Letters | What history teaches Hong Kong: we trade, we thrive

The history of Hong Kong suggests that the city thrives as a business and trade centre, but its fortunes wither whenever things get political. Policymakers must strike a balance

Reading Time:2 minutes

A view of Victoria Harbour with the iconic commercial and residential buildings of Hong Kong Island. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:45am, 28 Sep 2020Updated: 6:45am, 28 Sep 2020

As a policy motto for 2021, you couldn’t go wrong with the wise words of a commonplace fai chun or Lunar New Year couplet, “The door is open to bliss for all seasons, the house has room for wealth from all directions”.

Hong Kong’s chief executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, is busy setting public policy for the coming year and she no doubt has a hundred and one things to consider. To put the derailed locomotive that is Hong Kong back on the right track, we could look to the late Mr Cho Yan-chiu of the Hong Kong Economic Journal for guidance.

Hong Kong, like all other cities in the world, is beset by economic woes brought on by Covid-19. But Hong Kong is also unique, in that it was dogged by political, social, economic and judicial problems since long before the pandemic struck.

Here in Hong Kong, we are tired of both the social movement and the social distancing. But how can we create an environment conducive to economic reconstruction? Can we can turn the tide with a list of priorities?

Hong Kong was declared a free port soon after the British arrived in 1841. This was an excellent policy. It led to booming demand for warehouses, the widening of roads, and improvements in cargo-handling facilities.

But this thriving entrepot became one of the hiding places for Dr Sun Yat-sen in the years before 1911. Hong Kong came to be regarded as an anti-Qing base. Then came the seamen’s strike of 1922, the Japanese occupation in 1941 and the riots of 1967; by the 1950s, Hong Kong was also losing its status as an entrepot.