut across the colony from -northeast to southwest, with irregular spurs branching off haphazardly; -two dozen peaks poke up from 1,000 to 3,140 feet. Eighty percent of the -surface is either too steep for roads or buildings, too barren to grow -anything but wiry grass or scrub, too swampy to walk through or so hacked -up by erosion that it is worthless and an eyesore. The rest, except for -farmland, is either in forest or packed with people in numbers ranging -from 1,800 to 2,800 an acre. Rivers tumble from the high hills in all -directions, but they are short and unreliable, mostly summer torrents and -winter trickles. - -Hong Kong’s weather is impartially disrespectful toward annual averages, -periodic tables and the population. Rainfall averages about 85 inches a -year, with the rainy season extending from April through September. There -have been long summer droughts and ruinous winter floods. On July 19, -1926, it rained nearly 4 inches in one hour and 21 inches in 24 hours. - -Prevailing winds blow from the east in every month but June, and the -colony’s fishing settlements have been located to protect them from it. -The protection avails nothing against typhoons, which usually form in the -Caroline Islands, curve northwards over the Philippines and hit Hong Kong -from all angles, principally during the June to October season, though -there is no month which has not had at least one of them. Four out of -five bypass the colony, but the fifth may inflict devastation on ships, -boats and shoreline villages. It never snows and freezing temperatures -are extremely rare, yet the high, year-round humidity can put a raw edge -on cool wintry days and make summer clothing stickily uncomfortable. -Except for flat farmland in the northwestern New Territories, topsoil is -thin, highly acid and leaches badly during the rainy season. - -This chronicle of drawbacks only tends to revive the question every -British administrator since 1841 must have asked himself: Why did we ever -settle this hump-backed wasteland? They have answered the question by a -dogged and unremitting effort to make it a habitable place. - -The first English traders had scarcely settled along the north shore of -Hong Kong Island when it became evident that there was a shortage of -suitable land. The slopes of Mt. Gough and Victoria Peak rose steeply -behind Queen’s Road, the only street along the shore. Holders of -waterfront lots on the road extended them toward the harbor pretty much -at random, giving them more level land but creating a jagged shoreline -unprotected by any seawall. Several governors sought to build a straight -and solid seawall, but the lot-holders balked at paying its cost. - -Two poorly constructed seawalls, erected in piecemeal fashion, were -wrecked by typhoons before the government was able to push through a -unified seawall and reclamation scheme. By 1904, a massive seawall -stretched along the island front for two miles, and Queen’s Road stood -two blocks inland from the harbor. Most of the colony’s principal office -buildings have been built on this reclaimed land. - -Once the value of reclamation had been proved, the whole northern shore -of the island was gradually faced with a seawall. Much of the Wanchai -district rose from the sea in the 1920s and its new-found land was soon -covered with tenements or bars and cabarets catering to the sailors’ -trade. Swamps became solid ground and promontories were swallowed up by -the seven-mile-long reclamation. - -Starting in 1867, a succession of seawall and land-fill projects altered -the size and shape of the Kowloon Peninsula. - -By the time of the Japanese invasion, a total of 1,425 acres, or more -than two square miles, had been reclaimed. The gain was twofold, for it -not only added level land, it absorbed all the fill from sites where -obstructing hills had been cut down to make existing ground usable. - -The foundation of the colony’s tourist industry and air cargo business -rests on land reclaimed from Kowloon Bay and converted into an -international airport. Its name and its origin go back to 1918, when two -real estate promoters, Sir Kai Ho Kai and Au Tak, organized the Kai Tak -Land Development Co. to create building sites by filling in the northern -end of Kowloon Bay. Homesites and an 800-foot-long airstrip were in use -on the land by 1924, with Fowler’s Flying School the first aviation -tenant. Government took it over in 1930, improving and enlarging it in -preparation for the first international flight, an Imperial Airways’ -weekly service to Penang started March 24, 1936, linking with the main -route between England and Australia. Four other international airlines, -including Pan American and Air France, joined the formation before the -Japanese seized the field in 1941. The Japanese extended its area and -built two concrete runways, but its buildings were bombed into rubble -before the war ended. - -Restored to full operations in 1947, Kai Tak handled the strangest -one-way traffic boom in its history. In one month of 1949, 41,000 -passengers were flown in from China to escape the advancing Communist -armies. Mainland service ended a year later, and traffic declined to -one-third of its former volume. The field itself, penned in by rocky -peaks, had reached the limits of its development, and the largest -four-engined ships were rapidly outgrowing it. For jets, it would be a -cow pasture at the bottom of a canyon. - -The Department of Civil Aviation, after concluding that nothing further -could be done to expand the existing field, began casting around for -alternate sites. Fourteen of them, including Stonecutters Island and -Stanley Bay, were ruled out for excessive cost, inaccessibility, or risky -topography before the experts decided to put the airport right next to -the old one, on a strip of land that didn’t then exist. - -The government put up the money and the job of building a promontory -7,800 feet long and 800 feet wide that would point directly into Kowloon -Bay began in 1956. A few hills would have to be knocked down to clear the -approaches, but disposal of the dirt would be simple, since 20 million -cubic yards of fill were needed to build the promontory. The new airport -runway was to have a length of 8,350 feet, extending the full length of -the reclaimed strip and well beyond its landward end. - -Three thousand laborers, most of them hauling dirt by hand, worked nearly -three years to lay down the man-made peninsula. Although it was near -the old airport, it overcame the earlier field’s approach limitations -by being pointed straight at the 1,500-foot-wide harbor entrance of Lei -Yue Mun, and at the opposite end, having the Kowloon hills truncated to -permit another clear shot at the runway, depending on which direction -best fitted weather conditions. - -The new runway went into use in 1958, with the completion of the terminal -coming several years later. Temporary terminal buildings bulged with -incoming tourists, but they were moved through these buildings fairly -well. Most colony residents are hardly aware of the arrival and departure -of the huge jets, though they shake the earth with their thunder as -they pass over Kowloon. Kai Tak has become a full 24-hour airport. Its -200-foot-wide runway is stressed to take a maximum plane weight of -400,000 pounds, well above the limit of the heaviest airliners. From the -air it looks like a super-highway lost at sea. - -[Illustration: North from Victoria Peak. The colony government and main -business section are chiefly based on Hong Kong Island, foreground. -Kowloon Peninsula and the long runway of Kai Tak Airport lie at top -center. The New Territories start with the mountains in the background, -extend north to the Red China border. Hong Kong is one of the busiest -seaports in the world.] - -[Illustration: Hong Kong in a hurry. Queens Road Central, in the colony’s -commercial center, swarms with pedestrians in a typical noon-hour rush.] - -[Illustration: A Chinese funeral procession. Chief mourners ride in a -rickshaw. Street bands, drummers, and cymbal players march with them. -Firecrackers are exploded along the way to dispel evil spirits.] - -[Illustration: Many picturesque laddered streets, such as the one above, -climb the slopes of Victoria Peak in the heavily populated Western -District of Hong Kong Island. Passable only by foot or in sedan chair, -they also serve as playgrounds for children and runs for dogs, cats, and -chickens.] - -[Illustration: Night view of Government House, executive mansion of Hong -Kong’s British Governor. Behind it are Victoria Peak and tiers of fine -apartment buildings.] - -[Illustration: Billy Tingle, the colony’s best known athletic instructor, -demonstrates the game of cricket to young pupils at the Hong Kong Cricket -Club.] - -[Illustration: In contrast to Hong Kong’s many fashionable and modern -houses and apartment buildings, thousands of tightly packed boats serve -as floating homes in the mud flats of Aberdeen, on Hong Kong Island. -Periodically they are damaged or destroyed by typhoon.] - -[Illustration: Bearded monsters like the one above adorn the prow of -rowing shells which participate in Hong Kong’s annual Dragon Boat -Festival races, part of a colorful religious observance held annually in -the late spring.] - -[Illustration: Workmen unload 800-pound hampers of vegetables from Red -China at Lo Wu, where a railroad bridge crosses the Sham Chun River on -the Hong Kong-China border. The Communist flag flies above guard post at -the right.] - -[Illustration: A marine police inspector at Hong Kong hauls in a -water-logged sampan used by six refugees in their escape from Red China. -They spent three nights and two days in the leaky craft before a fishing -junk picked them up near Lantau Island. Because of the overwhelming -number of refugees arriving in Hong Kong police were forced to return the -six to Red China.] - -[Illustration: This Hong Kong heroin addict has been reduced to near -starvation by his craving for the drug. Drug addiction in the colony is -closely related to crime and poor living conditions.] - -[Illustration: A hollowed-out wooden doll found in the home of a dope -smuggler. The heroin cache, covered with a closely fitted lid, was -difficult to detect.] - -[Illustration: Girls at work in the vast spinning room of the South Sea -Textile Manufacturing Co. at Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, one of the world’s -most modern textile mills.] - -[Illustration: By contrast, a woman uses a primitive wooden plow to till -a rice field in the New Territories, where power equipment is too large -and too costly for the tiny farms.] - -[Illustration: A carpenter at a Shau Kei Wan shipyard on Hong Kong Island -uses an ancient bow type of drill in building a Chinese junk.] - -[Illustration: At another yard in Shau Kei Wan, a workman employs a -portable electric power drill. Primitive and modern tools often are used -side-by-side in the changing and expanding Hong Kong boat industry.] - -[Illustration: A young refugee Chinese girl paints artificial birds at -the China Refugee Development Organization factory in Kowloon, where -about 40,000 of these wire paper and cotton birds are produced every -month for sale overseas.] - -[Illustration: A welfare pioneer, Gus Borgeest established a farm colony -on desolate Sunshine Island, Hong Kong, to teach refugees how to raise -crops on marginal land. With him is his wife, Mona, and Ruth, one of -their daughters.] - -[Illustration: A freighter moored to a Hong Kong harbor buoy off-loads -its cargo into junks and lighters. There most cargo is handled in this -way, rather than by transferring it directly to piers.] - -[Illustration: Fishing junks sail along Tolo Channel, one of the -deep-water inlets in the Eastern New Territories of Hong Kong. The bleak -hills are characteristic of the colony’s predominately rocky, barren -terrain.] - -[Illustration: Refugees from Red China collect tin, tar paper, scrap -lumber and sacking for use in making their flimsy shelters. Multi-story -concrete resettlement developments are gradually replacing such shacks in -Hong Kong.] - -Opening of the new Kai Tak Airport brought the colony an additional gain -by freeing 70 acres of the old field for industrial development. - -Less than half a mile from the seaward end of Kai Tak, the first new town -in the government’s history is being built—Kwun Tong, an industrial, -commercial and residential area along the northeastern shore of Kowloon -Bay. A ten-year project of large extent, it required the removal of a -whole range of hills. The spoil was then hauled to the bay and dumped -behind a protecting seawall 2,477 feet long. The leveled hills and the -land reclaimed from the sea will provide a 514-acre site, close to a -square mile, for an industrial center whose population is expected to -reach 300,000 within a few years. - -Digging and filling began in 1955 and have proceeded with such speed that -today, in order to get a panoramic view of the project, one has to go to -a hill three quarters of a mile back from the seawall. Block after block -of multi-storied factories stretch along the sea front, approximately -eighty of them, several blocks deep in the industrial zone between the -seawall and Kwun Tong Road, which cuts directly across the town. On the -landward side of Kwun Tong Road, the commercial and recreational zones -are beginning to take shape; behind them, the long files of resettlement -estates housing 60,000 persons and various government-aided housing for -another 15,000. Privately built houses are also being developed. - -Kwun Tong has all the noisy, dusty confusion of any construction job in -progress, but there are already 15,000 people working in its completed -factories, making cotton yarn, furniture, garments, and other products. -Most of the factories are humming and a few betray signs of hasty -organization. One plant spent two years tinkering with stop-gap orders -for simple novelties while its management tried to find some profitable -use for a million dollars’ worth of fine machinery standing idle under -its roof. - -Kwun Tong will never be a beauty spot because its main function is -industrial. Nearly half its total area will be reserved for homes and -commercial use, however. Proceeds from land sales are expected to repay -the government for its $17 million investment in Kwun Tong. - -Tsuen Wan, a second industrial town about eight miles northwest of Kwun -Tong in the New Territories, has reclaimed around 70 acres from the sea. -Gin Drinkers’ Bay, an adjoining inlet used for ship-breaking, is being -filled in to provide 400 more acres of industrial sites. No one knows -the origin of its name but it no longer matters; this glass will soon -be filled with earth. When completed, Tsuen Wan will be a town of about -175,000 people. - -Specialized reclamation projects have been pushed ahead at many other -spots. At North Point, on Hong Kong Island, 12,000 people live in tall -apartments built on recently reclaimed land. The new City Hall opened in -1962 on reclaimed waterfront land in the Central District. Five blocks -of the central waterfront, just west of the reclaimed land on which the -Star Ferry’s Hong Kong Island terminal sits, are being extended several -hundred feet into the harbor for more building sites. - -The principal land-fill operations have been restricted to the island -and Kowloon Bay, except for Tseun Wan. The limitation has been human, -rather than geographic; most urban workers can’t afford to travel to -outlying locations and they don’t want to anyway. They plainly prefer the -excitement, gossip and sociability of the crowded cities. - -Nevertheless, central reclamation possibilities are running out, unless -the government proposes to pave its entire harbor. As a more likely -alternative, it sent engineers out in 1957 to study reclamation sites -in the bays and shallow inlets of the New Territories. Five have been -tentatively chosen that could be developed to create 3,000 more acres -of land. The cost would come to more than $83 million, so there’s no -eagerness to tackle the project at once. - -The never-ending task of providing more land for the colony’s growing -population would be meaningless without the assurance of an adequate -water supply. At this stage in the colony’s development, even when the -work of increasing the water supply is proceeding on a scale no previous -generation would have attempted, the builders and planners are not -deluding themselves. They know that when they have completed the last -unit of the reservoir system under construction, the needs of the colony -will probably have outstripped its capacity. There were times in the past -when some optimistic governor, presiding at the opening of a new dam or -reservoir, fancied that the problem had been met. The next drought was -sufficient to knock his hopeful predictions into a cocked hat. - -Hong Kong has never been inclined to waste water. On the rare occasions -when its people had a full supply, as in certain periods of 1958 and -1959, its maximum average consumption ran to about 88 million gallons a -day for nearly 3,000,000 people. New York City, with just under 8,000,000 -people, consumes about 1 billion 200 million gallons a day. Because of -an unparalleled water-supply system, Americans are the world’s champion -water-wasters. An American will use 100 gallons a day, compared with 27 -gallons per person in Hong Kong, and about 50 gallons per person in Great -Britain. - -There are compelling reasons why Hong Kong residents will not waste -water. The colony, unlike New York City, cannot draw from a watershed -covering several states. Except for a relatively small amount piped in -from Red China since 1960, it has had to rely on surface water collected -entirely from its 398¼ square miles of land area, which is about -one-fourth larger than New York City. And it has to get the water while -the getting is good; during the annual five-month dry season, the surface -run-off averages only 600,000 gallons a day. - -The colony may have been mistaken from the start about its potential -water resources; even before it was established, sailing ships stopped -regularly at Hong Kong Island to draw clear, sparkling water from its -hillside springs. After the island was settled the springs soon fell -short of needs, and five wells were sunk to tap new sources of supply. -Their levels, too, sank as rapidly as the population rose. Governor -Hercules Robinson expressed his concern over the dwindling supplies by -offering $5,000 in 1859 to anyone who could design a reservoir system -adequate for 85,000 residents. S. B. Rawling, civilian clerk-of-works -for the Army Royal Engineers, took the prize with a plan to build a -2-million-gallon reservoir at Pok Fu Lam, on the slopes of Victoria Peak, -and carry the water through a ten-inch pipe to tanks above Victoria City. - -Completed in four years, Pok Fu Lam proved to be short of the need even -then, for the population had risen to 125,000. Striving to catch up, the -colony installed a much larger reservoir above Pok Fu Lam, linked it -to a pair of supplementary reservoirs, and discovered that the demand -was still in advance of supply. Before the end of the century, new -reservoirs had been added at Tai Tam and Wong Nai Chung, and the water -finally reached the eastern sections of the city. Filtration through sand -beds was also incorporated into the system. - -None of these efforts satisfied the popular needs for long. Completion -of Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir in 1917 near the southeastern end of the island -raised the storage capacity to 1 billion, 419 gallons and everyone -thought the problem was solved at last. A series of punishing droughts -killed that bright hope, and the building of the Aberdeen Reservoirs -rounded out all the parts of the island that could be drained for -storage. Two reservoirs on the Kowloon Peninsula were tied to the island -with underwater pipelines, but this was done only after a spring drought -in 1929 had dried up five of the island’s six reservoirs, making it -necessary to bring in water by ship from as far away as Shanghai. - -The rain-gathering potential of the New Territories had been exploited -by the 1930s with the construction of the Shek Li Pui and the Jubilee -Reservoirs. When the Japanese arrived, they found 13 reservoirs with a -storage capacity of 6 billion gallons. They let the mains deteriorate -during their occupation of the colony, applying their own brand of -water-rationing by cutting off all supply to entire sections of the -colony whenever they chose to. - -Following World War II, the government tried deep boring to reach -underground water resources, but this turned out to be scarcely worth -the effort. After years of surveying and study, engineers laid out the -Tai Lam Chung Reservoir System, at the central western end of the New -Territories. This called for construction of a two-section dam 2,300 -feet long and 200 feet high. This gigantic main dam, built entirely -of concrete, created a reservoir of 4 billion, 500 million gallons. -Twenty-three miles of “catchwaters,” or concrete channels to trap run-off -from the rains, funneled the surface water from 11,000 acres into the -reservoir. It took eight years to construct, being completed in 1960 at a -cost of almost $25 million. - -None of these large dams served the needs of the hundreds of small -villages in the New Territories, which still relied on wells and streams -or threw up earth dams in hilly areas to form their own miniature -reservoirs. After World War II the colony government and the Kadoorie -Agricultural Aid Association, a private philanthropic body, furnished -grants of cement to replace these crude and leaky installations with -concrete dams and concrete-lined wells, plus pipes to carry the water -into the villages. - -Rice crops in the New Territories were dependent on their own irrigation -systems, traditionally constructed of earth channels and dams. They were -laid out with evident shrewdness to cover the greatest possible area, -but the dams and channels had to be nursed along constantly to prevent -leaking and to keep them from becoming choked with weeds. The government -and the Kadoorie Association also furnished materials to replace these -systems with concrete dams and channels. Nearly 600 dams and more than -220,000 feet of channels have been improved in this way since World War -II. - -When the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir was under construction, a very delicate -balance of catchwaters and irrigation channels had to be worked out so -that the reservoir collected all the excess summer rain not required for -irrigation, but did not draw off the sparse winter rains which farmers -had to have. The farmers’ initial assumption when they saw the huge -catchwater channels passing the farms on their way to the reservoir was -that they were being robbed of water; it took considerable diplomacy and -convincing proof to allay their suspicions. - -Farmers who learned that their villages were about to be inundated by -the big reservoir were even less happy. They rejected the government’s -proposal to move them to another rural area and insisted on moving, if -move they must, to the developing industrial town of Tsuen Wan. They -received the full market price for their farm property and were resettled -in new houses at Tsuen Wan, with shop space they could rent to replace -their farming income. A few holdouts threatened to stay in their old -homes until the reservoir floated them to glory, but belatedly reversed -themselves and walked out on dry land. - -The Tai Lam Chung relocation was hardly concluded when the government -found itself involved in an even knottier problem. Continuing demands -for more water forced the construction of still another dam—Shek Pik, -on Lantau Island. This was a remote part of the colony, much larger -than Hong Kong Island, but completely without roads until 1957. A -few government people visited the island regularly, but its isolated -villages, with their square stone towers or “cannon houses,” were more -likely to regard all visitors as pirates until proved otherwise. Armed -and alert, they holed up in the towers to defend themselves against -marauders who still stage occasional raids in sparsely settled areas. - -Two villages in southwestern Lantau, Shek Pik and Fan Pui, would have -to be removed to make way for the new dam. Their people, having no -knowledge of modern technology and no need for a dam, viewed the project -with fear and hostility. The dam was not, in fact, being built for them; -its collected water was to be carried by pipeline to Hong Kong Island, -Kowloon and Peng Chau. Fan Pui, the smaller village, had to be treated -with diplomacy and compensated before its 62 people consented to move to -another rural area on the island. Inhabitants of Shek Pik elected to move -to Tsuen Wan, settling in new five-story blocks. The oldest inhabitant, -an eighty-six-year-old woman, made the transfer with full official -ceremony, her sedan chair borne by four policemen. The ancestral tablets -and household gods also made the trip on the shoulder-poles of respectful -bearers. Anything less than this diplomatic ritual would have made the -entire relocation impossible. - -Preliminary work on the Shek Pik Dam became a trail-blazing venture -into unexplored territory. A ten-mile paved road had to be built along -the edge of the sea from the sheltered harbor at Silver Mine Bay to -the future dam site. Test borings at the foot of Shek Pik Valley where -the dam was to cross disclosed that the ground was a porous mixture of -gravel, boulders, and rotten granite down to 137 feet below the surface. -Since the ground stood only 15 feet above sea level, seawater would be -able to seep into the reservoir and the fresh water in the reservoir -would escape beneath the dam, undermining it. - -If a regular concrete dam were to be built on such ground, its -foundations would have to go down at least 137 feet, a frightfully -expensive procedure. Engineers produced a reasonable alternative by using -the recently developed technique called grouting. In this process, a -mixture of water, cement, and clay is pumped into porous ground under -high pressure, sealing off the foundation without requiring excavation to -bed rock. A series of tests established that this process was feasible -for Shek Pik, and preparations to build an earth dam were made in 1958. - -The dam was to be 2,300 feet long, with a maximum height of 180 feet. It -would back up 5 billion, 400 million gallons; a third of the colony’s -total water storage. A ten-mile tunnel was to carry the water from the -treatment works near the dam to Silver Mine Bay. From there it would be -pumped under the sea in twin 30-inch-diameter pipelines to reach Hong -Kong Island, eight miles east of Lantau. Fifteen miles of catchwaters -were to drain about twelve square miles of land, aided by the fact that -rainfall on Lantau Island is generally ten percent heavier than on Hong -Kong Island and is more evenly distributed throughout the year. - -One of the tunnels was delayed for a time by a peculiarly Chinese -problem; its “fung shui” was regarded as injurious to a resident dragon. -The fung shui, a very important consideration among local people, meant -that any proposed change in the local landscape had to be undertaken -with great care. It would never do to nip off the top of a hill that was -shaped like a dragon, for that might blind the mythical beast and put a -hex on the countryside. The thing to do was to hire a fung shui expert -from a nearby village; for a suitable fee, he would propitiate the dragon -and the work of dam-building could proceed. - -In a more practical way, the engineers had to install concrete channels -and pipelines to make certain that sufficient quantities of water were -diverted to irrigate farms near the catchment area. Hillsides above the -big catchwaters had to be faced with chunam, a mixture of straw, lime, -clay and cement which keeps the hillside soil from washing into the -catchwaters and clogging them. - -By early 1962, the southwestern portion of Lantau was criss-crossed by -deep catchwaters and the earth dam was rising at the foot of the valley, -with its core of impermeable clay being made ready for a covering of -ordinary clay and dirt. Up in the mountains at the head of the valley, -Buddhist monks and nuns continued their quiet, contemplative existence -in the Po Lin Monastery, almost untouched by the dam project. Even when -a few more guests stayed overnight at the Po Lin hostel, the pattern of -prayer and work did not change. - -Construction of the dam, pipelines, tunnels, and catchwaters became an -international venture, with French, English, American, and Hong Kong -contractors sharing the work under supervision of government engineers. -The entire $40 million job is to be completed late in 1963. - -There were no claims that the completion of Shek Pik would give the -colony all the water it required. The new dam on Lantau and the water -pumped in from China would be helpful, but far short of indicated needs. - -Two factors balanced each other in planning further exploitation of the -colony’s water resources. More reservoirs of the type already in use -would displace more farmland than Hong Kong could afford to lose. But the -introduction of grouting, the foundation technique successfully employed -at Shek Pik, made it possible to consider reservoir sites which would -have seemed ridiculously unsuitable a few years earlier. And these sites, -it appeared, could be developed without invading farm areas. - -In the late 1950s, engineers of the Public Works Department and two -consulting firms directed their search for more water toward the thinly -settled scrub country of the eastern New Territories. This part of -the colony consists of two peninsulas with the irregular outline of -an ink-blot, separated by the broad, ten-mile-long Tolo Channel. Both -peninsulas are chopped into by dozens of deep bays, coves and inlets -bordered by high, rocky hills. Hundreds of inshore fishermen ply the -surrounding waters, but most of the region is too barren and mountainous -for farming. - -Survey engineers made two recommendations which startled laymen: (1) -Build a 6,600-foot-long dam across the entrance of Plover Cove, a -four-square-mile inlet from Tolo Channel, and cut it off from the sea. -(2) Build a similar but much shorter dam to seal off Hebe Haven, an inlet -about one-fourth as large as Plover Cove. When the dams were finished all -that would be necessary would be to pump the seawater out of the inlets -and let the rains fill them with fresh water. The two reservoirs would be -enough to double the storage capacity of the colony’s water-supply system. - -These basic recommendations in further discussions evolved into an -integrated scheme of tremendous size and complexity, covering the entire -eastern half of the New Territories. It included a series of service -reservoirs and pumping stations along a main pipeline extending from -the Red China border to Kowloon. These would be linked to Plover Cove -and Hebe Haven by another system of tunnels. Virtually all the surface -rains in the eastern end of the New Territories would be fed through -catchwaters into the two main reservoirs. Since Hebe Haven might collect -more summer rain than it could hold, the excess water could be conveyed -by tunnel to Plover Cove, with its much larger capacity. Even the water -brought by pipeline from Red China would be fed into the integrated -system. Three balancing reservoirs, to maintain a controlled and even -flow of water, and two large new filtration plants, to purify the water -before it made the last stage of its journey to urban consumers, were to -become part of the system. - -Many of the connecting pipelines were to be designed to convey water -in either direction, making the utmost use of storage capacity. By -these refinements of the original recommendations, the capacity of the -integrated scheme would be raised to 100 million gallons a day when it -came into full use. - -The first stage of the gigantic new system had made remarkable progress -by the early part of 1962. The Lion Rock Tunnel had already been begun by -cutting through the side of a mountain to connect the filtration plant at -Sha Tin with a pair of service reservoirs in Kowloon. The tunnel, 32 feet -in diameter, will carry three pipelines, each four feet in diameter, and -a two-lane, 24-foot-wide auto road three-fourths of a mile through Lion -Rock Mountain. Excavation work on the Lion Rock Reservoirs, with a total -capacity of 41 million gallons, had almost been completed. At the other -end of the tunnel, at the Sha Tin filtration plant and pumping station, -a hillside site as extensive as four football fields had been excavated -and the spoil was being used to fill a shallow inlet. Construction of -ten miles of tunnels and the 10-foot-high Lower Shing Mun Dam were well -advanced. - -Meanwhile, engineers were probing the soil structure at the entrance -of Plover Cove. Working from barges in 35 feet of water, they bored -down through 35 feet of soft clay, reaching to almost twice that depth -before they found impermeable clay and rock to form the foundation for -their earth-fill dam. When complete, the dam will extend 35 feet above -the water and 70 feet below it, with grouting to provide a watertight -foundation. The main section of the dam will cross the cove’s wide -entrance. Two shorter sections will close off side entrances to the cove. - -The first stage of this integrated scheme will be rounded out in 1964. -Both Hebe Haven and Plover Cove should be ready by 1970, though any -completion dates beyond 1964 are likely to be elastic. At each stage, -improvements are introduced and existing goals altered. - -In addition to these broad-scale developments, the colony has taken -immediate measures to conserve the present supply of fresh water by -making it possible to use salt water for such purposes as flushing and -fire-fighting. Since 1958, salt-water mains have been installed in four -densely populated sections of Kowloon and two on Hong Kong Island. -Fluoridation of the entire water supply began in March, 1961. - -The possibility of distillation of seawater for producing a fresh-water -supply has been examined by engineers, but thus far the outlook is -discouraging; the cost remains far too high. There is even a faint, -faraway hope that some day atomic energy may be employed to distill an -unlimited supply of fresh water from the ocean at low cost. - -If every phase of Hong Kong’s integrated scheme is in operation by -1970, its water shortage may be over. Similarly, if all the reclamation -projects now under consideration are brought to fulfillment in the next -decade, there may be enough land to meet all ordinary requirements. - -The determination of these requirements, however, will derive from the -Department of Public Works only secondarily. The primary determinant will -come from the Registry of Marriages. - -Any recent visitor to the Central Marriage Registry would appreciate the -difficulties in predicting the population of Hong Kong even five years -hence; there the walls of two long corridors are so thickly papered with -overlapping notices of marriage that not much more than the names and -occupations of the prospective couples remain visible. - -Neither land nor water is likely to become a surplus commodity in -tomorrow’s Hong Kong. - - - - -CHAPTER SIX - -A New Day for Farms and Fisheries - - “On our small and peculiar land area, it would be impossible to - reach a high order of self-sufficiency in food production.”