Week 8: Cold War Harbor

The Young Plan

July 1947 (officially shelved in 1952) . . .greater Chinese membership in the Legislative and Executive Councils . . . establishment of municipal council (2/3 elected) . . . localization . . . Grantham (1947–57): “. . . for Hong Kong can never become independent. Either it remains a British colony, or it is re-absorbed into China as part of the province of Kwangtung.” . . . Hong Kong Reform Club 香港革新會 / Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association 香港華人革新協會 (1949) / Democratic Self-Government Party of Hong Kong 香港民主自治黨 (1964)

Peak Ordinances (1904/1918) repealed . . . opium-smoking banned . . . minimum daily wage tripled . . . equal number of Chinese and European unofficial members in Executive Council . . .

official recognition (January 1950) . . . “living on the edge of a volcano” . . . failed tramway strike (1949) . . . 1952 protests (1 dead, 100+ arrested, Ta Kung Pao temporarily shut down) . . . food and water from Guangdong

Korean War (1950–53) . . . United States Information Service (1953–99; America Today)

relocation of major firms (both expatriate and Chinese) from China . . . one million migrants (1946–mid 1950s) . . . pop. 2 millions (1950) . . . 2,5 millions (1955) . . . embargoes during the Korean War (1950–1953 . . . dried ducks) . . . industrialization (30%/1953; 70%/1959; textiles, clothing, plastic toys and flowers, flashlights and batteries, aluminum, enamel, and rattan ware, etc.) . . .

Shek Kip Mei Fire (24 December 1953) . . . 58,000 . . . public housing scheme (30%/1960s) . . . 120 sq ft (family of 5) . . . October 1956 riots (59 dead) . . . New Asia College (founded 1949 by Qian Mu [1895–1990]) . . . curriculum on Chinese culture (1953)

What did Elsie Tu consider to be the most intractable problem in post-war Hong Kong? What accounted for the differences between Elsie Tu and people such as Robert Ho Tung in how they characterized Hong Kong society?
In Ting's telling, what accounted for the economic boom in post-war Hong Kong? Based on what you have read for this class, is his a fair description?
If Tu and Ting happened to be in the same room, what would they say to each other? Would they have a completely different understanding of the essential characteristics of Hong Kong's society?