Shock therapy for ‘sexual perversions’, kung fu clashes and supersonic jetliners: Hong Kong headlines from four decades ago

Forty years ago this week, it seemed like supersonic jets like the Concorde would transform international air travel forever. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) had come into fashion for treating mental conditions in local hospitals. The city also began to dabble in democracy when a visiting British MP suggested giving locals more say at the lower levels of government.

October 16, 1977

● Clashes broke out between European and local extras during the filming of a kung fu fight scene at Golden Harvest studios. The clash took place after a small group of extras were called back to do more scenes after two gruelling all-night sessions. The fight scenes were for the film Game of Death that had been left unfinished when martial arts legend Bruce Lee died suddenly in July 1973.

Angry seamen, a diplomatic rumpus and a mainland love story: headlines from four decades ago

● Commercial airlines operating on the Hong Kong-Bangkok route had lost millions of dollars since April 1975 when the communist government in Vietnam banned all aircraft from using the Amber One air corridor. One of the affected airlines was Cathay Pacific Airways, which clocked up losses of HK$15 million (US$1.93m) from higher spending on fuel.

October 17, 1977

● Behavioural modification treatment seemingly inspired by the novel A Clockwork Orange was used in some psychiatric hospitals in Hong Kong. Using locally-made shock machines copied from British equipment, medical staff attached electrodes to patients in an attempt to cure them of “antisocial” behaviour. The treatment was also used on transvestites and patients deemed to have “some of the more-serious sexual perversions”. As many as 60 patients were reportedly treated with ECT at Castle Peak Hospital every week.

October 18, 1977