Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Map: Hong Kong, 1997
- Introduction: prewar colony
- 1 Reoccupation: postwar comeback, 1945–7
- 2 Consolidation: the Grantham years, 1947–58
- 3 Growth: the 1960s
- 4 Transformation: the MacLehose years, 1971–82
- 5 Negotiations: Sino-British diplomacy, 1982–92
- 6 Confrontation: the Patten years, 1992–5
- 7 Future: to 1997 and beyond
- 8 Conclusions: endgame
- Appendixes
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Growth: the 1960s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Map: Hong Kong, 1997
- Introduction: prewar colony
- 1 Reoccupation: postwar comeback, 1945–7
- 2 Consolidation: the Grantham years, 1947–58
- 3 Growth: the 1960s
- 4 Transformation: the MacLehose years, 1971–82
- 5 Negotiations: Sino-British diplomacy, 1982–92
- 6 Confrontation: the Patten years, 1992–5
- 7 Future: to 1997 and beyond
- 8 Conclusions: endgame
- Appendixes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
We did very well this year, because business was so good and there was so much money about. (Radio broadcast on Hong Kong's budget by Financial Secretary A.G. Clarke, 1 March 1961)
Those who sneer at Chinese millionaires making profits in our Colony would do well to remember that without their capital Hong Kong's industrialisation would have been sadly held back. (President of the Board of Trade F.J. Enroll, April 1962)
The economic successes of early postwar Hong Kong were quickly recognized both within the territory and overseas. This prompted its government to make a series of frank statements that both praised the business community and acknowledged that the colonial administration was caught between remaining on the sidelines and employing portions of its new funds for greater social investment.
After a decade as financial secretary A.G. Clarke made his final speech on 1 March 1961, predicting that his
successor will make exactly the same mistake that I have always made. He will underestimate revenue. He will underestimate his revenue, because, like me, like many others, he will never be able to comprehend how new and successful industries can be created overnight out of nothing, in face of every possible handicap; how new trade can suddenly start up in some way that has never been thought of before; he, like me, will never be able to comprehend how on earth our enterprising, ingenious, hardworking people can ever manage to accomplish so much with so little.
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- Hong Kong: The Road to 1997 , pp. 54 - 83Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997
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