ON October 7, 1971, Hong Kong said 'farewell' to concubines. And local feminists said 'hello' to the 20th century. The issue is so recent that children at school today have mothers who are legal concubines.
'Doubtless future generations will be thankful for this final step,' a Post editorial predicted, 'even though they might well wonder why it took so long to take.' China had banned second wives in 1950, with marriage reform laws that recognised the equality not only of all men, but of all women, under communism.
Singapore was slower. In 1957 women were given the vote. In 1961 the revolutionary - for Singapore - Women's Charter was published, introducing monogamous marriage and women's rights to property and divorce.
But in Hong Kong it took a further decade before the 1971 Marriage Reform Ordinance took its place in court libraries - after 17 years of reports and consultations.
And it took until 1994 to reform that other sticky equality issue - the New Territories Ordinance 1910 - whereby all women living on New Territories land were technically not allowed to inherit, unless the land had been exempted.
The discussions had hinged, rather bizarrely, on a speech by Captain Elliot when he first took possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841.