Does anyone remember the term Pak Wah - 'White Chinese' - commonly used in the1950s to describe emigres from communist China? First used by communist newspaper Ta Kung Pao, for a decade or so Pak Wah became a popular, if slightly derogatory, local term. It was borrowed from the White Russians, a term used for those who fled Russia after the 1917 revolution.
In general, Pak Wah referred to anyone on the losing side of the Chinese civil war. Like their Russian counterparts, White Chinese came from all political, cultural, social and economic backgrounds. Much like during the tense years before the 1997 handover, visas and passports dominated the conversations and lives of those who decamped to Hong Kong after the communists took power.
Many were intellectuals who realised they would have little freedom of expression under communism. Some were organised criminals. Prominent Shanghai gangsters such as Green Gang boss Du Yuesheng, who died in Hong Kong in 1951, had been key supporters of the Kuomintang regime.
Highly westernised treaty-port Chinese, often more fluent in English or French than Chinese, decamped to Hong Kong en masse and survived as best they could. In those years, those with the most power and influence gravitated - as they still do - to the United States.
The next most popular destination for emigres was Brazil, very much the land of the future in the 50s. Numerous Shanghai industrialists moved to Sao Paulo and established textile mills and other enterprises, much as they did in Hong Kong during the same decade. Entry requirements were much less stringent for Brazil than for other countries.
Others, dependent on personal skills, capital and family connections, ended up in various parts of Southeast Asia. Many went to the Philippines, which in the 50s had the region's strongest and most promising economy.
