GEB 1305

China and the World

Lecture 5

Mainland China and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan:

Impacts of Mainland China’s Policies towards Hong Kong

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Lecture Outline
1. Introduction – Historical Background

2. Colonial History of Hong Kong Before 1945

3. Cultural Revolution & Chinese Sojourners in Hong Kong Before 1967

4. The 1967 Riots

5. The “Open Door” Policy

6. China’s Resumption of Sovereignty in 1997

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Introduction – Historical Background

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Historical Background
Britain’s Last Colony
• Colonial acquisition of HK: for economic reason

• Important times:

• 1841: British possession began

• 1842: Treaty of Nanking

• HK Island formally became a colony

• 1860: First Convention of Peking

• Cession of south of Kowloon (Boundary Street and Stonecutter’s Island)

• 1898: Second Convention of Peking

• New Territories was leased to Britain for 99 years
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From British Colony to SAR
Historical Facts

• 1911: Establishment of Republic of China in 1911 => the government was not strong/powerful
enough to reclaim HK => Japanese invasion & civil war 1949

• HK continued to be colonized by Britain

• 1949: Establishment of the People’s Republic of China

• HK served as a ‘gateway’ for China to the western world

• The British government: maintained diplomatic relation with PRC

• In 1979, China rejected any ‘lease renewal’ or extension of British sovereignty after 1997

• The Sino-British Joint Declaration (中英聯合聲明) of 1984: confirmed return of the sovereignty
to China 5
Deng Xiaping’s Constitutional Principle for HK

• ‘One country, two systems’ (一國兩制 )

• ‘Existing way of life will remain unchanged for another 50 years’ (生活方式五十年

不變)

• ‘HK people ruling Hong Kong’ (港人治港)

• ‘A high degree of autonomy’ (高度自治) for Hong Kong, and above all to meet the

objectives of ‘stability and prosperity’ (安定繁榮)

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Colonial History of Hong Kong Before 1945

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 Accumulation of Wealth of the Chinese Merchants
Entrepot

Nam Pak Hong (南北行)

— import to China from Southeast Asia : rice, spices, jewels;

— export to Southeast Asia : Chinese products such as silk, herbal medicines, peanuts

http://lib.hku.hk/general/research/guides/oldstores_photo_all.pdf
(HKU library)
http://podcast.rthk.hk/podcast/item_epi.php?pid=187&lang=zh-CN&id=55514
(Trading North and South, Hong Kong History, RTHK)

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Accumulation of Wealth of the Chinese Merchants
The “Transnationality’ of Hong Kong’s Economy

• Hong Kong as the gateway to the China market geographically and politically;

• Chinese merchants / compradors

• Middlemen between the Europeans and the Chinese population in both China and Hong
Kong;

• Politically stable without any military threat from Chinese

à Suitable business partners.

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Japanese Occupation (1941 – 1945)

l In July 1937, Japan invaded China;

l Towards the end of 1941, Japan had decided to invade various parts of Asia;

l Germans invaded Europe and Middle East;

l In order to fulfill Japna’s dream of The Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere

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Japanese Administration in Hong Kong

• On 25 December 1941, one week after the Japanese attacked on Hong Kong Island,

Governor Mark Young surrendered unconditionally to Japan (Carroll, 2007, p. 119);

• Occupation of Hong Kong was to prevent strategic goods from being transported to China;

• The Japanese Navy planned to establish Hong Kong together with Taiwan and Singapore as

strategic military bases. (Han, 1981, p.7)

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People’s Life During the Occupation

• Policy of Population Reduction

• Terror and Execution

• Starvation and Resource Shortage

• Japanization of Hong Kong

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End of Japanese Occupation – Return to the Empire

l On 30 August 1945, British led a powerful Royal Navy task force into Victoria

Harbor to take over Hong Kong from the Japanese forces.

l Although the planners understood that Britain must restore its jurisdiction over

Hong Kong, British would changing its way of governing Hong Kong.

