4 02.06 Healthcare System, Housing, Public Transportation and Education in Hong Kong and Singapore (I) PDF

GCAP3007 February 6, 2023
1
Healthcare System, Housing, Public
Transportation and Education in Hong
Kong and Singapore ( I )
GCAP3007
A Tale of Two Cities
FEBRUARY 6, 2023
2
Similarities and Differences
Singapore Hong Kong

Land Scarce 720 square km, mostly low- 1,106 square km, mostly steep,
lying lands scrubby uplands, not suitable for
development
Population & Birth Crude birth rate was 44.8 (for Crude birth rate was 25.48 (for
Rate after WWII the period of 1946-50) and the period of 1946-50) and 34.62
47.8 (1951-55)
(1951-55)
3
Rapid population growth after WWII (Singapore)
The Population of Singapore (2nd Edition) by Saw Swee-Hock

4
Population in Singapore
5
Population and birth rate after WWII (Hong Kong)
https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1961_1970/B10100031967AN67E0100.pdf
6
Similarities and Differences
Refugees in Hong Kong
7
The role of the government:
• Singapore- Intrusive
• Hong Kong- Positive non-interventionist

• Sir Haddon-Cave, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong once said in 1980, “for the sake of
social justice and stability, as well as the efficient allocation of resources, there must be
a sense of social responsibility towards those who, for one reason or another, are unable
to take advantage of the offered opportunities”.
8
Multi-racial versus Mono-racial society:
• Singapore-The Chinese formed 74.3 % of the resident population
• Followed by the Malays and Indians at 13.4 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively
• Hong Kong-About 92% of the population were of Chinese ethnicity
• The largest non-Chinese ethnic groups in Hong Kong were Filipinos and
Indonesians, constituting 2.5% and 2.1% of the population respectively
https://www.singstat.gov.sg/- https://www.bycensus2016.gov.hk/data/
/media/files/publications/population/population2016.pdf 16bc-summary-results.pdf
9 Housing, Healthcare system, Public Transportation

and Education in Hong Kong
10
Housing in Hong Kong
• Private versus government (public) housing
• Colonial government in Hong Kong has

looked upon the project of urban renewal and
housing development as a social overhead
which is likely to cost a great deal.
11
Background
• The return of residents from China after the war and influx of refugees triggered by
the Communist take-over of Mainland China in 1949
• Coupled with high birth rates
• Resulted in a phenomenal growth of population from 650,000 in May 1945 to four

million in 1972
12
Background
• Wartime destruction and shortage of housing
• “The harbour was clogged with rusting hulks and unexploded mines. Thousands of
buildings lay derelict, engulfed by vegetation and crawling with rats . ... the problem
was mess and neglect.”
• Survey in 1946 revealed that 8,700 domestic units had been destroyed and some
10,300 damaged as a result of war
13
Background
• Colonial Development and Welfare Funds
• The task of providing new housing during the immediate post-war years was left to
private enterprise, but its resources were unequal to the task
• In December 1953, a disastrous fire in a squatter settlement at Shek Kip Mei in

Kowloon made 53,000 people homeless overnight
• The government initiated an emergency programme to build basic resettlement

accommodation
• The resettlement programme has been greatly expanded

14
H-shaped resettlement blocks
• The resettlement programme started with the objective of clearing land occupied by
squatters and making it available for development
• Largely for housing estates for the families who were displaced
• The resettlement programme also provides accommodation for persons made

homeless by the demolition of dangerous buildings and by other emergencies
15
H-shaped resettlement blocks
• Initially, accommodation in resettlement estates was

provided on the basis of 24 sq. ft. of usable floor
area per adult and half of this for children
• This allocation was increased to 35 sq. ft. in 1968.
• Resettlement blocks of the 1950s were of six or

