ONG KONG was founded as a British trading depot in 1841, the cession of H the Island to Great Britain being confirmed by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The area on which the main urban part of Kowloon now stands, together with Stonecutters Island in the harbour, Ap Lei Chau and Green Island, was ceded by the Convention of Peking in 1860; and in 1898 the New Territories, which consist of the rural area north of Kowloon and the islands around Hong Kong, were leased to Great Britain for 99 years. Hong Kong was occupied by the Japanese from 1941 to 1945, and in the following four years made a remarkably rapid recovery. The territory consists of the island of Hong Kong and a portion of the mainland to the North, together with 235 adjacent islands ranging from Lantao with an area of about 58 square miles, to uninhabited rocky islets. A peninsula, on which Kowloon stands, juts southward from the mainland towards Victoria on Hong Kong island. Between these two lies the harbour, one of the finest natural ports in the world. Much of the built-up area surrounding the harbour has been reclaimed or levelled. Hong Kong lies on the south-east coast of China, adjoining the province of Kwangtung. It is just inside the tropics, less than 100 miles south of the tropic of Cancer, and lies between latitudes 22° 9′ and 22° 37′ N. and longitudes 113° 52' and 114° 30' E. The area of land including recent reclamations is approximately 403-8 square miles (Hong Kong Island 29-2 square miles, Kowloon 3.85 square miles, Stonecutters Island 0-25 square miles, New Territories (leased) 370-5 square miles). It includes all islands within a rectangular area of some 738 square miles, containing the leased and ceded territory. British waters are bounded on the north by the shores of Deep Bay and Mirs Bay, between which lies the land frontier with China. The overwhelming majority of the population lives on Hong Kong Island or in Kowloon. The capital is Victoria, on Hong Kong Island. The principal centres of population in the New Territories are Tsuen Wan, which has grown over the past 20 years into a major industrial centre; Cheung Chau, a small but densely populated island, important as a market and fishing centre; Yuen Long, a mainland market town; Tai O, a fishing and market centre on Lantao Island; Tai Po and Shek Wu Hui, both mainland market towns; and Peng Chau, an island fishing port, with some industries. The successful development of Tseun Wan, and Kwun Tong in south-eastern Kowloon, into industrial satellites has led to the development of two more new towns now being built at Tuen Mun and Sha Tin in the New Territories. The greater part of the territory consists of steep, unproductive hillside, in some parts covered with dense scrub. The erosion which resulted from indiscriminate felling of trees during the Japanese wartime occupation has been extensively repaired under a vigorous programme of afforestation. Cultivation is confined mainly to the narrow valleys. The coastline is sharply indented. A steep range of hills divides Kowloon from the New Territories to the North, in the centre of which is the highest mountain-Tai Mo Shan, 3,140 feet; Lantao Peak is 3,061 feet and Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island 1,809 feet high. The climate is sub-tropical and governed by monsoons, the winter being cool and dry, the summer hot and humid. The mean monthly temperature varies from 15°C (59°F) in February to 28°C (82°F) in July. The actual temperature rarely rises above 35°C (95°F) or falls below 4°C (40°F). The average annual * rainfall is 2,168.8 mm. (85-39 in.), three-quarters of which falls between May and September. The mean relative humidity exceeds 80 per cent during the summer but in early winter sometimes falls as low as 20 per cent. The temperature range is 0°-36°C (32°F-97°F) and the annual rainfall range is 901.1-3,040-7 : mm. (35-48-119-71 in.). The Royal Observatory provides all meteorological information in Hong Kong and also forms part of a worldwide network of i meteorological services. Censuses are normally taken every ten years but there was a long gap between the census of 1931 and that of 1961 when the population was 3,133,131. A by-census was taken in August 1966 and the total population was 3,716,400. The 1971 census showed that the population had increased to 4,064,400 and by the end of 1974 it was estimated to be 4,345,200. The registered numbers of live births and deaths for the year 1974 were 83,581 and 22,029 respectively. No division by 'race' or 'tribe' is possible but over 98 per cent speak a Chinese language or have traditional connections with China, though 58 per cent are British subjects by virtue of birth in Hong Kong. About 79 per cent of the population speak Cantonese as their usual language, but there are substantial minorities speaking Hakka Hoklo and Sze Yap and smaller groups who speak English (the official language of the teritory), Shanghai, Mandarin, Portuguese and Malay. Most of the younger members of these minority groups also speak Cantonese. A brief account of religious practices in Hong Kong must embrace such diverse subjects as traditional Chinese beliefs, Taoism, the religious aspects of Confucian teaching, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and a kaleidoscope of Christian sects. In seeking one idiom to express all this it is easy to be misled by the entirely different appearances of religious observance, particularly between the traditional Chinese practices and those of the Christian churches, and even to assume a relative lack of religion in Chinese life. It is true that Hong Kong's business centre may not have as many temples as there are Wren churches in the City of London, but there are significantly more signs of religion in the average Chinese home, or business, than in its Western counterpart. Almost every Chinese shop has its 'God Shelf' and most homes their ancestral shrines. Whether the devotion before such symbols is intense or perfunctory there is an unmistakably religious element in Chinese culture. It may find expression in traditional ancestral T ceremonies encouraged by Confucius or through a wide variety of Taoist rituals. There has been a notable revival of Buddhism and Taoism in recent years mainly due to the immigration of Buddhists from China. Buddhism appears to have more followers in Hong Kong, but both maintain a strong hold among the older Chinese and are far from dying out among the younger people. The Hong Kong Buddhist Association is their main organisation, although a Taoist Association has now also been formed. The fact that Chinese may follow one or the other of these ways, or may combine them without any feeling of incongruity, has often meant that Christianity with its exclusive claims has been politely ignored in the Chinese world; but it is nevertheless rooted deeply and growing rapidly in