—W. - J. BLACKIE, former Hong Kong Director of Agriculture, Fisheries - & Forestry - - -For more than a thousand years men have wrested a precarious living from -the farms and fishing grounds of the New Territories, yet they remained -outside the economic and social orbit of Hong Kong until a few months -after World War II. - -Politically, the New Territories had been part of the British crown -colony since 1898. Nevertheless, the people of this scrambled-egg land -mass and the 235 islands around it had held their interest in its British -rulers to the legal minimum. The British themselves, passing through the -New Territories on their way to the Fanling golf course or the Chinese -border, viewed the region and its people with the fixed indifference of a -New York commuter rolling over the swampy monotony of the Jersey meadows. - -This reciprocal insularity broke down at last under the pressure of -two events which have touched and twisted the lives of almost everyone -in contemporary Hong Kong: the Japanese Occupation of World War II and -the rise of Communist China. To the people of the New Territories, the -Japanese interlude was an economic disaster; denuding their forests, -depleting their livestock and impoverishing their fishing fleet. Both -the Japanese and the Communists drove thousands of refugees into the New -Territories to compete with resident farmers for scarce marginal land. -The Communists further disrupted things by closing the China market to -New Territories produce and by forcing colony fishermen to keep twelve -miles away from its coast and its islands. - -The four main Chinese groups in the New Territories, the Cantonese and -Hakka farmers, and the Hoklo and Tanka fishermen, were no more severely -shaken by all this than were the British. When the Japanese and the -Communists had done their work, the British and the urban Chinese of -Hong Kong found themselves dependent as never before on the fish and -produce of the New Territories. The picturesque, faraway people of the -countryside had come into sudden, sharp focus as instruments of the -colony’s survival. - -No one seriously expects the farmers and fishermen of Hong Kong to -produce enough food to sustain more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, but the -more they can bring to market, the greater the colony’s chances for -survival. - -The total area of farmland under cultivation has averaged about 33,000 -acres for many years, except for a sharp drop during the Japanese -occupation, but the size and nature of its yield have changed radically -in the last fifteen years. The maximum farmland area cannot exceed much -more than 40,000 acres, and even then much of it would look more like a -rock garden than a farm. American and European farmers would consider -most of the colony land already under cultivation as unworthy of their -time and effort. - -In 1940, rice was the chief crop, occupying seven-tenths of all -cultivated land in the colony. Since the war, rice has steadily lost -acreage to vegetable-growing, and in spite of its greater productivity -per acre through improved irrigation and a more judicious use of -fertilizers, it has fallen far behind vegetables in cash value. Vegetable -crops today yield almost three times as much money as rice; $7,614,000 -for the 1960-61 vegetable crop, compared with $2,870,000 for rice. -Vegetable production has more than quadrupled since 1947. - -When the Japanese were driven from the colony in 1945, they had reduced -the livestock population to 4,611 cattle, 659 water buffalo, 8,740 pigs -and 31,000 poultry. A count at the end of 1960 showed 18,000 cattle, -2,000 water buffalo, 184,000 pigs and 3,405,000 poultry. This tremendous -increase stemmed directly from the expansion of the domestic market, -but it was made possible by the colony government’s postwar plunge into -marketing cooperatives for farm and sea products, the introduction of -private and public loans for farmers and fishermen at reasonable interest -rates, and the application of scientific methods to every phase of the -farming and fishing industries. - -Agricultural production of every kind totaled $40,506,000 in 1960-61. -In descending order of value, this included poultry (chiefly chickens), -vegetables, pigs, rice, various animal products such as hides, hair -and feathers, fresh milk, sweet potatoes and other field crops. Among -other products of special interest are fruit (litchi, limes, tangerines, -olives, etc.), pond fish (mullet and carp), export crops (water -chestnuts, ginger, vegetable seeds, etc.) and such flowers as gladiolus, -chrysanthemum, dahlia and carnation. - -That $40,506,000 farm-income figure has a momentarily impressive ring -until one sees how it is divided. The average vegetable farm is about -two-thirds of an acre, and the average “paddy,” or shallowly flooded unit -of rice-growing land, usually runs to two acres, with an upward limit -of five acres. There are several larger farms of 100 acres or more, but -these are share-cropped by tenant farmers for exporters of special crops -such as water chestnuts or ginger. The size of almost all other farms is -dictated by the amount of hand labor one farm-owning family can perform; -the only extra-human labor comes from the plow-pulling power of the -dwarfish Brown Cattle and water buffalo. On these postage-stamp farms, -tractors would be prohibitively expensive and as destructive as an army -tank. Even a hand-operated power cultivator would be far too costly for a -typical family farm. - -By Western standards, any farm of less than two acres would barely -qualify as a truck garden, but the Chinese of the New Territories -cultivate the land with unique intensiveness. A fresh-water paddy -produces at least two rice crops and often an additional “catch crop” -of vegetables each year; six to eight crops are harvested annually on -all-vegetable farms. - -Farm income is as subdivided as the land. There are an estimated 30,000 -farm families and a total of 250,000 persons who rely on farming for -their living. The per capita income of the farming population therefore -runs around $162 a year, or $13.50 a month, less the forty to sixty -percent of crop value they must share with the landowner, leaving a -meager net income of as little as $81 a year, or $6.75 a month. Things -have been worse; in 1955 the annual per capita net income of farm people -was about $30. - -What the farm worker has, in one of the lowest-paid and most arduous jobs -in the colony’s industries, is a place to live, enough to eat and an -almost irreducible minimum of money for clothing and other expenses. In -thousands of cases, his lean resources are supplemented by remittances -from his relatives overseas, but he could not have survived in the -postwar economy without the basic reforms in marketing, credit and -research that began in 1946. One expensive event such as a wedding ($200) -or a funeral ($100) could keep a tenant farmer in debt for years to loan -sharks who charged him interest of eight to thirty percent a month. In -numerous instances, it still happens. - -For generations Hong Kong farmers had lived in permanent bondage to -the “laans,” or middlemen, who controlled the marketing of farm and -fishery products, paying the producers as little as possible and cutting -themselves a thick slice of profit for the relatively simple process of -taking the goods to market. They advanced money to farmers and fishermen -at extraordinary usury rates, further tightening their strangle-hold. The -Japanese Occupation, by grinding the farm and fishing population into -desperate poverty, unintentionally broke the grip of the laans. - -When the British Military Administration took control in the fall of -1945, it acted decisively to save the primary industries. Two men, -Father Thomas F. Ryan, Jesuit missionary and the colony’s first Acting -Superintendent of Agriculture, and Dr. G. A. C. Herklots, naturalist and -author, were designated for the task. - -Many years later, Father Ryan, who had long since returned to teaching at -the Jesuit Wah Yan College on Hong Kong Island, said when asked about his -1945 assignment: - -“I really knew very little about agriculture, but Dr. Herklots and I were -asked to help with the vegetable and fish marketing. It was obvious that -the laans were beginning again to take all the profits.” - -The Jesuit priest and the naturalist learned a lot about marketing in a -hurry. The vegetable and fish marketing organizations they set up under -government control ended the dominance of the laans, but not without some -anguished howls from the displaced profiteers. For a standard ten percent -commission, the vegetable marketing organization transported and sold all -vegetables grown or imported into the colony at the government wholesale -market in Kowloon. A Federation of Vegetable Marketing Cooperative -Societies grew out of the original organizations. It extended credit to -farmers and has progressed steadily toward ultimate control of the market -by the co-op societies. As the co-ops take charge of organization work, -three percent of the ten percent commission is refunded to them. The -Vegetable Marketing Organization also distributes fertilizer in the form -of matured nightsoil, i.e., human excrement treated to reduce its germ -content. - -The Fish Marketing Organization, established along the same general lines -as the Vegetable Marketing Organization, controls the transport and -wholesale marketing of marine fish, charging a six percent commission on -sales. It created loan funds to help fishermen rehabilitate and mechanize -their boats. Evolution of the Fish Marketing Organization toward a -wholly cooperative set-up has been impeded by the fact that only fifteen -percent of the fishermen can read or write, compared with a colony-wide -literacy rate of seventy-five percent. Living and working aboard their -boats, fisher folk could not attend school. This ancient pattern has -been altered in the last few years because more wives and children of -fishermen are living ashore. About 4,000 children of fishermen attend -schools on land, and there are special classes for adult fishermen. - -Father Ryan and Dr. Herklots laid the foundation for the first Department -of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, which came into existence in 1950 -after a series of preparatory steps had been taken. Father Ryan initiated -a survey of the colony’s primary industries and personally directed -the renovation and replanting of the Botanic Garden and other public -park areas, as well as the first postwar reforestation of the scalped -hillsides in the reservoir catchment areas. In 1947, he relinquished his -colony post to become the Jesuit Superior in Hong Kong. In recent years -he has conducted a local radio program of classical music as a sideline. - -Long-term assistance to farmers came from another private source in -1951: Horace and Lawrence Kadoorie, two Jewish brothers who shared -positions of prime importance in the Hong Kong business community. Sir -Elly Kadoorie was a former official of the colony government and one -of its early business leaders. His two sons were members of a family -which came to Hong Kong from the Middle East in 1880 and built a large -fortune. The brothers were partners in the business house named for -their father and directors of more than thirty other companies. Both had -earned reputations as shrewd, tough businessmen; but Horace, the bachelor -brother, had acquired a special fame among ivory collectors as the author -of the seven-volume book, _The Art of Ivory Sculpture in Cathay_. - -The Kadoories, observing the general poverty of colony farmers and the -even worse situation of the refugees who crowded into Hong Kong in the -late 1940s, decided to do something to help these displaced persons get -on their feet. Knowing the Chinese to be a predominantly agricultural -people, they chose a form of help that would make impoverished farmers -self-supporting; that of raising pigs donated by the Kadoories. -Pig-raising is a fairly simple venture that makes good use of marginal -land, and pork is always in demand at local markets. - -Reaction to the idea was chilly; other businessmen considered it -unworkable and farmers regarded it skeptically, looking for a catch -in it. The Kadoorie brothers agreed to put it to a test, choosing 14 -families with no farming experience for the experiment. The group -included a handyman, a carpenter, a beggar, a semi-invalid and a -stonebreaker. The Kadoories gave them cement, bamboo straws and a few -hand tools and invited them to build their own pigsties. - -“Every one of those families made good,” Horace Kadoorie recalled in -a 1961 interview. “Today they all have excellent farms. Their success -in proving that you can really help people who are willing to help -themselves was what convinced us we were on the right track.” - -The brothers, working independently at first, and then in close -collaboration with the officials of the Department of Agriculture, -have given various forms of assistance to over 300,000 people in 1,092 -villages. - -They functioned through two allied agencies, the Kadoorie Agricultural -Aid Association, which makes outright gifts, and the Kadoorie -Agricultural Aid Loan Fund, which makes interest-free loans. The two -Kadoories and colony agricultural officials are jointly members of -the boards of directors of the two institutions. The Association has -donated the equivalent of $3 million-plus in agricultural gifts. The -Fund, established by the Kadoories with an initial gift of $44,000, has -been increased to $306,000 by the government. The J. E. Joseph Fund, -another farm-loan fund, established in 1954, is also administered by the -government; its initial capital of $79,000 is loaned at three percent -interest. - -In an economy like that of the United States, $3 million in gifts would -disappear like a pebble in a lake, but with that amount the Kadoorie -philanthropies have changed the face of the New Territories. The list of -improvements is awe-inspiring, and it is no exaggeration to say one can -hardly walk a mile anywhere in the rural district without seeing evidence -of their eminently useful contributions. - -They contributed junks and sampans to isolated villages, and then built -27 piers to accommodate them. Dirt paths were the only routes between -many villages and farmers either walked or sloshed through the mud, -sometimes using bicycles and carrying five or six members of the family -or possibly a live pig lined up on the fenders and handlebars. The -Kadoorie Association has provided 150 miles of concrete paths, six motor -roads and 142 bridges to make the going easier. - -Often villages depended on mountain springs for their drinking water, but -these had an unfortunate habit of sinking back into the ground before -they had served the thirsty villagers. The Association disciplined the -vagrant waters with thirty miles of concrete channels, 293 dams, 400 -wells, 51 sumps and 8 reservoirs. Rogue rivers and the invading sea had -eaten away valuable farmland, and the Kadoorie Association produced -restoratives with 29 seawalls, 30 retaining walls and a variety of -culverts and floodgates. Odds and ends, helpful in diverse ways, ranged -from rain shelters to compost pits, poultry sheds to outhouses. - -Pigs were popular because, as Horace explained, “It’s the only animal you -can see expanding daily.” Thousands were given away, and advice on caring -for them was supplied by the agricultural stations. - -One group that was the especial beneficiary of pig gifts were farm -widows ranging from seventeen to ninety-six years of age. Horace, as the -roving scout of the Kadoorie Association, had noticed that hundreds of -women whose husbands had been killed by the Japanese or had died natural -deaths had not only lost the family rice-winner, they lost the “face” -or community status they enjoyed with their husbands. Custom frowned on -their remarriage, so they could do little but linger disconsolately on -the fringes of village life. The Kadoories talked it over and decided -that a gift of pigs, cows, ducks or chickens would give these widows -something to occupy themselves with and enable them to earn some money. -In a period of two years 10,000 widows received these animals and -enclosures for them. Feed they obtained through the Kadoorie Agriculture -Aid Loan Fund. Blind and elderly women were able to care for flocks of -chickens; younger ones received pigs and cows. The usual pig gift was -six purebred Chinese sows from the Kadoorie Experimental and Extension -Farm at Pak Ngau Shek; all pigs were inoculated against disease and the -Agricultural Department specialists showed the widows how to care for -the animals. Many women tripled their small incomes by breeding pigs and -selling their offspring. As the owners of livestock, they became persons -of consequence in their villages. - -With the aid of government experts, the brothers bought hundreds of -foreign pedigreed pigs, and bred Berkshires, Yorkshires and middle whites -with the local animals to produce a larger and hardier strain. Cows and -water buffaloes, indispensable as draught animals, were distributed by -drawing lots in the villages, and the drawings became lively public -gatherings with soft drinks and cakes served all around. Gifts or loans -financed the construction of numerous fish-breeding ponds, with the seed -fish supplied gratis. - -The 25,000 loans made through the Fund covered livestock, seeds and -fertilizer, building materials, insecticides and spraying equipment, land -development and other purposes. Over 95 percent of the loan applications -are approved, and the repayment rate has remained very high. - -Creating new land for farming has been an important part of Kadoorie -efforts. Horace came upon a group of squatters who had been moved -from the city to make room for a new road; he found them moping about -forlornly on a rocky field which was the site of a cemetery from which -the bodies had been removed. Horace suggested that they use the rocks -to build pigsties, promising them the needed cement and two pigs for -each sty. On his next visit he found many pigsties completed, but was -temporarily baffled when the settlers asked him to buy for them a nearby -hillside rock, fully 100 yards wide and stretching from the bottom of the -hill to the top. He acquired the rock, and the settlers, working from the -bottom upwards, covered it with terraced growing lands. - -At Nim Shue Wan village, a hillside settlement along a steep shore, the -Kadoorie Association built a seawall, mixed the sticky red earth of the -hillside with beach sand, and produced a good soil for vegetable-growing -which now supports 100 families in the area. At Pak Ngau Shek, the -Kadoorie farm on the high slopes of Tai Mo Shan, highest (3,140 feet) -mountain in the colony, the brothers began to experiment with plants and -animals, chiefly because the land had been judged worthless for farmers. -If they could make anything thrive there, they believed, it might teach -them some way to utilize the colony’s heavy proportion of wasteland. They -had many failures, such as typhoons uprooting all their shallow-rooted -peach trees, but they discovered that even trees and vegetables -considered unsuitable for high lands did very well. Some vegetables, -growing more slowly on the mountainsides, reached the market when lowland -crops were less plentiful, and therefore brought better prices. The farm -operated at a financial loss, but gave full value as an agricultural -testing site. - -The Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Association meets once every two weeks, -considers 50 to 100 applications for help, and tries to assist about 15 -new families every day. It has given away 7,000 pigs in less than three -months. Many situations won’t wait for committee meetings; some farmers -in dire straits have walked up to Boulder Lodge, Horace’s home at Castle -Peak, to ask for help in the middle of the night. Horace, who often works -a 13-hour day and spends Sundays roaming around the farm districts, is -more flattered than annoyed by these occasional late-hour callers. - -“Speed is of the essence in this work,” he said. “When a typhoon heads -this way, we assemble building materials for repair work and all the -quick-growing seeds we can buy; then we’re ready to help the farm people -get back into operation and plant vegetables as soon as the flooding -subsides.” - -Fire is often a total disaster to the rural poor, wrecking their homes -and frequently killing their livestock. When an entire village was wiped -out by fire in 1960, the Kadoories threw a round-the-clock emergency -staff into a four-day rescue operation, providing new furniture, clothes, -two months’ food supply, extra cash, livestock, bicycles and rebuilding -all the houses. - -Hundreds of artificial limbs donated by Kadoorie Association have enabled -crippled people to earn their living as farmers and fishermen. The -Association doesn’t scatter its benefits recklessly; all applicants are -thoroughly investigated to discover whether they will work to improve -themselves when they receive aid. When a man or woman receives a gift of -livestock, he may not sell it for one year without Kadoorie Association -consent; if disease or unavoidable accidents kill the stock, the -Association replaces them free. - -“Our idea has been to find out the wants of those in need,” Horace said. -“It is worth more than anything else.” - -The contributions of the Kadoorie brothers and the many other religious -and philanthropic bodies working in the colony serve as a valuable -supplement to the main task of directing and improving the primary -industries. The principal responsibility lies with the Department -of Agriculture and Forestry, and with the Department of Cooperative -Development and Fisheries, which was separated from Agriculture and -Forestry in 1961. - -The Chinese farmers of the New Territories can grow a garden on the side -of a rock—as Horace Kadoorie found out for himself—but they know little -about scientific farming, and until the 1950s, there was no one to teach -them. Now the Agriculture & Forestry Department conducts three-week -general agricultural courses, followed by one-week specialized courses -in paddy cultivation, pond-fish culture and other phases of farming. -There are vocational courses, lectures to cooperatives, radio farming -broadcasts, film shows, guided visits to experimental stations and an -annual Agricultural Show at Yuen Long with prizes for the best farm -products. - -At the Sheung Shui Market Garden Experimental Station, only two miles -from the Red China border, S. Y. Chan, an assistant agricultural officer, -directs a five-acre center for testing every species of foreign and -domestic vegetables and flowers he can lay his hands on. Chinese white -cabbage, Taiwan radishes, sugar peas, chrysanthemums, 30 varieties of -English and American tomatoes, chives, and corn each have their small -test patch to show whether they can survive in Hong Kong’s climate. -Roses, for example, wilt and die in a few seasons, but the station is -seeking new strains with greater durability. Unlike plants and flowers in -most sections of the United States, the majority of Hong Kong vegetables -and flowers grow best in winter, the local summers being too wet. - -At Ta Kwu Ling Dryland Experimental Station, the problem is how to get -some use out of the thousands of acres of former farmland abandoned -because of poor soil or insufficient water. The station, started in -1956, made little progress at first. Then it added compost of manures -and chemical fertilizers to the soil, and tried deep plowing to retain -moisture in the earth. Large white local radishes as big as yams did -well in this ground, and so did sweet potatoes. The department experts -found that windbreaks of sugar cane helped to offset the drying effects -of strong winds. Several types of fodder, including six varieties of -grasses, were tried out in sample patches. Five of the station’s eleven -acres are devoted to improvement of local pig breeds by crossing them -with exotic strains. - -The Castle Peak Livestock Experimental Station, located in an area of -badly eroded hills, is the chief center for artificial insemination of -pigs. Semen from selected strains of Berkshire, middle white, and large -white and improved local boars is injected into local sows, producing -larger and hardier litters. Various breeds of chickens are crossed to -develop poultry which thrive under local conditions and are acceptable -to Chinese tastes. A complete laboratory treats and experiments with -every known disease of poultry, pigs and cattle. Pig semen is carried by -bicycle, truck and helicopter to outlying sections of the New Territories -to service local sows. - -Artificial insemination of pigs, based on its highly successful use in -Japan, has become increasingly important in Hong Kong, with more than -1,000 instances of its use in 1961. - -In the northwestern lowlands near Yuen Long, the department has developed -a fast-growing source of food in the fish-raising ponds. From the top -of a small hill, Yu Yat-sum, fisheries officer, is able to point to a -speckled, silvery expanse of such ponds, covering 700 acres in individual -ponds from one to 10 acres each. Each acre produces about a ton of fish -every year. - -Mr. Yu explains that a five-acre pond, equipped with sluice gates and -surrounded by dirt embankments, could be built for $2,700. Usually they -are owned by a village or a co-op society. They are only five feet deep, -but packed with 3,000 to 3,600 fry an acre, each about the length of a -paper clip. The fish would all be crushed and battered if it were not -for their superior adaptation—big head and silver carp cruise near the -surface, grass carp favor the mid-levels, and grey mullet and mud carp -gravitate to the bottom. Fed on rice bran, dry peanut cakes and soya -bean meal, they fatten at a prodigious rate and are ready for the market -within a year, selling at 21 to 30 cents a pound. For the pond owners, -it’s a net return of twenty percent per year. There are more than 1,000 -acres of these ponds in the New Territories, and they are increasing at -the rate of 60 acres a month. - -The Chinese have their own strict ideas of what fresh fish means; to -them, the only fresh fish from a pond is a live one, so the carp and -mullet travel to market in tubs, still alive. The job of Mr. Yu and other -departmental experts is to see that the fish do not perish before their -time because of diseases or excessive salinity in the pond water. - -The Tai Lung Forestry and Crop Experimental Station concentrates on the -expansion of the colony’s forests, which almost disappeared during World -War II. Here the six-inch seedlings of Chinese pine, eucalyptus, China -fir and other species are placed in polythene tubes and covered with soil -by patient Hakka women who do the work by hand. After a few months in the -shade and a brief maturing period in full sunlight, the polythene tube -is removed and the tree is planted on a hillside in one of the reservoir -catchment areas. Spaced about six feet apart on all sides, they go in at -the rate of 2,500 an acre. Tai Lung produces 1,500,000 of these plantings -each year. A month after they are placed on the hillsides, their progress -is checked by an inspector; if more than twenty percent have died, the -area is replanted. A second check is made a year later. - -Four main forest areas stretching across the New Territories from Tolo -Harbor to Lantau Island now total more than 11,500 acres. In ten years -some of the lean China pines have shot up to 30 feet high. The overworked -forestry staff has been so busy planting trees and keeping a close watch -on forest fires that it has had little time for the next stage of the -reforestation, which is thinning overcrowded areas. Other complications -confront them when a firebreak is cut through the hillside forests; the -cutover strip erodes quickly in the summer rainstorms, damaging the tree -plantations and sending silt into the reservoirs. - -If forestry is the youngest of Hong Kong’s primary industries, fishing -is indisputably the oldest, and for many centuries, the largest primary -income producer. Until fairly recent times, fishermen were inclined to -demonstrate their versatility and supplement their income by piracy. -Fast, steel-hulled naval ships with long-range guns have taken much of -the lure out of part-time piracy, especially for the crews of slow-moving -junks, and the fisher folk have become a law-abiding group. Today they -number around 86,000 and catch approximately $10 million worth of fish -every year. Not included in their ranks are the keepers of fish ponds, -who are regarded as farmers, or those who live on boats but earn their -living by hauling cargo, running water-taxis or selling merchandise from -their boats. - -The fishing people, chiefly Tanka but including other Chinese like the -Hoklo and Hakka, are concentrated at Aberdeen and Shau Kei Wan on Hong -Kong Island and seven settlements in the New Territories. By environment -and preference, they are deeply conservative, disinclined to mix in the -affairs of landlubbers. Nevertheless, the irresistible winds of change -which have swept through the colony since World War II have shaken them -loose from their traditional moorings. - -Like the farmers, they were able to free themselves from the iron grip -of the laans when the Fish Marketing Organization put the middlemen out -of business. The Fish Marketing Organization gave them a fair return -on their catch, established cheap credit to improve their boats and -equipment, provided boats and trucks to get their fish to the five -wholesale markets and founded schools for their children. CARE and -other relief organizations came to their aid. The Fisheries Division -offered classes in navigation, modern seamanship and boat design, marine -engineering and the use of up-to-date fishing equipment, with classes -being adapted to the fishermen’s working schedules. A fisheries research -unit from Hong Kong University became a regular part of the departmental -organization. The 240-ton otter trawler _Cape St. Mary_ cruised the -fishing grounds from the Gulf of Tong King, west of Hainan Island, to -Taiwan in the east, gathering data on ocean currents, water temperatures -and depths and the feeding habits of fish. A fishing master was appointed -and careful studies were made of pearl- and edible-oyster culture. - -All these are routine procedures in present-day fishing centers, but -they were virtually unknown in Hong Kong until 1946. Since then, despite -harassment and inshore fishing restrictions enforced by Red China, the -tonnage and market value of the annual catch have almost tripled. - -Red China has maintained a certain disinterestedness in its mistreatment -of fishermen. During the last five years the Communists demanded so great -a share of the fish caught by their own people that thousands of their -fishing boats never returned. Some sailed far out in the China Sea, then -turned back toward Hong Kong and became refugees; others slipped through -Chinese shore patrols at night and defected to the British colony. -Between 1957 and 1962, the new arrivals swelled the colony fishing fleet -from 6,000 to the present 10,550 units. - -The most radical change in the colony’s fleet, however, has come from -within. The Chinese junk, famous throughout the world as the symbol of -Hong Kong, has dropped its picturesque sails; more than 4,000 of them now -churn along under Diesel power. The Chinese junk is as diverse in its -size, shape and function as the infinitely varied Chinese people. There -are sixteen different classes of junks in Hong Kong alone, and none of -them closely resembles a junk from any other part of China. They are -single-, double- and triple-masted; they are little craft 25 feet long or -lumbering giants of 100 foot length. To a colony fisheries expert, “junk” -is only a loose generic term; he immediately classifies it according -to the job it is designed for, as a long-liner (four classes by size), -seiner (two main types, depending on the net it uses), trawler (four -main types, depending on the kind of trawling it does), gill-netters, -fish-collecting junks and several miscellaneous varieties. - -Since the British came to Hong Kong, the junks operating in local waters -have borrowed design features from European ships. The big fishing junks -of Hong Kong, with their high stern, horizontal rails and the large, -perforated rudder pivoting in a deep, vertical groove on the stern, -resemble no other junks in the world. Like junks from all parts of China, -and even the boats of ancient Egypt, they have an oculus, or painted -image of the human eye, on their bow. In fishing junks, the center of the -eye is directed downward so that it can keep a close watch on the fish; -trading junks have the eye aimed higher so that it can scan the distant -horizon. The bow eyes of the old-fashioned sailing junks no longer have -much to look forward to. The deep-sea trawlers, operating as far as -250 miles out, are all mechanized. The sailing junks operate closer to -shore, but the cargo-carrying junks in Victoria harbor are predominantly -mechanized. To anyone who has crossed the harbor recently it is obvious -that the sails are disappearing at an alarming rate. - -The fishermen who live and work on junks instead of viewing them -abstractly from a distance have not yet formed a Committee for the -Preservation of the Romantic Junk. After approaching mechanization with -reluctance and suspicion in 1948, they became convinced that the big -sailing junk is through. Motorized junks can reach the distant fishing -grounds much faster, they catch a lion’s share of the fish, and they -return to market far ahead of sail competition. Because of their greater -speed and stability, they can venture out in the typhoon season when sail -craft are obliged to stick closer to shore. Within ten years, fishing -authorities say, the sailing junk will have become virtually extinct. - -It has been proposed that the Hong Kong Tourist Association hire a -couple of junks to sail up and down the harbor for the sole delectation -of tourists, but no official action has been taken. Tourists can travel -40 miles west to Macao where the harbor is still crowded with sailing -junks. Here the sails persist only because the Macao fishing industry -lacks the low-interest loans available to Hong Kong fishermen through the -Fish Marketing Organization and the fishing co-ops. Without such credit, -very few fishermen could afford Diesel engines or other motor-driven -equipment. In Hong Kong, even the little 4-horsepower engines of sampans -are bought on credit. - -Now that progress has reached the fishing fleet, it will not be satisfied -until it changes everything. Under the direction of such knowledgeable -men as Jack Cater, co-op and fisheries commissioner, Lieutenant Commander -K. Stather, fishing master, and Wing-Hong Cheung, craft technician on -modern junk design, the whole junk-building industry is being turned -upside down. - -For centuries, the junk has been built without plans or templates, with -the designers proceeding entirely by habit and skill. This is relatively -easy in building a 15-foot sampan, but when it is extended to 100-ton -vessels of 90-foot length it becomes both art and architecture. The size -of the investment, by local standards, is staggering: $40,000 for a large -trawler and its mechanized equipment, and around $7,000 for a mechanized -40-footer. - -There are nearly 100 junk-building yards in the colony, but no more -than ten of these are capable of building a junk from blueprints. The -fisheries department is conducting boat-design classes in three major -fishing centers, Aberdeen, Shau Kei Wan and Cheung Chau, and training -builders to read plans. The classes are held at night to avoid conflict -with working hours, and the courses are for three months. - -The junk-building yards present a vivid picture of a civilization in -transition. At one yard, a workman is laboriously breaming the hull of -a sampan—killing marine borers by passing bundles of burning hay beside -and beneath it—and a workman or two in an adjoining yard are covering -the hull of another boat with anti-fouling paint. The object of the two -operations is identical, but the anti-fouling paint protects the wood -about four times as long as breaming and takes no longer to apply. On the -port side of an 86-foot trawler, a Chinese carpenter is using a half-inch -electric power drill; on the starboard, another man is drilling holes -with a steel bit spun by a leather thong with its ends fixed to a wooden -bow. - -Lu Pan, the Celestial master builder who transmitted the secrets of -carpentry and shipbuilding to mankind, is honored with a tiny shrine -in an obscure corner of every yard. Joss sticks are lighted before a -statuette of this practical divinity, and his birthday observance on the -13th day of the Sixth Moon is a holiday in the shipyards. Lu Pan has not -yet betrayed any overt sign of annoyance at the invasion of his domain by -power tools and Diesel engines. - -The timber that is cut for these all-wooden ships is tough and -durable—China fir, teak, and various hardwoods chiefly from Borneo, like -billian, kapor and yacal. The planks are hewn at mills near the yards, -and bent to fit the curvature of the hull. The curving is accomplished by -heating the center of the plank with a small fire and weighting its ends -with heavy stones to set the curve. The 3-inch-thick planks are secured -to the upright framing members with 14-inch steel spikes, and the main -stringer, just below deck level, is fastened with threaded bolts. Despite -the general disarray of the open yards and the lack of precise plans, -the junk almost invariably turns out to be a nicely dovetailed, exactly -balanced boat, good for twenty or thirty years of service in the rough -weather of the China Sea. - -The long-liner ranks as the giant of the junk fleet, having an overall -length between 80 and 100 feet. Junks of this class fish from 20 to 60 -miles south of the colony, cruising above a vast expanse of underwater -flats where depths seldom exceed 90 feet and the muddy bottom makes other -kinds of fishing unfeasible. - -A typical long-liner under construction at the Yee Hop Shipyard in Shau -Kei Wan has a 90-foot length and the elephantine stern characteristic of -its class. Its high poop carries bunks for 16 men, with additional bunks -located forward and a total crew capacity of 57 men, sandwiched in with -no more than a yard of clearance between upper and lower bunks. Eight -sampans can be stowed along its deck and lowered over the side when the -fishing grounds are reached. Despite its traditional outline, it has -Diesel engines, twin-screw propellors and a 20-ton fishhold lined with -modern insulation material. - -Costing about $36,000 with full equipment, one long-liner, for example, -was ordered by Hai Lee Chan, a Shau Kei Wan fisherman who already owned -another like it, plus two smaller junks. During the two and one-half -months that 35 carpenters required to complete it, Mrs. Chan and her -twelve-year-old daughter remained on or around the junk to keep a -watchful eye on its construction. A long-liner of this kind may put out -as many as 100,000 hooks on lines attached to its bow and stern or strung -out by its covey of sampans. A single trip to the fishing grounds may -keep it at sea for a week or more and bring a ten-ton catch of golden -thread, shark and lizard fish. - -Comparable in size but differing completely in design are two deep-sea -trawlers built at the Kwong Lee Cheung Shipyard in Kowloon. These are -sister ships, 86 feet long, and the first ones of their size that -faithfully followed the modern specifications laid down by Mr. Cheung and -the Fisheries Department. They were the first big trawlers constructed -according to written plans and framed around modern templates or patterns -in Hong Kong. - -As they neared completion late in 1961, the twin wooden trawlers of 100 -tons each looked more like dismasted clipper ships than junks. The old -type of high poop had been cut down and crew quarters moved forward. The -fat, bulging stern had been slimmed down to improve the streamline, and -the traditional rudder-slot was gone. The deck was level and uncluttered, -with far more working space than older junks provided. The outline of the -hull was slim and graceful, giving more longitudinal stability than the -tub-bottomed junk. The free-swinging tiller and massive wooden rudder had -been replaced by a ship’s wheel and a much smaller rudder of steel that -turned on a metal shaft. Powered winches would be welded to their decks. -Mechanized and streamlined, the new trawlers could deliver more speed -than a motorized trawler of conventional shape, and require less fuel to -do it. - -When the two partners who had ordered the trawlers, fishermen Lee Loy -Shing and Cheng Chung Kay, smilingly greeted visitors to the yard, -pointing out the features of their new ships with considerable pride, -it was evident that they regarded the old-style junk as an expensive -antique. Mechanization has already proved itself; although mechanized -boats number less than half the fishing fleet, they take 80 percent of -the catch. Many fishermen are beginning to believe that modern ship -design is as important to the future of Hong Kong’s fishing fleet as -mechanization. - -Steel-hulled trawlers of the Japanese “bull” type are already being used -by the fishing companies in the colony. One dozen of them operate in the -Gulf of Tong King, near Hainan Island. However, they are much too costly -for most fishing families. - -Colony fishing methods are as varied as the boats used. The deep-sea -trawlers, generally working in pairs, drag a huge bag-shaped net along -the sea bottom, gathering in horsehead and red snapper, or red goatfish -and golden thread. Purse-seiners, working in pairs and fairly close -to shore, stretch a big net between them at night and use a bright -light to lure such smaller fish as anchovies and carangoid into the -net. The Pa T’eng seiners set gill nets along the bottom for yellow -croaker, and drift nets for white pomfret and mackerel. Other types -include gill-netters, shrimp beam-trawlers, and three smaller classes of -long-liners. About twenty kinds of fish form most of the catch, and among -these are conger pike, big eyes, grouper, young barracuda and red sea -bream. - -The ship carpenters of Hong Kong are far above average ability, so much -so that the Chinese Communists have attempted, without notable success, -to induce them to build junks in China. Demand for their skills has, -however, raised their wages about one-third in the last two years. - -The fishermen have had their rigid conservatism shattered by the changes -around them. In spite of their usual illiteracy, they have learned the -rules of navigation at fisheries department schools. More advanced -classes have qualified for licenses as engineers, pilots, navigators -and boat-builders. For the first time they have lodged their families -on shore, with the wives becoming used to housekeeping and the children -attending schools. - -Many Westerners, seeing this upheaval in the fine, free life of the -fisherman, deplore the passing of the old ways. The fishermen, always -quicker at grabbing for prosperity than in clinging to romantic -illusions, are moving forward at top speed without a thought to their -suddenly disappearing past. - - - - -CHAPTER SEVEN - -Crime, Power and Corruption - - “We have absolutely no doubt from the evidence and statistics - we have studied that corruption exists on a scale which - justifies the strongest counter-measures.”—HONG KONG ADVISORY - COMMITTEE ON CORRUPTION, January, 1962 - - -The British crown colony of Hong Kong came into existence under -circumstances bearing less resemblance to the majesty of British law -and order than they did to a territorial dispute between the Capone and -O’Banion mobs during the Chicago of the 1920s. Its founding fathers were -dope peddlers whose ability to bribe Chinese customs officials made the -traders rich and goaded the Chinese Emperor into a war that cost him the -loss of a worthless island called Hong Kong. - -The Rev. George Smith, an English missionary who visited the colony -during its first five years, approached the place with the exalted -conviction that his country had “been honoured by God as the chosen -instrument for diffusing the pure light of Protestant Christianity -throughout the world.” He went ashore to discover a polyglot Gehenna with -no market for the Word. - -“The lowest dregs of native society flock to the British settlement in -the hope of gain or plunder,” he wrote. “There are but faint prospects -at present of any other than either a migratory or a predatory race -being attracted to Hong Kong, who, when their hopes of gain or pilfering -vanish, without hesitation or difficulty remove elsewhere.” - -The Rev. Smith was no more favorably disposed toward his fellow -countrymen. He felt the British rulers were too harsh with the Chinese, -permitting the general population to be exploited by a few Mandarins. -As for the merchants and traders, he regarded their behavior as setting -a bad example for the Chinese. Saving souls in Hong Kong, he decided, -demanded more miracles than he had at his disposal, and with considerable -relief, he transferred his missionary efforts to the more congenial -atmosphere of South China. - -Other missionaries accepted the long odds against grappling successfully -with the devil in Hong Kong, but the struggle left many of them -disheartened. When the merchants and sailors were not engaged in the -opium traffic, they frequently busied themselves by purchasing Chinese -mistresses from the Tanka boat people. Many of the Eurasians of South -China were the issue of this type of transaction. - -Law enforcement in the colony was a farce. The few Europeans who could -be induced to join the underpaid police force were the scourings of the -Empire, remittance men or wastrels who accepted the jobs because they did -not dare go home to England. - -Householders, disgusted with the ineptness of the police, hired private -watchmen who went about at night beating bamboo drums to advertise their -presence. This noisy custom was later forbidden, and burglary, highway -robbery and harbor piracy increased. Sir John F. Davis, the colony’s -second governor, tried to persuade property owners to improve police -protection by paying more taxes for it, but the merchants demurred, -setting a precedent which was applied to many proposed improvements in -years to come. The attitude seemed to be: Progress is fine, provided one -doesn’t have to pay for it. Sir John attempted to keep track of known -criminals by obliging every colony resident to register, but was forced -to abandon the idea when the Chinese staged a three-month general strike -in protest. - -Piracy, smuggling, opium-smoking, prostitution, semislave trading in -contract laborers, gambling, and graft flourished for many years, -resisting the sporadic attacks of a succession of governors. In 1858, for -the first and last time, an exceptional balance was achieved. Licenses -for the sale of liquor, the favorite Western vice, and revenue from -opium, the leading weakness of the Chinese, each brought 10,000 pounds of -income to the colony government. - -Under such powerful governors as Sir Richard Graves Macdonnell (1866-72) -and Sir Arthur E. Kennedy (1872-77), the colony made significant -advances in the control of piracy and urban crime. The quality of police -protection improved and both men won the applause of local merchants by -their Draconic policy of branding, flogging and deporting law-breakers. -The Chinese Emperor and the liberal elements in the British Parliament -disapproved of the severity applied but did not intervene to stop it. - -The Chinese government never ceased its opposition to the smuggling of -opium from Hong Kong, although many of its venal officials shared in -the profits of the traffic. For two decades, from the mid-1860s to the -mid-1880s, China attempted to enforce a blockade against smuggled salt -and opium, but opium continued to represent almost half its total imports. - -A joint Sino-British commission agreed to place some limitation on the -trade in 1886, but the British zeal for enforcement was diluted by the -desire for continuing profits. Even after controls were repeatedly -tightened in the early 1900s, the returns held steady; in 1906, the opium -trade was valued at 5 million pounds and yielded $2 million in colony -revenue. Unfavorable world opinion gradually narrowed the trade, but the -nonmedical sale and use of the drug was not entirely banned until World -War II. - -In the last several decades, the Hong Kong Police Department has outgrown -its disreputable origins and has become an efficient law-enforcement -organization. Nevertheless, the image of the colony that persists in the -imagination of many Westerners who have never been there is a cesspool of -iniquity such as the one that horrified the Rev. Smith. - -Just how wicked and criminal is today’s Hong Kong? - -A layman’s comparison of the crime rates of the United States and -Hong Kong for the year 1960, as published by the Federal Bureau of -Investigation and the Hong Kong Police Department respectively, gives an -objective picture of their relative lawlessness. - -Both sets of figures are for predominantly urban areas, covering ten of -the most comparable categories of crime. The figures give the actual -number of crimes per one million population. Because of inherent -differences in the manner of classifying and reporting crimes, a margin -of error of ten percent should be allowed in their interpretation. - - 1960—CRIME RATES PER 1 MILLION POPULATION - - CRIME CATEGORY UNITED STATES HONG KONG - Murder 55 8 - Rape 74 50 - Serious Assault 645 178 - Burglary 1,358 157 - Larceny 2,785 2,562 - Forgery 234 60 - Prostitution 319 527 - Narcotics 289 4,677 - Drunkenness 16,375 257 - Robbery 361 30 - -Such statistics are always subject to many different interpretations, -which will not be made here. But they confirm one impression shared by -virtually everyone who has spent many nights (either at home or on the -streets) in both New York City and Hong Kong: You’re a lot safer in Hong -Kong. - -The most glaring disparity between the rates is, of course, in the -comparative number of arrests for drunkenness. The American rate is more -than 60 times higher than that of Hong Kong, and it is a safe inference -that a fair share of the colony arrests for drunkenness are made among -Europeans and Americans, who comprise less than two percent of the -population. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Hong Kong drink beer, -wine or hard liquor, but a Chinese drunk in public is a rarity. - -In major crimes of violence—murder, rape, serious assault and -robbery—America has a much higher crime rate. With the stated allowance -for error, the United States and Hong Kong could be considered about -equally inclined toward larceny—a legal term which covers the more -popular forms of stealing. Stealing automobiles, however, has not really -caught on in the colony; there is practically no place to hide a car -after stealing it. Bicycle theft is more common there. - -Prostitution is one of the two categories in which Hong Kong has a higher -rate than America. A highly intelligent missionary who has dealt with the -problem for many years had this succinct comment: - -“The problem hinges on two factors; the British Army Garrison and the -fact that Hong Kong is a recreation port for the United States Navy. -Remove these and the problem vanishes.” - -For a variety of realistic reasons, this missionary does not expect -the problem to vanish, though the police and the clergy, working from -different directions, are doing their best to reduce its incidence. Both -groups recognize poverty as one major cause of prostitution that can be -fought with education and better jobs. - -The comparative rates of narcotics offenses in the United States and -Hong Kong indicate that such crime is sixteen times more prevalent in -the colony than in America. They also confirm a fact recognized by every -law-enforcement unit in Hong Kong: Drugs are the No. 1 colony crime -problem. By government estimates, there are no less than 150,000, and -perhaps as many as 250,000 drug addicts in the colony. In the entire -United States there are between 45,000 and 60,000 drug addicts. - -The gravity of the colony’s narcotics problem is best illustrated by the -type of addiction practiced there. Almost all addicts use either opium or -heroin, with heroin users three times more numerous than opium addicts. -The trend toward heroin has grown more powerful every year since World -War II, because the tight postwar laws against opium drove the drug -sellers to a much more potent narcotic and one that could be smuggled -more easily. Heroin is a second cousin to opium, being derived from -morphine, which, in turn, has been extracted from opium. - -Heroin, commonly called “the living death,” is from 30 to 80 times -stronger than opium. An opium smoker may go along for years, suffering no -more physical damage than a heavy drinker; a heroin addict, who may be -hooked in as short a time as two weeks, sinks into physical, mental and -moral ruin within a few months. - -A peculiar kind of economic injustice operates among drug addicts, who -are most often found among the poorest segments of the colony’s Chinese -population. Even in the years when the British traded openly and without -compunction in opium, they almost never became addicted to it, and today -a British addict in Hong Kong is an extreme rarity. A number of young -Americans living or visiting in the colony have picked up the habit, -probably under the impression that they are defying conventions. They, at -least, can afford the price of the rope with which they hang themselves. -This is not so for the Chinese addict, whose habit costs him an average -of $193 a year (HK $1,100), or much more than he can earn in a similar -period. Unless he has saved enough money to keep him going until the -drugs kill him, he turns to various kinds of crime to support his habit. - -Opium-smoking is a cumbersome process requiring a bulky pipe, pots of the -drug, a lamp to heat it and scrapers to clean the pipe. Smoking produces -a strong odor which makes a pipe session vulnerable to police detection -and arrest. There are no opium dens in Hong Kong; the usual term is opium -divan, implying an elegance seldom encountered in the addicts’ squalid -hangouts. - -Heroin, odorless and requiring no bulky apparatus, is taken in various -ways. “Chasing the dragon” is done by mixing heroin granules and base -powder in folded tinfoil, then heating it over a flame and inhaling the -fumes through a tube of rolled paper or bamboo. When a matchbox cover is -substituted for the tube, the method is called “playing the mouth organ.” -A third technique involves the placing of heroin granules in the tip of a -cigarette, which is lit and held in an upright position while the smoker -draws on it; this is known as “firing the ack-ack gun.” Needle injection, -and the smoking or swallowing of pills made by mixing heroin with other -ingredients are additional methods. - -The opium poppy may only be grown illegally in Hong Kong, but the few -farmers who attempt to raise it in isolated valleys have produced hardly -enough for their own use. Practically all of it comes in by ships and -planes in the form of raw opium or morphine, which can be converted to -heroin within the colony. On ships, the drugs are hidden in the least -accessible parts of the vessel or concealed in cargo shipments; they -can also be dumped overside in a waterproof container with a float and -marker as the ship nears the harbor, to be picked up by small, fast boats -which land them in sparsely settled areas. Variations of the same methods -are used by incoming planes, with a prearranged airdrop sometimes being -employed. - -With thousands of ships and planes arriving and departing every year, -the chances of stopping all narcotics smuggling are practically nil. A -complete search of every arrival would be physically impossible, and -even in cases where the police or the Preventive Service of the Commerce -and Industry Department have been tipped off to an incoming shipment, -it may take a full day to locate the hiding place. The drugs may be -packed inside a cable drum, buried in bales of waste, concealed in -double-bottomed baskets, cached inside the bodies of dolls or surrounded -by bundles of firewood; the hiding places are as inexhaustible as the -cleverness of the smugglers. - -Where do the narcotics come from? Harry J. Anslinger, United States -Commissioner of Narcotics from 1930 to 1962, had been telling the world -for at least a decade that Red China was the chief source of supply. -Anslinger said the Chinese Communists were up to their necks in the -traffic because it brought them the foreign exchange they desperately -needed and simultaneously undermined the morale of the West by spreading -drug addiction among its people. - -Not one official in the British crown colony accepted Mr. Anslinger’s -thesis for a minute. Hong Kong Police Commissioner Henry W. E. Heath, -the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, and the Preventive Service of the -Commerce and Industry Department unanimously declared that there was -absolutely no evidence that any large amount of the drugs smuggled into -the colony came from Red China. American customs officials in Hong Kong -were inclined to sustain the British view. - -Anslinger had named Yunnan Province in southwestern China as the leading -opium-growing area. Colony officials will concede that some opium may be -grown in Yunnan, but they believe that a much greater share is cultivated -in northwest Laos, northern Thailand and the Shan States of eastern -Burma. These four areas are so close to one another that the difference -between the two hypotheses is more political than geographic. - -Regardless of which field the poppy comes from, colony officials have -found that more than half the opium seized upon entering Hong Kong has -arrived on ships and planes that made their last previous stop at -Bangkok, Thailand. It is presumed that few drugs arrived bearing the name -and address of the manufacturer or the stamp giving the country of origin. - -In 1960, the colony’s antinarcotics units set what they believe to be -a world record for drug seizures, grabbing 39 shipments that included -3,626 pounds of opium, 153 pounds of morphine, 337 pounds of morphine -hydrochloride, 5 pounds of heroin and 155 pounds of barbitone. On -November 30, 1960, the Preventive Service captured 1,078 pounds of raw -opium hidden in bundles of hollowed-out teakwood on a newly arrived ship. -Less than two weeks later they discovered another vessel trying the same -trick and made a haul of 769 pounds of raw opium, 16 pounds of prepared -opium, 45½ pounds of morphine and 293 pounds of morphine hydrochloride. -There were 50 seizures in 1961, putting a further serious crimp in the -smuggling racket. - -Feeling persecuted and hurt, many smugglers shifted their base of -operations to Singapore. Even so, it was not an unqualified triumph for -Hong Kong’s antinarcotics force; by pinching off the drug supply they -forced its market price sky-high, and desperate addicts began stealing -and robbing to pay for their dope. - -Halting the manufacture of heroin within the colony is as difficult as -catching dope smugglers. A heroin “factory” requires little space and -can be set up in some obscure corner of the New Territories or lodged in -an expensive top-floor apartment on Hong Kong Island; the profit margin -is so great that production costs are but a small obstacle. Enforcement -costs are almost as steep. In 1959, the Preventive Service trebled its -manpower. In February, 1961, maximum penalties for drug manufacturing -were raised from a fine of $8,750 and ten years in prison to a $17,500 -fine and life imprisonment. - -Almost two-thirds of all prisoners in Hong Kong jails are drug addicts, -but the jailing of addicts, however necessary to protect society, offers -no cure for addiction. The colony government has sought to meet this -phase of the problem by setting up a narcotics rehabilitation center at -Tai Lam Chung Prison and a voluntary treatment section in the government -hospital at Castle Peak. - -Dr. Alberto M. Rodrigues, a colony-born physician of Portuguese ancestry -and an unofficial member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, became -chairman of a voluntary committee formed in 1959 to help drug addicts. -With government approval, his committee took over Shek Kwu Island near -Lantau in 1960 to establish a center where about 500 addicts could be -accommodated if they volunteered for treatment. The island was chosen -because it was isolated, and with proper security measures, could keep -the addict entirely away from drugs until medical and nursing care had -put him back on his feet. Gus Borgeest, the refugee rehabilitation -pioneer who established a welfare center on Sunshine Island, helped in -the early planning of Shek Kwu Chau, which began operations during 1962. - -Sir Sik-nin Chau, who has served on both the Executive and Legislative -Councils, headed an antinarcotics publicity campaign which was solidly -backed by the British and Chinese newspapers. The Kaifong associations -joined in the drive with lectures and leaflet-distribution among the -Chinese community. The public was urged to report any information about -narcotics sales or divans, but the response was slow and timid; many -ordinary citizens were obviously afraid of beatings and reprisals by the -Triad gangs engaged in drug-peddling. Others hung back in obedience to a -deep-seated Chinese tradition of not sticking your neck out by reporting -on the other fellow’s dirty work. Some headway has been made against this -attitude, but the general feeling of the drive’s publicity people is that -their campaign must be sustained for years to overcome it. - -Hong Kong’s drug problem is unlike that of New York City, where drug -addiction among teen-agers is cause for grave concern. Few Chinese -youngsters seem to be attracted to the habit. It is the middle-aged, the -unemployed, and most of all, the desperately poor who chase the dragon -for a brief sensation of well-being, ease and warmth that is succeeded -by a crushing letdown, physical collapse and eventual death. Abrupt -withdrawal of the drugs is like an earthquake from within, causing -cramps, vomiting, excruciating bodily pain and pathological restlessness. -Only a gradual withdrawal under close medical supervision will bring -about a cure, and even that carries no guarantee if the rehabilitated -addict is turned back to joblessness and squalor. - -Much of the drug traffic into Hong Kong is not intended for local -consumption, but for reexport to America and Europe. The crossroads -position of Hong Kong on international air and shipping routes makes it -particularly advantageous to this trade, and internal enforcement is -insufficient to cope with it. To bolster their defenses against this -traffic, colony drug-suppression officials depend on close coordination -with police in Southeast Asia, with the World Health Organization -Committee on Drugs Liable to Produce Addiction, and the Commission -on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. -The colony police force has opened its own sub-bureau of Interpol -(International Criminal Police Organization) to strengthen its offensive -against international drug peddlers. - -One oddity of the colony’s widespread drug addiction is that it is -seldom apparent to the average visitor; he may spend weeks there without -seeing a single identifiable drug victim. Trained observers can often -spot an addict by his dazed expression or emaciated appearance, but -even in these cases they need further evidence to verify the appraisal. -Dragon-chasers don’t charge through the streets like rogue elephants—not -in the colony, at any rate—they stay hidden and comatose in their -squatter shacks or divans. - -Police find the Triad gangs perennially active in the sale of narcotics, -just as they are in pimpery, extortion and shakedown rackets. Congested -areas such as Yau Ma Tei and Sham Shui Po have the highest crime rates -and the largest Triad membership. Only about five percent of the 500,000 -Triad members are engaged in major crimes, yet the threat of vengeance -from this militant minority is generally sufficient to keep the other -members silent and submissive. The mere implication of Triad backing, in -a threatening letter sent to a rich Chinese, usually produces cash to pay -off the letter writer, although police have recently had more success in -persuading prospective victims of these menaces to contact them instead -of paying off. Kidnapings are rare, though at least one case made the -headlines in 1961. - -The makeup of the police department closely reflects both the hierarchy -and the numerical grouping of the colony’s population. The line force -of uniformed men and detectives in all grades totaled 8,333 in 1961. -Nine-tenths were Chinese and less than 500 were British, with less than -200 Pakistanis and a handful of Portuguese. The top 50 administrative -posts were almost solidly British, however. The force also includes a -civilian staff of 1400. - -For the purposes of the ordinary citizen, a colony cop is a Chinese cop, -for these are the only officers he sees regularly. Taken as a group, -they are an alert-looking, smartly uniformed body, predominantly young, -slim and athletic. Day or night, they appear to be very much on the job, -and the worldwide complaint that a cop is never there when you need him -seems peculiarly inapplicable to Hong Kong. The Chinese officer quite -obviously is proud of his job, but the swaggering bully-boy pose is alien -to his nature. - -A few Chinese officers, like police in all other cities, go bad. When -they are drummed out of the force, it is generally for shaking down -a hawker or a merchant. More serious cases involve the protection of -gambling, prostitution, after-hour bars, or even collaboration with Triad -gangsters who split their protection money with the man on the beat. -Once in a great while a case like that of Assistant Superintendent John -Chao-ko Tsang crops up, with a high-ranking Chinese officer involved in -spying for a foreign government—Communist China, in this instance. But -such is the exception and does not change one lesson the British rulers -have learned in 120 years of hiring almost every kind of recruit from a -Scotsman to a Sikh; that of them all, the rank-and-file Chinese cop is -the finest the colony has ever had. - -The command structure of the police department, which is highly -centralized under an all-British top administration, is reflected in -almost every branch of the colony government. There are approximately -15,000 natives of the British Isles in the colony, excluding members of -the armed forces and their families, and they occupy virtually all of the -top government posts. - -A number of writers have expressed the view that Hong Kong is actually -controlled by about twenty persons, and while this could be criticized -as extreme—and certainly impossible to prove—it could just as well be -said that it is controlled by not more than ten persons: The governor; -the colonial secretary; the financial secretary; the director of Public -Works; the managing director of Jardine, Matheson & Co. (the most -powerful and longest-established business house); the general manager of -the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank (the leading financial institution); the -two most influential Chinese members of the Executive and Legislative -Councils; and the most prominent Portuguese and Indian member of the -Executive or Legislative Council. Perhaps the best way to test this -top-ten theory would be to try running something in opposition to these -ten, and no one has ventured that yet. - -There is no important elective office in Hong Kong, no widely qualified -electorate and no open agitation for universal suffrage. Nor is there -any sign of a forcibly suppressed yearning for democratic rule on the -part of the general population. The Communists, of course, loudly profess -their love of elective government, but the British and a majority of the -Chinese construe this to mean the entering wedge for Red China to annex -the colony. This is an old-fashioned colonial autocracy, completely -dominated by a small minority at the top, but even without a vote it -appears to enjoy more confidence from its subjects than do the Reds on -the mainland of China. - -The greatest strength of the colony government is that in spite of -its pin-point degree of representation, it can rule in an orderly and -efficient manner without the excesses of tyranny or dictatorship. For -ultimately, it is not the governing few but the law that rules in Hong -Kong. - -The Hong Kong government is a subsidiary of the British Crown. It gets -its orders from the Colonial Office and they are carried out by the -governor and two advisory bodies, the Executive and Legislative Councils. -The governor is the head of both councils. Five persons have seats -in both councils by virtue of their office—the commander of British -forces in the colony, the colonial secretary, the attorney general, -the secretary for Chinese affairs, and the financial secretary. In -addition, one colony official is nominated to the Executive Council, -and four other government officials are nominated for the Legislative -Council. The governor goes outside the official family to nominate six -unofficial members of the Executive Council and eight unofficial members -of the Legislative Council. Altogether, there are 31 places in this -policy-making hierarchy. Since several of its members hold two jobs -in this selective directorate, there are at present a total of 23 men -participating in