seven storeys high
• Residents had to share toilets, bathrooms and tap

water in the middle section of each floor
16
The Housing Authority and the Housing Society
• Housing construction was also carried out by the Housing Authority and the Housing
Society which built a range of housing types for families with low incomes
• The Hong Kong Housing Society was incorporated in 1951
• An initial loan of HK$2.5 million was made by government to the Society and by
the end of 1971 this figure had increased to HK$179 million
• The Society provides homes for families with monthly incomes of up to HK$1,000
and by March 1971 had provided homes for some 110,000 persons
17
The Housing Authority and the Housing Society
• The Hong Kong Housing Authority was formed in 1954
• It started off with a government loan of HK$50 million
• By the end of 1970, loans totalling HK$250 million had been made available by
government to the Authority, and for future schemes the income derived from rents
is expected to provide the principal source of capital
• Families with incomes of between HK$500 and $1,250 per month are eligible to
apply for accommodation
• By March 1971, it had provided homes for 194,000 persons

18
• In overall, government and government-aided

housing had provided accommodation for 1.5
million persons in 1971
• Government housing is found predominantly in

the outer districts of Hong Kong Island South,
New Kowloon and Tsuen Wan/Kwai Chung
• The bulk of private residential accommodation

is located in the old congested districts of Hong
Kong Island and Kowloon
E. G. Pryor (1972)
19
Development of New Towns
• New towns programme were actually taken in the early 1950s with the establishment
of first industrial satellite town at Kwun Tong
• Its aim was to decentralise people from the congested urban areas of Kowloon and
Hong Kong Island
• The broader socio-economic backdrop was that the rapidly developing industrial base
of Hong Kong demanded more land for new factory sites
• There was a persistent need for new residential land due to population growth
20
• In 1960, Tsuen Wan was developed as the second satellite town
• Planned as a self-contained town with a balanced land-use pattern, Tsuen Wan set the
style for subsequent new towns: compact, high-rise, high-density urban development
• In 1972, the then Governor, Sir Murray Maclehose announced a ten year housing
programme with an objective of providing public housing for 1.8 million people
• The commitment gave a much needed boost to the New towns programme at a time
when it was losing momentum.
21
• The programme therefore entered a period

(from 1973-78) during which its purposes
and scope were reassessed and during
which it became very closely linked with
massive government intervention in the
housing sector
Old photographs of Kwun Tong (top) and

Tsuen Wan (bottom)
22
• “The new towns will provide more than just housing. They will be places where
people can work and play, grow and learn. And with them will come new industries
to provide new and better jobs. Planners are providing for a full range of community
facilities . . . The new towns will be fully self-contained, simultaneously providing
their residents with employment and meeting their basic needs.” (New Territories
Development Department, 1976, p.4)
23
Earliest New Town: Kwun Tong
• In 1961, the Kwun Tong area, comprising Ngau Tau Kok and Lei Yu Mun census
districts, had a population of 81,000
• By 1966, the population had grown to 252,000, and to 553,000 by 1971
• The Kwun Tong area was initially a refuse dump and the 1,000 squatters could be
cleared without many difficulties
• The geological structure facilitated site formation - the hills north of Kwun Tong
were badly eroded and could be levelled easily; soil excavated could be used to
reclaim land from the sea
24
• Being adjacent to the built-up area of Kowloon,

Kwun Tong had a big advantage regarding the
degree of self-sufficiency
• It could be easily linked to other parts of Kowloon

by an improved road system and to Hong Kong
Island by sea
Kwun Tong
• Limited success of new towns: Kwun Tong residents
did not become a major source of supply of labour
for local industries
25
• The objective of self-sufficiency with regard to employment has proved very

difficult to achieve
• A 1970 survey reported that only 48 percent of all Kwun Tong employees actually
lived there while the rest commuted from other areas
• It should be noted that economic activities in new towns are dominated by factories
and industries, so those engaged in other sectors such as finance, banking, catering,
retail and etc must travel longer distances to other areas to work
26
• Noise and air pollution were some problems faced by residents
• A high concentration of low-income families has hindered the development of its

shopping facilities and other services which resulted in a generally drab environment
• Nevertheless, the first generation new towns of Tsuen Wan (in 1960), Tuen Mun
(1967) and Sha Tin (1967) have experienced rapid growth in population where
travelling was made easier with the construction of the Lion Rock road tunnel (1967-
1972 & 1978), the West Kowloon Corridor (1982) and Tuen Mun Expressway
(1982)
27
Development of Housing by Private Enterprises
• To stimulate greater participation by private enterprise in the field of housing, the

