Hong Kong Paradigm Shift

Choi 1 Wendy Choi Mr. Nimmo 20th Century World History 25 Aug 2008 Paradigm Shifts of the Twentieth Century, Hong Kong As a tiny four-hundred twenty-three-square-miles city with approximately seven million people, Hong Kong houses famous martial artists such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. However, what makes this city more interesting to political scholars is its progression from a “barren island with hardly a house upon it”— as the British minister Palmerston once said— to a matchless entrepôt of global trades over the course of a century. Thus, a remarkable ten percent growth in the gross domestic product (GDI)— the total market value of all final goods and services within the country in a given period of time— becomes evident in the economic track records of Hong Kong. Tracing back to the origin of trades in Hong Kong, one may recognize the British East India Company’s early establishment of a trading post in Canton in 1711, where trade flourished thereafter. Later, Hong Kong became a primary military station of Imperial China as well as the importing post for a thousand chests of opium from Britain, a number that accounts for half of the total Chinese opium imports in 1755. From 1841 to 1860, Hong Kong became occupied and formally ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Nanking and the Convention of Peking when the Qing Dynasty banned the importation of opium. In 1898, a 99-year lease approves the lending of Hong Kong to Britain until the midnight of June 30, 1997. Throughout the century, Hong Kong has undergone major paradigm shifts over the issues of social and cultural values as it shifts from the management of monarchial to colonial to democratic governments.

Choi 2 From 1900 to 1997, Hong Kong remains a colony of the Great Britain Monarchy; between 1845 and1941, the major source of revenue for the Hong Kong government is from the opium trade. In the textbook Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952, the historian Christopher Munn is quoted for his famous realization that “the opium trade and Hong Kong are so obviously intertwined that it is hardly possible to consider the early history of the colony without some reference to the drug: the colony was founded because of opium; its principal merchants grew rich in opium; and its government subsisted on the high land rent and other revenue made possible by the opium trade” (Brook & Wakabayashi 107). Thus, it is due to the importance of the opium trade that when the British government orders the closing of opium divans, a reimbursement was called for to cover the severe economic losses of the small city. In fact, the end of the importation of opium in1913 does not affect the monopoly on opium consumed within Hong Kong and it remained a major source of government revenue, “they accounted for between 10 to 25 percent of annual colonial revenue in the first four decades of the colony” (111). Moreover, the hassle from the League of Nations over the British government to end the opium monopoly and to outlaw the practice of opium-smoking after World War I was disregarded for the considerable revenues from the illegal sale of opium. Another important aspect to consider between the years of 1900 to 1940 is that Hong Kong— like most cities along the coast of China and the British Empire during the twentieth century— is extremely diverse. Aside from the Chinese and British, there were also many Eurasians, Indians, Portuguese from Macau, Jews from Bombay, Armenians and Americans; European businessman often resides at the better land whereas the Chinese settles for the small huts along the beach or hillsides. The social intercourse between the races is almost nonexistent other than those that serve “European or colonial needs” (Carroll 36). One benefit that this

Choi 3 diversity does lend however, is a mixed society of both collaboration and conflicts that had evolved from British political dominance and Chinese economical importance. Racism on both sides continued to deepen for many Europeans became convinced that they are members of a special community and within themselves divided into five main groups: colonial officials, merchants, professionals, supervisory or low-status jobs, and missionaries. Materialism becomes important as racial competition continues and living on Victoria Peak— the highest peak of HK island— developed into the pinnacle of social rank as well. Not only did this obsession with social standing created an interest in forming social and interest groups, it also strengthened the European community itself. Under this Crown Colony System, Hong Kong is far from democratic policies and instead, leans toward an aristocracy to serve British interests. “Except for three and a half years during World War II when Hong Kong was part of the short-lived Japanese Empire, the British occupation would last until midnight on July 1, 1997” (Carroll 1). On December 13 of 1941, the Japanese bombards the island of Hong Kong in preparation of future amphibious pursues. A Japanese attack from sea was always expected by the British so fortifications were reinforced along the bottom of the island. Even though the enemy Japanese became in control of the mainland on the other side, the British still expected an attack along the bottom of the island. Thus, Japanese would only have to cross the harbor to capture Hong Kong, but the British believes that they would never do so at night and placed the Canada's Royal Rifles at the narrowest crossing point, Lye Moon Passage. Convinced that the Japanese were racially prone to sea sickness, the Canadians also believed ignorantly that by their enemies’ eye shape, their night vision should to be poor. Clearly, both sides reduced their enemy to a racial caricature and racial superiority now exists from both sides in contrast to only imperial European superiority in the past. This major paradigm shift results from the buildup of Japanese