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 Cultural Revolution &

Chinese Sojourners in Hong Kong Before 1967

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Influx of Refugees from Mainland China

• Refugees came to Hong Kong so as to escape from poverty and political upheavals of the

mainland

• With the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, lots of Chinese came to Hong Kong to
escape from Communism.

• In just a few months, the colony’s population increased by 20%.

Ø About 600,000 in 1945

Ø Over 2 million in 1950

Ø 2.5 million in 1955

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Influx of Refugees from Mainland China
• These refugees included entrepreneurs and financiers from Shanghai who brought
with them capital and business skills to Hong Kong.

• Only with the support of Shanghai entrepreneurs’ capital and resourcefulness, Hong
Kong survived through the Korean War in the 1950s to transformed itself into an
export-oriented manufacturing economy.

• The Shanghai immigrants dominated the cotton-spinning sector : expanded from 5

factories with 102 workers in 1947 à 13 factories with 8925 workers.

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Boom of Industrial Economy in the 1960s

Industrial City

• 1,284 factories in Hong Kong in 1957

• 5,135 in 1960

• 9,002 in 1965

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Boom of Industrial Economy in the 1960s

• The postwar baby boomers and the influx of

refugees from the Mainland China in the early

1960s provided a constant supply of cheap labor

for industry

• Economic prosperity à engineered mainly by

labor-intensive industries, including textiles,

wigs, and plastics

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Social Development in the 1950s and 1960s
• The dramatic growth of population in urban areas

à the living conditions of the poor were poor

• The average density reached 8,000 people per square mile in the mid-1960s

• Most people were crowded in slums

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Social Development in the 1950s and 1960s

• A home for 8 family members often meant no more than “a single bed-space sandwiched

between 2 others, 1 above and 1 below;

• Or a bed-space had to be shared by 3 families every 24 hours in rotation

• Live in the midst of rubbish heaps and permanent stench

in the squatter area;

• No sunlight and fresh air in the flat

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Social Development in the 1950s and 1960s
• A huge increase of youth and women in the labor force

• Among the 24,000 new firms in the textile industry by mid-1966

Ø More than 13,800 were women

• The demand for young workers, especially women:

• narrowed the generation and gender gap

in the workplace,
• increased the roles and importance of youths

and women in family and society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW1bGrnGeKA

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Mentality of Hong Kong Chinese before 1967
• Postwar Hong Kong has been described as a refugee society that was made up of Mainlanders
from China who came to Hong Kong to escape from communist rule for economic and political
reasons.

• Refugee mentality: fleeing from political struggle of the mainland – tend to avoid politics,
distrust the colonial government and avoid its interference with their way of life and economic
pursuits => rely on family and relatives for support

• ‘Don’t rock the boat’ mentality

• Desire political stability

• Not prepared to engage in any political movements
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The 1967 Riots

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The 1967 Riots
• A dispute in May 1967 over wages and working hours

• Infiltrated by the local branch of the Chinese Communist Party

• Inspired by the Cultural Revolution in China, youths who were known as

the Red Guards, followed Chairman Mao Zedong’s call to continue the

revolutionary struggle and fought with the colonial police.

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The 1967 Riots
• In just 6 months, the official death toll was 51, of which 10 were police officers.

• At least 800 people were injured in the riots and more than 300 others were hurt by

bombs.

• More than 5,000 people were arrested and jailed, often without trial

• Many were secretly deported.

• The relations between China and Britain reached their lowest point in the history of the
new PRC.
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The 1967 Riots
• 50% of the population was under 21 years old

• Only 13% of youths aged 15 to 19 were in school

• Pro-Beijing schools

• Were inspired by the Cultural

Revolution and by the anti-imperialist

movements around the world

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The 1967 Riots
• On May 1, traditionally a day for workers’ celebrations and demonstrations,
3 labor strikes started

• Disputes could not be resolved by the end

of the week

• On May 6, at the Hong Kong Artificial

Flower Works in San Po Kong, the disputes

turned violent 27
The 1967 Riots

• By May 11, the strike in San Po Kong changed to be political

• Posters condemning the “British authorities of Hong Kong”

• Workers waved Mao’s “Little Red Book,” chanted revolutionary slogans, and sang

revolutionary songs

• Crowds of youths joined the demonstrators, started pelting the police with stones and

bottles

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The 1967 Riots
• By mid-May, the unrest spread throughout Kowloon and to Hong Kong Island.

