Hong Kong during the 1950s and 60¡¦s
...nufacturing of many consumer goods. Sadly, the Communist party of China established a new government in the 1940¡¦s, confiscating the properties and financial gains made by these wealthy capitalists. Thus, some of these wealthy capitalists in Shanghai escaped or fled the region, bringing with them their wealth, expertise, and their knowledgeable to the Hong Kong area. After settling in Hong Kong, they start using their capital and knowledge to reestablish their businesses in the new region and this helped to restore Hong Kong as an important industial port once again. In the beginning, most of them set up their factories in Tsunami , manufacturing clothes and textiles. This laid the foundation in Hong Kong in the textile and garment industries. Within a few years, Hong Kong¡¦s textile and garment industry grew rapidly. In fact, Hong Kong would later become one of the top exporters of garments to Europe and the Americas. Without a doubt, the textile and garment industries were big contributors to the economic growth taking place in Hong Kong during the 1950¡¦s. It was during the 1950¡¦s and 1960¡¦s which saw Hong Kong become a leader in the exporting of many consumer products and indeed led to Hong Kong becoming highly industrialized at the time . Both manufacturing and export industries are highly labour-intensive. Given that these industries produce goods for world markets, there is a huge demand of labour. In fact, almost 50 percent of labour is involved, directly or indirectly in the export and manufacturing industries . Most of the workers who were involved int these labour intensive industries were in fact refugees brought into Hong Kong from China. Due to this excessive supply of labour and the influx of so many refugees, Hong Kong industrialists were able to make substantial profits given that they could pay these type of workers such low wages. Similarly, the inflation rate was extremely low at this time only adding to accelerate economic growth in Hong Kong. It goes without saying that the influx of refugee provides capital and human resources. They also played an important role in helping transform Hong Kong during this vital period. In addition to all the industrial changes taking place, this influx of refugee also had serious social ramifications upon the region. First of all, the demand for housing increased greatly as a result of the tremendous increase in the region¡¦s population . People who could not afford to live in apartments settled in northern sections of Hong Kong Island. They build their own squatter huts along the hillsides and these areas became very densely populated . The result was that the living conditions for these refuges was terrible and they were forced to live in crowded conditions with limited social welfare. Furthermore, the high density of these areas created another problem. Given that these huts were mainly made of wood, they were highly inflammable. In fact, in December of 1953, a tragic fire struck six villages in the Kowloon area and over 5000 huts actually burnt to the ground . Over 70,000 people, as a result, became homeless. Fortunately, the government managed to raise a total of 230,000 Hong Kong Dollars in relief funds to assist the victims of this tragedy. This kind of tragedy alerted the government about the need to provide better and more proper housing for the working class people of Hong Kong at this time: ¡§From 1954 onward, efforts were taken to control the spread of squatters¡K by the end of 1970¡K close to 50 percent of Hong Kong¡¦s total population was housed in government or government subsidized dwellings¡¨ . This policy improves the stability of Hong Kong and its society which paves the way for greater successes until the 1980¡¦s. The supply of adequate water supplies became another big social concern in Hong Kong during this period. Due to the tremendously increase in the population, including the influx of an enormous number of refugees in the early 60s, shortages in the water supply resulted. Thus, the government has to implement a plan limiting the use of water for a period of time and this would be implemented every four days or so. People have to line up to get water for their family and domestic needs. The water needed for drinking, cleaning and bathing was essential among the people of Hong Kong and this ban on water usage created a lot of unpleasantries. This problem continues until the colonial government struck a deal with the Chinese government allowing water then to be transported in from the mainland. In short, the influx of refugee created opportunity as well as challenges to Hong Kong society. Still, the Hong Kong government should be credited for its many successes and for its visionary outlook during the 1950¡¦s and early 1960¡¦s. Despite the positive effect it has on Hong Kong¡¦s economic development, the large influx of refugees also created challenges to the administration of the colonial government. A conservative count indicates that more than 700,000 refugees poured into Hong Kong from the mainland in the first six months alone in 1950. . As the population continued to grow exponentially, the government has to implement rules and policies in an effort to limit the number of immigrants migrating from China into Hong Kong. This was done so that some degree of social stability could be maintained. In fact, in May 1950, the government adopted a quota system at its border; however, this initiative was largely ineffectual. . While the capitalists¡¦ benefits from the large amount of cheap labour available, the immigrants being paid these wages suffered greatly and received limited if any benefits whatsoever. Since there were no legal restrictions on minimum wage, the owners often focused solely on maximizing their own profits. Thus, these unskilled labourers were usually paid an unfair wage. In addition, to keep their competitive edge and in order to keep their labour costs down, people often had to work in extremely poor working conditions. Furthermore, the poor living conditions of many working class people causes public health problems and the spread of many diseases. A peasant¡¦s life was extremely tough in the 1950¡¦s. Low wage rates, long working hours, poor working and living conditions ultimately lead to protests from these people. The cry for better working conditions and improved standards of living was echoed loudly among these working class people. Indeed, the government had been trying to implement certain rules and policies to satisfy to needs of its people. However, there was little long term planning and the policies provided little help compare to the immense needs of the people. Therefore, the atmosphere was tense and there were worker srikes and a great deal of unrest during this period. This finally came to a head when frustrations boiled over and resulted in the work riots of May 1967. It was triggered by a small dispute between the employee and the employer in a plastic factory. Soon the police got involved and this turned it into a violent collision between the workers and the police . Moreover, the leftist communist uses this opportunity to try to start an uprising and end the colonial rule of Hong Kong at the time. Within a month, the riots had escalated leading to full-scale strikes and many protests. Workers from all over Hong Kong joined in and began demonstrating on the streets. The most significant impact of the 1967 riot is the transformation of the governance of the colonial government. They used to treat Hong Kong as a place that was borrowed ...