Choi 4 victories over European countries for they defeated the Russians and crushed their navy during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Furthermore, “besides expanding its control over the German holdings, Manchuria, and Inner Mongolia, Japan also sought joint ownership of a major mining and metallurgical complex in central China, prohibitions on China's ceding or leasing any coastal areas to a third power, and miscellaneous other political, economic, and military controls, which, if achieved, would have reduced China to a Japanese protectorate” (Dolan and Worden). With Japanese egotism on the rise, Hong Kong also becomes a major desire and target for the Japanese industries and a permanent trading post. Eight hours after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese landed ashore at ten in a cold night of December 18 of 1941, where the Canadians defenders found themselves under deadly bombardments in pitch darkness and hurried to report that the Japanese had came ashore. By the time British headquarters accepted that the attack was real, the Japanese had landed 7,500 soldiers on the island of Hong Kong. Soon, the governor of the colony Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young surrendered to Japan on the twenty-fifth of December following eighteen days of fierce and deadly combats between the joint group of British and Canadian defenders and the opposing Japanese Imperial forces. Since then, Japanese occupies Hong Kong for three years and eight months and utilized the island as a military base, a period during which the population of Hong Kong dramatically “dropped to 600,000 by the end of the war, from 1.6 million before the invasion” due to deportations of the Hong Kong people and Canadian prisoners of war to either mainland or prisoner-of-war camps where Canadians worked as slave laborers in a giant shipyard near Tokyo (Bradsher). At this point, the Canadians became more superior racially over both Europeans and its Asian enemies. Not only is the “Victoria’s Peak” social status no longer important in this situation, “Historians estimate that as many as 10,000 women were raped

Choi 5 in the first few days after the Japanese capture of Hong Kong on Christmas Day in 1941,” an obvious indication that women were a possession at the time. In addition to race devaluation, the Japanese also tries to utilize education as imperial means of infusing Japanese influence. While English was banned from the subjects list, Japanese culture, affairs, ethics and rituals were major subjects that if failed, a severe punishment will be imposed upon the student— a method for the Japanese emperor to facilitate their control and to establish the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. In all aspects of life during the Japanese occupation— whether it be the radio, entertainments, the press, monuments, street names etc— everything was focused on the loyalty to the Japanese Empire. Series of nightmare and cultural reforms were met by anti-Japanese movements and formation of guerillas such as Dongjiang guerilla, Gangjiu brigade and British army aid groups. However, this nightmare finally came to a halt when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Japan finally surrendered three days later upon the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki August 15, 1945, thus the British sovereignty over Hong Kong was restored. Hong Kong's post-war recovery was also amazingly swift as its population recovered and business boomed; even the civilian administration was restored. Colonial rule slowly fades the post-war years as European imperialists recognize the difficulty in administering its vast colonies. Thus, a restoration of the paradigm of social status was made for the there are no longer restrictions over parties at beaches, or the ownership of assets on the famous Victoria Peak. The period of Hong Kong liberation from 1945 to 1997 (the third part of the century to be discussed in this essay) is marked by an increased and more skillful population due to refugees and immigration to Hong Kong from China, Vietnam and numerous other countries.

Choi 6 In the 1950s, a significant number of refugees arrived at Hong Kong from Mainland China and almost rapidly, Hong Kong is transformed into an industrial and manufacturing city of accessories from fashion parts, plastic flowers, umbrellas, textile, enamelware, footware to plastics. As the territory of entrepôt trade advances into an industrialized city, so did the city’s GDP— the key to clearly visualize the noteworthy developments throughout the years. What is more important to take note of is the revolution of family values and Chinese tradition as people spent more time in the factories than at home. Amidst the struggles, a paradigm shift also noticeably occurs with people’s initial reaction to the name of "Made in Hong Kong" products, which went from cheap low-grade products to a label that marks high-quality products (Buckley 146). With these improvements also come increased income and a lower living standard of course. During the 1970s, “high life expectancy, literacy, per-capita income and other socioeconomic measures attest to Hong Kong's achievements over the last four decades of the 20th Century. Higher income also led to the introduction of the first private housing estates with Taikoo Shing. The period saw a boom in residential high rises, many of the people's homes became part of Hong Kong's skyline and scenery” (152). The seventies also marked an expansion of subsidized education from six years to nine years and the creation of Hong Kong's country parks system for education and preservation purposes, a paradigm shift in the purpose of education— a transformation of the contrasting Japanese’s forced influence and extreme loyalty to true education that brings knowledge and other developments— thus increase literacy rates. Later in the eighties, political news becomes a major interest while real estate greatly increased in price; Hong Kong was now recognized as one of the wealthiest representatives of the east, also known as the “Pearl of the Orient”. The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with politician Deng Xiaoping’s proposal of the “One

