The development of a port is not a function of local circumstances alone. Economic and social progress in the area it serves, the rise and fall of rivals and the development of world shipping are all important factors to which a port readily responds.

This is specially true of Hong Kong where, until very recently, there has been little local attraction for trade besides stability and security. It is almost completely devoid of natural resources other than the sheltered, deep-water harbour. All the major advances or setbacks in the evolution of the port have been the results of changes in...

In assessing the influence of the physical setting on the development of the port of Hong Kong, it is important to bear in mind the fact that the port is a recent creation which has not been developed primarily by indigenous people to meet local demands. Hong Kong, before it became a British colony, was not the point where transport by water and by land met. For the accommodation of sailing-ships, the harbour was no more advantageous than the riverine ports of Canton, Whampoa and Macao. Situated in the upper reaches of the Pearl River estuary, Canton and Whampoa were...

The Colony of Hong Kong did not have a large population to start with: in 1841 it was a barren island with a few mat-sheds for fishermen. Underlying its subsequent development as a port is a long history of international trade, and from this trade came the justification for its initial growth. At the time of Hong Kong’s cession to the British Government in 1841, it had been repeatedly stated that the aim of the occupation was for diplomatic, military and commercial purposes.¹ Diplomatic and military purposes were, however, only the means to an end, which was commerce. It should...

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Hong Kong’s position as a major port in world trade and as a terminus for China’s coastal trade was firmly established. Since land transport in China was practically undeveloped, an efficient link between its coastal and inland waterways and the world shipping routes was vital to its economic development. Hong Kong with its transhipment facilities and commercial services provided such a link, while the port itself flourished with the gains of the entrepôt trade.

The extent to which commercial relationships developed between Hong Kong and China can be gauged from the facts that,...

In 1941, the year in which Hong Kong completed its first century of existence as a British Colony, this city of refuge became the scene of war and destruction. The rapid change in the physical, economic and political conditions in the Colony, brought about by the Japanese invasion in December 1941, was matched only by its speedy recovery under the British Military Administration, after liberation in August 1946. Considering the damage inflicted on the port by warfare, looting, and neglect by the Japanese for the three years and eight months of their occupation, it was a remarkable achievement of the...

The entrepôt function of Hong Kong was resumed as soon as the port was reopened to commercial trading in November 1945, although the conditions under which trading was conducted could hardly be described as normal. Commodities and shipping, the two essentials on which port activities depended, were both lacking in the world market. Foodstuffs and textiles, the leading items in the entrepôt trade of Hong Kong before the War, were placed under international allocation. Government control of essential supplies was maintained until 1948, although it was administered as liberally as international obligations of commodity allocation would allow. The number of...

For the port of Hong Kong, the United Nations embargo on trade with mainland China amounted to the loss of its traditional hinterland. The reorientation of the port’s economy required the complete readjustment of its trading activities. China’s share of the export trade of Hong Kong was reduced from 36.2% in 1951 to 18.3% in 1952, and it continued to dwindle to the relatively insignificant amount of 0.5% in 1967. Imports from China, on the other hand, were maintained at about one-quarter to one-fifth of the total imports into Hong Kong, increasing in absolute value with the growth of the...

No comprehensive study of the growth of the Colony can fail to point out the dependence of its economy on the port. The only natural resource of Hong Kong is its magnificent harbour. At the same time, it must be recognized that there have been important human factors influencing port development. The singularity of its great natural advantage emphasizes the danger of assigning to the environmental factors a determinative influence which they do not exert.¹ From the beginning of European settlement, political forces have been particularly powerful, the port developing only after the delimitation of the political boundary that distinguished...