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1. A First Taste of Hong Kong in the 1950s
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
1 A First Taste of Hong Kong in the 1950 s It was in February 1951 that our last group of missionaries made their way t o Hon g Kon g fro m Nanchang , th e capita l cit y o f Jiangx i Province. Some of the olde r missionaries had alread y left i n early 1949 as the civil-war fighting i n China drew nearer to that province. None o f us, however, ha d bee n force d t o leav e b y the ne w Communis t government , which reache d Nanchan g i n mid-1949 an d proclaimed fina l victor y ove r the Nationalists in October of that year. The fact was that social conditions did improve after the Communist s took over . Non e o f th e atrocitie s w e had bee n taugh t t o expec t i n fac t occurred. Inflatio n eased , th e econom y picke d up , la w an d orde r wer e restored, an d facilitie s suc h a s electricity , roads , communication s an d transport wer e greatly improved . W e had n o mean s o f knowing whethe r this was true of all areas of China, but Jiangxi was special. Nanchang ha d been th e headquarters o f the popular Chou En-La i (Zho u Enlai), and we missionaries were fortunate tha t th e ma n put i n charge of our affairs ha d been educated in a missionary college in Shanghai, knew how to deal with foreigners, and helped us with much useful advice on how to deal with the new government. On the surface, everything seemed fine, and no Chinese, not even the army, seemed to mind the foreigners among them, even though, theoretically i f not i n fact, th e British and other European residents were enemy aliens , especiall y whe n wa r brok e ou t betwee n Nort h an d Sout h Korea under the auspices of the United Nations. During that war, a son of one of our Chinese church elders was killed while fighting for North Korea, 10 Colonial Hong Kong in the Eyes of Elsie Tu and was given a hero's funeral. However, towards the end of 1950, rumours reached u s tha t al l missionarie s woul d b e leavin g China , an d that , presumably, th e Britis h Government ha d advise d al l British national s t o leave. Ou r Chines e friend s als o advise d u s t o leave , fo r ou r ow n safety , although the government never treated us as enemies. Nevertheless, tension was high because of the war in Korea, and reluctantly we decided to travel first to Hong Kong, and from there make plans to join our church members in Borneo . In th e event , w e never lef t Hon g Kong, and I have remaine d here for over fifty years . The journe y t o Hon g Kon g b y trai n t o th e borde r a t L o W u wa s uneventful, an d our crossing on the narrow little bridge from th e Chines e village of Shenzhen t o British-ruled Hon g Kong, on the other side of th e river, wa s achieved withou t incident . A t on e en d o f the bridg e fle w th e Chinese flag, and at the other, the British Union Jack, which as I idealistically believed, stood for British justice. But I was wrong on that score , as I was soon to realize. During those first days in Hong Kong we visited members of our Hong Kong English-speaking church . One o f them worke d i n the public works department o f the Hon g Kong government. H e tol d us of the corruptio n that overruled all laws and policies in Hong Kong. I personally was shocked, because I had expected to find Hong Kong ruled by a democratic government with a reputation fo r Britis h justice. Corruption an d justice do not mak e good companions, and I thought our public works department friend mus t have been exaggerating. He was not. Also among the first people we met was a doctor working for the Hong Kong government...