Buildings Ordinance of 1935 was radically changed in 1956 to permit a very much
higher intensity of land use
• This resulted in a moderate surge of development which reached a peak in 1959

when some 12,000 private domestic units were built
• The high intensity of development brought about by the relaxation of building

volume controls, together with high residential occupancy rates, imposed severe
strains on the urban transportation system, created considerable problems in the
reprovisioning of utility services and also added to the congestion of the area
28
• Between 1962 and 1966, there was an unprecedented wave of private residential
development, most of which was concentrated in the old inner suburbs
• Within the space of only 10 years, the urban form of Hong Kong underwent a
transformation where multi-storey buildings of up to 20 storeys and more became
the dominant characteristic of the city
• An effect of the 1962-1966 building boom was that the housing market became
over-saturated and by 1966, there were 18,000 vacant domestic units in the private
sector
29
• The over-supply of residential accommodation and a bank crisis in 1965 caused a

retraction of investment in private housing which lasted until 1970
• With Hong Kong’s rapid economic growth, the housing needs of middle-income
residents were met by private developers who built housing estates that would
provide spacious living quarters, green/clean environment and greater convenience
• Some of such examples include Mei Foo (built in the early 1970s), Tai Koo Shing (in
1975) and Heng Fa Chuen (in late 1970s)
30
• Between 1978 and 1985, large-scale

reclamation projects have been carried out in
the Quarry Bay Eastern Corridor, Sai Ying
Pun, Cheung Sha Bay, the northeast coast of
Tsing Yi Island, Tsuen Wan, Ma On Shan,
Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O in order to
create more land for housing developments
Quarry Bay
31
Public Transportation in Hong Kong
• Key milestones
• New towns and development of public transport system

32
Key Milestones
• The opening of the first cross-harbour tunnel in 1972
• In May 1979, the Hong Kong government published its first White Paper on
Transport Policy which highlighted an integrated public transport system that gave
priority to the rail mode, and deemed other modes of transport as feeding modes
• This policy therefore prohibited direct competition along the rail routes by other
transportation such as buses, in order to protect rail patronage and secure the return
of public investments in the railways
• MTR connects with the Kowloon Canton Railway, linking Hong Kong, Kowloon,
and the New Territories by the 1980s
33
Key Milestones
• The second White Paper on Transport Policy was released in 1990, emphasized the
following areas:
1. Encourage healthy competition between modes by applying the inter-modal

coordination policy more flexibly
2. Develop a balanced transport network in which mass carriers like bus and rail
formed the backbone of the system
34
Key Milestones
3. Improve transport infrastructure, including new roads and railways
4. Expand and upgrade public transport services
5. Manage road usage through strategies such as controlling growth in the number of
private vehicles and giving priority to public transport
• A policy of service rationalization and consolidation in the 2000s

35
First White Paper on Transport Policy
• Since the MTR began operating in 1979, the government had curbed bus
competition by stipulating that at most half of the newly introduced bus routes could
run parallel to MTR routes
• That the fares of parallel bus routes be comparable to those of the MTR, and that no
routes from the new towns in the New Territories could go to Tsim Sha Tsui or cross
the harbour onto Hong Kong Island
• Minimise wasteful duplication of resources and avoid competition by modes of