Choi 7 country, two systems” concept as Hong Kong is about to be returned to China. This concept ensures Hong Kong political independency from China, allowing Hong Kong to keep a democratic government despite being a part of the Chinese Republic. However, still rattled by panics, the financial world underwent waves of policy changes and Black Saturdays. Chinese worker continue to swarm over Hong Kong from China and a new superiority develops from native Hong Kong people over the Chinese immigrants, usually illegal— another major shift in social view. Finally on April 4, 1990, the Hong Kong Basic Law became accepted by the Chinese government as the official mini-constitution of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region after the handover on July 1st, 1997. The shortest division from the twentieth century to be discussed here is the period from 1997 to 2000, with the reason being that it has the greatest psychological effect on the Hong Kong people as well as a great impact on the world economy. According to Online NewsHour, “Stock markets around the world dipped in response to a 10 percent drop in the Hong Kong market. The crash resulted from a continuing monetary crisis in Southeast Asia that forced Hong Kong to raise its interest rates to stabilize its currency” (“Online NewsHour The Hong Kong Crash -- October 23, 1997”). Numerous people bankrupted and many committed suicide during these post-colonial years, the Hong Kong people also learned not to waste money the way they use to and they were forced to take on jobs that was previously only tolerable by the illegal mainland Chinese immigrants. This collaboration decreases the Hong Kong people’s egotism and thus mends the relationship and equality between the Chinese ethnicity. While the native Hong Kong people allows the integration of mainland Chinese immigrants, the British citizens (without right of residency) are no longer able to work in Hong Kong for over a year without a visa, a policy change on April 1, 1997. Also, education experiences yet another shift when

Choi 8 secondary education converts from the English system of five years secondary schooling plus two years of university matriculation to the Chinese system of three years of junior secondary plus another three years of senior secondary; thus college education extends from three years to four years. These changes marked the development of Hong Kong into the modern city that it is today, as the spokesman of the Hong Kong Education Bureau said: “we take pride in the significant improvement in our students’ reading literacy, with Hong Kong’s ranking leaping from 10th in PISA 2003 to third in PISA 2006” (“Hong Kong Students Rank High in Scientific, Reading and Mathematical Literacy Assessment”). In conclusion, Hong Kong underwent major paradigm shifts over the issues of social and cultural values for both its European and Asian populations as it falls under the management of monarchial to colonial to democratic governments. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Hong Kong was a colony of Great Britain newly ceded from China and was thus under the idea of European superiority. Later when the Japanese invades, racial relationship complicates with the Japanese discriminating its Asian captives, who— along with the Japanese— despises the their European prisoners of war. However, when British power became restored over Hong Kong, white racial superiority renews once again. The Hong Kong people’s egotism boosted relative to their industrialization and world recognition of “Made in Hong Kong” quality products; they became very wasteful of money and resources; thus, the native Hong Kong people also looked down on the immigrants from mainland China. This egotism shatters when Hong Kong is returned to China once again (accompanied by a deadly stock market crash), which creates a new conservatism with money as well as the eventual social integration of the mainland Chinese into the population of native Hong Kong people. In addition, these constant shifts in social and cultural values were also accompanied by a shift in educational values. Over the

Choi 9 course of half a century, the value in education has shifted from learning and the importance of a country’s literacy rate to total loyalty to the monarchy in place when the Japanese take over. Later it changes back to the sole purpose of educating their young and increasing the literacy and educational level of its people. Ultimately however, these shifts in social and cultural views all contributes to Hong Kong as a modern city today.

Choi 10 Citation Bradsher, Keith. "Thousands March in Anti-Japan Protest in Hong Kong.” New York Times 18 Apr 2005 26 Aug 2008 . Brook, Timothy and Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi. Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952. New York: University of California Press, 2000. Buckley, Roger. Hong Kong: The Road to 1997 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Carroll, John. A Concise History of Hong Kong: Hong Kong in history Early colonial Hong Kong State and society Colonialism and nationalism The interwar years War and revolution A new Hong Kong Becoming Hong Kongese The countdown to 1997 Epilogue: beyond 1997. Washington: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Dolan, Ronald E. and Robert L. Worden, editors. Japan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1994. 26 Aug 2008 . "Hong Kong Students Rank High in ." Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the United States. 04 Dec 2007. Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office News Release. 26 Aug 2008 . "Online NewsHour The Hong Kong Crash -- October 23, 1997." PBS Online . 23 Oct 1997. MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. 28 Aug 2008 . Postiglione, Gerard and James Tuck-Hong Tang. Hong Kong's Reunion with China: The Global Dimensions. Washington: M.E. Sharpe, 1997.

Choi 11 Shulman, Frank, Anna See Ping Leon Shulman, and Anna Leon Shulman. Doctoral Dissertations on Hong Kong, 1900-1997 : An Annotated Bibliography With an Appendix of Dissertations Completed in 1998 and 1999. 10th ed. Washington: Hong Kong University Press, 2001. Tsang , Steve and Steve Yui-Sang Tsang. A Modern History of Hong Kong. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. Winchester, Simon. The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time. New York: Macmillan, 2004.