Hong Kong's Economic History

Paper Summary:

This paper recounts Hong Kong's economic history from the time it became a British colony in the mid-19th century until the present. Hong Kong has prevailed as a remarkably prosperous territory since then, surviving various calamities, and has maintained its success even under the rule of the People's Republic of China. The paper concludes that Hong Kong's economic history has produced a distinctive culture that seems permanent, different from what is found in newly industrialized and advancing areas of Mainland China.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The 19th Century
World War II and Beyond
The 1960s and 1970s
The End of British Hong Kong
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In the 1930s, the Global Depression affected all Chinese ports including Hong Kong. Small scale manufacturing engaged many Chinese by this time whereas outsiders tend to think that most people were employed in the port of Hong Kong or its support trades and industries. The completion of the Canton-Kowloon railway was a boon because goods could be moved quickly from the Mainland, undercutting steamers and junks that once took goods to Hong Kong for onward shipping. (Chui, 1973, 55) Also, Chinese business experience allowed many to tough out years of lower demand finding new niche markets in simple goods required elsewhere in East and Southeast Asia. Clan and family networks allowed small profits from goods said to be needed in the Netherlands East Indies or Rangoon or Malaya, the general 'survivability' of the business community seen. In December of 1941, the invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army destroyed nearly built up in a hundred years of activity. No one knows how many local Chinese were murdered, foreigners interned, as Allied soldiers and local reservists tried to defend the colony, many of whom were killed or taken as prisoners of the Japanese. This time is remembered by Hong Kong people as an era of suffering and destruction. (See Banham, 2003)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Banham, A. Not the Slightest Chance - the Defense of Hong Kong, 1941. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003.
• Chui, T.N. The Port of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1973.
• Faure, D. "Hong Kong, Colonial Society," in Ed. Documentary History of Hong Kong - Society. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1997.
• Ho, P.Y. Water for a Barren Rock - 150 Years of Water Supply in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2001.
• King, F.H. The Hong Kong Bank in the Period of Development and Nationalism, 1941-1984 - from Regional Bank to Multinational Group. NY: Cambridge UP, 1991.

More papers on Hong Kong's Economic History:

• Analytical Essay # 144210 : "Britain and Hong Kong"
• Essay # 138240 : "The Transformations of the Hong Kong Economy"
• Essay # 32556 : "Democracy in Hong Kong"
• Analytical Essay # 132108 : "Hong Kong and its Economic Culture"

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