lower investment but less efficiency against modes of higher priority
36
Second White Paper on Transport Policy
• Following the start of open tendering for new franchised bus routes in 1991, new
franchised bus companies were able to enter the market
• Citybus became the fourth bus operator
• The two major bus companies were China Motor Bus and Kowloon Motor Bus
which had exclusive franchise to run service on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and
New Territories (since 1933)
• The third franchise operator was the Lantau Bus Company Limited which operated
bus services within Lantau Island where the airport was located
37
Second White Paper on Transport Policy
• The policy of service proliferation and competition was welcomed initially by users
as seen in better service quality such as more comfortable seats and increase in
frequency of popular direct services from major residential estates to the central
commercial districts
• Yet, the large number of buses converging to these commercial districts caused
severe congestion along main corridors and trunk roads; the shorter waiting times
and greater convenience of point-to-point services were not able to compensate for
increases in journey times due to traffic congestion
38
Third White Paper on Transport Policy
• In October 1999, the government of Hong Kong published the third White Paper
titled “Hong Kong Moving Ahead”
• Some of its main goals was better integration of transport and land use planning as
well as better environmental protection
• The authorities set out to increase the proportion of rail-based public transport
journeys from 33% in 1997 to 40% - 50% in 2016
• This shift in transport policy, from emphasizing a cost-effective public transport

system to environmentally-friendly transport, seeks to transform Hong Kong into a
green and sustainable city in the 21st century
39
New Towns and Development of Public Transport System
• Until the 1950s, the New Territories had remained very much its own part of Hong
Kong
• It was initially planned that for new towns like the New Territories, they would rely
on bus services until 10-20 years later when their population size became large
enough to support a rail link
• Subsequently, the area was serviced by the East Rail and Ma On Shan Light Rail in
the east while the West Rail, which is supplemented by the Light Rail provided
services in the northwestern parts of New Territories
40
• Since its opening, many of the public

transport interchanges built adjacent to
the railway stations for the West Rail,
have remained almost empty and
under-utilised
• Ridership was also significantly lower

than the forecast
41
• The franchised bus companies in New Territories were mostly reluctant to play the
role of feeder services for the railways
• The government reverted to the policy of service rationalization and consolidation in

the 2000s in order to rectify the problem of service oversupply
42
A World Class Transport System
• 90% of all trips in Hong Kong are carried out by public transport; the accessibility
on public transport is so good that most people in Hong Kong do not own private
cars as it was found not a necessity
• Oversupply versus Undersupply
• The use of the Octopus smart card since 1997 has further allowed users the
convenience of paying fares across different modes of transport (such as ferry, rail,
bus and taxi)
43
Healthcare in Hong Kong
• Three phases of
development of postwar
medical and health services
in Hong Kong
44
First Phase (1945 to Early 1970s)
• Overcrowding, poor environmental management, serious water shortages, and

poverty lead to health issues and potential hazards in the early postwar years
• Major public health problems were infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and
cholera, and common childhood infectious diseases include diphtheria, whooping
cough and poliomyelitis
• Prior to the Second World War, tuberculosis was widespread in Hong Kong,
especially in Tai Ping Shan district, where population density had reached 1,000
persons per acre, and families huddled together in tiny, ill-ventilated cubicles in
tenement houses
45
• After the war, severe shortages of construction materials hindered the rebuilding of
damaged houses
• The influx of refugees in late 1949 and 1950, and the severe overcrowding in
unsanitary tenement houses, along with general poverty and malnutrition, led to
major setbacks in disease prevention in Hong Kong
• In the 1950s, a more organized and sanitary approach to night soil collection became
possible when special vehicles were deployed along regular routes
• Gradually, flush toilets were installed as new buildings replaced the old
46
• More than 90% of the newborns in Hong

Kong attended one of the Maternal and Child
Health Centers which administered the
immunization program—leading to very
satisfactory coverage in the city itself
• The Government Chest Service carried out

