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2 The New Territory A bov e th e dr y windblow n grass , th e humpe d summit s o f / • surroundin g hills and grey lichen-covered rocks, a yellow biplane j ^ ^ B drone d agains t towerin g cloud s an d sky. A weighted pennan t / • fluttere d to the ground, a message to say 'You have been posted ' m t o the New Territories as District Officer' . When this news came we were staying in a lonely stone hut, one of a number of scattered holiday homes for missionaries high on Hong Kong's largest island, Lantau. A friend, flying in a Tiger Moth biplane, had spotted us and thrown down his exciting news. We read the scribbled note as the yellow wings grew small in the sky and looked around the wide horizon, a worl d o f secre t island s an d ridg e upo n mysteriou s blu e ridg e o f mountains reaching across the New Territories into China. District Office r in Hong Kong's New Territories would be different fro m Distric t Office r among the kampongs, rice, rubber, and jungle of Malacca from where we had com e tw o year s before . I t woul d mea n learnin g a ne w dialect , Cantonese, afte r havin g alread y spen t tw o years , no t entirel y wasted , learning to speak Hokkien, the language of the next province northward s along the coast from Hon g Kong. District Officers were eccentric specialists, occasionally seen but no t much t o b e heard ; a n unwelcom e reminder , perhaps , tha t Hon g Kon g was still a colony. We were to join thes e exclusives and t o begin twent y years' wor k o n th e othe r sid e o f th e dividin g harbou r an d beyon d th e mountains. Hon g Kong' s swelling population wa s growing by a millio n 2 The New Territory bove the dry windblown grass, the humped summits of surrounding hills and grey lichen-covered rocks, a yellow biplane droned against towering clouds and sky. A weighted pennant fluttered to the ground, a message to say 'You have been posted to the New Territories as District Officer'. When this news came we were staying in a lonely stone hut, one of a number ofscattered holiday homes for missionaries high on Hong Kong's largest island, Lantau. Afriend, flying in a Tiger Moth biplane, had spotted us and thrown down his exciting news. We read the scribbled note as the yellow wings grew small in the sky and looked around the wide horizon, a world of secret islands and ridge upon mysterious blue ridge of mountains reaching across the New Territories into China. District Officer in Hong Kong's New Territories would be different from District Officer among the kampongs, rice, rubber, and jungle ofMalacca from where we had come two years before. It would mean learning a new dialect, Cantonese, after having already spent two years, not entirely wasted, learning to speak Hokkien, the language of the next province northwards along the coast from Hong Kong. District Officers were eccentric specialists, occasionally seen but not much to be heard; an unwelcome reminder, perhaps, that Hong Kong was still a colony. We were to join these exclusives and to begin twenty years' work on the other side of the dividing harbour and beyond the mountains. Hong Kong's swelling population was growing by a million Feeling the Stones every ten years, and factories were working night and day to supply cloth, garments, plastic flowers, wristwatches, pots and pans and simple electrical ware to the world, and to provide employment for impoverished millions. It was a time of great change and challenge . New town s had t o be buil t and infrastructur e provided . T o do this , land had t o be found. Squatter s swept fro m th e hillside s o f th e cit y ha d t o b e resettled . Terrace s wer e scraped from th e hills and the earth dumped to cover centuries-old field s and to push the foreshore ou t into the sea. In twenty years these were to become cities of half a million people, wiping out farms and villages and thrusting ove r lan d an d amon g live s which ha...

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