1950s in Hong Kong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of Hong Kong
Timeline
Prehistoric     Imperial (221 BC - 1800s)     Colonial (1800s - 1930s)     Occupied (1940s)     Modern Hong Kong (1950s - 1997)         1950s | 60s | 70s | 80s | 90s         Handover to PRC rule     At present
Aviation history    Bus history    Postal history    Technical standards
History of China History of the UK
Other Hong Kong topics
Culture - Economy Education - Geography - Politics Hong Kong Portal

1950s in Hong Kong began after the Japanese rule ended in 1945 with sovereignty returning to the British. However, the Nationalist-Communist Civil War was renewed in mainland China. It prompted a large influx of refugees from the mainland, causing a huge population surge. The government struggled to accommodate these immigrants. Unrest in China also prompted businesses to relocate their assets and capital from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Together with the cheap labour of the immigrants, the seeds of Hong Kong's economic miracle in the second half of the 20th century were sown.

Contents 1 Background 2 Demographics 2.1 Population 2.2 Rising Buildings 3 Culture 3.1 Lifestyle 3.2 Education 3.3 Entertainment 3.4 Law and Order 4 Economy 4.1 Transportation 4.2 Industrial 4.3 Hospital and Hospitality 4.4 Finance 5 References

[edit] Background

As the communists drew near to a victory in early 1949, there were fears that Hong Kong was going to be invaded by the communists. The British government was determined to keep Hong Kong as a capitalist outpost within a communist sphere of influence, though the memories of the Berlin Blockade and the perceived antagonism of communist governments was still fresh in their mind. The garrison was reinforced and plans of emergency evacuation to Australia were made. However, the People's Volunteer Army were ordered to stop advancing at the Shenzhen-Guangzhou border, and Hong Kong remained a British colony.

Hong Kong was a valuable trade centre at the mouth of China, and hoped that by retaining this connection doing business with the new government in Beijing would be easier. To give up Hong Kong to the communists without a fight would be seen as a national weakness in the face of the growing communist threat in Europe and Asia, especially the Emergency in Malaya. Talks did come up at the British Parliament to trade Hong Kong back to China in case it could not maintain entrepôt trade^[1]. The people were outraged, but was committed to turning Hong Kong into a manufacturing center.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Population

After the war, the 1950s began with a large number of impoverished people without jobs and natural resources. The problem was further compounded with a flood of refugees from mainland China^[2]. The People's Republic of China was establishing in 1949 under new communist party. As many as 100,000 people fled to Hong Kong each month under the new regime. By the mid 1950s Hong Kong had increased its population to a staggering 2.2 million. By 1956 Hong Kong's population density became one of the highest in the world^[3].

[edit] Rising Buildings

In 1953 the Shek Kip Mei fire left 53,000 homeless. Governor Alexander Grantham drew an emergency housing program that introduced the "multi story building" capable of housing 2,500 people in a fire-flood-proof structure. The idea was to house as many and as fast as possible to deal with the homeless shelter crisis. Every floor in the building included a communial room, washing and toilet facility. Each person was granted 24 square meters of space^[4]. The high rise buildings would become the trend, since it saves space expanding vertically.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Lifestyle

At the end of the Japanese occupation, the government held a monopoly on the purchase and distribution of food and raw materials including rice and cotton yarn. Price controls by the government were not eliminated until 1953. The period can best be summarized by low resources, and an endless increase in population. Many mainlanders would cross the border to Hong Kong and establish illegal huts on roof tops and edge of mountains^[5]. The integration of different groups from China and original tenants of Hong Kong would also create a society in which everyone had to wrestle with the overwhelming number of language dialects.

[edit] Education

Those who were born in Hong Kong were provided education and housing by the government. The first group of refugees were only granted temporary asylums since the government believed they would return to the mainland. An estimated 9% of the government's expense were spent on education and healthcare^[6]. The curriculum made it crucial that students did not feel associated with Hong Kong or China in any national sense. It emphasized that they were the middleman for the Sino-British trade relationships^[7].

An internal government paper in the period indicated about 34 schools in the urban area were actually classified as controlled by the communists including 24 in the New Territories. Another 32 schools by leftist elements such as staff and teachers. A new ordinance was passed in 1952 to allow any Director of education to shutdown a school believed to be controlled by political indoctrination^[8]. The refugees mostly seeked their education and social services from Christian churches. Actions were taken at the Heung Tao Middle school and Nanfang College^[9].

[edit] Entertainment

One of the main form of entertainment in the 1950s was cantonese opera. While the art remained relatively static, if not declining in China, it was still popular in Hong Kong. Mainland China was housing new programs to train new artists at the Guangdong opera house in the 1950s, many of the artists would flee to Hong Kong and bring more addition to the art. The traditional opera form would begin to overlap with big screen cinemas starting with the 50s. The Shaw Brothers would also produce some of the first groups of martial art films. Their notable sword fighting style would be emulated on many movies and TV dramas for years to come.

[edit] Law and Order

The Hong Kong 1956 riots was one of the first full scale riot. It showed the government the dangers of low wages, long working hours and overcrowded condition^[10]. Tighter law control would diminish the triads in the period. Most of the social problems in the 1950s dealt with nationalist and communist factions on Hong Kong soil. The British government feared the communist would stir anti-British sentiments and pushed for any anti-communist policies in the foreign office in London.

[edit] Economy

[edit] Transportation

Hong Kong Taxi service was founded in 1947 with just a mere 329 cars. By the end of the decade in 1959, it would have expanded to 851 cars^[11]. The service became more popular, since it does not require passengers to follow a particular bus route.

[edit] Industrial

In 1953 two land reclamation projected added 3 million square ft to Hong Kong. The first project would specifically add runway space to the Kai Tak Airport. Additional land would turn Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan into industrial towns^[12]. The early industrial centers turned out anything that could be produced with small space from buttons, artificial flowers, umbrellas, textile, enamelware, footware to plastics.

[edit] Hospital and Hospitality

The handling of the refugees required the collaboration of numerous services and programs. The British Red Cross would set up their first branch in Hong Kong in July 12, 1950. They started in the Lai Chi Kok Hospital and began the Patient Concern Service. Blood donation also began in 1952 with 483 people donating in the first year. A Disaster Relief service was established in 1953 mostly to deal with the Shek Kip Mei fire^[13]. The Hong Kong Tourism Association was established in 1957.

[edit] Finance

The banks at the time were not regulated by the government. There were no central banks or monetary policies. The governor did not want to regulate the Hong Kong Stock Exchange even though it has become a serious problem in financing the fast growing economy at the time. Manufacturers constantly complained about the shortage of investments^[14]. Pressure was coming from within and outside Hong Kong to get the policies fixed.

[edit] References