top-level government. - -The governor must consult with the Executive Council on all important -matters, but he decides what must be done. If he takes action against -the express advice of his Executive Council, he owes a full explanation -for doing so to the Colonial Secretary. The governor makes the laws with -the advice and consent of the Legislative Council, and he must have its -approval for all public spending. British common law, adapted where -necessary to local conditions and Chinese customs, is the legal code of -Hong Kong. - -Thus the colony presents a unique governmental phenomenon. Approximately -ten to twenty English-speaking men holding undisputed sway over 3,300,000 -subjects, of whom not one in ten understands the language of his rulers -and hardly fifty percent can claim Hong Kong as their birthplace. - -By all visible signs, the colony is one of the best-run governments in -the Far East. Its roads are paved and traffic moves in an orderly way -in spite of the highest vehicle concentration per mile of road anywhere -in the world. The same order prevails in the incessant shuttling of -harbor vessels. Public transportation is swift, frequent and generally -on schedule. Poverty and privation are everywhere, but starvation is -virtually non-existent. Business and trade thrive and unemployment is -low. Wages seem minuscule when compared with American standards, yet are -higher than in most of the countries of Asia. A majority of its people -are indifferent to the government, but they are not afraid of it. When -something has to be done, there are people at the top with the resolution -and the intelligence to do it without trampling human rights. - -Is Hong Kong’s autocracy, therefore, a model for the world? On the -contrary, there is hardly another place where its practices would be -applicable. Hong Kong’s exasperating uniqueness has defied even the -efforts of the Colonial Office to make it conform to British government -practices. - -With all its efficiency, however, Hong Kong has the weaknesses of its -governmental structure and its political environment. Because of its -extreme centralization, its almost ingrown character in relation to -its constituents, it is often out of touch with the people it governs. -Enormous barriers of language and culture block its view, and graft and -corruption threaten it from every angle. In Asia, graft is the deadliest -enemy of every form of government which pretends to deal justly with its -citizens, and Hong Kong is not invulnerable to its attack. - -From the earliest days of the colony, the Chinese people who emigrated -there were fugitives from restraint and oppression. Many of them were -outright fugitives from justice. Whatever their virtues or vices, they -had found existence under the government of their homeland so intolerable -that they willingly submitted to the rule of an alien people they neither -trusted nor admired. From centuries of bitter experience in China, they -believed that no government was to be trusted. The secret of survival -was to avoid all open defiance of governments and to go on living within -the framework of one’s family and clan as though the government did -not exist. One did not cheat the other members of his clan, because -retribution could be swift and terrible. Relations with civil rulers were -not an ethical compact; they were a battle of wits, a stubborn struggle -for self-preservation in which the cunning of the individual was the only -weapon against the greed and power of the state. - -How much more applicable these lessons were when those rulers were -foreign devils who did not speak one’s language! One did not rebel -against the headstrong foreigners and their military superiority; he -obeyed them in externals, so far as it was necessary to escape reprisals, -and went on quietly building his own internal mechanisms of graft like a -busy termite in an unsuspecting household. If the people of the household -mistook the termites for industrious but harmless little ants, it was all -the easier for him. - -The metaphor need not be done to death, for it is no longer as apposite -as it once was. But there is no question that graft and corruption -continue to eat away at the structure of the colony government. -In a hundred casual conversations with a hundred different colony -residents—English, Chinese, American, Portuguese, governmental and -nongovernmental—the visitor will almost never hear that the ruling powers -have railroaded some poor devil off to jail without cause, swindled him -out of his property to benefit the state, or hounded the populace into -semistarvation with unbearable taxation. If these evils exist, they are -neither frequent enough nor sufficiently conspicuous to engage people’s -passions. - -But on the subject of graft—the innumerable, small nicks taken from -merchants, builders, and the ordinary citizen seeking any type of -official favor or permit—the floodgates of complaint are wide open. Much -of this is generalized, unproved, even irresponsible, operating at about -the same intellectual level as a taxi-driver’s jeremiad. Nevertheless, -there is a core of solid complaint that cannot be ignored. - -Within the colony government, there is a large segment that bridles -at the least intimation of official graft. The motto of this segment -is: Don’t rock the boat. We know we’re not perfect, they seem to be -saying, but don’t go around kicking over beehives, or the first thing -we know, the Colonial Office will be down on our heads with all kinds -of inquiries, full-dress investigations and a fearful flap. We’ll all -be sacked, sent home in disgrace, and it won’t change one thing for the -better. So let’s keep quiet, muddle along as best we can and try to -eliminate the grafters quietly, one at a time. We’re really not a bad lot -of chaps, you know. - -Fortunately, some of the colony’s chief officers do not subscribe to the -theory that corruption can be defeated by a public pretense that it does -not exist. - -Something like a civic shock-wave was recorded in Hong Kong on January -11, 1962, when Chief Justice Michael Hogan opened the Supreme Court -Assizes by coming to grips with the issue of corruption. - -“No one would claim we are entirely immune from this evil,” Sir Michael -said. He noted that the heavy penalties prescribed for corruption -offenses must be enforced without recourse to “the surreptitious whisper -in the corridor; the accusation made behind his (the accused’s) back; or -the anonymous letter. If such methods should come to be accepted, then we -would have another evil just as bad, if not worse, than corruption.” - -The Chief Justice proceeded to put his finger on one of the main -obstacles to the exposure of corruption: - -“There is a reluctance to come forward and give information; to come, if -necessary, into court and face the possibility of a cross-examination, -attacking character, credit and the power of recollection—in fact a -reluctance to pay the price that the rule of law demands.” - -He contrasted this attitude with the recent case of a Mr. Tong, who -captured and held on to a sneak-thief despite six stab wounds, and asked: - -“Does this mean that physical courage is more plentiful than moral -courage in Hong Kong today?” - -He reached the heart of the matter with the observation that a citizen -will be very slow to come forward with a complaint against an official if -he knows that perhaps tomorrow or the next day or the day after, he has -got to come and ask that official, or some colleague of that official, or -somebody apparently identified with him in interest, for a concession, or -a privilege, or some act of consideration. - -It is only when men have clearly defined rights, he continued, that they -enjoy the security to challenge the abuse of power and the ability to -choke off corruption. If an official can grant or withhold permission -“without the necessity of giving public reasons for the decision,” the -Chief Justice declared, “you immediately create an opening for corruption -or the suspicion of it.” - -The Chief Justice’s address, particularly in its allusion to -“closed-door” decisions and a lack of moral sense in the community, -produced headlines and editorials in the local press and acute twinges -of discomfort among those who either benefited by corruption or feared -any public admission that it existed. In itself, the address was -neither an exposé nor an indictment, but its delivery by the brilliant -and articulate Chief Justice in one of the most solemn ceremonies of -the governmental year rang a clear warning from the citadel: If the -corrupters were haled before the courts, they could expect no easy-going -tolerance for their misdeeds. - -During the previous July, Governor Black had moved to correct one -weakness peculiar to Hong Kong. Because of the Chinese tradition that -personal contact with the government is to be avoided, many residents -were reluctant to approach an official for such routine information as -where to apply for an identity card or how to locate a lost pet. If they -plucked up the courage to ask a question, they assumed that some fee, -to be paid either above or below the table, would be exacted for any -answer given. The situation offered a happy hunting ground for grafters, -either those on the government payroll who dealt with the general public -or the self-appointed private “fixers” who directed the applicant to a -particular official for a small fee. Sometimes the fixer and the official -were in cahoots and sheared the lamb at both ends of his journey. - -Why it took the colony 120 years to plug this rat hole is a baffling -question. It was done at last by creating a Public Enquiry Service with -an all-Chinese staff capable of speaking virtually any local dialect and -of supplying direct and accurate answers to every kind of question about -the government and its functions. Coming under the general authority of -the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, it is headed by Paul K. C. Tsui, -a native of Hong Kong and a colony administrative officer since 1948. -Controller Tsui spent months roaming the colony, talking to editors, -listening to gossip in goldsmiths’ shops and to the complaints people -dictated to sidewalk letter-writers or expressed to housing and tenancy -offices. - -When he felt that he had gained some idea of the questions and problems -on people’s minds, Mr. Tsui sought the answers to them from the -appropriate departments. He then assembled a small staff, compiled and -cross-indexed a vast store of information in readily accessible form, -and established an office in the entrance hall of the Central Government -Offices, West Wing, on July 3, 1961. There his three information -officers, who had expected to have to handle 80 requests for information -a day, found them streaming in at the rate of about 135 a day. Early -in 1962, a similar office had to be opened in Kowloon to meet the same -demand. When the Chinese people were satisfied that they could get -specific, friendly answers to their problems without having to pay a fee, -they were both amazed and grateful. - -Mr. Tsui, taking a tip from the operators of goldsmiths’ shops, put his -staff on hard chairs and the public on soft chairs, permitting them to -talk comfortably across a low counter in a pleasant, informal atmosphere. -At times it takes an agitated inquirer fifteen minutes to blow off steam -before he can get around to stating what it is he really wants to know, -but the staff will patiently wait him out. A married woman about thirty -years of age appears to represent the favorite official type of most -questioners, although they like also to have an older male official -handy as a corroborating reference. Queries in English are handled as -efficiently as are those in Chinese. - -Once the news of this service reaches all colony residents—many English -and Chinese had still not heard of it in 1962—one of the most prevalent -forms of petty graft and ill-will toward government will have been -eliminated. - -Chief Justice Hogan’s attack on “closed-door” decisions and official -impropriety was followed a week later by the sixth report of the -Advisory Committee on Corruption, composed of a five-man body appointed -by Governor Black from the membership of the Executive and Legislative -Councils. - -The report found the highest susceptibility to corruption among the -departments dealing directly with the general public—police, public -works, urban services, commerce and industry and refugee resettlement. -Inspection services of all kinds, it said, showed the greatest -vulnerability to graft. - -So far the report only echoes a truism known to every municipal -administration; that when the government comes to bear on some -individual’s right to perform a particular function, usually for money, a -few gold coins in an inspector’s pocket will often expedite a favorable -decision. - -The Advisory Committee on Corruption has recommended clearly defined, -simple licensing procedures and the introduction of bilingual (Chinese -and English) application forms and explanatory booklets. A corollary -recommendation that all new government employees receive a pamphlet -detailing the penalties for corruption has already been accepted. - -The Committee called for legislation that would require a public servant -to explain exactly how he came to be in possession of any property -that was not in keeping with his income, and to face a penalty if his -explanation did not hold. They also sought a law giving the courts -the power to seize any money involved in a corruption charge, plus a -recommendation for stiffer punishments against corruption. - -The report urged that the names of officials convicted of corruption -be made public, and that figures showing the total number of officials -dismissed be published at certain intervals. At present, there are -numerous angry cries that when a crooked British official is caught and -sacked, he is spirited out of the colony without a word about it; whereas -a Chinese official fired for a similar offense receives unrelenting -publicity and back-handed treatment that implies, “Well, what else can -you expect from these Orientals?” - -The Anti-Corruption Branch of the police department is now the chief -agency responsible for detecting corruption in all departments of -government. The Committee has invited direct reports of corruption from -the public, some of which have led to the prosecution and firing of -several officials. During the first eleven months of 1961, the police -department received an additional 422 complaints charging corruption. -Americans are usually surprised to find that the colony’s police -department is charged with detecting corruption in other government -departments. In America it is done the other way around; other government -departments seem to be investigating the police force for signs of -corruption. - -Generally unsubstantiated but endlessly repeated to visitors, are -the popular charges that the police are shaking down shopkeepers and -peddlers, or that building inspectors are blinded by gold when a builder -is detected extending a structure over a sidewalk in violation of local -codes and ordinances. - -The report, last of the series issued by the Committee, suggested that -it would be desirable to hold the givers of bribes equally guilty with -the civil servants who accepted them. This is a sticky issue in any -community, despite the unassailability of its ethical position. If it -were rigidly enforced, it would infringe the freedom of speech of many -prominent persons who deplore dishonesty in government, because it would -put them in jail. - -The Advisory Committee has also warned civil servants to deal only -with the applicants in person, or with professional representatives in -order to exclude corrupt middlemen from all transactions. This warning -is especially appropriate in Hong Kong, where a middleman with no -discernible function except his ability to collect a fee will attempt to -worm himself into every business deal. - -All of the Committee’s recommendations are made directly to the -governor, who in turn discusses them with the Colonial Office before -taking action. - -Colony newspapers have printed long excerpts from all the reports, and -the _China Mail_ declared that they simply said what the newspaper had -been publishing for two years. - -What Chief Justice Hogan and the Committee have jointly accomplished is -to raise an issue of critical importance in the survival of the colony -government. Whether it will be resolved as decisively as it has been -faced may require months and years to answer. - - - - -CHAPTER EIGHT - -Two Worlds in One House - - “Care must be taken not to confound the habits and institutions - of the Chinese with what prevails in other parts of the - world.”—BRITISH HOUSE OF LORDS (circa 1880) - - -Hong Kong has furnished the Sino-British answer to a universal question: -What’s in it for me? Its progress from the earliest days has been more -powerfully influenced by the lure of gold than by the Golden Rule, with -its British and Chinese residents having little in common except their -human nature and an equal dedication to the maximum profit in the minimum -time. - -“They don’t even speak the same language!” is a convenient expression -of the ultimate separation between peoples, but while it is true that -nine-tenths of Hong Kong’s Chinese do not speak English, the linguistic -gap is only one of the many chasms that stand between them and their -British rulers. - -The British traders and fighting men who muscled their way into -possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841 were looked upon with fear and -loathing by the Chinese governing class, who considered them gun-toting -barbarian brawlers. To the English, the Chinese seemed a docile -subspecies of humanity. It has taken most of the intervening 121 years -to convince a majority of both sides that the initial judgments may have -been wrong. - -The differences between nineteenth century Chinese and European -civilizations were wide. Europeans, when they thought about religion -at all, worshipped one God in a variety of antagonistic churches; the -Chinese worshipped hundreds of gods, sometimes subscribing to several -contradictory creeds simultaneously, without apparent conflict. Europeans -were monogamous by law and custom; the Chinese, without odium, could be -as polygamous as their means would allow. - -None of these theological or moral disparities weighed heavily on the -English while they were securing a foothold in China and building the -opium trade. On the contrary, when they noted the willingness with which -Chinese customs officials accepted their bribes, they felt they had -established a kind of moral bond with the East. These people, whatever -their eccentricities, were ready to do business in the accepted Western -way. - -When the British settled down to the business of governing their new -colony, they collided at every turn with the language barrier. Except for -a few conscientious missionaries and a minuscule number of lay scholars, -the British were wholly ignorant of Cantonese, the prevailing Hong Kong -tongue, and they were loftily disinclined to learn it. The extremes -to which this arrogant insularity sometimes went were demonstrated by -Governor Samuel George Bonham (1848-1854), who denied promotions to -those subordinates who learned Chinese; he felt that the language was -injurious to the mind, robbing it of common sense. In other respects, -Governor Bonham was not so benighted as his linguistic convictions would -indicate. Nor was he alone in his attitude toward the Chinese people; -Governor Hercules Robinson (1859-1865) once wrote that it was his -constant endeavor to “preserve the European and American community from -the injury and inconvenience of intermixture” with the Chinese population. - -Since all government business was (and continues to be) conducted -in English, British officials frequently had to rely on Portuguese -interpreters who had moved to Hong Kong from Macao. The Portuguese, -facile linguists and unburdened by delusions of racial superiority, -filled the role admirably. But in the colony courts, the simple task of -swearing a witness in presented obstacles even to the best interpreters. -Having never sworn an oath in the English fashion, the Chinese viewed it -as just one more instance of outlandish mumbo-jumbo. At first the English -tried cutting off a rooster’s head as a testament of the witness’s -intention to tell the truth; then an earthenware bowl was broken to -signify the same thing. A yellow paper inscribed with oaths or the name -of the witness was burned in court as another form of swearing-in. -Governor Bonham instituted a direct oral affirmation in 1852, but the -complications that ensued must have intensified his conviction that the -Chinese language was an insult to logic. If a defendant were asked, “Do -you plead guilty?” the question was rendered in colloquial Cantonese as -“You yes or no not guilty?” If the respondent answered “Yes, I am not -guilty,” it could mean either “Not Guilty” or “Guilty.” Somehow the oaths -were sworn, but not without a certain despair among the court attendants. - -Although the European community seldom concerned itself with Chinese -customs, it managed to raise a considerable storm over their “places of -convenience” during the 1860s. These creations of the colony’s Chinese -merchants were a sort of employee-retirement plan which consisted of -taking one’s elderly or ailing workers to a crude shelter located on the -north slope of Victoria Peak. There the faithful employee was rewarded -for his long service by being given a quantity of drinking water and -a coffin and left to die; if he were blessed with friends, they might -visit him at this place, offer him an occasional scrap of food or a -fresh ration of drinking water, and finally bury him. Often he died -alone and without proper burial. This was too much, even for European -opium traders, and Governor Richard Macdonnell stilled their protests -by offering a free site for a Chinese hospital at Possession Point. -This replacement of the terrible “dying-houses” was financed by the -wealthier Chinese for their destitute countrymen. It became the first -of the Tung Wah Chinese hospitals, now greatly expanded and modernized. -The inevitable outcry that provision of the simplest medical care for -the destitute would cause these facilities to be jammed by hordes of -undeserving poor was raised—as it still is today—and proved false. - -Sanitary conditions among the Chinese were horrible when the British -arrived and remained so for the rest of the nineteenth century. The -colony government made many attempts to improve them, but it was -regularly stymied by the tenement dwellers who opposed any form of health -inspection as an invasion of privacy, and by landlords who resented -any proposal which threatened their profit margins. During the bubonic -plague epidemics of the 1890s, the government provided a special plague -burial-ground and offered the families of the dead quantities of lime to -render the bodies of the victims noninfectious. The Chinese responded by -abandoning their dead in the streets or throwing them in shallow graves; -the donated lime was sold to building contractors. - -The surviving tenements of the Western District of Hong Kong Island -are still a shock to visiting Westerners. Still, their dark, dirty and -overcrowded condition is a distinct improvement upon the disease-ridden -pestholes of the last century. Sanitary inspectors, no longer detested -and attacked by the population, can go anywhere and they carry full -police powers for enforcing corrective action. The Chinese, never any -fonder of dirt than the English, have been converted to the belief that -the once-hated British methods can help them to achieve cleanliness. - -Because of their tenuous contact with the Chinese residents of -the colony, the British rulers tended to deal with them through -intermediaries. This function was at first performed by the Mandarins, -or members of the Chinese official class, who were as willing to gouge -their countrymen for the British as they had been to do it for the -Emperor; provided, of course, that they were able to deduct their usual -cut. Governor Arthur Kennedy (1872-1877), who was the first to invite the -Chinese to receptions at Government House, relied on the committee of the -Man Mo Temple to control Chinese affairs. - -Man Mo Temple, an ancient building still standing on Hollywood Road in -the congested Western District, was a mixture of Buddhist and Taoist -elements. Its leaders were Kennedy’s very potent allies, all working -secretly to control Chinese affairs, acting as commercial arbitrators, -negotiating the sale of official titles, and welcoming visiting -Mandarins. Man Mo Temple, now administered by the Tung Wah Hospital -committee, remained a respectable institution, but a number of other -temples sprang up to challenge its influence. - -In numerous cases the so-called temples were nothing more than a -sanctimonious swindle. Privately promoted as a business speculation, -they solicited funds from the public with fraudulent claims of divine -or political influence. Abuses of this sort became so flagrant that -the colony government, after long delay, enacted the Chinese Temples -Ordinance in 1928, which provided for registration of the temples and -an accounting of their funds to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. -Certain long-established temples were exempt from various provisions of -the Ordinance, but the founding of temples as a private business venture -was forbidden. Surplus funds of the existing temples—the amount remaining -after all maintenance and operating costs had been met—were transferred -to a general Chinese charities fund. - -The Chinese Mui Tsai custom, that of selling young girls as servants, -troubled British and Chinese relations in Hong Kong for half a century. -From ancient times, Chinese families had purchased little girls from -impoverished parents and put them to work as household drudges. The -colony officials raised their first strong objections to the practice in -1878, condemning it as thinly disguised slavery. Speaking of slavery, the -Chinese retorted, what about the licensed brothels where 80 percent of -the inmates had been sold into prostitution? - -A committee appointed by Governor John Pope Hennessy (1877-1882) found -that hundreds of the Mui Tsai, when they had outgrown their household -enslavement, were being resold as prostitutes for shipment to Singapore, -California and Australia. A species of Caucasian scum who lived in the -colony were active partners in the trade. Governor Hennessy and Chief -Justice John Smale forwarded the committee’s reports to the British House -of Lords with urgent recommendations for tight corrective laws. The -Lords, suddenly revealing an unsuspected concern for the integrity of -Chinese customs, killed most of the proposed reforms. - -Establishment of the Po Leung Kuk, or Society for the Protection of -Virtue, helped to limit the kidnaping of women and girls, but the -institution of Mui Tsai was to persist well into the twentieth century. -The English eventually outlawed licensed brothels after decades of -criticism from many countries. - -Covert prostitution continues at a brisk pace in Hong Kong today, with -sailors favoring the Wanchai district and the bars of the Tsim Sha Tsui -section of Kowloon. The Chinese are more inclined to patronize the -western areas of Hong Kong Island. The dance hall and cabaret girls of -Wanchai, whose ranks include some spectacularly beautiful women, charge -their eager patrons about four dollars an hour for the privilege of -dancing with them, sharing a plate of melon seeds and drinking tea. The -cabarets are murky dens, furnished in Chinese warehouse modern, with -a third-rate jazz band dragging the tempo along in the semidarkness. -There is no guarantee of intimacies—emphatically not on the premises—and -the prospective suitor is obliged to continue shelling out his money -for repeated visits until the girl decides whether he has the kind of -bankroll she could care for. If he is too repulsive to her, not even that -will do. - -A cabaret girl can earn $300 a month or more, or about five times as -much as a schoolteacher earns. Few of these girls speak English, but -this ability has never been regarded as a prerequisite. Apart from the -moral considerations of the job, its competitive aspects are becoming -more intense all the time. Bar girls, who have little respect for the -traditional preliminaries, may bestow their favors on five customers -while the cabaret charmers are fencing with one. - -The singsong girls, formerly held in great esteem as entertainers and -prostitutes, have almost disappeared from the colony. Many of them were -Mui Tsai who had been trained to sing seemingly interminable Cantonese -songs in a falsetto voice for their tea-shop patrons, accompanying -themselves on a kind of horizontal stringed instrument which they tapped -with padded hammers. In the later evening, they moved about from one -businessmen’s club to another in the West Point section of the island. -Not all were prostitutes, and there is still at least one tea shop along -Queen’s Road Central where entertainment is confined to music. Westerners -who hear their music often find themselves thinking of older days. - -Considering the fact that Hong Kong is a world seaport, the rate of -venereal infection is surprisingly low. To a greater extent than in most -Western cities, poverty is a basic cause of prostitution, but here too -sheer laziness, greed and stupidity play their part in the provision -of recruits. As usual, the greatest profits from the trade go to its -protectors—Triad gangsters and corrupt policemen. - -The entire subject of the status and treatment of women has provided a -continual source of animosity and disagreement throughout the colony’s -history. The rich Chinese Taipans, with their numerous wives and -mistresses lodged in separate establishments, have remained the envy -of many a Western man who could not emulate them without violating the -laws of the colony and placing himself beyond the pale of polite Western -society. - -Since the founding of the Chinese Republic in 1911, well-educated -Chinese women have not looked happily on polygamy. Their convictions -were solidified and shared by millions of other Chinese wives when Red -China tightened the marriage laws, making monogamy not only legal but -practically mandatory. These improvements in the status of Chinese -women have not gone unnoticed in Hong Kong, where a British, Christian, -monogamous community finds itself in the embarrassing position of -tolerating plural marriage among its Chinese subjects long after the -institution has been outlawed in China. - -There is nothing in this thorny problem which lends itself to edicts -and sweeping judgments. It is charged with the most delicate emotional -considerations, involving not only the legality of existing marriages, -the legitimacy of offspring and the fundamental rights of women, but -also the division of property and the inheritance of estates. Colony -officials are aware that the work of solving it must be approached with -the greatest subtlety. - -To begin with, there are six kinds of marriages to be considered, all -with different premises. Two are classified as Chinese Modern Marriages; -those contracted in Hong Kong under Nationalist China laws, and those -contracted in China or any other place outside the colony under the -same Nationalist laws. Marriages contracted under Chinese custom as it -existed and was recognized in 1843 are Chinese Customary Marriages. -Marriages under the colony’s laws, Christian or otherwise, are called -Registry Marriages. There are also Reputed Marriages, which is the colony -designation for common-law marriages, and, finally, a group called -Foreign Marriages, which includes all those contracted outside the -colony under foreign laws, particularly those performed and registered -in Red China under its monogamous marriage law. Thus, the usually simple -question, “Are you married?” when fully answered in Hong Kong, may take a -considerable amount of the inquirer’s time. - -Chinese Customary Marriages, still popular in the colony, are generally -recognized as valid, but there is no single definition which covers them. -There are any number of ancient prescriptions for them which contradict -one another, but they are alike in that they follow the accepted rites -and ceremonies of the families of the bride and groom. Chinese women -with a modern consciousness of their rights have no affection for such -unions, since they permit a husband to divorce his wife for any reason -and give her no right to leave him if she really feels inclined to do so. -Furthermore, and this is an equally sore point, it permits the husband -to take concubines, though the notion that a wife might adopt a similar -polygamy is quite inconceivable. - -Chinese Modern Marriages in the colony far outnumber all other types—more -than 200,000, by an official estimate—although Registry Marriages have -recently gained in number. All that is required to make them valid is an -open ceremony witnessed by two persons. The Nationalist laws applicable -to such unions give the man no legal right to acquire a concubine, -despite the fact that some husbands in the colony find it convenient to -pretend they do. The “extra” girls are naturally flattered to be told -they are concubines (i.e., secondary wives with full domestic rights), -rather than mistresses with no legal or social standing. - -In everyday relationships with the courts and the government, Chinese -Modern Marriages are recognized as respectable unions. None the less, -they have no legal validity when contracted in Hong Kong, for they -are neither entered at the Marriage Registry nor are they celebrated -according to “the personal law and religion of the parties,” as colony -laws require. - -Reputed Marriages are, in many respects, exactly like common-law -marriages in the United States: two people live together, sometimes have -children and are regarded by themselves and their friends as married, -unless they should grow weary of each other and part. In Hong Kong, -however, a concubine is sometimes added, making the institution look -something like a house of cards with an annex. Foreign Marriages, or -unions contracted abroad and according to the laws of the country where -the couple formerly lived, present few legal obstacles. If they were -married in Red China, and the marriage was registered there, the union -is monogamous; when the couple move to Hong Kong, their marriage has the -same standing as that of an American or European couple living in the -colony. - -The complications arising from this matrimonial disparity have been the -subject of intensive study since World War II. In earlier days, the -marital customs of the Chinese community were of little interest to the -British. One did not associate with the Chinese unless it was required -for the purposes of political window-dressing. But the glacial snobbery -of old colonialism suffered a disrespectful mauling during World War -II from which it has never quite recovered. At