BCG vaccinations, sending teams of
inoculators to visit maternity units in all
public hospitals and primary schools
47
• In 1951, the tuberculosis rate was close

to 700 people per 100,000 residents and
14,000 new cases were reported that
year. 30% of the afflicted died
• Many non-governmental organizations,

such as the Hong Kong
Antituberculosis Association also build
sanatoria to house patients after the war
48
• In 1959, almost a quarter of the 7,500 hospital beds in Hong Kong were occupied by
tuberculosis patients
• The hard work of the staff of the Government Tuberculosis Service, and those of the
voluntary agencies, such as the Hong Kong Anti-tuberculosis Association, and the
Columban Sisters, brought the tuberculosis epidemic under control
• Tuberculosis death rates per 100,000 residents declined from 208 in 1951 to 36 in
1970, and to below 10 in 1980
• In 2015, Hong Kong still had 60.5 cases per 100,000

49
Second Phase (1970s to 1990s)
• Expansion of medical services to provide outpatient and inpatient care at low cost to
the masses
• Rapid population growth during this period overwhelmed existing medical facilities
• More hospitals were built but faced problems such as poor medical service delivery
and shortage of doctors
• For example, the WHO recommends that low-income countries have at least one
doctor per 1,000 people but Hong Kong had a mere 0.29 in 1953
• By 1970, it had 0.5 but this was still only half of the preferred ratio
50
• During the immediate postwar period, there is an acute

shortage of talents in medical and health field
• Some medical personnel had been killed in the war and

some European staff had left for home and not returned
• The gap between supply and demand widened as the

population grew
Hong Kong University
• The government realized that Hong Kong would have
to train its own medical professionals
51
• The medical school of the Hong Kong University and the founding of a second
medical school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were crucial in meeting the
population’s increased demand for homegrown doctors
• To build up the pool of doctors, the government tried opening the gates a little wider
and introduced Hong Kong’s own licentiate examination
• The exam was administered by the Hong Kong Medical Council and offered non-
commonwealth medical graduates another way to become registrable doctors
52
• In overall, massive housing and transportation building programs helped to create

jobs, clear the slums and improve living conditions for the people
• Families can afford better nutrition and this increased the resistance to infection
among the growing population
53
Third Phase (1990s to the Present)
• Emergence of new infectious disease epidemics such as avian influenza (1997) and
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (2003); these deadly epidemics,
especially SARS, severely tested Hong Kong’s ability to tackle a medical crisis
• Avian influenza was once strictly a disease of birds and waterfowl; the occasional pig
would sometimes be infected
• Most cases of avian influenza are mild

54
• But the avian influenza virus H5N1 is highly pathogenic
• The avian influenza of 1997 infected just 18 people in Hong Kong and killed six
• The health authorities thwarted an epidemic by slaughtering more than 1.5 million
birds
55
• The SARS epidemic in Hong Kong emerged on

10 March 2003, when 11 health workers from
Ward 8A of Prince of Wales Hospital went on
sick leave simultaneously
• A total of 1,755 individuals were infected and

SARS killed 300 over a period of three months
56
• Fortunately, the identification of the causative agent allowed the diagnosis to be

firmly established
• As well as the development of rapid diagnosis by detecting antibodies to the virus
• On 17 April 2003, less than a month after the identification of the novel coronavirus,
scientists at the University of Hong Kong completed the sequencing of the virus, and
vaccine production was soon underway
57
• Rising healthcare needs for an ageing population
• One of the longest life expectancy—81.4 years for men and 87.3 years for women
• Chronic noncommunicable diseases are the leading causes of death in the elderly,
and their prevalence increase with age
• In 2010, cancer, heart disease, stroke or cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease (COPD), dementia, and diabetes were among the 10 leading
causes of death
58
• Chronic non-communicable diseases could stress the healthcare system; at the