Hong Kong. Its roots go back indeed to the earliest days of the territory. St John's Cathedral was founded in 1842, and established as a Cathedral by Letters Patent from Queen Victoria in 1850. A representative of the London Missionary Society arrived at about the same time. St Andrew's Church celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in 1966. It is estimated there are now 500 churches and chapels in the territory. The major world denominations are represented in Hong Kong in the Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Pentecostals, etc., while Congregational and Presbyterian effort contributed to the Church of Christ in China. Most of these engage in educational work to some extent. The first Roman Catholic priests to arrive in Hong Kong were chaplains serving the spiritual needs of British soldiers of the Catholic faith. On 23rd April 1841, Pope Gregory XVI established the Apostolic Prefecture of Hong Kong with Msgr Theodore Joset as the first prefect. Since the Second World War the Catholic Church has notably expanded its educational and social activities. There are at present 201 Catholic primary and secondary schools with an aggregate enrolment of more than 249,084 pupils. Hong Kong's Jewish community worships at a synagogue in Robinson Road constructed in 1901 on land given by Mr Joseph Sassoon and his family. Mr Sassoon built the synagogue in memory of his mother Leah and it is therefore known as the Synagogue 'Ohel Leah'. The Jewish Recreation Club and the residential rabbi's apartments are on the same site. There are about 500 people in the congregation and they belong to families who originally came from Britain, China, India, Eastern and Western Europe, and the United States, as well as people born in Hong Kong. There are about 20,000 followers of Islam in Hong Kong, many of them Chinese who have immigrated during the past two decades. The other members of the Muslim community are mainly Pakistanis, Malaysians, Persians and people from neighbouring regions. They gather for prayer at the Shelley Street Mosque on Hong Kong Island and at the Nathan Road Mosque in Kowloon. The Health division of the Medical and Health Department undertakes the control of anti-epidemic measures, the care of expectant and parturient mothers, infant welfare work and preventive measures against disease in schools. It is also responsible for port and airport health work, social hygiene, industrial health, tuberculosis control and a B.C.G. campaign, food and drug control, public health propaganda and pathological, chemical and biochemical laboratory work. The general state of health is good. The crude birth rate in 1974 was 19.7 per 1,000 population and the crude death rate was 5.2 per 1,000 population. Infant mortality rate was 17.4 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate was 0-16 per 1,000 total births. The Government maintains and operates 18 general and special hospitals and provides financial assistance to 19 other hospitals run by voluntary organisations. In addition, there are 11 private hospitals which do not receive financial help from the Government. At the end of 1974 the number of beds in the three groups of hospitals including maternity beds was 6,743, 8,165 and 2,126 respectively giving a total of 17,034 beds. In-patients treated in all hospitals during 1974 totalled 437,000 and outpatient attendences at Government and Government-aided institutions totalled 10.3 million. There are large numbers of dispensaries and clinics in both urban and rural areas and the more remote places are served by mobile dispensaries, 'floating clinics' and a 'flying doctor' service. Government expenditure on these services during the year 1973/74 was approximately $469.7 million, compared with $345.3 million in the previous year, excluding capital expenditure on medical projects under Public Works Non-recurrent head. Cholera has not appeared since notification of the last case in October 1969. While tuberculosis remains the major public health problem in Hong Kong, deaths from cancer, diseases of the heart, cerebrovascular lesions and pneumonia are the leading causes of death. The other major infectious diseases, particularly diphtheria and poliomyelitis, remained at a low incidence due to continuing innoculation campaigns. Since December 1967, measles vaccine has been offered to children under four years of age. Before the war most of the urban population was engaged in commerce but, since 1948, there has been a significant growth in industry. In 1974 there were 555,919 employees in 25,250 registered and recorded factories and industrial undertakings. The most recent analysis of Hong Kong's workforce showed that about 52 per cent of the working population was engaged in construction, manufacturing, mining, quarrying and the utilities, about 19 per cent in various services, 12 per cent in commerce, seven per cent in communications and four per cent in agriculture, forestry and fishing. Based on this pattern, the estimated employment figures at the end of 1971 were: manufacture 677,498; services 312,173; commerce 208,604; construction 168,773; farming and fishing 62,975; communications 114,722; public utilities 8,870; mining and quarrying 4,518. On 31st December 1974 there were 291 registered workers' unions with a declared membership of 296,481; 44 employers' associations with a declared membership of 4,939 and 12 mixed unions with a declared membership of 6,047. Since the end of the last war, the pattern of agricultural production has largely changed from a subsistence economy based on rice to the intensive cultivation of vegetables, poultry and pigs. Sold through wholesale markets during 1974 were 60,469 metric tons of locally produced vegetables, valued at HK $70,253,000 and 80,972 metric tons of fish valued at HK $215 million. Local pig and poultry production is valued at HK$85 million and HK$166.5 million per annum respectively. CONSUMER PRICE INDEX Urban households spending less than HK$2,000 per month Small tonnages of iron ore, wolframite, graphite, kaolin, feldspar and quartz are mined. Of these, the feldspar and quartz and about 30 per cent of the kaolin are consumed by local light industries, the remainder being exported. The total value of minerals exported is about 7.5 million dollars annually. Hong Kong, which lies on the main sea and air routes of Asia, is now established as an industrial territory with an economy based on exports rather than on entrepôt trade. Although entrepôt trade is still significant, accounting for 24 per cent of total exports, it has declined from its traditional supremacy as a result of political changes in China. The following table shows the overseas trade of Hong Kong for the last three years: Manufactures of metal, n.e.s. Professional, scientific and controlling instruments; photographic and optical goods, watches and clocks : 38 16 14 12 3 3 |