that time the Chinese -penetrated all but the tightest circles of Hong Kong society, and -hundreds of British and Chinese intermarried without loss of “face” in -either group. This last was the boldest departure, for while it was true -that outcasts of both races had intermarried since the founding of the -colony, a socially acceptable member of either race who attempted it was -snubbed by both English and Chinese. - -British-Chinese intermarriages are monogamous, and in spite of the -inevitable interference of aunts, uncles and cousins, have generally -worked out better than either race would have expected them to two -decades ago. Of themselves, these mixed marriages are not a social issue -in the colony, but they have indirectly breached the barrier between -the two racial communities. Marriage laws of all sorts have become the -concern of the entire colony population. - -The 1948 Committee on Chinese Law and Custom defined many of the marital -contradictions which persist to this day. Then, as now, one of the -most vexing questions was the legal status of the “secondary wife” -or concubine sanctioned by Chinese Customary Marriages. The English -meaning of “concubine,” connoting a mistress or secret paramour, was not -applicable to the Chinese concubine; she joined her husband’s household, -with or without the principal wife’s consent, and it was his obligation -to support her. Her children were legitimate, but her husband could -divorce her more readily than he could his principal wife. - -But what were the rights of real and pseudo-concubines? Could they and -their children be discarded without support? To what extent might they -challenge the rights of the real wife? The 1948 Committee produced no -definitive answers to these questions, nor did it urge any precipitate -action to change the status of concubines. It did recommend that after a -certain date, the taking of new concubines be declared illegal. - -Sir Man Kam Lo, a Chinese member of the Hong Kong Executive Council, -subsequently wrote a dissent to the 1948 report, saying that he believed -the concubine should be allowed to remain in cases where the principal -wife was ill or unable to bear children. As he noted, the birth of a male -heir is of the greatest importance to the succession of a Chinese family. -Very few families, he felt, would regard an adopted son as a suitable -heir. - -Arthur Ridehalgh, former Attorney General, and John C. McDouall, -Secretary for Chinese Affairs, made a detailed study of Chinese -marriages in the colony in 1960 and submitted a variety of -recommendations intended to clear up some of the ambiguities and -contradictions. - -It was their proposal that the government set a definite date for -outlawing Chinese Modern Marriages and to validate all marriages of this -type which had been previously contracted as monogamous unions, provided -that neither spouse was lawfully married to anyone else. The so-called -concubines of husbands who had been parties to a Chinese Modern Marriage -would receive no further legal recognition, and in fact they had never -been entitled to any. - -Regarding Chinese Customary Marriages, the study favored the recording -of these marriages to establish their validity, and the banning of all -future marriages in which either partner is under sixteen years of age. -As to Reputed Marriages, the study advocated remarriage of the couples -under colony law with the right to back-date the marriage to the time -they had begun to live together. - -The Ridehalgh-McDouall report also favored several changes in the -divorce laws. One change would permit a principal wife in a Chinese -Customary Marriage to get a divorce with maintenance until her death -or remarriage if the husband, after a date to be set by law, acquired -a concubine without the principal wife’s consent or knowledge. Another -recommendation, after a date set by law, would bar divorce in a Chinese -Customary Marriage without the free consent of both parties. - -The study warned against any all-out banning of concubines in Chinese -Customary Marriages, but supported gradual restriction of the right -to take concubines. As for mistresses in other types of marriages who -posed as legal concubines, the study urged the government to expose the -practice as a popular fallacy with no lawful basis. It also gave its -backing to laws which granted a legal concubine full rights to seek a -divorce and obtain maintenance for her children, and legislation which -empowered a principal wife to sue a husband for divorce and support of -herself and children. - -Other recommendations proposed added protection of the rights of wives in -Chinese Modern Marriages against infringement by pseudo-concubines, and -legal provision to assure the support of illegitimate children. - -All these findings are still being weighed by the colony government -and quick action on them is unlikely. To a large degree, the proposed -changes in marriage laws represent a new offensive in the long war for -women’s rights, and it might be noted that the women of this century have -compiled an impressive list of victories in this regard. With enough -nagging and prodding, they should be able to carry the day in Hong Kong -too. - -In the discussion of such pervasive issues as the difference between -Chinese and British marriage customs, it is convenient to view the -Chinese as a single group of people constituting 98.2 percent of the -colony’s population. Since 95 percent of the population speak Cantonese, -it would seem to follow that Hong Kong is a homogeneous community, except -for a light top-dressing of “foreign devils.” But this superficial -impression is as wide of the mark as the saying “All Chinese look alike.” - -There are scholars who object to the word Chinese as the description of -one people, arguing quite persuasively that there are so many racial -strains in China that no single label adequately describes them. The -point is drawn a bit fine for the majority of Western observers, yet -anyone who spends a few weeks in Hong Kong will begin to appreciate the -racial diversity of the Chinese people. - -By the unverified judgment of the eye, the colony’s Chinese people are -two or three inches shorter than the American of average height, and -noticeably taller than the average Japanese or Filipino. But that is -perhaps the limit of any valid comparison between Americans and Chinese -as far as appearance goes. - -The Chinese one sees on the street range from jockey-sized runts to -towering giants; from tiny women weighing perhaps 90 pounds to queenly -six-footers; from the palest of white skins to a deep walnut brown. Many -have features which seem more Slavic or Polish than anything classifiable -as Chinese. There are almond eyes and pop eyes; slit eyes and bug-eyes. -Noses tend to be a little less prominent and less sharply defined than -European noses, but exceptions occur. The bloated red nose of the -dedicated drinker never shows itself, except on a Caucasian face. Dark -hair is almost universal and bald heads less common than in an American -crowd. Pudgy types occur with some regularity, but tremendously fat -people are rarely seen. - -About half the people who live in the urban areas were born in the -colony and most of their ancestors came from Kwangtung, the Chinese -Province immediately north of the Hong Kong border. Kwangtung was also -the birthplace of the majority of the recent refugees from Red China. -Eight-tenths of the city-dwellers speak the dialect of Cantonese used -in Canton City, where the British traders were based before Hong Kong -became a colony. This dialect and others closely related to it are -the _lingua franca_ of the colony’s urban Chinese, but there are 96 -Cantonese dialects in existence, many of them unintelligible to users -of the Canton City dialect. The babble of urban tongues includes Hoklo, -Sze Yap and Hakka, all from different parts of Kwangtung, Shanghainese -(chiefly heard at North Point and Hung Hom in the colony), Chiuchow (in -the Western District), Fukienese (at North Point) and Kuoyu, or Mandarin -(near Hong Kong University and at Rennie’s Mill Camp). - -In the New Territories, where even a Westerner can detect differences of -dress and custom, the Cantonese hold most of the flat, fertile farmland -and speak a dialect which puzzles city Cantonese. Ancestors of the -Cantonese farmers have lived in the New Territories for nine centuries. -The Hakka people, whose women may be identified immediately by their -broad-brimmed straw hats with a hanging fringe of thin black cloth, -settled the same area at about the time of the earliest Cantonese, but -were pushed into the less desirable farmland and generally dominated by -the Cantonese. They fought each other intermittently for centuries, but -the feud has died down and they now share several villages peacefully, -frequently intermarry, and restrict their warfare to husband-wife -squabbles. The Hakkas of the eastern New Territories operate their own -single-masted, high-hull boats for hauling farm produce and ferrying -passengers. - -The Hoklos, a smaller group with a knack for handling light, fast boats, -once lived entirely on boats and worked as shrimp fishermen. They moved -ashore many years ago and now have their chief settlements on Cheung Chau -and Peng Chau, a few miles west of Hong Kong Island. - -By the testimony of historians, the Tanka people, who dominate the -colony’s fishing industry, are the oldest surviving group in Hong Kong. -Antedating the Chinese, they lived in the area when the Cantonese came -along to push them off the land and generally treat them like despised -inferiors. They lived entirely on boats, and when the British traders -arrived, the Tanka had no compunctions about dealing with them in -defiance of the Chinese Emperor’s orders. Over 90 percent of them speak -Cantonese, with a small number speaking Hoklo and other dialects. Hardy -and conservative, they avoid city ways, live on their junks and sampans -and follow their own distinctive festivals and religious ceremonies. -Since World War II they have begun to send their children to schools -ashore and to become more directly involved in the economic life of the -colony. - -World War II provided a turning point in the fortunes of those boat -people who operated cargo lighters in the harbor. Heartily disliking the -Japanese, they used false-bottomed boats to secrete food stolen from -their cargoes and then distributed it among the half-starved population -ashore. They were the only residents permitted to eat in the large hotel -restaurants like those at the luxurious Peninsula in Kowloon. Most of -them, wholly unfamiliar with chairs, ate by squatting on the chair-seats -as they had squatted on deck while eating at sea. Nowadays, they are more -sophisticated, and in spite of their non-Chinese origin, as intensely -Chinese as any group in the colony. - -Because of the floodtide of tourists which has swept into Hong Kong in -the last few years, it has become a conversational bromide to say that -the influx will soon destroy its colorful Chinese community. To accept -such a doctrine is to overestimate the impact of tourism and underrate -the resistance of the Chinese. - -The Hong Kong tourist is a highly localized phenomenon. Except for a fast -motor tour through the main roads of the New Territories and a short -whirl around Hong Kong Island, he rarely wanders more than a mile from -the island and Kowloon terminals of the Star Ferry. He shops, gawks, eats -at a few restaurants which are more tourist-oriented than Oriental, and -is gone, leaving nothing but the click of the shopkeepers’ abacuses to -mark his passage. - -It may seem incongruous to characterize nearly one-fourth of the human -race as clannish, but it is undeniable that the Chinese, no matter where -they have lived, have retained their home ties, customs and culture. They -are rock-ribbed individualists rather than nationalists, but when they -live abroad, whether in Hong Kong or the Chinatowns of San Francisco and -New York, they remain distinctly and unalterably Chinese. In Singapore -and Manila they are resented for their commercial shrewdness and their -stubborn insistence on remaining Chinese. If their next-door neighbors -can’t change them, what reason is there to believe that the tourists of -Hong Kong can do so? - -There are certain comic aspects to the relations of the British and -Chinese in Hong Kong. Living side-by-side for 121 years, they have told -each other—sometimes directly, more often by implication—“You can’t -change me!” To a large extent, they have both held out, like a silent -couple eating at opposite ends of a long dinner table. Lately the table -has been contracting, but the prospects of a cozy twosome are still -somewhat distant. - -Meanwhile, the Chinese go on living by their own calendar, celebrating -festivals and family events according to their traditions, and following -their ancient religions. The rural people cling to their belief in -fung shui (literally, wind and water), a form of geomancy which guides -them in locating their houses and burial places on the particular site -most pleasing to the living and the dead. On the other hand, the old -superstitious fear of Western medicine has been overcome; in the 1961 -Hong Kong cholera outbreak, 80 percent of the population flocked to -government centers for inoculations. - -Neither the British, the Nationalist Republic, nor the Chinese -Communists—all of whom favor the 12-month Western calendar—have been able -to wean the colony’s Chinese people from their ancient lunar calendar. -The old calendar was supposedly devised in 2254 B.C. by astrologers -working under the orders of Emperor Yao, who wanted it to serve as a -crop-planting guide for his predominantly agricultural subjects. It is -the gauge by which all festivals are set and varies in length from 354 -to 385 days. The years proceed in cycles of twelve, each being named -for a particular animal such as the rat, rabbit, rooster and horse -until the twelfth animal is reached and the cycle repeats. Each year is -subdivided into 24 solar “joints and breaths,” which being based on close -observation of weather and the growing season, tick off the seasonal -changes with remarkable accuracy. - -Because of its variable length and its nonconformity to Western ideas of -what a calendar should look like, the Chinese calendar causes endless -confusion for foreigners. Most of them cling firmly to the Gregorian -calendar and keep a close eye on the colony’s newspapers to learn when -the next festival is due. The religious significance of the festival -means nothing to them and it does not need to; the ceremonies and -celebrations attending the day are so animated and colorful that they can -be enjoyed for their spectacle alone. - -Chinese New Year, generally occurring between the middle of January and -the third week of February, is celebrated on the first three days of -the First Moon. It marks the beginning of spring, and gives the Chinese -population sufficient time to recover from the shock of seeing the -Westerners booze it up on New Year’s Eve. Chinese employees receive -a bonus of an extra month’s pay, the shops close and firecrackers, -permitted by colony law for a two-day period, keep up an unending -cannonade. A tourist wandering into the uproar feels like a dude in a -frontier saloon; everybody seems to be shooting at his feet. - -Red papers lettered with gold are stuck on boats and the doors of shops -and houses inviting the lucky spirits to lend a hand. The fearful din of -the firecrackers is a pointed hint to malicious spirits, advising them -to get out fast. All debts are paid, finances permitting, and the past -year’s feuds and grudges are wiped out, so far as human nature will allow. - -The heart of the observance takes place in the home, with all members -of the family dining together on the last night of the old year and the -children receiving “lucky” money in red envelopes to assure them of safe -passage through the coming year. After dinner, everyone adjourns to the -courtyard where branches of sesame, fir and cypress have been strewn; -these are stepped on and burned as a symbol of the departing year. -Firecrackers are set off to discourage the prowlings of the Skin Tiger, -a kind of reverse-action Robin Hood who steals the cakes of the poor to -give them to the rich; as the Skin Tiger views it, the poor have lived -off the wealthy all year, so isn’t it time to square accounts? - -A lighted lamp is placed before the shrine of the Kitchen God, who is -expected back from his trip to divine headquarters. Every door is sealed -and locked until 5 A.M. the next day, when the entire household gets up -to see the master of the house reopen the doors, remove the seals and -extend a welcome to the New Year. Incense sticks are lighted, Heaven, -Earth and the family ancestors are honored and the Kitchen God, now -returned from his journey, is properly greeted. New Year’s Day is the -occasion for a complete family reunion, with outsiders being excluded. No -meat is eaten, since the use of a knife on this day would imply cutting -off a friendship, and no sweeping is done, for a broom might sweep away -good luck. Later, gifts are exchanged, with baskets of food being rated -as thoroughly acceptable. The season’s greetings—“Kung Hei Fat Choy”—ring -out everywhere. - -In Hong Kong, a local newspaper and the radio promote a Fat Choy Drive -to provide a New Year’s feast for even the poorest families. When the -family phase of the celebration is over, there is a day for visiting -friends, and with true Chinese practicality, a final day to worship the -God of Wealth, making certain that he does everything divinely possible -in the year ahead to boost the family’s fortunes. In former days it -was customary to prolong the observance for fifteen days or more, but -the demands of modern business limit it to three or four days in most -instances. - -The birthday of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, is celebrated -on the 19th day of the Second Moon, and she is regarded with such -affection that practically all of the Taoist temples honor her as well. -Legend describes her as the youngest daughter of an ancient prince who -attempted to force her into marriage to perpetuate the family line. -She objected, was murdered by her father in some ambiguous fashion and -descended to Hell, where by sheer charm she transformed the place into a -paradise. Returned to earth, she found her father dying of a skin disease -and cut off parts of her own body to preserve his unworthy hide. Women -are especially devoted to her, bearing birthday gifts of food, paper -clothing, chickens and roast pig to her image in the temples. Until the -thirteenth century, Kuan Yin was often represented as a male divinity, -probably with the connivance of early defenders of male prerogatives, -but she has become exclusively female since then, for only as a woman -could she possess an ear sympathetically attuned to the troubles of -mortal women. - -The Ching Ming Festival, occurring toward the end of the Second Moon or -at the beginning of the Third Moon (late March or early April in our -calendar), provides an occasion to honor one’s ancestors. The worship of -ancestors is the keystone of Chinese religious beliefs, as well as the -strongest link binding them together as a single people. Its profound -influence on every phase of Chinese life is seldom fully appreciated by -foreigners, who regard it as morbid, backward-looking and intellectually -sterile. But even foreigners in Hong Kong share some of the Ching Ming -spirit by using the day to tidy up the graves of their own departed and -place flowers by the headstones. - -The Chinese do no cooking and eat no hot food on the day preceding Ching -Ming, acting in deference to a long-gone official who was accidentally -burned to death by his dunder-headed confreres. Women and children wear -a sprig of willow on the day itself to safeguard themselves against the -posthumous horror of returning to this life in the form of dogs. The -family visits its ancestral graves, makes any needed repairs and sets out -a feast for the dead. Paper replicas of money and clothing are burned to -let the deceased know that their interests are being looked after, and a -little diversionary fire is lighted nearby to distract evil spirits and -keep them from butting into the main sacrifice. Having made its gesture -of feeding the dead, the family then falls to and eats the feast itself. - -Because land is scarce in the colony, graves are rented only for a -limited period. Six or seven years after a member of the family has -died, his survivors obtain an exhumation permit and visit the grave -on Ching Ming to dig up his coffin. The bones are removed from the -coffin, carefully sorted and cleaned with sandpaper, and packed into an -earthenware urn with the skull on top. The undertaker, accompanied by -members of the family, then removes the urn to a hillside site in the New -Territories, selecting a location with a favorable fung shui, where the -deceased presumably will be able to enjoy a pleasant view. - -Chinese coffins are a massive, rough-hewn product, resembling a four-leaf -clover in outline; if they are still in sound condition after their first -tenant is evicted, they may be resold at a discount for rehabilitation -and put to use again. - -Many Occidentals would pale at the thought of sandpapering and -reassembling the last of Aunt Matilda, but the Chinese entertain no such -qualms. They take a calm and realistic view of death, handling the bones -of the dead with complete respect, but without morbidity or gloom. Ching -Ming is a time of remembrance rather than lamentation. - -T’ien Hou, the Taoist Queen of Heaven, celebrates her birthday on the -23d day of the Third Moon. For the boat people, it is the most important -festival of the year; T’ien Hou is their chief patron, keeping her benign -eye on such matters as a good catch and fair weather. Her shrines are -in the cabin of every junk, and her 24 temples stand in every village -that overlooks the sea. In her earthly days, the story goes, she was a -fisherman’s daughter. Once she fell into a trance while her parents were -far out at sea. Dreaming that a storm was about to drown them, she roused -herself and pointed directly at their boat. It was the only one in the -fleet to return safely. - -Her ship-saving talents led directly to her deification, and she has -since acquired two invaluable assistants, Thousand-Mile Eyes and -Fair-Wind Ears. Her principal temple is at Joss House Bay on Tung Lung -Island, about two miles east of Hong Kong Island. On her birthday, an -all-day ferry service brings her worshippers from the main island, and -the boat people arrive in sea-trains of junks towed by a launch, flying -dozens of flags and Happy-Birthday banners. Every boat is packed to the -gunwales with men, women and children jostling one another as they reach -for sweet cakes, tea and soft drinks. At Joss House Bay, the passengers -swarm ashore as if the boats were about to sink and climb a wide granite -stairway to the temple. Incense sticks are lighted, roasted animals and -red eggs are placed before the Goddess and a small contribution is handed -to the temple attendant. - -Bursting firecrackers, lion dances and processions enliven the -celebration until the men of the various fishing guilds wind it up with -a hot scramble for “the luck,” a bamboo projectile with a number inside. -It drops into the crowd like a bride’s bouquet, but the free-for-all that -follows is no place for a bridesmaid. The winning team makes the year’s -luck and gets possession of an elaborate portable shrine to the Queen of -Heaven. Rich and poor, humble and great join without class distinction in -having a gossipy, boisterous holiday. - -The people of Cheung Chau feel obliged to say a kind word for all the -animals and fish who were executed to feed mankind during the past -year, and this debt is squared by the four-day Bun Festival on their -dumbbell-shaped island. Its date is set by lot, and usually falls in the -last few days of the Third Moon or the first ten days of the Fourth Moon. -No animals are killed and no fish are caught during the festival. Troupes -of actors are imported to perform in an enormous temporary theater, with -its roof of coarse matting supported on a bamboo framework tied together -with rattan strips. Daily and nightly presentations of Cantonese Opera -are put on with the performers in elaborate costumes, shrilling their -lines above the tireless clamor of cymbals. - -The festival centerpiece consists of a triple-peaked bun mountain, -or conical framework covered with varicolored buns from its base to -its 60-foot summit. As soon as it is completed, it is covered with a -tarpaulin to protect the buns until the climactic ceremony on the final -day of the festival. - -The various guilds on the islands compete in a long procession which -passes under floral arches on the village streets. The perennial -feature of the procession is a series of tableaux enacted by children -on platforms borne on the shoulders of several men. The subjects are -mythological, and by the ingenious use of a well-concealed steel -framework, make a mere toddler appear to be dancing nimbly on the tip -of a fiddle held by a child standing beneath the dancer. It’s all an -amiable fake, understood as such by the crowd, but executed with such -aplomb by the children that it never fails to delight the spectators. -Images of Gods and Goddesses are also carried in the line of march, -with lion dancers and clowns to add further excitement. A mass for the -recently departed fish and animals is celebrated on the final night, and -their hungry souls are permitted to take a few ghostly nips at the bun -mountain. An officiating priest decides when they’ve had enough, takes a -careful look around to see that no latecomers from the Great Beyond have -been neglected, and signals the slavering bystanders to pitch in. The -young men of the island scramble up the bunny slopes in a mad dash for -the topmost bun, but there are thousands of edibles at all levels, so no -climber need go hungry. - -The Dragon Boat Festival, coming on the fifth day of the Fifth Moon (late -May to late June), probably attracts more attention from the foreign -population than any other Chinese celebration. It is hotly competitive, -pitting large teams of rowers against each other in all-day races at -Aberdeen, Kennedy Town, Tai Po and elsewhere. The individual heats are -short, close together and accompanied by loud cheers and the booming of -the pace-setting drums in every boat. A carved dragon’s head ornaments -the bow and the stern is a simulated dragon’s tail; in between lies 80 to -100 feet of low, fairly narrow hull, with the rowers flailing away in a -fast circular stroke. The crews, who train for three or four weeks before -the annual races, also keep the boats in shape, and one European crew -that includes a number of government employees competes at Tai Po. - -It was a government employee who gave rise to the festival in the fourth -century, B.C. He was the honest Chu Yuan, an official who tried to -persuade the Chinese Emperor to correct the corruption of his court; -when his pleas were ignored, he drowned himself by leaping into the -Nih Loh River. A group of sympathetic villagers rowed out to the site -and cast silk-wrapped dumplings into the water, hoping to attract his -wandering spirit, or in another version of the legend, to lure the fish -away and protect his body from their attack. The bow man of today’s -Dragon Boats preserves the tradition by casting rice cakes or dumplings -wrapped with bamboo leaves from his craft. The principles of cleanliness -exemplified by Chu Yuan are practiced a few days in advance of the races, -when every family cleans house and sets off firecrackers to stampede -lurking cockroaches into panicky flight. The races themselves exercise a -purifying influence, for most of the rowers are thoroughly drenched by -the splashing paddles. - -The Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon, -belongs entirely to women, and is marked by them in the privacy of the -home. The feminine principle in nature is in the ascendant and the moon, -which is considered a female deity, is at the apogee. A table is set -in the courtyard, and the moon is offered gifts of tea, food, burning -incense and the seed of the water calthrop. The service takes place at -night, illuminated by lanterns and moonlight, and includes a prayer -to the honored satellite, who is also quizzed about the matrimonial -prospects of her devotees. Fruit and moon cakes are essential to the -feast that follows, and as always, firecrackers are exploded. Wealthier -households may set up a midnight moon-viewing party, with a banquet -and a group of blind musicians singing an ode to the moon. These blind -musicians, numbering about 100 in all, have their own colony at the west -end of Hong Kong Island and earn about $12 for a party booking. Recorders -and lutes are their usual instruments, giving their music a quaint -Elizabethan flavor. - -Ancestral graves are visited for the second time each year on the ninth -day of the Ninth Moon; summer weeds and grass are cleared away and -sacrifices of money and clothing are offered to keep the deceased wealthy -and warm through the coming winter. The date coincides with that of the -Cheung Yung Festival, when it is said to be lucky to climb to a high -place. Burial urns rest fairly high on the hillsides, so it is easy to -combine both celebrations and top them off with a picnic in the open. - -On Cheung Yung, thousands of Chinese ride up Victoria Peak on the tram, -buying toys and other presents for the children at improvised stalls -along the way. Picnickers cover the top of every hill in the colony. -Kite-flyers observe the day by the curious sport of kite-fighting, which -involves manipulating one kite so that it knocks another out of the sky -or snaps its string. The hill-climbing custom supposedly began when a -Chinese father of long ago saved his family from a plague by taking them -into the mountains. - -A veritable regiment of gods, ghosts and spirits—some beneficent, some -wicked—have their special observances during the year. Buddhist and -Taoist deities have a tendency to overlap, just as followers of Taoism -may be equally ardent Buddhists. Once the two religions battled and -persecuted each other like the religions of the West, but they have long -since settled down to peaceful coexistence. There is no reliable count -of their membership in Hong Kong, though the Buddhists claim around -500,000 adherents. An unspecified, but probably small number of Chinese -are Buddhists, Taoists and Christians simultaneously, or at least they -consider themselves so. - -Confucianism also has its following in the colony, but its places of -worship are generally merged with Buddhist and Taoist temples. - -Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries have been at work in Hong Kong -from its beginning as a colony, founding schools and caring for the poor. -Neither group made much headway in attracting converts until the late -1940s, perhaps because of the ironbound Chinese resistance to every form -of foreign influence. But the Communist regime on the mainland has proved -a stimulant to Christianity in Hong Kong. - -The well-financed and highly effective work of Protestant churches, -particularly among refugees from Red China, has won them many converts, -and the number of Protestant parishes has greatly increased in the last -few years. Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and -other denominations have made substantial gains. - -The number of Roman Catholics, who are equally active in educational and -welfare fields, has grown from 43,000 in 1951 to 180,000 in 1962. They -are currently making about 15,000 converts a year, and 12,000 of these -are adults. Some of their mission priests, who have found conversions -much more difficult to achieve in Japan, believe that the terror and -hopelessness of life under the Chinese Communists have turned many -Chinese refugees to Christianity. Enrollment in Catholic schools of -the colony is well over 100,000, and two-thirds of their enrollment -is non-Catholic. Like every other Christian group in the colony, the -Catholics have given help without drawing denominational lines. - -The Portuguese, of whom there are about 2,000 in Hong Kong, are the -descendants of former Macao settlers who arrived with the first wave -of British traders, acting as their interpreters. They were adaptable, -quick with figures and gifted linguists, establishing themselves as -clerk-interpreters in business and financial houses. A few invested -wisely in land and became millionaires. In more recent years, they have -turned to professional work, becoming lawyers, doctors and engineers. -Starting with J. P. Braga in 1929, the Portuguese community has had -several representatives on the Executive and Legislative Councils. Its -present outstanding leaders, in addition to professional people, include -exchange brokers, importers and exporters and manufacturers’ agents. - -A second wave of Portuguese came to the colony from Macao after World -War II, hoping to discover the business opportunities denied by the -sleepy, static little overseas province of Portugal. But they faced stiff -competition from young Chinese women who had entered office work and had -received superior English education in the colony schools. Few had been -to college and they lacked the drive demanded by the rough-and-tumble -economy of Hong Kong; before long, most of the new arrivals moved on to -Canada, Brazil or the United States. - -Indians, including Parsees, Bhohras, Khwojas, Sindhis and Sikhs, came to -Hong Kong in the early days as traders, soldiers and policemen. Today -they are primarily merchants and traders, although there are still a -few Indian and Pakistani residents who preserve their uniformed role as -policemen, soldiers, or private guards for banks and financial houses. -The Indian community is about the same size as the Portuguese—between -2,000 and 3,000—and like it, has produced a few top-level government -officials, doctors and lawyers, and millionaire merchants. - -Americans are still a very small minority, but they have money and a keen -appetite to make more. If they also have ability, they fit smoothly into -the competitive economy of the colony. The importance of American aid, -both private and public, in caring for the colony’s refugees is deeply -appreciated by both the government and the Chinese population, and the -effect is only slightly marred when some Yankee tourist tries to give the -impression that it all came out of his personal funds. Such tourists, it -may be noted, are exceptional. - -Despite their historical background of anticolonial insurrection, -Americans have been well received in Hong Kong during most of its -existence. It was once said that a young Hong Kong Englishman could -not marry outside the charmed circle of the British Isles, Canada or -Australia unless he chose an American girl; otherwise, he would lose -his social position and probably his job. This has not been true for -some years now, but it leaves a lingering question in the minds of some -Americans: Why did they include us rebels? - -Another question that occurs to almost every American who has seen the -colony is: How do 15,000 British run this place? (Actually, there are -about 33,000 people from all parts of the British Commonwealth living -in Hong Kong, but the ruling group comes from the British Isles and -barely exceeds 15,000.) It is evident from the most perfunctory glance -around the streets that the British do run Hong Kong; autocratically, -efficiently, firmly, sometimes unimaginatively, never with any pretense -of popular rule, but almost always with strict justice. There is -contained corruption, but less of it than anywhere else in the Far East. -At times an unwonted conviction of Britannic righteousness roils the -overseas visitor. This reaction is often encountered in one type of -American who insists he does not want to run the world, and means he -wants it run his way—by somebody else. - -Americans are quite surprised when they strike the unexpected vein of -iron that lies under the polished surface of British manners. These -British are tough people; disciplined, well-educated, capable of decision -and resolute action. Because they possess these qualities to a degree -unexcelled and perhaps unmatched by any other country in the world, the -British in Hong Kong are a corporal’s guard commanding an army. - -But one might pause here to consider the young American woman who stood -at the rail of an excursion boat in Hong Kong harbor, looking wistfully -up at Government House, the seat of majesty. - -“If only they were a little more lovable!” she said. - - - - -CHAPTER NINE - -Rambling around the Colony - - “The journey of a thousand miles commences with a single - step.”