• Angry demonstrators sticked posters

on the gates and walls to Government

House requesting to see the governor.

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The 1967 Riots
• From end-May into early-June, strikes

broke out in transport services,

food production, and retail sectors;

textile mills; and some government

departments

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The 1967 Riots

• On May 17, one million protesters demonstrated past the British office in Beijing,

carrying posters, demanding the British to leave Hong Kong and vowing to “Hang

Wilson.”

• On May 18, a mass rally in Beijing attracted 100,000 people.

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The 1967 Riots
• The police adopted a much more active approach to deal with the leftists

• The leftists began to bomb police stations and other government buildings

• In end-July, even theaters, parks, markets,

and other public places became the target

of booming

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The 1967 Riots
• In August, the leftists turned from riots to attacking people who

opposed them

• They then shifted to planting bombs where children easily find them

• On August 20, a bomb planted in a ball killed 2 children in North Point

• On August 24, the leftists attacked the car of Lam Bun, a well-known radio commentator who
had criticized their acts.

• The leftists sent threatening letters to Chinese business and community leaders; and issued lists
of other so-called traitors to be executed.

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The 1967 Riots
• By September, the local leftists started losing the support

of Beijing

• The police had closed down many of the leftists’ headquarters

• The leftists became divided

• Relations between China and Britain had improved

• Bombs reports were only down by December, and the unrest had generally settled by
January 1968.
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The 1967 Riots
• The leftists never received widespread support from the local

• Especially among a population which included lots of refuges who had fled the Chinese
Communist government and viewed the Cultural Revolution with horror and revulsion

• The Federation of Students advocated for an end

to the violence, and the University of Hong Kong

Students’ Union gave the government a

message of support.

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Effects of the 1967 Riots
• The pro-Beijing convictions of people had been strengthened by the government’s treatment
of the rioters

• The rioters : “simple workers who had been oppressed all their lives”

• The government : responded to the riots in a “very high-handed, colonial manner”

• However, for most of the Hong Kong people, the riots gave the government new popularity
and legitimacy.

• The 1967 riots were considered as proof that life in Hong Kong was better than that in the
mainland.
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Effects of the 1967 Riots

• The riots also changed the way the colonial government governed Hong Kong:

Ø improve labor relations,

Ø foster a sense of belonging,

Ø improve communication between government and people, and

Ø expand education.

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The Emergence of Hong Kong Identity
• Most scholars argue that Hong Kong identity only emerged after the Communist revolution of
1949.

• Nelson Chow Wing-sun, professor of social work and social administration at HKU, said:

“At the time of the 1967 riots, I felt Hong Kong people were generally lukewarm
towards the government but they were disgusted with the acts of the leftists. Hong
Kong people realized that they had to unite together in support for the government.
From then on, Hong Kong people appeared to start treasuring this place. At least Hong
Kong was their haven where they were sheltered from the disasters arising from the
Cultural Revolution.”
Cheung, K. W. (2009) 38
The Emergence of Hong Kong Identity
• More Alienated from the PRC Government and the Leftist Patriotic

• Especially during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Hong Kong people

contrasted the political stability and economic freedom they enjoyed in Hong Kong with

the repressive and chaotic situations in China.

• During the 1960s and 1970s, more locally born Chinese started seeing Hong Kong as their

home.

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The “Open Door” Policy

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The Emergence of Hong Kong Identity

The “Open Door” Policy – Closer Ties with China

• Because of Guangdong’s inexpensive labor and land, Hong Kong and Guangdong had became
increasingly reintegrated in a symbiotic relationship featured by Hong Kong's capital and
extensive international connections.