personal level, chronic diseases also meant loss of income as individuals were unable
to work
• Hong Kong’s fertility rate has fallen to 1,177 children per 1,000 women in 2016, far
below the replacement level of 2,100 per 1,000 women
• Given this low fertility rate, Hong Kong has had to count on immigration as a way to
expand its population
59
• Between 2004 and 2015, about half a million mainland residents settled in the
territory
• In 2008, 78,822 babies were born in Hong Kong of which 43% had mainland
mothers
• To ensure that pregnant women who are Hong Kong citizens have access to hospital
beds for delivery and recovery, the Hong Kong government stepped up various
administrative measures in 2012
• It stopped accepting delivery bookings from mainland pregnant women, and it

established a delivery quota in private hospitals
60
• Lack of transparency in cost-calculation especially in private hospitals
• The Hong Kong government has taken a hands-off, laissez faire approach to private
medical care, partly because it has been preoccupied with more complex problems in
the public health sector
• Despite the high cost, there is no quality assurance of the private medical services,
no standard or set price, and no regulation
61
• On the other hand, patients pay a fixed flat

rate for hospital and specialist services
• Public hospital fees were very low and

heavily subsidized
• High subsidization rate and the quality of

service offered by public hospitals attracted
patients from the private hospitals
• Long queues and long wait time were some

frequent complaints
62
• If Hong Kong were to maintain the quality of care and timely access to public health
service, its commitment to public healthcare expenditure had to be maintained
• The government proposed a personal medical savings account, known as Health

Protection Account (HPA), whereby a small portion of the wages of working people
(1% to 2%) would be deducted and put in a fund to pay for public health services
they might require after the age of 65
63
Education in Hong Kong
• An expansive approach in public-

private partnerships as the government
depended on subsidised schools for
education development
• The Grant Code and the Subsidised

Code
64
Historical Background
• The Subsidised Code was installed in 1913; and its status was lower than the Grant
Code (first enacted in 1873)
• In 1937, all 18 grant schools in the Colony were missionary schools, with 15 of them
teaching in English
• Throughout the interwar era this scheme was used by the British to enhance the
efficiency of the private schools and to shield them from political influences from China
• In 1937, the grant and subsidised sectors, with a combined total of 303 institutions,
accommodated only 28,886 (or 33% of the total school population)
65
The Development of Education after WWII
• In 1954, the seven-year plan for education

development was launched
• Estimating that Hong Kong would have 360,000

primary school-aged pupils in 1961, the government
aimed to create 26,000 places annually for seven years
• Between 1951 and 1966, the number of primary school students in Hong Kong
increased from over 150,000 to over 660,000
• In September 1969, the number of primary school children exceeded 754,000

66
• The White Paper on Education announced in 1965 pledged to provide 80% of

children with places in either government or aided primary schools by 1971
• In November 1971, MacLehose became the Governor of Hong Kong and he listed
the expansion of education, housing and welfare as the three major policy goals to
be achieved
67
• In the early 1990s, Hong Kong had 307 assisted primary schools operated by some
26 Protestant and Catholic organisations
• And another 150 by 65 voluntary associations founded by the Chinese population,

which included philanthropic bodies (such as Po Leung Kuk and Tung Wah Group),
Buddhist groups, chambers of commerce, countrymen’s associations, clan unions,
kaifong (neighbourhood) organisations etc
68
• With the huge increase of primary school leavers

after the execution of the seven year scheme in
1954, the Colony was plagued by a chronic
shortage of facilities for secondary education
• To resolve the problem, the government sets out