—CHINESE PROVERB - - -At the upper terminus of the Peak Tram, two-thirds of the way up Victoria -Peak, a narrow promenade called Lugard Road winds around the mountain -until its name changes to Harlech Road and then continues along the south -face of the mountain to return to the Peak Tram terminus. By strolling -along this route on a fine clear day, a visitor can see the whole of Hong -Kong stretching out in all directions. - -Often the view is cut off by thick jungle growth, stretching over the -road like the green arches of a natural cathedral. But there are narrow -gaps and occasional wide, treeless spaces where the stroller can look up -the rocky slopes to discover the mansions of the Taipans, jutting through -the tangled trees. Rococo palaces of pink, yellow, and dazzling white -stand isolated from one another and the life of the community by the -intertwining trees that hide their approach roads. Their isolation is -fortified by barbed-wire fences, warning signs and snarling watchdogs. -The only uninvited guest that breaches these barriers is the heavy mist -that envelops the Peak above the fog line for six months of the year, -covering furniture and clothes with green mold unless drying closets and -dehumidifiers are kept in full operation. - -Once the British held exclusive title to the foggy heights; in the days -before auto roads were built to the top, they chartered the Peak Tram to -carry their party guests to its upper end, where they were met by sedan -chairs which took them the rest of the way. Now Chinese millionaires -share the majesty and the mist of the Peak, and there are tall apartment -buildings for more exalted government employees and prosperous civilians. - -To tourists and Taipans, the heights of Victoria Peak offer a matchless -view of the harbor. The distant deep-blue water crinkles in the wind as -the sun glints on its surface. Dozens of ferryboats point their arrowhead -wakes at Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, or head outward for the coasts and -islands of the New Territories. An American aircraft carrier rides at -anchor off Wanchai with its escort vessels near at hand. - -West of Kowloon Peninsula, a triple line of cargo ships turn lazily -around their anchor buoys; each one having enough room to make a full -circle without touching another ship. Six rows of junks and sampans, -each row lashed to the sides of a freighter while they transfer its -cargo, move in unison with the freighter’s slow swing, looking like a -gargantuan, improvised raft. Unattached junks duck in and out, anywhere -and everywhere, clearly with the special blessings of T’ien Hou, for they -rarely collide. - -North of the harbor, beyond the wedge-shaped outline of Kowloon, past the -Kai Tak airstrip that cuts through Kowloon Bay like the white streak of -a torpedo, is Hong Kong’s “Great Wall”—a line of hills that looms jagged -and forbidding across the southern fringe of the New Territories. These -are the “nine dragons” from which Kowloon got its name, but they are -difficult to single out, except for unmistakable ones like Lion Rock and -Kowloon Peak, because they are so tightly packed together. - -Even Ti Ping, the Sung Emperor who was prodded into naming them the Nine -Dragons, complained that he could find only eight, until an obliging -courtier reminded him that the dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, thus -making him the ninth peak. Ti Ping, quite young at the time, was placated -by this rationalization. - -Due west of Victoria Peak, small islands string out like steppingstones -until the eye stops at the ridge-backed mass of Lantau, largest island -in the colony and nearly twice the size of Hong Kong Island. Some of the -defeated followers of Ti Ping are reported to have settled there after -the death of their Emperor, but until a few years ago it was a barren and -remote isle, inhabited only by a few thousand farmers and fishermen and a -few monasteries. - -Halfway down the western slope of Victoria Peak, a small mound of -earth thrusts itself against the mountainside. Dong Kingman, the -Chinese-American watercolorist who grew up in the crowded tenements at -the foot of the Peak, recalls that he and his young friends used to watch -that mound with considerable apprehension. From where they stood, it -looked exactly like a turtle climbing the mountain. The Chinese consider -it to be a real turtle, and believe that when the turtle reaches the -summit of the Peak, Hong Kong will sink into the sea. Dong and his -fellow-watchers made regular checks to see that the turtle hadn’t stolen -an overnight march on them. - -The most beautiful side of Hong Kong Island lies to the south and east -of Victoria Peak, with forested hillsides and a green valley that -slopes down to Pok Fu Lam, the colony’s first reservoir. Lamma Island, -a favorite digging ground for colony archaeologists, looms large to the -south. - -When visitors grow squint-eyed from the panoramic view, they often wind -up their excursion by stopping at the little restaurant near the Peak -Tram terminus to eat a sandwich or some Chinese small cakes. Spirits -revived, they linger on the breezy terrace to watch the sun go down -beyond Lantau. - -The Peak Tram is almost as famous as Victoria Peak, and needs no -endorsement except to note that its fares are very low and that it hasn’t -had an accident since 1888. In eight minutes, the tram carries its -passengers down to the edge of the Central District, where they may catch -a bus or a taxi. - -Government House and the Botanic Garden are just across Garden Road -from the lower end of the Peak Tram. Looking like a Franciscan Mission -of early California with its white walls and square tower, Government -House is the private residence of the colony governor. The sightseer -may look around the outside, and with luck, see all hands snap to when -the governor’s black sedan enters or leaves the circular driveway, -displaying red crowns at front and rear instead of license plates. The -English manage their official exits and entrances with great style, and -everything moves precisely on time. - -The Botanic Garden is a land of split-level Eden planted with thousands -of subtropical plants and flowers. Its small zoo and aviary are popular -with children, and the bird collection is a bright splash of brilliant -colors. Small signs in English and Chinese identify the plants and -animals. A good deal of family snapshot-taking goes on around the -fountain at the lower end of the garden. It might be a scene in New -York’s Central Park, except that Chinese children are better behaved. - -Albert Path, a serpentine walk shaded by tropical shrubbery, winds down -from the Botanic Garden past Government House to Ice House Street and the -rear of the First National City Bank. Ice House Street continues downward -a couple of blocks to the West Wing of the Central Government offices at -Queen’s Road Central. - -On Battery Path, directly in front of the West Wing, a lampshade stand -operates on what is obviously government property. It’s all quite -official; the owner has a permit from the Department of Public Works. Sin -Hoi, late father of the present owner, Sin Hung, had sold lampshades on -the site for thirteen years before the West Wing was built in 1954. Lady -Maurine Grantham, wife of the former governor, was a frequent shopper -at the stand, and when she saw it threatened with displacement by the -government offices, she put in a word for Sin Hoi. His son now runs it -under the grand name of The Magnific Company, selling lampshades and -small china animals. - -One block north on Ice House Street and a block east on Des Voeux -Road is Statue Square, where parked cars outnumber the statues 200 -to 1. This area is more than the center of the colony’s financial -institutions; it is an ideal cross-section of colony architecture. The -honeycomb-and-gingerbread design of the Hong Kong Club is typical of what -most of the colony’s buildings looked like in 1890, as is the Prince’s -Building on the opposite side of the square. - -Post-World War II buildings like Union House, two blocks west along the -waterfront, represent a kind of “no nonsense modern”—big, plain and -blocky. The tower of the Bank of China, just east of the Hongkong and -Shanghai Bank, rises massively above its old established neighbor. The -Red Chinese operate it now and many of its upper offices are vacant; the -bank itself is a quiet institution with fewer guards than most local -banks have. The Chartered Bank, on the other side of the Hongkong and -Shanghai Bank, is the newest, tallest and most curious of the three -moneyed giants, with a fortresslike tower and a green façade that -resembles a vast electronic switchboard. - -The Hongkong and Shanghai building, older than either of the banks beside -it, surpasses them in architectural distinction, with its bold vertical -lines and its solid central tower surrounded by lower wrap-around -structures and crowned by a ziggurat roof that tapers upward like a -truncated pyramid. It looks like a building that nothing could push over, -which seems the right emphasis for a bank. - -Directly south of the Hong Kong Club lie three and a half acres of the -most valuable land in the colony, all of it laid out in cricket fields -except for a small corner occupied by the building of the Hong Kong -Cricket Club. If the land were for sale, bidding would start at about -$175 a square foot; but the British would as soon sell the playing fields -of Eton. Cricket is an integral part of life under the Union Jack. Most -Americans find it too strenuous, even as a spectator sport; they often -become exhausted by the effort of trying to figure it out. - -If a visitor drops by the Cricket Club on any Saturday morning between -October and April, he can scarcely find the cricketers for the -red-and-white-capped youngsters bounding about in various sectors of the -field, playing a dozen different games without apparent confusion. All -the players are from four to twelve years old; mostly boys, with a few -girls here and there. It is the weekly workout of the Tingle Athletic -Association, one of the colony’s honored institutions. Billy Tingle, -an ex-boxer and lifetime physical culture instructor, has taught 50,000 -children to kick, throw, catch, swim and master the rudiments of cricket, -soccer, rugby and basketball. Billy is a short, compactly built man about -sixty, who speaks softly but accepts no back talk; discipline is as much -a part of the job as athletic skill, he believes. - -Parents are permitted to look on from the grandstand while Billy and his -nine assistants put 350 children through a three-hour workout. These are -“upper-class” boys and girls, but Billy also conducts classes among the -shack dwellers in Wanchai. The colony’s schools, with 700,000 pupils, -often resort to three daily shifts to accommodate them. Very few schools -can afford any physical training program. - -At the seaward end of Statue Square, the government has remedied a -deficiency of many years by erecting a City Hall, a five-unit complex -with a 12-story tower, concert hall, theater, banquet hall, library, -museum, art gallery and municipal offices. Architecturally, it is modern, -rectangular and unadorned, in sharp contrast to the curlicues of the -Hong Kong Club next door. Part of the hall was opened in 1962, with the -rest planned for completion in 1963. Sir Malcolm Sargent and the London -Philharmonic Orchestra launched the concert hall with suitable fanfare, -presumably ending the long, lean era in which visiting artists had to go -from one private hall to another, hoping that music lovers would find -them. - -The Star Ferry terminal, right beside City Hall at the waterfront, is the -tie that binds Kowloon and Hong Kong Island together. Every day, 100,000 -commuters cross the harbor on these spotless new boats at a first-class -fare of 3½ cents or second-class at less than 2 cents. The ferry stops -running at 1:30 A.M. on most nights, and for the late prowler it’s a -“walla-walla” and a 50-cent trip on this rolling, pitching, cross-harbor -motor launch. Walla-walla is the Cantonese equivalent of “yak-yak,” and -memorializes the endless bickering over fares that the launch owners -indulged in before a flat rate was set by the government. Sir Lancelot, -the Calypso King who plays many Hong Kong engagements, was trapped on one -of these wallowing tubs and composed a “Walla Walla Calypso,” celebrating -“the rockin’ and the rollin’ and the quakin’ and the shakin’” they -inflict on night owls. - -Walla-wallas and sightseeing boats operate from the Queen’s Pier in Hong -Kong and the Public Pier in Kowloon, both less than a block east of the -Star Ferry terminals. There is more of the flavor of the old days at -Blake Pier, a few hundred feet west of the Star Ferry terminal on the -Hong Kong side. Private yachts and mailboats discharge there, and there’s -always a bustle of arrivals and departures. But the colony’s reclamation -scheme will before long swallow up Blake Pier and its works. The General -Post Office, a moldering antique opposite Blake Pier, is also to be -replaced soon; until it goes, it is a handy place to mail packages or to -buy Hong Kong government publications. - -Wyndham Street, which runs south off Queen’s Road Central, is the last -resting place of another antique, the sedan chair, which was the favored -conveyance when roads were too steep or too rough for rickshaws. Of the -four registered sedan chairs left in the colony, two are generally parked -there, waiting patiently for a fare. A few of the older Chinese residents -still use them, but Europeans have grown chair-shy, possibly worried -about what kind of picture they present while riding between two poor -fellows panting along in the traces. And well they might be. - -A line of rickshaws also parks along Wyndham Street, but their business -is better than that of the sedan chairs. Tourists and many Chinese -continue to hire them; tourists enjoy the picturesque novelty and the -Chinese find them practical for funeral processions or for hauling -packages too large to carry on a bus or tram without causing a riot. -Police report 866 registered rickshaws, with the number declining each -year. Many people shun them as degrading and inhumane; others are -unwilling to risk their lives by weaving through motor traffic in such -a flimsy craft. Rickshaw drivers, subjected to alternate sweating and -cooling, are particularly vulnerable to tuberculosis. - -The alleys and side streets of the Central District are a source of -wonder and surprise to tourists. Pedder Lane, branching off Pedder Street -directly opposite the Gloucester Hotel, is lined with open-air cobblers. -Hundreds of shoes, mended and unmended, are racked behind the repair -stands, and the cobblers are as busy as Kris Kringle’s toy-builders on -December 23d. Shoeshine Alley, a short section of Theater Lane which runs -from the west end of Pedder Lane to Des Voeux Road Central, has ten to a -dozen shoeshine boys stationed along the pavement. Customers stand in the -alley with rickshaws and motorbikes brushing their coattails while they -get shoeshines. - -Shoeshine Alley is no silent workshop; a steady stream of walla-walla -flies back and forth among the boys, and if a passing pedestrian pauses -or glances in their direction, several boys pounce on him, demanding his -patronage. The moment he selects one lad for the job, the others shower -the winner with Cantonese insults and heckle him while he works. The -victim pays no attention; it’s an accepted professional hazard. Besides, -the boy is too busy studying the customer, trying to decide whether he’s -an American. Americans are easy marks; always willing to pay three times -the going rate. With an American, the canny lad can simply say “thanks” -and pocket twice as much change as he’s entitled to. Fifty cents Hong -Kong or 8½ cents American is a generous rate, but few Yankee tourists -seem conscious of the local scale. - -For the tourist whose curiosity extends beyond the Central District, one -of the major departure points is the Hongkong and Yaumati Vehicular Ferry -Pier, four blocks west of Pedder Street, at Connaught Road and in front -of the Fire Brigade Building. Several different passengers ferry lines -and the Kowloon truck-and-auto ferry use the pier. The paved area at the -pier entrance is the main depot for bus routes to all parts of Hong Kong -Island. - -Until the new Hang Seng Bank building was erected, the Li Po Chun -Chambers was the tallest building on the western fringe of the Central -District. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong occupies the -penthouse of the building, named for its owner, seventy-five-year-old Li -Po Chun, eighth son of Li Sing, late multimillionaire merchant who was -a founder of the Tung Wah Hospital. Li Sing, one of the most colorful -of Hong Kong’s early Taipans, once donated $100,000 for a flood-control -project at San Wui, his native village in Kwangtung Province. About -a century ago, when a foreign ship carrying thousands of Chinese to -California struck a rock near Hong Kong, he chartered a steamer, stocked -it with food and sent it to the rescue, saving everyone aboard the -stranded vessel. - -The Central Market, a bare concrete building located a block south of the -Vehicular Ferry Pier, offers every kind of meat, vegetable, fish or fowl -eaten by the people of Hong Kong. Everything is fresh, because Chinese -customers reject any sort of tired produce. It exudes a wide range of -smells, with fish out-smelling all the rest. An inexperienced shopper -must move cautiously or he may be sideswiped by a hog carcass as it -bounces along on a man’s shoulders en route from a delivery truck to one -of the meat stands. - -Visitors who grow tired of walking may increase their range by riding the -Hong Kong Tramway. Its green, double-decked streetcars cover the full -length of the island waterfront. First-class passengers sit on the upper -deck, where the fare is 3½ cents. Starting from the Central District, the -car marked “Kennedy Town” goes the farthest west, and the Shau Kei Wan -car runs to the eastern extremity of the line. - -The trolley tourist may hop off the car at any corner that interests -him. In the evening, the street market beside the Macao Ferry Pier on -the western waterfront presents a pavement-level carnival. Merchandise -is spread out on the asphalt paving—combs, flashlights, toys, food and -clothing—with gasoline lanterns lighting the scene. Several spaces are -reserved for pitchmen who, though they speak in Cantonese, are obviously -delivering a spiel about products guaranteed to double the customer’s -life-span, make him an eternal delight to women and quadruple his earning -power—all at prices so low it would be folly not to snap them up. - -The tram shuts down around midnight, but there is hardly an hour of day -or night when street stands are not open. Families run most of them, -with each member taking his turn at waiting on trade. Children are on -the streets all night—sometimes because they have no place else to go. -The 1961 census turned up thousands of families who rented a bedspace -for eight hours a day, sharing it with two other families entitled to -the same eight-hour shift. When one family is asleep in the cubicle, the -other two are either working or wandering the streets. Visitors must walk -carefully in the Western District at night, not for fear of attack, but -to avoid sidewalk sleepers. - -During racing days of the October to May season at Happy Valley Jockey -Club, every tram is packed. Not far from the jockey club on the tram line -is Victoria Park, finest of the colony’s public recreation grounds. A -statue of Queen Victoria overlooks the park, honoring the royal matron -who treated the acquisition of Hong Kong as a family joke. The Causeway -Bay Typhoon Shelter raises a forest of masts and spars at the seaward -edge of the park. - -Happy Valley, studded with schools, sports arenas, cemeteries and -hospitals, comes down to the waterfront at Wanchai. The tightly packed -tenements of Wanchai have refugee shacks on their rooftops and rows -of sailors’ bars and cabarets at street level. When night comes on, -subsidized intimacy is available on every street corner, but the eleven -movie theaters in the area are less expensive. - -North Point, the next waterfront community east of Wanchai, is the -“Little Shanghai” that boomed after 1949, when refugee industrialists -from Shanghai established factories there. It has a prospering night life -zone along King’s Road, and introduced “key clubs” to the colony. These -were semiprivate bar-and-girl flats to which the member gained admission -by paying $50 to $100 for a key. The clubs spread to the Central District -and Kowloon before police raids began to hit them. A number survive, -drawing their clientele from open-handed tourists and tired but hopeful -businessmen. In contrast to these nocturnal playpens, some of the best -new housing projects line the North Point waterfront. - -To the east of North Point, the towering cranes of the Tai Koo Dockyards -jut up along the shore. Shau Kei Wan, at the end of the tram line, is a -fishing and junk-building center. - -Tram lines don’t serve the towns and resorts on the south side of the -island; to reach these, the tourist must take buses, taxis or guided -tours. - -The south shore town of Aberdeen is important to the colony as a fishing -and marketing center, but visitors will remember it for its floating -sampan population and its floating seafood restaurants, the Sea Palace -and the Tai Pak Fong. The latter, decorated with unsparing flamboyance, -are dazzlingly outlined in lights after dark. Fish dinners are netted -from large tanks at the rear of the restaurants. The service is as much -a part of show business as it is of the food trade. Both branches are -represented on the dinner check. - -There are two ways for the visitor to reach the floating restaurants. -The first is to take a taxi across the island to Aberdeen, then hail -a girl-powered sampan for a short trip across the harbor. Another -thoroughly luxurious way is to board the 110-foot luxury cruiser _Wan Fu_ -any evening at Queen’s Pier or the Kowloon Public Pier, making the entire -trip by sea around the west end of the island. The _Wan Fu_, a modern, -Diesel-powered ship, is a fully rigged brigantine built along the lines -of the early opium-trade escort vessels, with 18 simulated gun-ports on -its sides. It makes the evening cruise to Aberdeen, stops for dinner at -the Sea Palace, and returns to town about midnight. Cost of the meal and -trip totals $10. Its skipper, Mike Morris, is a former Marine Police -Inspector. - -Aberdeen is on the regular itinerary of the daytime round-the-island -automobile tours which take four hours. A car meets the traveler at the -top of the Peak Tram, winds down the mountainsides to Happy Valley -and includes a stop at Tiger Balm Gardens, the fantastic creation of -Aw Boon Haw. The late Mr. Aw made his fortune by selling Tiger Balm—an -“infallible” cure for every form of psychosomatic ill. He has furnished -his gardens free-style, throwing in everything from folklore to scenes -from the Buddhist Hell. There is even a 165-foot pagoda, which has repaid -its cost a dozen times by its use on Hong Kong travel posters. The whole -place is living proof of the swathe a Chinese millionaire can cut when he -feels like splurging. Texans seem tame by comparison. - -Mr. Aw’s tastes were no more extravagant than those of Mr. Eu, who built -two medieval castles on Hong Kong island—Eucliffe and Euston. Eucliffe -is at Repulse Bay, a summer resort and the next stop on the island motor -tour. The legend of Mr. Eu has several versions, but they generally -agree that he was a Chinese who, several decades ago, settled in Malaya -with his mother. When the two struck hard times, Mr. Eu felt that his -fellow-Chinese were indifferent to the family’s difficulties, and he -vowed never to help other Chinese or to return to China—an extraordinary -act for any Chinese. He indentured himself as a miner, saved enough to -buy his freedom, and married a woman who owned a small grocery store. The -couple pooled their earnings to buy an abandoned tin mine where he had -formerly worked. Either he knew something or played a hunch, because the -mine yielded rich quantities of ore that made him a millionaire. - -But his mother never reconciled herself to his anti-Chinese vow and hired -a fung shui expert who reported that the real trouble stemmed from the Eu -family tomb, which faced south, away from China, influencing her son to -turn his back on his homeland. The tomb was realigned to face north, and -Mr. Eu relaxed his anti-Chinese prejudices sufficiently to return to Hong -Kong—if not to China. - -He began erecting two enormous stone castles, acting on a Chinese belief -that he would live as long as its building continued. Mr. Eu has passed -on, but his castles survive. When completed, Eucliffe was crammed with -European suits of armor and several upstairs rooms were hung with oil -paintings of nudes. Euston, at 755 Bonham Road, on the northern slope -of Victoria Peak, is a seven-storied anachronism. Its twin towers and -mullioned windows give no evidence of Chinese design, but they may -represent the Chinese reply to functional architecture. - -Repulse Bay, with a curving beach and the luxurious Repulse Bay Hotel, -is the colony’s best-known summer resort. Like the upper Peak area, or -Shek-O and Stanley in the southeast part of the island, it has many -wealthy residents and large homes. - -The auto tour passes Deep Water Bay Golf Club—one of several golf -courses in Hong Kong—and the Dairy Farm, a major source of the colony’s -fresh milk. Queen Mary Hospital lies along the route near the west end -of the island; an outstanding institution that emphasizes the scarcity -of first-class hospitals in the colony. There are less than 10,000 -hospital beds for 3,300,000 people, and the majority of the hospitals -are overcrowded, understaffed, antiquated and well below first-class -standards of care. The colony government is in the midst of a campaign -to raise the capacity and standards of its hospitals, however. More than -1,000 beds are to be added by the end of 1963, but Hong Kong will remain -well below English and American norms of hospital care. - -Nevertheless, Hong Kong has made substantial medical progress during the -last decade. Tuberculosis causes about eight times more deaths than all -other infectious diseases, but the T.B. death rate has been reduced from -158.8 per 100,000 population in 1952 to 60.1 deaths per 100,000 in 1961. - -Hong Kong University and the Chinese business section of the Western -District are the last sightseeing attractions of the motor tour before it -returns to the center of town. A motor trip around the island costs $7, -plus the price of meals for the tourist and his driver-guide. - -The Western District is seldom included on tourist maps of Hong Kong -Island; the assumption seems to be that if a traveler ventures beyond the -Central District, he will instantly be swallowed up by the earth. This -assumption is twaddle. Jan Jan’s Map of Hong Kong, sold at bus and ferry -terminals, gives an excellent layout of the Western District, but even -without its help, a sightseer may visit a number of places in the Western -District without getting lost. - -Pottinger Street, in the section running south off Queen’s Road Central, -has a lively array of ribbon, button and zipper stands. Cochrane Street, -parallel to Pottinger and one block west of it, has a few stores selling -silk “dragons” (actually, lions’ heads). Such dragons, made to order, may -cost as much as several hundred dollars each, and at least three weeks -are required to fashion a large one. - -These dragons, priced according to their overall length and elaborateness -of detail, weave through the streets on Chinese holidays operated by a -line of men marching under the flexible silk-covered framework. - -Wing On Street, a dark narrow alley between Queen’s Road Central and Des -Voeux Road, is hemmed in on both sides by dozens of stands selling cotton -and wool yard-goods. Everything is open to the street, and there is no -charge for inspecting the bewildering assortment of cloth and color. - -Goldsmiths’ shops are strung along Queen’s Road Central in the vicinity -of the Kwong On Bank at Gilman’s Bazaar. They stock every kind of gold -jewelry—a particular favorite of Chinese women. But what the women enjoy -most is sitting at the counters and gossiping with the clerks and shop -owners. Such conversations often go on for as much as an hour, yet the -dealer does not fly into a rage if the prospect fails to buy; it is -even possible that the talk hardly touches on buying. Most women buy -eventually; meanwhile, a pleasant exchange of gossip is enjoyed by both -parties. - -Wing Sing Street, running north off Queen’s Road, is a cavernous alley -resembling a silent-movie setting for a dark tale of Oriental intrigue. -Actually, its most frightening characteristic is its nickname: “Rotten -Egg Street.” Piles of crates line its wholesale and retail egg stands, -yet there is nothing to indicate that the eggs have lingered beyond their -normal retirement age. The nickname is simply a local joke applied to all -egg-selling streets. - -A dozen or so glass-enclosed shops, each no larger than a pair of -telephone booths, are located on Man Wa Lane, between Des Voeux Road and -Wing Lok Street. All are engaged in cutting dies for business cards, -seals and stamps, and the passer-by is welcome to watch their craftsmen -at work. - -Ladder Street, a flight of steps leading off Queen’s Road Central, takes -the inquisitive shopper to Upper Lascar Row, popularly called Cat Street. -Cat Street’s dingy shops sell everything from jade carvings to used -bottles, from rare china to chipped and broken junk, valuable antiques -to outright fakes. The customer has nothing but his own wits to protect -him. Americans would be unduly optimistic to expect a Comprehensive -Certificate of Origin from merchants who don’t know and seldom care -whether their goods are “hot” or legitimate. But Europeans who know -Chinese antiques thoroughly have come to Cat Street, bargained shrewdly, -and resold their purchases at home with sufficient profit to pay for -their Hong Kong vacations. - -Man Mo Temple, at 128-130 Hollywood Road, stands a short way back -from the street. Buddha enjoys the most prominent altar in its gloomy -interior, but the temple mixes Buddhist and Taoist elements, with -Kwan Tai and Man Cheong as two of its honored deities. Legions of -minor divinities line the walls, including several seated in tall, -glass-enclosed boxes. In former days, such boxes were equipped with long -handles so that the faithful could carry them through the streets in -times of disaster to soothe the angry spirits. - -Visitors are free to enter the temple if they behave as they would in -any other house of worship. Straight and spiral incense sticks burn -before the numerous shrines, and the many statues looming in dark corners -suggest a spiritual serenity. - -A more urgent reminder of other worlds may be had at the Tak Sau coffin -shop, 252 Hollywood Road. Massive pine coffins, ordered in advance of the -prospective occupant’s death and tailored to his physical dimensions, -are stacked about in plain sight. An ordinary model, costing from $50 -to $150, can be turned out by a pair of carpenters in about 20 hours. -The larger boxes once required 16 men to carry them, but modern trucks -have now assumed the burden. A millionaire’s coffin, lined with silk -and elaborately carved, may cost $3,000 or more. To demonstrate their -continuing concern for the departed, surviving relatives visit a nearby -shop which sells notes written on the “Bank of Hell.” No one likes to -deliver these notes personally, and so they are burned to assure the -deceased that his credit rating will be maintained in the spirit world. - -Most of the Western District may be covered on foot, but taxis are -necessary for trips to more distant points, such as Stanley or Shek-O, -particularly at night. Drivers often have only a sketchy knowledge of -English, but the passenger can usually make his destination clear by -pointing to it on a road map, or by printing the address on a sheet of -notepaper; if the driver cannot read it, he will find a colleague to -translate it for him. Taxis are about 25 cents for the first mile and -18 cents for each succeeding mile on Hong Kong Island. Kowloon taxis -are slightly lower. Holders of valid drivers’ licenses from their home -country, or international drivers’ licenses, may hire cars for $11.50 a -day or $70 a week, plus gasoline costs. In the English fashion, all cars -have right-hand drive. - -Sightseers operating on a tight budget may cover almost every part of -the island on its 18 bus routes. Most of these start from the Vehicular -Ferry Pier and their routes are fully outlined on the reverse side of -Jan Jan’s Map. Trams give smoother rides and more frequent service along -the island’s densely populated waterfront, but the only low-cost means -of visiting outlying places, such as Shek-O, Stanley and Sandy Bay—all -worth seeing—is by bus. This transportation is not for the timorous or -those with queasy stomachs; Hong Kong bus-jockeys are competent, but they -slam and jolt their passengers about as they whirl through a never-ending -succession of upgrades, downgrades and hairpin turns. - -Foreign passengers unfamiliar with Hong Kong public transportation -may be