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Politics, Society and Education in Hong Kong 25 2 Politics, Society and Education in Hong Kong: A Brief Historical Overview Since, as seen in Chapter 1, the development of the Chinese History curriculum has been so greatly influenced by social and political factors, the following brief historical review of politics, society and education in Hong Kong may be helpful as a context for understanding the later discussion of the development of the Chinese History curriculum in the last 60 years. POLITICS The 1950s to the 1970s When the British first came to Hong Kong, it was with the intention of setting up a post for trade with China. At that time, there were very few indigenous people in Hong Kong, the majority arriving only after it had become a colony. The first huge influx of people came at the end of the 1940s, continuing on into the 1950s, and consisted of refugees from Southern China and Shanghai who were fleeing from the civil war and the political turmoil in China. For them, colonial Hong Kong was preferable to communist rule; and they would stay as long as they were allowed to get on with their lives with minimal interference from the Hong Kong government. It is important to emphasise this unusual aspect of Hong Kong’s early years as a British colony as it helps in understanding the socio-economic-political and educational changes that have occurred in its history. It explains why, for example, successive colonial governments have used two guiding principles in their policy-making: to prevent anti-British sentiment in Hong Kong, and to avoid upsetting China. This has been reflected in the emphasis the government has placed on stability and prosperity throughout colonial — and, indeed, postcolonial — times to avoid discontent among the local inhabitants or interference from China. As long as there were economic benefits, China would not interfere. 26 Hong Kong’s Chinese History Curriculum from 1945 Although the colonial government was generally very strict in establishing order, it realised that to maintain stability and prosperity, and thereby gain the acquiescence of the populace in colonial rule, it needed a certain degree of cooperation from the local inhabitants. This it did by cultivating the local elite —businessmen and prominent figures in Hong Kong — and involving them increasingly in the administration of the colony. As noted earlier, this association between the colonial government and leading members of society has been called a ‘collaborative contract’ (Robinson, 1986). According to King (1973: 130), ‘From the 1950s, the government of Hong Kong began to cultivate local elite so as to enlist them in the administration of the colony’; and he refers to this involvement of the local elite in policy-making in order to form an administrative partnership as ‘administrative absorption of politics’. The colonial government was also aware that it needed to maintain an apolitical policy and restrict political discussion, especially after the arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the late 1940s and 1950s with affiliations to the two rival groups on the Mainland, the KMT and the CCP, which later culminated in disturbances in 1956.1 In 1950, the Governor, Alexander Grantham, stated this clearly: ‘We cannot permit Hong Kong to be the battleground for contending parties or ideologies’.2 The association with the local elite and the maintenance of an apolitical society were to be the basis for colonial rule in Hong Kong. After the riots of 1966 and 1967,3 the government realised that steps had to be taken to prevent further unrest and to maintain an environment in which the colony could prosper. It therefore introduced a series of reforms in the areas of housing, health and education, and began to target the grassroots by listening to their concerns. These measures continued into the 1970s. For instance, the MacLehose government: greatly expanded housing, school and health reforms; absorbed anti-government figures and the elite into the administrative machinery and consultation bodies (King, 1981); increased public consultation and the mechanisms for doing so; established the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), and other anti-corruption measures; and generally attempted to build a more cohesive society — a ‘Hong Kong identity’ — particularly through a series of government-sponsored advertisements. At this time, the government adopted a policy of ‘positive non-interference’, whereby low tax, free currency exchange and free trade were implemented in order to promote a laissez-faire economy. Mindful of the concerns of both business interests in Hong Kong and the PRC, it was also...

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