to build an additional 116 secondary schools
69
• In 1957, the British authorities amended the Subsidised Code to cover secondary
education which had previously supported only primary institutions
• In 1962, the Colony’s 211 secondary day schools had 85,342 students, the 153
private establishments among them accommodated 58,192 pupils
• The colonial state depended even more heavily on public-private partnerships after
the early 1970s, when it set increasingly ambitious goals for secondary education
70
• In 1970 the British vowed to provide three years of aided post-primary education for
all children in the appropriate age group who sought it
• As a first step for this goal, they aimed to give half of the 12-to-14 age group aided
places by 1976
• They also intended to provide 18–20% of the 12-to-16 age group who received
subsidised secondary education with aided places for five-year courses leading to the
Hong Kong Certificate of Education Exam – a test equivalent to O-levels in the UK
71
• In 1974, the colonial regime further upped its goal
• Promising to offer all children aged between 12 and 14 three years of state-
sponsored secondary education and 40% of the 15–16 age group with subsidised
places in Forms IV and V by 1979
72
Expansion of Higher Education
• In the 1970s and 1980s, the main development goal of Hong Kong's higher education
was to groom high-level professional and technical specialists for the job markets
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic and City Polytechnic of Hong Kong were thus
established to fulfil this goal
• Before 1986, the enrollment rate for higher education remained at about 2%, and it
slowly expanded to an annual rate of 3%
• In the mid-1980s, the government made plans to increase the enrollment rate year by
year, with the hope of reaching 14.5% in 2000
73
Expansion of Higher Education
• This plan was not publicized widely
• In 1988, Governor Wilson announced the acceleration

of the development plans of higher education, bringing
forward the 14.5% target to 1994 and setting the new
final target at 18% for the year 2000
• In the 1990s, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic, Hong Kong
Baptist College, Lingnan College, and Hong Kong Open Learning Institute were
successively upgraded to universities
74
Technical Education and Vocational Training
• The Industrial Training Advisory Committee was formed in 1965 and the Hong Kong
Training Council was set up in 1973 to explore means to increase provision of
vocational education for youngsters
• Back then, the role of the Hong Kong Training Council was to design training
programmes related to the construction and clothing industry
• In 1974, 25%-30% of the school curriculum in junior high schools are expected to
cover technical knowledge and industrial-related subjects relevant for the job
markets
75
• Technical education and vocational training developed

significantly in the early 1980s with the establishment of
the Vocational Training Council (VTC)
• Three more technical institutes were also set up in 1986-87
• The Vocational Training Council (VTC) specialises in

handling and coordinating industrial training affairs and
the technical education and training department was set up
76
• Its first centre called the “Plastics Training Centre” was formed in 1984
• In subsequent years, training centres targeting at various professions and industries,

such as textile, automobile, soldering, electrical engineering, hospitality, gas and fuel,
electronic data processing, insurance, precision tools’ manufacturing, jewellery,
banking, marine, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design, wholesale and
retail, export and import trade, etc. had been set up accordingly
77
In Summary
• After the Second World War, the relation between the British authorities and the
school-running bodies was quite amicable
• The colonial government also had much greater latitude to engage churches and
local Chinese associations which were the two major non-state participants in
education
• The 1974 White Paper proposed six years of free primary schooling and three years
of subsidised secondary education for everyone
78
In Summary
• By 1980, the policy of compulsory and free

education for primary and junior secondary
students had been achieved and given wide
support
• In the 1960s, the proportion of government expenditures on education increased

significantly
• Spending for primary, secondary, and tertiary education eventually constituted nearly
one-fourth of all public expenditures in the early 1970s
79
In Summary
• From 1969 to 1970, the Hong Kong government also began to subsidise needy
students enrolling in the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of
Hong Kong
• Grants/bursaries and interest-free loans were allocated to support students from poor
families so that they could continue their studies at the universities without the need
to worry about financial difficulties
• In 1976, the funding program was extended to students of the Hong Kong
Polytechnic
80
Other Related Issues
• Decline of the Chinese schools education and the issue of Chinglish
• With the political changes in the Mainland after 1949, the opportunity for Hong
Kong students to go to China for tertiary education disappeared and pressure began
to grow on the University of Hong Kong to offer Chinese-medium courses
• While education in the native tongue made obvious sense for the local students in
Hong Kong, the University refused to sanction a change in policy of medium of
instruction which was conducted in English
81
• However, the campaign for Chinese-medium education was growing stronger year
by year, and in 1963, the Chinese University was founded with the explicit aim of
promoting Chinese higher education in Hong Kong
• Having said so, since proficiency in English was used as one of the entrance criteria
for the Chinese University, pupils from the English-medium schools were at an
advantage, and the more ambitious parents began to neglect the Chinese-medium
schools in favour of the English-medium ones
82
• Since the late 1980s, the Hong Kong government encouraged secondary schools to
adopt teaching in Chinese (Cantonese) language; other than English, textbooks used
for other subjects are written in Chinese while teachers will use Cantonese to teach
in the classroom
• However, the general society tended to value an English over Chinese education and
Chinese-medium schools were less popular among parents; the number of Chinese
secondary schools is relatively low too
83
• A question which began to emerge more frequently in the discussions on the medium
of instruction in local schools was the use of mixed languages or Chinglish
• Since the teachers and pupils in the English-medium schools could not adequately
communicate in English alone, the teachers resorted to a mix-and-switch strategy
• This was condemned by language learning theorists who claimed the result of such a
practice would be neither good Chinese nor good English