startled at times to hear their fellow-riders yelling at one -another. What sounds to a greenhorn like a violent exchange of insults -is nothing more than cheerful gossip. The Cantonese are naturally gabby -and exuberant, and only the Gwai-lo (foreign devil) seems subdued and -inscrutable. - -Transportation to Kowloon, directly across the harbor from Hong Kong -Island, is by Star Ferry for most tourists, although there are many other -trans-harbor ferries. The Star Ferry terminal in Kowloon is the focal -point of practically every kind of transportation on the peninsula. Most -Kowloon bus lines turn around directly in front of the ferry terminal. -The Kowloon-Canton Railway, which runs through Kowloon and the New -Territories to the Red Chinese border, is situated next to the bus -terminal. Taxis and rickshaws start from the same area—a big, multiple -loop that keeps vehicles moving with a minimum of congestion or delay. -The Kowloon side of the colony has no streetcars, but its double-deck -buses are almost as bulky as trams. - -The greatest concentration of tourist shops and hotels is in the Tsim Sha -Tsui section at the tip of the Kowloon Peninsula and within a five-minute -walk of the Star Ferry terminal. Nine-tenths of the Kowloon hotels and -luxury shops are strung along Nathan Road, the central thoroughfare, and -its intersecting streets. At its best, Tsim Sha Tsui is a tourists’ Happy -Hunting Ground; at its worst, it is an outrageously over-priced deadfall. - -The refugee resettlement estates spread across the upper end of the -Kowloon Peninsula, several miles north of Tsim Sha Tsui. Visitors -who want to see what has been done to help the colony’s refugees—and -to appreciate how much must still be undertaken—should visit the -resettlement estates and the remaining squatter shacks with either a -guide or an experienced Hong Kong welfare worker. The terrain is too -irregular and the estates too extensive to be covered on foot. - -Visitors with an archaeological turn of mind may want to have a look -at the Li Cheng Uk tomb in Sham Shui Po, about a mile north of the -Kowloon-New Territories boundary. Workmen excavating for the Li Cheng Uk -Resettlement Estate discovered the tomb in August, 1955. Its T-shaped -chambers and barrel-vault roof containing pottery and bronze objects from -the Later Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220) and Six Dynasties (A.D. 220-589) -indicate that the Chinese may have settled in Hong Kong and neighboring -Kwangtung Province many centuries earlier than had been supposed. The -colony government preserved the tomb by encasing it in an outer shell of -concrete, built a small garden and museum around it, and opened it to the -public in 1957. - -A guided motor tour, probably the best way of seeing the New Territories, -carries the visitor through the manufacturing center at Tsuen Wan, then -west past the beaches and eroded hillsides to Castle Peak. The tour -proceeds through some of the colony’s best farmland to the marketing and -shopping center at Yuen Long. - -Brown cattle and water buffalo are the only aids to human labor on these -farms, and every square foot of land is fertilized, weeded, irrigated and -tilled with unsparing diligence. Walled cities, such as Kam Tin, appear -along the way. Once they were fortresses to protect the farming families -against marauding bands; today they are packed with poor people living in -cubicles. - -If border conditions are stable, the driver may continue to Lak Ma Chau, -a hillside overlooking Red China’s farming communes on the far side of -the Sham Chun River. The return route is through the fishing settlement -at Tai Po, with a view of Tolo Harbor, one of the finest in Hong Kong. In -the Shatin Valley, with its intricate pattern of terraced rice fields, -the sightseer may catch a glimpse of Amah Rock, a natural formation -resembling a woman with an infant on her back. - -Chinese legend depicts the rock as the survival of a woman whose husband -left to fight in China many centuries ago. For days and months she -climbed the hill and looked out to sea, awaiting her husband’s return. -Their child was born before she at last caught sight of her husband’s -ship, and she was so overcome by excitement and joy that she died on the -spot. After her death, her neighbors were astonished to see a heap of -rocks take on the appearance of a woman carrying a child on her back. - -As the car passes through the reservoir area above Kowloon, a wild rhesus -monkey of the surrounding forests may be seen begging for a roadside -handout. Game of any kind is not abundant in the colony, but there are -a few ferret-badgers, civet cats, otter, barking deer, rodents and an -exceedingly rare leopard. There are 38 kinds of snakes, including the -banded krait, king cobra and pit viper, although deaths from snake bites -very seldom occur. Over 300 species of birds have been identified. -Hundreds of kinds of tropical butterflies, including the Atlas Moth, with -a maximum wing-spread of nine inches, present the brightest specks on -the countryside, sometimes covering a forest grove like an extra set of -leaves. - -Since Hong Kong embraces 237 islands besides the Kowloon Peninsula and -the mainland portions of the New Territories, a tourist must take to the -boats if he is to see more than a fraction of its varied topography. Boat -service to the larger inhabited islands is frequent and cheap. - -Every Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock an excursion boat leaves the -Vehicular Ferry Pier for a three-hour circuit of Hong Kong Island. -It cruises east along the waterfront, through Lei Yue Mun pass at the -eastern harbor entrance, then turns south off the island’s east coast. -The rugged coast and fine homes of Shek-O are at the right, with the -outlying islands of Tung Lung and Waglan at the left. The course swings -past the south shore resort coast, around the west end of the island -and back to the starting point. This trip, at 50 cents for adults and a -quarter for children, is the seagoing bargain of Hong Kong. - -A more leisurely round-island voyage, taking 4½ hours, leaves the Kowloon -and Queens piers every morning, and includes a close-up of the Yau Ma Tei -Typhoon Shelter on the west side of Kowloon Peninsula. Going west around -the island, it sails as far as Repulse Bay, turns back toward Deep Water -Bay and stops at Aberdeen for lunch before returning around the west end -of the island to its starting point. A variation of the trip permits the -excursionist to leave the boat at Aberdeen and complete the tour with -a motor trip via Stanley, Tai Tam Reservoir, Shau Kei Wan, Tiger Balm -Gardens, Wanchai, and Victoria Peak. Lunch and soft drinks are included, -but this is not a low-price attraction. - -A two-hour afternoon water tour offers tourists a view of the harbor, -including the island waterfront, Kai Tak airstrip and the harbor islands. -If one prefers travel in a craft rather loosely resembling a junk, he may -cover most of the same harbor points visited by the regular launch. - -The brigantine _Wan Fu_, in addition to its evening cruise to Aberdeen, -puts on a plush inter-island tour lasting five hours, with cocktails, -canapés and a catered buffet luncheon served aboard. The _Wan Fu_ sails -through Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, westward past Stonecutters Island, -Lantau, and the little island of Peng Chau before tying up at Cheung -Chau for an informal walking tour around this fishermen’s settlement, -scene of the annual Bun Festival. - -Cheung Chau is one of the pleasantest islands in the colony, with neat -vegetable gardens planted in its interior hollows, a long stretch of -sandy beach and a cluster of English summer homes on its low hills. The -village shopping area is a busy place, with narrow, crowded streets, an -old temple and a sidewalk shrine to a tree-god. Cost of the _Wan Fu_ -cruise is in line with its luxurious accommodations. - -Ferry services to Cheung Chau, Peng Chau, Tsing Yi Island and Lantau -are operated by the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Co. Excursion boats may -also be hired at fixed rates for reaching any of these islands. Once the -visitor gets to the islands, he will have to depend mostly on his feet to -get around. As a matter of course, he should determine in advance when -the next boat is scheduled to return to Hong Kong Island; otherwise, he -may spend the night in some rural retreat with no tourist hotels. - -Peng Chau, with a population of about 4,000 persons, has several small -industries typical of an earlier day in Hong Kong, such as tanning and -lime burning. It was an important match manufacturing center before Macao -competition overshadowed it. It also harbors small farming and fishing -settlements. - -Hei Ling Chau, a nearby island, houses the colony’s leprosarium, run -by the local auxiliary of the Mission to Lepers. It has 540 patients, -including refugees from Red China who were turned out of a leprosarium -near Canton when the Communists closed it down. A visit to the island -may be arranged through the Mission in Hong Kong and is worthwhile on -two counts; it will clear up many common misconceptions about the -disease and show the visitor how far medicine has progressed in treating -a disease that was once considered fatal. When a Chinese became a known -sufferer from the disease, he was, until a few years ago, driven from the -community and his family were subjected to abuse by their former friends. - -Hei Ling Chau conveys no sense of hopelessness today. Its well-kept -stone cottages, workshops, hospital and chapel are arranged around a -thriving vegetable garden cultivated by the patients. The unsatisfactory -chaulmoogra oil treatment has been replaced by streptomycin, sulfones -and other new drugs. Surgery has helped to restore the function of hands -crippled by the disease. It is not true that the fingers of lepers drop -off; the bones shrink if the disease is not checked. - -Most cases on the island are infectious, but chances that a visitor -will catch the disease are almost nil. Its chief victims are the -undernourished poor. Although leprosy is not hereditary, children may -contract it from parents. About 30 young victims of leprosy presently -attend a primary school on Hei Ling Chau while being treated. Their -chances of recovery are excellent. Early, mild infections can often be -cleared up within a year; advanced cases may take many years to cure. - -Under staff instruction, many patients have become competent tailors, -embroiderers, carpenters, cabinet makers or basket weavers. Very few are -bedridden, unless they have an additional disease such as tuberculosis. -About a third of the patients are women. Everything concerned with the -operation of Hei Ling Chau reflects intelligence and devotion in helping -lepers to find their way back to useful living. - -Tsing Yi Island, off Tsuen Wan, has a few minor industries such as lime -burning and brick making, and its steep hillsides grow an especially -sweet variety of pineapple. There is also a community of fishermen and a -small village with stores where one may purchase food and soft drinks. -Chickens and chow dogs, unmenaced by autos, roam its streets. When cold -weather comes, some of the chows will vanish. Many Chinese regard chow -meat as a delicacy that will keep the consumer warm in winter, increase -his strength and fortify his virility. Killing chows for food is illegal, -but every winter the police arrest dozens of dog killers, and the courts -hand them high fines and jail sentences. - -Lantau Island has only one stretch of paved road in its 55-square-mile -extent, but it is a favorite spot for hikers and religious pilgrims. -There is a good bathing beach at Silvermine Bay, where the ferry stops, -and the paved road, traveled by a new bus line, connects it with the -dam-building site at Shek Pik. - -Some years ago the island was so isolated that its people built stone -towers as redoubts against the forays of pirates. By government -permission, residents were allowed to keep arms to defend themselves -against raiders. Several of the old towers still stand. - -The Buddhist monastery of Po Lin Chi, on a mountain plateau two miles -north of Shek Pik, is inhabited by a small community of monks and -nuns living from the produce of its fruit trees and gardens and the -contributions of pilgrims who struggle up a mountain path to visit -the retreat. Visitors are welcome and may stay overnight at a guest -house on the grounds. Meals are prepared on wood fires in an ancient, -smoke-stained kitchen. Surrounded by its orchards and with two or three -massive tombs on the surrounding hills, Po Lin Chi is a quiet echo of -James Hilton’s _Shangri-La_. - -There are other monasteries on Lantau, with the Trappist Monastery at Tai -Shui Hang, in the northeast part of the island, perhaps the best-known. -In the last decade its community of 22 priests, lay brothers and novices -has planted and redeveloped its large farm acreage. - -Tai O town, on the west coast of Lantau, is its largest settlement, with -nearly 8,000 inhabitants. Tai O has a community of Tanka fishing people -living in wooden huts raised on stakes over a muddy inlet. A regular -ferry service brings hiking parties from Hong Kong Island to toil up -the hillsides to Po Lin Chi. They stay overnight at its guest house and -descend on the opposite side of the mountains to catch the ferry at -Silver Mine Bay for the trip home. - -For a completely different kind of scenery, the inquisitive traveler may -visit Tap Mun Chau, an island at the eastern edge of the New Territories. -The Kowloon-Canton Railway takes him to Tai Po Station on Tolo Harbor, -where he may catch the Tap Mun Chau ferry. The boat nudges up to the -foot of Ma On Shan, a craggy, 2,300-foot peak, unloads a cargo of pigs -and a few Hakka farmers, and pushes east through Tolo Channel, bordered -by round hills. Three Fathoms Cove is the boat’s second stop. It is just -south of Plover Cove, the deep inlet from Tolo Channel which colony -engineers propose to seal off, pump out its salt-water contents, and -replace with a fresh-water reservoir. - -Most of the stops along this six-hour run are made offshore, disembarking -passengers reaching land in small sampans. The boat turns south at the -seaward end of Tolo Channel and travels the length of Long Harbor between -high, barren hills. Looking at these hills, the passenger may understand -how easily Chinese pirates of the last century could slip out of this -hidden harbor, pounce on passing ships and make their escape behind the -sheltering mountains. - -Villages are strung along the water’s edge at intervals, but their -shallow harbors and small docks cannot handle the ferry boat. The usual -sampan, sometimes adroitly propelled by a pair of half-grown boys, rows -out to meet the larger boat. There is a dock-side stop at Tap Mun town, -where the harbor is crowded with fishing junks, but the layover is too -short to permit a walk ashore. - -Darkness comes on slowly while the boat heads back, non-stop, to Tai Po, -but there are bright patches of light along the water—fishermen using -gasoline lanterns to lure their catch into a net spread between two -boats. The stars look down from a cloudless sky, and through a gap in -the bulky hills, the lights of Hong Kong Island glow in the distance. By -early evening, the traveler has gotten his train and is back in Kowloon. - -There is so much to see in this colony that no one can compress it into -a single visit. Many tourists have returned a dozen times, knowing that -each trip would bring some new revelation of unsuspected beauty, some -fresh insight into the character of Hong Kong’s people. - -No book, map nor brochure can tell a colony visitor exactly what to -expect. He walks down a street and comes upon the unexpected every day. -It may be a Chinese funeral procession with a marching band playing “Bye -Bye Blackbird.” Or a professional letter-writer, taking dictation with a -stylus at his sidewalk table. Or the clatter of Mah Jongg players as they -slam the pieces on the table. - -It may be a visit to Temple Street in Kowloon, with its odd restaurants -and all-night bustle of activity. Or the Kee Heung Tea House at 597 -Shanghai Street, Kowloon, where customers bring their caged birds and -discuss them while they sip. - -Even the hardiest tourist will be exhausted long before he has exhausted -the sights and sounds of Hong Kong. - - - - -CHAPTER TEN - -Shopping before Dinner - - “The culinary art is certainly above all others in Hong - Kong.”—HAROLD INGRAMS, _Hong Kong_, 1952 - - -Something happens to the spending habits of all tourists when they reach -Hong Kong. Wallets fly open, purse-strings snap and money gushes forth in -a golden shower. - -It is a matter of record that in Hong Kong more tourists spend more -money in a shorter time than in any other port of the Far East or the -Pacific west of the American mainland. They shell out $120 a day during -an average visit of five days, and almost 70 percent of the $600 five-day -total is spent on things the tourist intends to take home. (The figures -come, not from Hong Kong, but from an exhaustive study of Pacific and Far -Eastern tourism made for the United States Department of Commerce.) - -This $120-a-day spending average is applicable to all the colony’s -civilian visitors except Overseas Chinese. In 1961, the total of such -visitors was 210,000, and it was made up of 72,000 Americans, 67,000 -British and 71,000 visitors of other nationalities. The number of -tourists has more than doubled in the last four years. The Department of -Commerce study estimates that the total may climb to 490,000 in 1968, -and that tourists could be expected to spend $270 million in the crown -colony during the same year. If all this comes to pass, it will carry the -merchants of Hong Kong into the full sunlight of a golden age. - -But how about the tourist? What does he get for his money that causes -him to run hog-wild in Hong Kong shops? The answers are as varied as the -shrewdness or the gullibility of the individual tourist. - -Let’s consider the gullible ones; they are so numerous and vulnerable. -The plump lady stuffing herself into a form-fitting Cheongsam. The -overnight Beau Brummel, swallowed alive by the 24-hour “custom-tailored” -suit he bought without taking the time for proper fittings. The customer -who accepts the first price quoted by a Chinese merchant. The photography -bug who buys a standard West German camera at the most exclusive -department store in the heart of the high-rent district, when he could -get the same thing for 20 percent less at a number of small, reliable -photo-supply shops. The optimist who thinks he can persuade a British -clerk to knock down a fixed price. The lamb who lets a sidewalk “shopping -guide” lead him to a fleecing. The poor soul who buys a Swiss watch, a -Japanese camera, or any other name product without comparing prices of -several Hong Kong shops or knowing the minimum sale price of the same -article in his own country. The woman who buys a particular line of -famous pearls from anyone except the authorized dealer. - -Above all, the American who buys a piece of rare jade without a -Comprehensive Certificate of Origin, and consequently has it confiscated -by Customs when he reenters the United States. For that matter, any -American who buys a “presumptive item”—an article which the U.S. -government suspects was made in Red China or North Korea—without a -Comprehensive Certificate of Origin. - -This business of the Comprehensive Certificate of Origin is a recurrent -pain in the neck to American shoppers and Hong Kong merchants alike. -Nevertheless, as an item of United States foreign policy, it must be -deferred to by American tourists in Hong Kong. Many reputable shop-owners -will not apply to the colony’s Commerce and Industry Department for the -right to issue Comprehensive Certificates of Origin, because it involves -so much paperwork, red tape, and delay that the shops would just as soon -skip the American market and concentrate on the British and others who -can buy without these pesky certificates. - -The list of items considered to be presumptive is by no means clear-cut, -and the items on it may change from time to time, further clouding the -issue. Some of the articles considered presumptive are: brassware, -brocade, ceramics, cotton goods, embroidery, figurines, wood furniture, -greeting cards, handicrafts, ivory ware, jade, semiprecious jewelry, -lacquerware, porcelain ware, woolen rugs, silks and wallpaper. - -The nonpresumptive articles, or those that can be freely imported into -the U.S., include: binoculars, cameras, cashmere items, enamelware, -furs (but not all furs), precious stones, leather goods, mosaics, -mother-of-pearl, plastic articles, rattan ware, sporting goods, -umbrellas, watches, wool clothing and yachts. - -These lists are merely indicative; up-to-date and official information -can be obtained in Hong Kong by calling the Foreign Assets Control -division of the U.S. Consulate General. If in any doubt about the -status of a purchase, pay no attention to the merchant who declares that -a Comprehensive Certificate of Origin is unnecessary; if his advice is -erroneous, he will not post the buyer’s bail. - -A Comprehensive Certificate of Origin costs five Hong Kong dollars, -or 87.5 cents, and will cover many articles bought at the same store, -provided that their value does not exceed HK $1,500, or US $262. It is -applied for when the purchase is made. The store sends it to the colony -government for official clearance, and when this comes through, usually -in about a week, the articles are shipped to the U.S. address designated. - -The amount of duty-free goods an American tourist could buy abroad was -cut from $500 to $100 in 1961, but merchants of the crown colony say it -has not seriously affected their business. At Hong Kong prices, Americans -apparently feel they can pay duties and still have a bargain. They are -still permitted to buy duty-free any number of items intended as gifts -valued at less than $10 each, provided they do not mail more than one -gift a day to the same person. - -Colony shops with the right to issue Comprehensive Certificates of Origin -always post a sign in their windows to advertise the fact; it helps to -attract American customers. But there are a few tricksters who will -attempt to palm off a fraudulent or nonapplicable certificate. The only -certificate of value to an American purchaser, it should be stressed, is -the Comprehensive Certificate of Origin. - -There are two main shopping areas in the colony: the Central District of -Hong Kong Island, and the Tsim Sha Tsui section at the tip of the Kowloon -Peninsula. Both areas can easily be covered on foot, and the shopper’s -budget is guaranteed to wear out much sooner than his shoe leather. -King’s Road, the main avenue through North Point in the northeastern -part of Hong Kong island, is also a good shopping area for tourists. The -Chinese and knowledgeable Caucasian residents, however, shop over a much -wider area on both sides of the harbor. - -Central District shopping for tourists runs west along Queen’s Road -Central, Des Voeux Road Central, Chater Road and Connaught Road Central -from Statue Square, opposite the Star Ferry terminal, to the Vehicular -Ferry Pier at Jubilee Street. The best British department stores are -toward the eastern end of this small zone, such as Whiteaway Laidlaw & -Co. on Connaught Road near the General Post Office, and Lane, Crawford’s -on Des Voeux Road. Both have Kowloon branches as well, and their prices -range from fairly high to forbidding. They are comparable to top-quality -department stores in New York or San Francisco, and their marked price is -unalterable. No dickering. Even so, they undersell many stores overseas -because Hong Kong is with very few exceptions a duty-free port. - -The American shopper will need to keep the Comprehensive Certificate of -Origin problem in mind constantly as he branches out to other stores, but -there’s no harm in looking. The larger Chinese stores in the area include -Chinese Arts & Crafts and China Emporium, both on Queen’s Road, and the -Shui Hing Co., The Sincere Co. and Wing On, Ltd., all on Des Voeux Road. -The Man Yee Building on Des Voeux Road has two floors of shops with -radios, typewriters, curios, watches and tape recorders, plus many other -articles; they are well worth checking, either to buy or for comparing -prices. The Japanese have opened a large department store, Daimaru, at -Causeway Bay, just west of the North Point section. - -The Gloucester Building at Des Voeux Road and Pedder Street has an -extensive shopping arcade with many quality shops. Alexandra House, just -across Des Voeux, also has its quota of fine shops, and there are other -first-rate stores throughout this area. The streets intersecting with -Queen’s Road and Des Voeux Road should not be overlooked either. Only a -dozen blocks or so are involved, but the shops are so numerous and their -goods so varied that it will take even an industrious shopper a full day -to see them and compare prices. Wise tourists looking for values usually -spend a day surveying the shops and their merchandise before they are -ready to spend a cent. It is a sound procedure, for hundreds of hasty -shoppers have prematurely congratulated themselves on a wonderful buy, -only to see the same article in another shop the next day for 15 to 25 -percent less than they have paid. - -What are the good buys in Hong Kong? They particularly include -custom-made clothes for men and women, because the workmanship is cheap -and the quality high—this applies to coats, suits, dresses and shoes. -For women, silk and woolen garments are good buys, especially when they -require extensive hand work on beading and embroidery. If planning to -wash the garment, make sure that the outer material and the inner lining -are pre-shrunk and color-fast. - -The Cheongsam, with its side-slit skirt and carefully fitted collar, -is worth individual attention here. The Cheongsam is a closely fitted, -shape-clinging dress that shows to best advantage on a slim, small-boned -Chinese girl. Put the average Western woman in one and she looks -beefy, which certainly isn’t the effect she is striving for. If she’s -overweight, the sight of her in a Cheongsam is enough to make Chinese -children hide behind their mother’s slit-skirt where their howls and -giggles won’t be too evident. - -Men can get excellent bargains in custom-tailored suits of English -woolens, Japanese woolens, Dacron, mixed silk and wool, or cashmere -and wool. Pure cashmere looks and feels luxurious in the shop, but it -is extremely expensive and doesn’t wear as well as a cashmere-and-wool -combination. If the tailor puts in cheap lining, the collar and lapels -will look like an elephant’s hide after a few cleanings. If he skimps -on the thread, and some do, the suit may pull apart under strenuous -circumstances. The worldwide story about the $20 Hong Kong suit that -can be perfectly fitted in 24-hours may have been circulated by some -show-business comedian trying to impress his friends; it is not, and -never was, true. - -Assuming that a good Hong Kong tailor is located—and there are scores of -them—a man will be able to get the finest kind of custom-made suit for a -little less than he would pay for a ready-made suit of the same materials -in the United States. That would be around $75 for a pure cashmere sport -jacket, $40 for a cashmere-and-wool jacket, $70 for a tuxedo of English -worsteds, and $40 to $60 for a suit, with the higher-priced one of -English woolen and the cheaper of a lightweight wool. A custom-tailored -shirt of Sea Island cotton will cost about $6—considerably less than an -American ready-made shirt of the same material. - -The chances are that an established Hong Kong tailor will start by -asking a higher price for all of these articles. By patient haggling and -comparison-shopping, he may be wheedled down by 5 to 20 percent. And -don’t be afraid that hard bargaining will drive him out of business; he -always allows a comfortable profit margin for himself. Ignore his claims -based on the famous people he has made suits for; they may have been -given the ultimate in special care at a price far below the going rate -for serving to advertise the shop. - -One thing a tailor cannot do is to turn out a well-fitted suit without -three or four fittings. This will require no less than five days, and -two weeks would yield even better results. In busy periods, before the -Christmas and Chinese New Year holidays, a tailor might need three weeks. -One can buy a better-looking ready-made suit in the United States than -almost any Hong Kong tailor can turn out in 24 hours; he’s good, but he’s -not a miracle worker. - -Women shopping for top-grade American and British ready-made clothing -should have a look at Mackintosh’s in Alexandra House, Paquerette (in the -Gloucester Arcade), Lane, Crawford’s, and Whiteaway Laidlaw & Co. A wide -range of high-style tailored clothing for women is offered by Charlotte -Horstmann of Duddell Street and Town and Country of Queen’s Road, both on -the Hong Kong side, and at three Kowloon shops in the arcade of the Hotel -Peninsula: Dynasty Salon, Betty Clemo, and Star of Siam. - -Men’s tailoring shops are most numerous on the Kowloon side, and many of -them also make women’s clothing. A sample survey might include Y. William -Yu and Frank L. Chan of Kimberley Road, Ying Tai & Co., and Harilela’s of -Nathan Road, James S. Lee & Co. of Nathan Road (and Gloucester Road, Hong -Kong), and Tailor Young & Co. of Humphreys Avenue. In the blocks from -Mody Road to Kimberley Road, all branching east from Nathan Road, tailors -seem to occupy about every third storefront. Take nothing for granted at -any of them, and be watchful to see that the cloth ordered is supplied. - -Hong Kong has outstanding bargains in hand-made shoes, handbags, jewelry, -watches, cameras, radios and furniture. It is desirable to know prices -and to shop around extensively, comparing values. The Man Yee Building, -previously mentioned, the Gloucester Arcade, and the arcades of the -Ambassador and Miramar Hotels in Kowloon should give an idea of what’s -available, though they may be undersold by some side-street shop. - -Kowloon has dozens of small shops, often combined with back-room -“factories,” where one can buy Chinese handicrafts or watch them being -turned out by superlative craftsmen. These products are duplicates -of those that China has produced for centuries, and may require a -Comprehensive Certificate of Origin to get them through U.S. Customs. - -Hankow Road, just west of the Hotel Peninsula, has the greatest number -of wood-carving shops. They all stock sets of wooden horses in several -sizes; also Buddhas, Gods and Goddesses in profusion, wild animals, fish -and birds. The asking price is outrageous, but can be whittled down as -much as 50 percent by patient haggling. A well-made carved horse about -four inches high can be bought for 75 cents. It would cost six times as -much in New York. - -No other article more convincingly demonstrates the skill of the Chinese -craftsman than carved ivory. There are ivory factories along Nathan -Road and its side streets that produce beautifully carved chess sets, -intricately fashioned concentric balls of ivory, and miniature temples, -flower boats and pagodas. - -Fine cabinetmakers turn out highly polished teak and rosewood chests -trimmed with brass and lined with silk. Each one is a masterpiece of -workmanship, but there’s one catch—if the wood has not been carefully -kiln-dried, the chest may split when it is shipped home. This is a point -on which a customer will want to quiz the dealer, then decide whether his -answers are satisfactory. Carved and lacquered screens can be an artistic -delight, but don’t forget to include the shipping costs when figuring -their price. Carved and full-rigged Chinese junks are sold in a wide -range of sizes. - -The shopper can forget about the give-no-quarter type of bargaining when -he enters one of the stores operated by Hong Kong welfare organizations -for the benefit of physically handicapped refugees. These are strictly -nonprofit operations, with all but basic overhead costs being turned -over to the needy people who make the handicrafts. The quality of their -products is high and their prices are reasonable. Two of these shops are -the Welfare Handicrafts on Salisbury Road, opposite the Kowloon Post -Office, and The Rice Bowl, on Minden Row. To find The Rice Bowl, turn -east off Nathan Road at Mody Road; Minden Row is the first street south -off Mody. Both stores have Comprehensive Certificates of Origin. - -The Tsim Sha Shui section of Kowloon is developing so rapidly that it -will probably have a dozen shopping arcades by the end of 1963. The -Central District of Hong Kong Island is also planning new arcades. - -Tourists may wind up a day’s shopping by attending one of the 72 movie -theaters in the colony. Of these, 16 show English-language films and -13 are first-run houses. Foreign films reach Hong Kong as soon as they -appear in the world market. In Kowloon, Nathan Road is the main movie -avenue; in Hong Kong, they are spotted along the principal streets from -Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan. All seats are reserved, and selected from -a seating-chart at the box office; daily show-times are carried in the -local press. Chinese films have a big following, but many colony Chinese -prefer American movies with plenty of action and spectacle. English -films strike them as stodgy and slow, European art films bore them, and -sexy importations from Italy and France offend their sensibilities. -English-language films usually carry Chinese subtitles which look like -embroidery to Western viewers. - -If it’s night clubs the tourist is looking for, there’s nothing to -get wildly excited about. Floor shows run to jugglers, acrobats and -pony chorus lines, with an occasional comedian as a star attraction. -Vaudeville isn’t dead; it simply shuffled off to Hong Kong. Prices are -steeper than the entertainment warrants. Most of the musicians are -Filipinos; individually able, but their band arrangements follow the -blast-off traditions of American stage bands in the 1930s. - -For a predinner cocktail with a magnificent view, two of the best -locations are the lounge on top of the Imperial Hotel, Nathan Road, and -the 11th floor Marigold Lounge of the Park Hotel at Cameron and Chatham -Roads, both in Kowloon. Just as the finest daytime view is from the -upper slopes of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, the most satisfying -after-dark panorama is from Kowloon. From either of these lounges you can -see the banks of lighted apartment houses along the Hong Kong hillside, -tied together by festoons of streetlamps as the roads zig-zag up the -slopes, shining blue at the lower levels, then turning to vapor-piercing -amber as they climb above the fog line. The Imperial has the closest -view of the multi-colored neon signs glowing along the Hong Kong side of -the harbor in English and Chinese characters. The Park Hotel overlooks -the whole sweep of Kowloon Bay and the wavy, mountainous horizon of -the