• Through investment, finance, and trade, China's economic reforms had been helped by Hong
Kong’s business knowledge and connections in the capitalist world.

• Since late-1970s and early-1980s, China had become more open to the outside world, visits
to the PRC let Hong Kong people know how different Hong Kong was from Mainland China.
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42
The Emergence of Hong Kong Identity

The “Open Door” Policy – Closer Ties with China

• The new contacts with China had made some Hong Kong people felt that they

were part of China, however, these contacts also made many felt that they were a

special, even different, group of Chinese.

• The shift of activist discourse and campaigns from Chinese nationalism to local

community affairs showed that the sense of Hong Kong Identity had emerged.
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China’s Resumption of Sovereignty in 1997

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The Emergence of Hong Kong Identity

• A lot of people migrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong in the postwar
period were:
Ø political refugees; or
Ø those who had suffered economic hardship in Mainland China

• People who were born or grew up in Hong Kong also felt uneasy about the
differences in these 2 place and systems

(Lee, 1998)
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References
• Baker, H. (1964). Clan organization and its role in village affairs. Royal Asiatic Society. Aspects of social organization in the New
Territories. Hong Kong: Cathy Press.

• Carroll, J.M. (1998). Empires’ Edge: The Making of the Hong Kong Chinese Bourgeoisie. Ph.D. Dissertation. Harvard University,
1998.

• Carroll, J. (2007). A Concise History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

• Chan, K.S. (1998). Negotiating the transfer practice of housing in a Chinese village. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong
Branch, 37, pp.63 – 80.

• Chiu, S.W.K. and Hung, H.F. (1999). State building and rural stability. In Ngo, T. W. Hong Kong history: State and society under
colonial rule. London, New York: Routledge.

• Hase, P.H. (2008). The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the age of imperialism. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

• Pomerantz-Zhang, L. (1992). Wu Tingfang (1842-1922) Reform and Modernization in Modern Chinese History. Hong Kong: Hong
Kong University Press.
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References
• Tsang, S. (2004). A modern history of Hong Kong. London: I.B. Tauris.

• Benton, G. (2013). Book review. Journal of Chinese Studies, 57 (July), pp. 351 – 356.

• Carroll, J. (2007). A Concise History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

• Han, W.T. (1981). Bureaucracy and Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. In Newell, W. H. (Ed.). Japan in Asia, 1942 – 1945. (pp. 7-
21). Singapore: Singapore University Press.

• Hui, P. K. (1999). Comprador politics and middleman capitalism. In Ngo, T. W. (ed.) Hong Kong ‘s history: State and society under
colonial rule. New York: Routledge.

• Lethbridge, H. J. (1998). Hong Kong under Japanese occupation: Changes in social structure." In Jarvie, I. C. (Ed.). Hong Kong: A
society in transition. (pp.77-127). Reprinted. London: Routledge.

• Sinn, E. (2013). Pacific crossing: California gold, Chinese migration, and the making of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press.

• Tsang, S. (2004). A modern history of Hong Kong. London: I.B. Tauris. 48

References
• Zheng, V. & Wong, S. L. (2010). The mystery of capital: Eurasian entrepreneurs’ socio-cultural strategies for commercial success in
early 20th century Hong Kong. Asian Studies Review, 34, pp.467 – 487.

• Carroll, J. (2007). A Concise History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

• Cheung, K. W. (2009). Hong Kong’s Watershed: The 1967 Riots. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

• Fu, P. & Desser D. (2000). The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Horlemann, R. (2003). Hong Kong’s Transition to Chinese Rule. New York: Routledge.

• Jones, C. (2015). Lost in China?: Law, Culture and Identity in Post-1997 Hong Kong. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Lam, W.M. & and Lui. L.T. (2012). Contemporary Hong Kong Government and Politics. Hong Kong : Hong Kong University
Press.

• Ma, N. (2007). Political Development in Hong Kong: State, Political Society and Civil Society in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong
Kong University Press.
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