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GCAP3007 February 6, 2023

Singapore Hong Kong

The Population of Singapore (2nd Edition) by Saw Swee-Hock

• Hong Kong- Positive non-interventionist

• Singapore-The Chinese formed 74.3 % of the resident population

9 Housing, Healthcare system, Public Transportation

• Private versus government (public) housing

• Colonial government in Hong Kong has

• Coupled with high birth rates

• Resulted in a phenomenal growth of population from 650,000 in May 1945 to four

• Wartime destruction and shortage of housing

• Colonial Development and Welfare Funds

• In December 1953, a disastrous fire in a squatter settlement at Shek Kip Mei in

• The government initiated an emergency programme to build basic resettlement

• The resettlement programme has been greatly expanded

• The resettlement programme also provides accommodation for persons made

• Initially, accommodation in resettlement estates was

• This allocation was increased to 35 sq. ft. in 1968.

• Resettlement blocks of the 1950s were of six or

• Residents had to share toilets, bathrooms and tap

• The Hong Kong Housing Society was incorporated in 1951

• The Hong Kong Housing Authority was formed in 1954

• It started off with a government loan of HK$50 million

• By March 1971, it had provided homes for 194,000 persons

• In overall, government and government-aided

• Government housing is found predominantly in

• The bulk of private residential accommodation

• In 1960, Tsuen Wan was developed as the second satellite town

• The programme therefore entered a period

Old photographs of Kwun Tong (top) and

• By 1966, the population had grown to 252,000, and to 553,000 by 1971

• Being adjacent to the built-up area of Kowloon,

• It could be easily linked to other parts of Kowloon

• The objective of self-sufficiency with regard to employment has proved very

• Noise and air pollution were some problems faced by residents

• A high concentration of low-income families has hindered the development of its

• To stimulate greater participation by private enterprise in the field of housing, the

• This resulted in a moderate surge of development which reached a peak in 1959

• The high intensity of development brought about by the relaxation of building

• The over-supply of residential accommodation and a bank crisis in 1965 caused a

• Between 1978 and 1985, large-scale

• New towns and development of public transport system

• The opening of the first cross-harbour tunnel in 1972

1. Encourage healthy competition between modes by applying the inter-modal

3. Improve transport infrastructure, including new roads and railways

4. Expand and upgrade public transport services

• A policy of service rationalization and consolidation in the 2000s

• Minimise wasteful duplication of resources and avoid competition by modes of

• Citybus became the fourth bus operator

• This shift in transport policy, from emphasizing a cost-effective public transport

• Since its opening, many of the public

• Ridership was also significantly lower

• The government reverted to the policy of service rationalization and consolidation in

• Oversupply versus Undersupply

• Overcrowding, poor environmental management, serious water shortages, and

• More than 90% of the newborns in Hong

• The Government Chest Service carried out

• In 1951, the tuberculosis rate was close

• Many non-governmental organizations,

• In 2015, Hong Kong still had 60.5 cases per 100,000

• During the immediate postwar period, there is an acute

• Some medical personnel had been killed in the war and