island, with the brilliantly lighted boats of a dozen ferry lines -criss-crossing the harbor in every direction. A line of lights passes -directly under the window—a Kowloon-Canton train returning from a trip to -the Red China border. If one could compress all of his memories of Hong -Kong into a single glance, this would be it. - -Kowloon holds two-thirds of the colony’s fifty hotels, and many of these -are quite new. Hong Kong Island will add two major hotels in 1963, the -1,000-room American and the 600-room Queen’s, but Kowloon will retain its -leadership in room capacity for many years. Altogether, about a dozen -hotels will be added by the end of 1964 if business holds up. - -The tremendous surge in hotel growth means that after years of lagging -behind, Hong Kong has finally roused itself to meet the needs of -tourists, in room capacity, at least. The expansion has been so frantic -that a number of the newer hotels have shaved every possible corner in -construction, skimping on the number of elevators and unduly shrinking -the size of rooms to squeeze every cent out of their cubic-foot capacity. -Hotel help is scarce, and as each new hotel opens, it raids the staffs -of existing hotels; this raises wages slightly, but saves the raider the -time and expense of training his own people. It also lowers the quality -of service and leaves the older hotels to scramble for replacements. - -With these limitations in mind, it is remarkable that hotel service is -as good as it is, and much of the credit must go to the staff people -themselves. They are hard-working, cheerful and obliging to a degree -seldom seen in large cities. Because of inadequate training and the -inevitable language difficulties, they are sometimes caught off-base, but -when they know what a guest wants, they will do everything possible to -get it. Americans and British whose democratic principles do not always -prevent them from getting pretty high-handed about the way they are -served will just have to be a little less fussy. - -The Peninsula Hotel and its jointly managed addition, the Peninsula -Court, occupy the same place in the colony that the Plaza does in New -York—smart, eminently respectable and expensive. The Park, the Imperial -and the Ambassador are among the best of the large, new hotels in -Kowloon. The Gloucester has the greatest status of the Central District -hotels, and the Repulse Bay, on the south shore of Hong Kong Island, -rates as the island’s most luxurious resort hotel. There are about a -dozen other first-rate hotels and approximately 30 additional ones that -range from satisfactory to catch-as-catch-can. All those recommended -by the Hong Kong Tourist Association are acceptable, but their quality -varies with their rates, though not always in proportion. - -Two outlying hotels worth noting are the Carlton and the Shatin Heights, -both in the New Territories but not far from Kowloon. The Luk Kwok in -Wanchai, once the locale for Richard Mason’s _The World of Suzie Wong_, -prospered so handsomely from the publicity that it is now a quiet, -middle-class hotel. - -Confirmed hotel reservations, arranged well in advance of your arrival, -are advisable for all tourists who are not thoroughly familiar with -Hong Kong. Certainly it would be unwise to arrive without them and be -forced to rely on sheer luck or the noisy touts who besiege incoming -passengers at Kai Tak. The touts are kept behind a fence nowadays, but if -the unsuspecting visitor lets them steer him to a hotel, their kick-back -will be added to the bill. Experienced visitors sometimes check into a -modestly priced hotel for the night and spend the next day bargaining -for the lowest rates at one of the better places which, when business is -slow, regularly knock 30 percent off the stated charges. For newcomers, -this is seldom done. - -Some European and American visitors cannot be persuaded to try Chinese -food. Either they think it will make them ill, which it certainly will -not, or they believe they’ll look silly fumbling with chopsticks. It -must be conceded that inexperienced users of chopsticks usually look -rather foolish, but practically every Chinese restaurant will provide a -knife and fork if asked for them. - -No difficulty should arise from a determination to stick to one’s usual -diet. Every first-class hotel serves an international cuisine. Prices are -tailored to the room rents; high at the Peninsula, cheap at the Y.M.C.A. -next door to it. In general, the meals are as good as those at American -hotels and they cost considerably less. Steaks are tougher than Choice U. -S. beef, and occasionally one resembles a small portion of a welcome mat. -Apart from the hotels, there are about a dozen good European restaurants. - -In Mandarin Chinese, there is a saying that “food is the heaven of the -ordinary people,” and the Chinese in Hong Kong, like their countrymen -all over the world, do their remarkable best to impart a foretaste of -heaven to their cooking. Their food reaches the table in edible form, -and does not have to be slashed and hacked before the guest is ready to -eat it. Chopsticks are all that is needed to lift the food to the mouth. -(Foreigners take weeks to get over the shock of seeing a three-year-old -Chinese child manipulating chopsticks; it seems so infernally clever.) - -Chinese restaurants of the colony serve four different kinds of cuisine: -Cantonese (from southern China); Shanghainese (from east-central China); -Pekinese (from northern China) and Szechuan (central China). - -Cantonese is the type most familiar to Americans, since most of the -Chinese restaurants in the U.S. are owned by Southern Chinese. Chop suey -and chow mein are not Chinese at all, except that they were invented by -Chinese cooks in the United States to please their American customers. -None the less, Cantonese restaurants serve them in Hong Kong, as well -as egg rolls, egg foo yung, and sweet-and-sour pork, if only to keep the -visiting foreigners happy. - -Authentic Cantonese dishes are strong on seafoods. Steamed fish seasoned -with ginger, mushrooms, spring onion, salted black soya beans, garlic, -salad oil, sherry, soy sauce, and sugar is a particular favorite. Shark’s -fin soup which includes not only the fins but crab meat, sliced chicken, -chicken broth, cornstarch, and peanut oil is a floating potpourri. - -Other Cantonese delicacies are gut lee hai kim, shelled fat crabs dipped -in butter, fried in deep oil and served with a tart wine-and-vinegar -sauce; goo low yuk, the Cantonese name for sweet-and-sour pork; and ho -yau ngau yuk, slices of beef tenderloin quick-fried with an oyster sauce -and garnished with greens. Cantonese cooks are sparing in their use of -salt and grease. - -A lunchtime specialty of Cantonese restaurants is dim sun (tiny bits of -food), which includes twenty different kinds of sweet and salty dishes; -among them, steamed biscuits with various meat fillings, rice cakes, -sweet buns and chicken rolls. - -A few of the better Cantonese restaurants are: Tai Tung, 234 Des Voeux -Road; Golden City, 122-126 Queen’s Road Central; Miramar and Ambassador -(both in hotels), Nathan Road; and the Sky, 8 Queen’s Road Central. -They’re accustomed to tourists, and will help with the ordering, if need -be. Tai Tung is typical of the large Cantonese restaurants, catering to -family parties and group dinners. Kam Ling, at 484 Queen’s Road West in -the West Point section of the island, is another Cantonese giant. - -Dinner at one of the multi-story Chinese restaurants may cause a shock -to the nerves from a series of violent and unexpected explosions. The -blasts, which sound like closely bunched machine-gun fire, seem to be -coming from right outside the window. No cause for alarm—it’s just a -string of firecrackers celebrating a wedding or some other joyous family -event. A solid string of firecrackers is suspended from a crane at the -top of the building, then lighted at the bottom; as the bursting crackers -eat their way up the string, a man with a guide rope slowly lowers the -string to keep the explosions at street level, thus preventing the paper -from blowing all over the surrounding streets. A portable, circular wire -screen is also placed around the explosion zone to confine the mess, -and a policeman stands by to see that the fireworks are being handled -according to law. All large restaurants have a swing-out firecracker -crane, and when they book a family party for a special celebration, a -police permit is obtained for the noise-making. The rattle of explosions -often lasts ten minutes or more, costing the host from $100 to $300, -depending on the length and elaborateness of the string. - -Shanghainese cooking, which became more popular in Hong Kong after the -arrival of Shanghai refugees in the late 1940s, is sweeter and more salty -than Cantonese food, and uses a lot more oil. Its characteristic dishes -include: la dze jee ding, fresh chicken diced and fried with peppers and -flavored with soy sauce; chao ha yen, small shelled shrimp garnished with -green herbs or bean sprouts; and sze tze tao, pork sautéed with Chinese -white cabbage and often served in a casserole. - -Beggar’s chicken is highly regarded by colony residents, both Chinese and -English, and can be ordered at Tien Hong Lau on Woosung Street, Kowloon; -or other Shanghai places such as Winter Garden, Nathan Road; or Four Five -Six, 340 King’s Road, North Point. Bamboo shoots, boiled crab and fried -eel, in season, are also Shanghai treats. - -Szechuan food is hot and spicy, with such representative dishes as: suan -la tang, sour peppery soup; dried beef with peppers; and Szechuan duck, -deep-fried to cook both the skin and the flesh brown, spiced with pungent -black pepper and served with the meat so tender that it may be picked -off the bones with chopsticks. The Ivy, at 11 D’Aguilar Street, in the -Central District, is a familiar Szechuan establishment. There are others -in the Diamond Hill section of New Kowloon, north of Kai Tak Airport, but -one would probably need the guidance of a long-time colony resident to -find them. - -The Pekinese cuisine is best known for Peking duck, served as a suitable -entrée for a meal that begins with assorted cold meats and proceeds -through chicken and walnuts to the celebrated bird. The duck is basted -with salad oil and roasted until brown, then the skin is dipped in soya -paste with scallions and wrapped in thin pancakes to be eaten as a kind -of sandwich; the meat is dipped and eaten in a similar manner and the -bones of the duck are made into a soup with cabbage and mushrooms. Toffee -apples and caramelized bananas (sugared and deep-fried, then immersed in -cold water) top off the feast. - -Two of the popular Pekinese restaurants are the Peking, 1 Great George -Street, Causeway Bay; and the Princess Garden, Kimberley Road, Kowloon. - -Hard to classify but too good to miss is the Mongolian steamboat, a -cooking utensil used for Northern and Cantonese dishes. Hot coals are -placed in the bottom of the vessel from which the heat rises through a -chimney at the center. Water or soup stock boils in a little open-top -tank that encircles the chimney. In the Cantonese style, tiny baskets -of sea food, meat and vegetables are hung into the boiling water until -they are done, then the contents are fished out with chopsticks. In the -Northern Chinese variation, a soup stock is put in the reservoir with -very thin slices of meat and sea food being dipped in until they are -cooked, which takes only a few seconds. Both styles use various sauces -and condiments to flavor the food after it is cooked and drawn out with -chopsticks. The steamboat sits in the center of the table, puffing -energetically, and every diner has a fine time dipping and fishing for -his food. - -The Peking Restaurant at Causeway Bay and the Wong Heung Min, at -191-193 Gloucester Road along the Wanchai waterfront, are two steamboat -anchorages of note. - -The various styles of Chinese cooking do not differ so radically that the -same restaurant cannot prepare food in two or more regional ways. Many -restaurants do so and quite capably. Americans sometimes choke at the -thought of bird’s nest soup, which is made from the saliva that swallows -use to build their nests. The saliva is separated from the straw and -feathers by boiling and evaporation, and the dried saliva extract is -added to a stock of chicken broth, combined with sliced ham and minced -chicken. The end-product, served in most Chinese restaurants, is a prince -among fine soups. - -If one wants to prowl around a bit, he can locate a restaurant or two -that serves snake meat or civet cat. The Chinese have a theory that -they can make anything taste good with the right amount of cooking and -a judicious use of sauces, spices and condiments. What is more, they -usually prove to be correct. But a taste for snake meat is like the -appreciation of Cantonese opera; it takes years of conditioning. - -For those who enjoy sukiyaki and other Japanese dishes, they are -available at the Tokyo Restaurant, on the 17th floor of the Imperial -Hotel, and in the dining room of the Daimaru department store at Causeway -Bay. The Bombay Restaurant at 19 Prat Avenue, Kowloon, has a good -selection of Indian dishes. For Russian specialties, especially fine -cakes and pastries, Rikki’s restaurant at Cameron and Carnarvon Roads, -Kowloon, is a plain but acceptable spot. - -Assuming that one has had at least a one-week stay in Hong Kong, and has -applied himself to eating, shopping and sightseeing to the limit of his -energies, there is every reason to believe that he will go home happy, -stimulated, exhausted, and broke. - -It is the common lot of Hong Kong’s 210,000 annual visitors. - - - - -Index - - - Aberdeen, 58, 191, 195, 271, 281 - - Aberdeen reservoirs, 165 - - Acheson, Dean, 144 - - Advisory Comm. on Corruption, 201, 222-5 - - Afro-Asian Conference, 98 - - Agriculture, 120, 177-8 - - Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Dept., 181 - - Agriculture & Forestry Dept., 182, 184, 187 - - Air France, 159 - - Air-India International, 98 - - Albert Path, 263 - - Amah Rock, 279-80 - - Ambassador Hotel, 130, 301 - - American Marine, Ltd., 138-40 - - American military visitors, 132 - - Americans, 256-7 - - Animals, 177-8 - - Anslinger, Harry J., 94, 209 - - Anson’s Bay, 21 - - Anti-Corruption Branch, 223-4 - - Ap Chau, 71-2 - - Applegate, Richard, 94 - - Apprentice system, 135 - - Armed forces, China and Hong Kong, 87 - - Army in “Double-Ten” Riots, 104 - - _Arrow_, The, 28 - - Artificial insemination of pigs, 188-9 - - Atomic water distillation, 173 - - Attlee, Clement, 76 - - Austin Road, Kowloon, 103 - - Au Tak, 159 - - Aw Boon Haw, 272 - - - Bank of China, 263-4 - - Bank of Hell, 276-7 - - Bargains, 294 - - Barnett, K. M. A., 59, 60 - - Barton, Hugh, 148-9, 150, 152 - - Beriberi, 42 - - Beverage industry, 119 - - Bias Bay, 27 - - Black, Gov. Robert Brown, 11, 221-2 - - Blackie, W. J., 175 - - Blake Pier, 266 - - Blind musicians, 253 - - Blown, Capt. Phillip, 95-8 - - Boca Tigris, 17, 19 - - Bonham, Gov. S. G., 228-9 - - Border, length of, 81 - - Borgeest, Gus, 58-9, 60-5, 211 - - Borgeest, Mona, 58-9, 60-5 - - Borgeest, Naomi, 60 - - Borghese, Villa, 62 - - Boss, Martha, 55 - - Botanic Garden, 29, 34, 181, 262-3 - - Bowring, Sir John, 28-30 - - Boxer Rebellion, 40, 74 - - Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Assn., 67 - - Boy Scouts, 63 - - Brazil, 48 - - Brinkley, David, 132 - - British-Chinese intermarriage, 237-8 - - British common law, 216 - - British East India Co., 16, 18, 19 - - British House of Lords, 227, 232-3 - - British Overseas Airways, 133 - - British rulers, their character, 257 - - Buddhists, 254 - - Building construction, 120, 130-1 - - Bun Festival, 250-1, 282 - - Byrnes, James F., 75 - - - Canada, 48 - - Canned goods, 119 - - Canton, China, 16-18, 27-9, 31, 37, 40, 241 - - Cantonese, 176, 241-2 - - Cantonese cuisine, 302-3 - - Canton River, 17, 20, 22 - - Cape Bastion, 95 - - _Cape St. Mary_, 192 - - CARE, 71-2, 191 - - Carlton, Cedric, 95 - - Carlton Hotel, 301 - - Castle Peak, 79 - - Castle Peak Exper. Station, 188-9 - - Cater, Jack, 194 - - Cathay, Ltd., 147 - - Cathay Pacific Airways, 95-8, 133 - - Catholic Relief Services, 61, 66-7 - - Cattle raising, 118 - - Causeway Bay, 37, 270 - - _Celestial_, 116 - - Celestial Empire, 18, 20, 41 - - Central District, 49, 162, 262, 267, 269, 274, 293 - - Central Market, 268 - - Central Relief Records Office, 68 - - Certificate of Origin, Comprehensive, 45, 123, 275, 291-3, 298 - - Chadwick, Osbert, 36 - - Chai Wan, 69 - - Chan, S. Y., 188 - - Chartered Bank, 264 - - Chemicals industry, 124 - - Cheng Chung Kay, 198 - - Cheongsam, 294 - - Cheung Chau, 195, 242, 250, 282 - - _Cheung Hing_ incident, 91 - - Cheung Sheung, 63 - - Cheung Yung Festival, 253-4 - - Chiang Kai-shek, 47, 52, 75 - - China, Republic of, 41 - - _China Mail_, the, 128, 225 - - Chinese calendar, 244-5 - - Chinese clannishness, 244 - - Chinese dialects, 241-2 - - Chinese, diversity of, 240-1 - - Chinese food, 301-6 - - Chinese New Year, 90, 245-7 - - Chinese Temples Ordinance, 232 - - Ching Ming Festival, 248-9 - - Cholera, 25 - - Chuenpee, 20 - - Chunam, 169 - - Church, Beatrice M., 146-7 - - Church, Capt. Charles, 147 - - Churchill, Winston S., 75 - - Church World Service, 54, 67, 69, 70-1 - - Chu Yuan, 252 - - City Hall, 162, 265 - - Clear Water Peninsula, 138 - - Cochrane St., 274 - - Collective bargaining, 135 - - Colonial Office, 215, 217, 219, 225 - - Colonial Secretary, 216 - - Comm. on Chinese Law and Custom, 238 - - Communist agitation, 92 - - Communist “relief mission” riot, 92 - - _Concord_ incident, 92 - - Concubines, 236-40 - - Confucianism, 254 - - Connaught Road, 268 - - Contract labor, 30-1 - - Coop. Dvlpmt. and Fisheries Dept., 187 - - Cosmetics industry, 119 - - Cottage industries, 120 - - Cotton spinning, 123 - - Cotton weaving, 123 - - “Covenanters,” Mission Church of Norway, 50 - - Crime rates, U.S. and Hong Kong, 204-6 - - Curfew in Double Ten riots, 106 - - - Dairy company, 119 - - Dairy Farm, Ice & Cold Storage Co., 119, 73 - - _Dampier_, H. M. S., 99 - - Deep Bay, 81 - - Deep Water Bay, 273, 281 - - Department stores, 293 - - Des Voeux Road, 263, 267 - - Dixon, Donald, 94 - - Dixon-Applegate incident, 93-5 - - Donovan, Gen., 36 - - Double Ten riots, 99-107 - - Dragon Boat Festival, 251-2 - - Drug addiction, 53, 63, 65, 212-3 - - Drug addicts, treatment of, 211 - - Dulles, John Foster, 98 - - Dying-houses, 230 - - Dynasty Salon, 141 - - - East Asian Film Festival, 145 - - Electorate, 215 - - Electrical apparatus industry, 124 - - Electric batteries and flashlights, 119 - - Electro-plating, 120 - - Elliott, Capt. Charles, 20-2 - - Employment, 120-1, 123-4, 133, 151, 152 - - Enamelware, 120, 129 - - Engineering construction, 120 - - Epidemics, 23-4, 42 - - Eu, Mr., 272-3 - - Eucliffe and Euston castles, 272-3 - - Executive Council, 148, 215-6 - - Exports, 121 - - - Faith Hope Nursery, 70 - - Fanling, 81 - - Fan Pui, 167-8 - - Far East Refugee Program, 73 - - Farm acreage, 176-8 - - Farm income, 178-9 - - Federation of Veg. Marketing Coop. Societies, 180 - - Feng, I., Enamelling Co., 128 - - Films about Hong Kong, 132 - - Filtration, 165 - - Fire Brigade Building, 268 - - Firecrackers, 304 - - Fires, 23, 76-7, 92 - - First Natl. City Bank of N.Y., 136 - - Fish and Veg. Marketing Orgs., 58, 180, 191, 194 - - Fishermen’s schools, 195, 199 - - Fishing, Communist restrictions, 108 - - Fishing industry, 120, 191, 198 - - Floating restaurants, 271 - - Florence Nightingale Award, 58 - - Flour mills, 118 - - Flower-growing, 188 - - Fluoridation, 173 - - Food manufacturing, 124 - - Foreign Assets Control Division, U.S. Consulate General, 292 - - Foreign Correspondents’ Club, 268 - - Fou Wah Mills, 141 - - Fowler’s Flying School, 159 - - France, 38, 40 - - Freezinhot Bottle Co., 128 - - French, Graham, 71-2 - - Frontier Division, Police, 81 - - Fruit, 178 - - Fukien, 27 - - Fung Shui, 169, 244, 249, 272 - - Furniture industry, 119 - - - Garment manufacturers, 123, 142 - - Gates, Dr. Elbert E., Jr., 69, 70 - - Gates, Mrs. June (Elbert E., Jr.), 69, 70 - - General Post Office, 266 - - Geneva Textile Agreement, 143 - - Germany, 38, 40, 42 - - Gifts, 292 - - Ginger, preserved, 117-8 - - Gloucester Hotel, 301 - - Godfrey, Arthur, 132 - - Gold rush, 30 - - Goldsmiths’ shops, 275 - - Government, character and efficiency, 216-7; - Chinese view of, 217-8; - weaknesses of, 217 - - Government construction, 131, 159-60 - - Government House, 33, 231, 257, 262-3 - - Governor, powers of, 215-6, 225 - - Graft and corruption, 201, 218-24 - - Grandview Film Co., 145 - - Grantham, Gov. Alexander, 93 - - Grantham, Lady Maurine, 263 - - “Great Leap Forward,” the, 86-7 - - “Great Wall,” 261 - - Green Island Cement Co., 118 - - Grouting, 168, 170, 172 - - Gunboats, Communist, 79, 80 - - - Hai Lee Chan, 196-7 - - Hakka, 64, 176, 190-1, 242 - - Handicrafts, 297 - - Hang Hau, 140 - - _Hangsang_ incident, 92 - - Hang Seng Bank, 268 - - Hankow Road, 297 - - Happy Valley, 270 - - Happy Valley Jockey Club, 270 - - Harbor, 25, 156 - - Harcourt, Rear Adm. C. H. J., 43 - - Haven of Hope Sanatorium, 54, 57 - - Heath, Police Commr. H. W. E., 209 - - Hebe Haven, 171-2 - - Hei Ling Chau, 64, 282 - - Hennessy, Gov. John P., 34-6, 232 - - Henningsen, Anker B., 136-8 - - Henningsen, A. P., 136 - - Henwood, Rosalind, 146 - - Herklots, Dr. G. A. C., 179-80 - - Heroin, 206-8, 210 - - Hire cars, 277 - - Hogan, Chief Justice Michael, 219-22, 225 - - Hoklo, 176, 191, 242 - - Holden, William, 132 - - Hong Kong Annual Report (1956), 47 - - Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf & Godown Co., 150 - - Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., 148, 151-2, 264 - - Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co., 116-7 - - Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Co., 282 - - Hong Kong Club, 263-5 - - Hong Kong Commerce and Industry Dept., 122-3 - - Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 68 - - Hong Kong Cricket Club, 264 - - Hong Kong Fed. of Trade Unions, 92 - - “Hong Kong Fever,” 22 - - Hong Kong Housing Authority, 77 - - Hong Kong Housing Society, 78 - - Hong Kong Island, 16, 19, 21-4, 59, 102, 111, 118, 130, 148, 158, - 167-8, 173, 260-2 - - Hong Kong Junior Chamber of Commerce, 63, 67 - - Hong Kong Rope Mfg. Co., 118 - - Hong Kong Royal Engineers, 72 - - Hong Kong Technical College, 135 - - Hong Kong _Tiger Standard_, 144 - - Hong Kong Tourist Assn., 133 - - Hong Kong Tramway, 269 - - Hong Kong University, 135, 192, 274 - - Hong Kong Welfare Society, 61 - - Hospitals, 273 - - Hotels, 300-1 - - Howatson, Fr. P. J., 67 - - Hung Siu Tsuen, 31 - - _Hyacinth_, 20 - - - Immigration, 48, 78-81 - - Imperial Airways, 132, 159 - - Imperial Hotel, 130, 299, 301, 306 - - Imperial Preference, 116, 152 - - Imports, 121 - - India, 143 - - Indian cuisine, 306 - - Indians, 256 - - Industrial expansion, postwar, 123-4 - - Industries, early, 114-16 - - Industry, 45; - liabilities of, 115; - natural assets, 115-16 - - Inflation, 134 - - Ingrams, Harold, 289 - - International cuisine, 302 - - Interpol, 212 - - Irish governors, 32 - - Irrigation, 166 - - Ivory carvings, 297 - - - Japan, 38, 40, 42, 75, 122 - - Japan Air Lines, 133 - - Japanese cuisine, 306 - - Japanese industry, 122 - - Japanese trade, 30 - - Jardine, Matheson & Co., 148-50 - - Jardine Dyeing & Finishing Co., 149 - - Jatar, Capt. D. K., 99 - - Johnson, Linden E., 140 - - Joseph Fund, 183 - - Joss House Bay, 250 - - Jubilee Reservoir, 165 - - Junk Bay, 52-3, 138 - - Junk Bay Medical Council, 55 - - Junks, 139-40, 192-8 - - - Kader Industrial Co., 124-5 - - Kadoorie, Lawrence and Horace, 72, 181-7 - - Kadoorie Agric. Aid Assn., 182-7 - - Kadoorie Agric. Aid Loan Fund, 182-7 - - Kaifongs, 73, 211 - - Kai Ho Kai, Sir, 159 - - Kai Tak Airport, 25, 132-3, 159-61 - - Kam Tin, 279 - - Kee Heung Tea House, 286-7 - - Keeshen, Commr., 21-2 - - Kelly, Elma, 146-7 - - Kennedy, Gov. Arthur, 33-4, 231 - - Kennedy, President John F., 143 - - Kennedy Town, 118, 269 - - _Kert_, the, 94 - - Kingman, Dong, 261-2 - - Korean war, 44, 113-14, 117 - - Kowloon Bay, 39, 159, 160-2 - - Kowloon-Canton Railway, 91, 278, 299 - - Kowloon Peninsula, 29, 159, 165, 168, 173, 260 - - Kowloon Tong, 73 - - Kowloon Walled City, 39, 49 - - Krasner, Capt. Benjamin, 94 - - Kuan Yin, 247-8 - - Kwan, Adm., 21 - - Kwangtung Province, 16, 241-2 - - Kwong Lee Cheung Shipyard, 197 - - Kwong On Bank, 275 - - Kwun Tong, 111, 156, 161-2 - - Kwun Tong Road, 161 - - - Laans, 179-80, 191 - - Labor unions, 134-5 - - Ladder Street, 275 - - Ladrone Islands, 92 - - Lak Ma Chau, 279 - - Lamma Island, 79, 262 - - Lamont, Capt. John, 116 - - Lancelot, Sir, 266 - - Land, 155-6, 158, 163 - - Land Border Police, 81-2 - - Language barrier, 228-9 - - Lantau Island, 79, 94, 167, 261, 284-5 - - Lappa Island, 79 - - Lap Sap Mei, 94 - - Lapworth, William, 139 - - Law enforcement, 202-4, 210 - - Lease of New Territories, 39, 111-2 - - Leather industry, 120 - - Lee Loy Shing, 198 - - Legislative Council, 148, 215-6 - - Lei Yue Mun pass, 25, 43, 53, 160 - - Lema Island, 92 - - Li Cheng Uk, 101-3, 105, 279 - - Li Chy, 117 - - Lin Dai, 145 - - Ling Ting Island, 92 - - Lin Tse-Hsu, 19, 20-1 - - Lion Rock Tunnel, 172 - - Li Po Chun, 268 - - Li Po Chun Chambers, 268 - - Li Sing, 268 - - London _Times_, 23, 30 - - Long Harbor, 285 - - Lower Shing Mun Dam, 172 - - Lo Wu, 42 - - Lugard-Harlech Road, 259 - - Luk Kwok Hotel, 301 - - Lu K’u, Gov. of Canton, 15 - - Lu Pan, 195 - - Lutheran World Federation, 61 - - Lutheran World Service, 71 - - Lu Wang-tse, 94 - - - Macao, 11, 16, 26, 119 - - Macao Ferry incident, 93 - - Macao Ferry Pier, 269 - - Macdonnell, Sir Richard G., 32-3, 230 - - McDouall, John C., 238-40 - - Machinery industry, 120 - - MacIntosh, Police Commr. Duncan, 93 - - Mandarin Textiles, Ltd., 140-1 - - Man Kam Lo, Sir, 238 - - Man Mo Temple, 231, 276 - - Manson, Sir Patrick, 118 - - Man Wa Lane, 275 - - Ma On Shan, 285 - - Mao Tse-tung, 47, 51, 85 - - Marden, John L., 148, 152-3 - - Marine Police, 78-80 - - Marriage Registry, 173 - - Marriages, the six kinds, 235-7 - - Maryknoll Fathers, 66-7 - - Match-making industry, 119 - - Mechanized fishing boats, 192-8 - - Men’s tailoring, 295-6 - - Metal products, 123-4 - - Mid-Autumn Festival, 252-3 - - Mines and quarries, 156-7 - - Mirs Bay, 27, 39, 81 - - Mission to Lepers, 64 - - Mongkok, 103-5 - - Mongolian steamboat, 305-6 - - Morris, Capt. Mike, 271 - - Motion picture industry, 120, 144-6 - - Movie theaters, 298-9 - - Mui Tsai, 35, 232-4 - - - Nail and screw industry, 119 - - Nanking, Treaty of, 29 - - Napier, Lord, 18 - - Nathan Road, 130-1, 278 - - National Cash Register Co., 136 - - Nationalist China, 39, 44 - - Nationalist Chinese, 86, 91, 99, 101, 105-7 - - Natural resources, 23-4 - - _Nemesis_, 21 - - Net Domestic Product, 121 - - Newcombe, Madge, 68 - - New Territories, 156, 158, 165-6, 170-1, 175-6, 183, 191, 242, 260-1, - 279 - - Newton, John, 138 - - Newton, Robert J., 138-40 - - Newton, Whitney, 138-40 - - Night clubs, 299 - - Nim Shue Wan, 185 - - Noodles, 66-7 - - North Korea, 114 - - North Point, “Little Shanghai,” 124, 270 - - - Oaths, swearing of, 229 - - Opium, 17-8, 201-12, 228 - - Ottawa Agreements of 1932, 116 - - - Paar, Jack, 132 - - Pakistan, 143 - - Pak Ngau Shek, 184-6 - - Palmerston, Lord, 20-2 - - Pan American World Airways, 132-3, 159 - - Paquerette, Ltd., 136 - - Park Hotel, 130, 299, 301 - - Pa T’eng seiners, 198 - - Peak Tram, 259-60, 262, 271 - - Pedder Lane and Street, 267 - - Pekinese cuisine, 305 - - Peking, 29, 40 - - Peking, Convention of, 29 - - Peng Chau, 64, 119, 168, 242, 282, 283 - - Peninsula Hotel, 130, 300-1 - - Piracy, 16, 23, 27-8, 32-3, 42, 203 - - Pirates, airborne, 27-8 - - Plague, 25, 37-8, 40 - - Plastic flowers, 124 - - Plastic wares, 124 - - _Pleasantville_ incident, 92 - - Plover Cove, 171-2, 285 - - Pneumonia, 41 - - Pok Fu Lam, 164, 262 - - Po Leung Kuk, 35, 233 - - Police, nationality of, 213-4 - - Po Lin Monastery, 170, 284-5 - - Pond fish, 178, 189-90 - - Population, 32, 38, 42, 76, 78, 150 - - Population, density of, 24 - - Portuguese, 16, 27, 229, 255-6 - - Po Toi Island, 72, 108, 148 - - Pottinger Street, 274 - - President Hotel, 130 - - Preventive Service, 208-10 - - Prince’s Building, 263 - - Princess Alexandra of Kent, 147 - - Printing industry, 119, 124 - - Prostitution, 205-6, 232-4 - - Protestants, 254 - - Public Enquiry Service, 221-2 - - Public Pier, Kowloon, 266 - - Public Works Dept., 170, 173, 263 - - Purse-seining, 198 - - - Quarry Bay, 116 - - Queen Mary Hospital, 273 - - Queen’s Pier, 266 - - Queen’s Road, 158, 266 - - - Radio and television shows about Hong Kong, 132-3 - - Radio Hong Kong, 147 - - Ramon Magsaysay Award, 64 - - Rawling, S. B., 164 - - Reclamation, 37, 156, 158-9, 162-3, 173 - - Recorded workshops, 120 - - Red China, 44-5 - - Refugees, 24, 26, 31, 41-2, 48, 73-6, 78-83 - - Registered factories, 120 - - Relief expenditures, 73 - - Rennie’s Mill Camp, 52-3, 55, 56, 138 - - Repulse Bay, 272-3, 281 - - Repulse Bay Hotel, 273, 301 - - Reservations, hotel, 301 - - Resettlement cottages, 77 - - Resettlement estates, 77, 278 - - Rice, 177 - - Rice Bowl, the, 298 - - Rickshaws, 266-7 - - Ridehalgh, Arthur, 238-40 - - Rio de Janeiro, 25 - - Robinson, Gov. Hercules, 29-31, 164, 229 - - Rodrigues, Dr. A. M., 211 - - Roman Catholics, 254-5 - - Romaniello, Msgr. John, 66-7 - - Roosevelt, President F. D., 75 - - Royal Naval Launch incident, 93 - - Rubber products, 119, 124 - - Ruling group, 214-5 - - Russell & Co., 136 - - Russia, 38, 40 - - Russian pastries, 306-7 - - Ryan, Fr. Thomas F., 179-81 - - - Sai Kung, 72 - - _St. Bride’s Bay_ incident, 93 - - Salt water use, 173 - - Sanitary conditions, 36-7, 230-1 - - Sargent, Sir Malcolm, 265 - - Saunders, Doris, 141 - - Schools, 32 - - Seamen’s Strike of 1922, 26 - - Seawall, 158 - - Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, 209, 216, 221, 232 - - Sedan chairs, 266 - - Shakespeare, 113 - - Sham Chun Reservoir, China, 110 - - Sham Chun River, 38 - - Sham Shui Po, 104, 213 - - Shanghai, 115, 124, 149 - - Shanghainese cuisine, 304 - - Sha Tin, 172 - - Shatin Heights Hotel, 301 - - Shatin Valley, 279 - - Shau Kei Wan, 191, 195-6, 269-71 - - Shaw Brothers film studio, 145 - - Shek Kip Mei, 61, 76-7, 101 - - Shek Kwu Chau, 64, 211 - - Shek Li Pui Reservoir, 165 - - Shek-O, 273 - - Shek Pik, 167-70 - - Shell-button factories, 118 - - Sheung Shui Exper. Sta., 188 - - Shipbuilding, 30, 114, 116-17, 124 - - Shipping, 30, 150 - - Shoeshine Alley, 267 - - Shopping arcades, 294 - - Shopping areas, 292-3 - - Sik-nin Chau, Sir, 211 - - Silver Mine Bay, 168-9, 285 - - Singer Sewing Machine Co., 136 - - Sin Hoi, 263 - - Sin Hung, 263 - - Skau, Sister Annie M., 49-58 - - Smale, Sir John, 35, 232 - - Smallpox, 42 - - Smith, Rev. George, 201-2, 204 - - Smuggling immigrants, 79-81 - - Social conditions, 24 - - Society for Aid and Rehab, of Drug Addicts, 64 - - _South China Morning Post_, 90 - - South China Sea, 95 - - South Sea Textile Mfg. Co., 126-7 - - Sparkman & Stephens, Inc., 139 - - Spies, Nationalist Chinese, 109 - - Squatter shacks, population, 78 - - Squeeze on parcels to China, 89-90 - - Stalin, Josef, 75 - - Standard of living, 134 - - Stanley, 273 - - Star Ferry terminals, 162, 265-6, 278 - - Starling Inlet, 80 - - Stather, Lt. Cmdr. K., 194 - - Statue Square, 263, 265 - - _Steel Rover_ incident, 91-2 - - Stonecutters Island, 29, 111 - - Suez Canal opening, 34 - - Sullivan, Ed, 132 - - Sung Wong T’oi, 74 - - Sunshine Island, 60-5 - - Sun Yat Sen, Dr., 41, 74 - - Szechuan cuisine, 304-5 - - - Tai Hang Tung, 77, 103, 105 - - Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Co., 116-7, 270 - - Taikoo Sugar Refinery Co., 118 - - Tai Lam Chung Reservoir System, 165-7 - - Tai Lung Forestry and Crop Experimental Station, 190 - - Tai Mo Shan, 185 - - Tai O, 285 - - Tai Ping Rebellion, 31, 74 - - Tai Po, 279, 285-6 - - Tai Shui Hang Monastery, 285 - - Tai Tam, 33, 72, 165 - - Tai Tam Bay, 79 - - Tai Tam Tuk, 165 - - Taiwan, 48, 99 - - Tak Sau coffin shop, 276 - - Ta Kwu Ling Exper. Sta., 188 - - Tang, P. Y., 124, 116-8 - - Tanka, 176, 191, 202, 242-3 - - Taoists, 254 - - Tao-Kuang, Emperor, 21-2 - - Tap Mun Chau, 285-6 - - Tariffs, 24 - - Taxis, 277 - - Telegraph link to England, 34 - - Temple Street, 286 - - Textile exports, 128, 141-2, 149-50 - - Three Fathoms Cove, 285 - - T’ien Hou, 249-50, 260 - - Tientsin, 29 - - Tiger Balm Gardens, 272 - - Ting, H. C., 124-6 - - Ting, Prof., 61 - - Tingle Athletic Assn., 265 - - Tingle, Billy, 265 - - Ti Ping, Emperor, 73-4, 261 - - Tobacco industry, 120 - - To Kwa Wan, 119 - - Tolo Channel, 170-1, 285 - - Tolo Harbor, 279 - - Tong King, Gulf of, 192, 198 - - Topography, 157 - - Tourists, 243-4, 289-92 - - Tourist trade, 131-33 - - Trade, Hong Kong, 16-7, 88-9 - - Transistor radios, 125 - - Transportation industry, 120, 133 - - Trawling, 198 - - Trevelyan, Humphrey, 98 - - Triads, 101-4, 106-7, 211, 213-4, 234 - - Tsang, John Chao-ko, 109-10, 214 - - Tsim Sha Tsui, 130, 278, 292, 298 - - Tsing Yi, 72, 283-4 - - Tsuen Wan, 69, 105-7, 126, 156, 162, 167-8 - - Tsui, Paul K. C., 221-2 - - Tuberculosis, 25, 273-4 - - Tung, John, 124, 128-9 - - Tung Lung Island, 250 - - Tung Wah Hospital, 35, 38, 230-1 - - Turner, Sir Michael, 148, 151-2 - - Typhoons, 23, 34, 41, 60, 157-8 - - Typhus, 25 - - - Union House, 263 - - United Church of Canada, 61 - - United Kingdom, 69 - - United Nations, 44 - - U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, 212 - - U.N. Embargo, 120 - - United States, 39, 40, 48 - - U.S. Navy, 87, 98 - - U.S. Tariff Commission, 143-4 - - Upper Kowloon, 100 - - Upper Lascar Row, “Cat Street,” 275-6 - - Urban Council, 148 - - U Tat Chee, 117 - - - Vegetables, 177, 188 - - Vehicular Ferry Pier, 268, 277, 281 - - Victoria, Queen, 22, 117, 146, 270 - - Victoria City, 164 - - Victoria Park, 270 - - Victoria Peak, 49, 158, 164, 230, 253, 259-62, 299 - - Views of Hong Kong, 299 - - _Volage_, 20 - - - Wages and working conditions, 133-5 - - Wah Yan College, 180 - - Walla-Walla, 265-6 - - Wanchai, 49, 158, 260, 270 - - _Wan Fu_, 271, 281-2 - - Water supply, 23-4, 155-6, 163-73 - - Weather, 157 - - Welfare handicraft shops, 298 - - Wells, water, 164, 166, 183 - - Western District, 231, 269, 274, 277 - - Wheelock, Marden & Co., 148, 152 - - Wild animals, 280 - - Wing-Hong Cheung, 194, 197 - - Wing On Street, 274 - - Wing Sing Street, 275 - - Women, 33-5, 146-8; - executives and professional, 147; - in industry, 146-7; - status and treatment, 234-5 - - Women’s clothing, 296 - - Wong, Steve, 97-8 - - Wong Nai Chung, 165 - - Wong Tai Sin, 68-9 - - Wood-carving shops, 297 - - Wooden chests, 297 - - Woods, Aileen, M.B.E., 147-8 - - Workmen, quality of, 135 - - Workmen’s Compensation, 134 - - World Health Organization, 212 - - _World of Suzie Wong, The_, 301 - - World Refugee Year, 69 - - Wyndham Street, 266 - - - Yalta Conference, 75 - - Yangtze River, 21 - - Yau Ma Tei, 37, 213, 281 - - Yee Hop Shipyard, 196 - - Yuen Long, 119, 187, 189, 279 - - Yu Yat-sum, 189-90 - - YWCA, 70 - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HONG KONG*** - - -******* This file should be named 62191-0.txt or 62191-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/1/9/62191 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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