1980s in Hong Kong
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1980s in Hong Kong marks a period when the territory was known for its wealth and trademark lifestyle. Hong Kong would be recognised internationally for its politics, entertainment and skyrocketing real estate prices.


Background

After being made a crown colony since 1843, the status of Hong Kong was changed effectively under the ''
British Nationality Act 1981 The British Nationality Act 1981 (c.61) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983. History In the mid-1970s the British Government decided to update the nationality code, which had b ...
'', which came into force on 1 January 1983. The Act renamed all existing British colonies to dependent territories. The renaming did not change how the government operated but it affected the nationality status of Hong Kong's then over 5 million inhabitants, most of whom were to become British Dependent Territory citizens – a status that could no longer be transmitted by descent. Regardless of the competing claims for sovereignty, China's
paramount leader Paramount leader () is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often hol ...
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
recognised that Hong Kong, with its
free market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ar ...
, could not be assimilated into the People's Republic overnight and that any attempt to do so would not be in the interests of either. He advocated a more pragmatic approach known as the one country, two systems policy, in which Hong Kong (as well as
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, and potentially also
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
) would be able to retain their economic systems within the PRC. On 19 December 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong (The Joint Declaration) was signed between the PRC and UK governments. Under this agreement, Hong Kong would cease to be a British Dependent Territory on 1 July 1997 and would thenceforth be a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC. Citizens opposed to the
handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transfe ...
led to the first wave of emigration.


Demographics


Population

Hong Kong's population topped five million just at the beginning of the 1980s, and rose at an annual average rate of 1.3% over the next ten years. The additional 700,000 residents raised the population to 5.73 million at the end of the decade. The population of females rose 1.5% per annum, faster than that for males (1.4% p.a.), although females would remain a minority until 1996. The decade also saw the first signs of population ageing, as the number of residents under the age of 25 fell by 1.2%. Households shrank in size from an average of 4.01 occupants in 1982 (the earliest available data) to 3.67 at decade's end. The 1980s were also characterised by the lowest population increase due to net migration (30.1%), as opposed to natural expansion.The data are all from http://www.censtatd.gov.hk


Immigration and emigration

From 1978 to September 1980, nearly 23,000 illegal immigrants from Mainland China entered Hong Kong. The government abolished the "touch-base" policy on 23 October 1980. After this date, any illegal immigrants captured would be sent back to their originating countries immediately. There were public outcries in the early 1980s over decreasing wages due to the large influx of mainland immigrants raising supply against demand. On the other hand, citizens of Hong Kong were beginning to emigrate to the UK, Canada and United States in large numbers due to the uncertainty of the
handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transfe ...
in 1997. From 1980 to 1986, an estimated 21,000 people left Hong Kong permanently every year. Beginning in 1987, the numbers rose sharply to 48,000 people a year.


Culture


Education

In the early 1980s, Hong Kong's education system could only accommodate 2% of the youth who wanted to seek higher education. It was not until 1989 that the government decided to expand the programs domestically. Prior to this, it was expected that higher education should be gained abroad. Two special institutes opened to train young athletes and performers, respectively. The Jubilee Sports Centre opened in 1982 while the
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) (Chinese: 香港演藝學院) is a provider of tertiary education in Hong Kong. Located near the north coast of Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island, the main campus also functions as a venue for pe ...
was founded in 1984 to educate students of the performing arts, music, and related technical professions.


Entertainment

The mid-'80s saw the popularising of the
Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for p ...
. It was one of the key factors in contributing to the rise of the
cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...
culture.
Leslie Cheung Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. Throughout a 26-year career from 1977 until his death, Cheung released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. He was one of the most prominent ...
,
Anita Mui Anita Mui Yim-fong (; 10 October 1963 – 30 December 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actress who made major contributions to the Cantopop music scene and received numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout her career, and i ...
and
Alan Tam Alan Tam Wing-lun MH (; born 23 August 1950) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He played a major role in developing the Cantopop scene in the 1980s as he was known for singing romantic ballads with modern arrangements. From 1983 to 1987, Alan Tam ...
were among the biggest pop stars. Other shows related to
Super Sentai is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). The sho ...
and
Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...
were translated and broadcast regularly. The franchising of toy stores such as
Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loc ...
flooded the malls of Hong Kong. Japanese import stores like Sogo in
Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. Th ...
also made
Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...
a cultural icon. The performing arts received a boost in the 1980s with the opening of numerous new
Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Servic ...
performance venues including the
Tsuen Wan Town Hall Tsuen Wan Town Hall is a town hall in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong. Originally it was intended to be located near Tsuen Wan station of the MTR, but it was re-located near the former Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier and Tsuen Wan Magistracy, b ...
(1980), Tuen Mun Town Hall (1987),
Sha Tin Town Hall Sha Tin Town Hall is a town hall at the town centre of the Sha Tin District in Hong Kong. It is located near Sha Tin station, Sha Tin Park and New Town Plaza. It is part of the podium complex which includes the Sha Tin Town Hall, Sha Tin Pub ...
(1987), Hong Kong Cultural Centre (1989) and
Sheung Wan Civic Centre 200px, Theatre Sheung Wan Civic Centre is a performing arts centre located in the Sheung Wan Municipal Services Building, on Queen's Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. It is a popular theatre venue in Hong Kong. Sheung Wan Civic Centre i ...
(1989).


Cinema

Domestic movies in the late '80s would put
Hong Kong cinema The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of pol ...
on the international map.
Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
was recognised for his acrobatic displays and his stunt team.
Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker John Woo in the five Hong Kong action heroic bloodshed films: '' A Better Tomorrow'', '' A ...
was known for his TV drama performances. His collaboration with
John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun ...
set the de facto standard for triad films in
A Better Tomorrow ''A Better Tomorrow'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong crime action film directed and co-written by John Woo, and starring Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun-fat. The film had a profound influence on Hong Kong action cinema, and has been recognised as ...
.


Natural disasters

In the 1980s, there were 10 Typhoons which had a signal of number 8 and 1 Typhoon 10, The 3 worst typhoons were Typhoon Ellen, Typhoon Gordon and Typhoon Joe. The longest typhoon 8 was Severe Tropical Storm Lynn which had Typhoon 8 status for 28 hours and 45 Minutes.


Politics

In response to China's
Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
on 27 May 1989, over 300,000 people gathered at
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
for a gathering called "Democratic songs dedicated for China". Many famous Hong Kong and
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
artists performed and expressed their support for the students in Beijing. The massacre in Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 shocked the public. More than one million residents demonstrated to express their sorrow.


Economy


Manufacturing

In the early 1980s, younger Hong Kong workers began avoiding the manufacturing industry entirely. Hong Kong's on-going evolution away from manufacturing picked up steam during the decade, as production's share of the economy fell from 22.8% in 1980 to 16.7% ten years later. Replacing it was a greater reliance on services, which rose from 68.3% to 75.4% of GDP. The fastest growing sectors were foreign trade, logistics and communications and general personal and community services. The lack of investment in domestic industry, along with China's
economic reform Microeconomic reform (or often just economic reform) comprises policies directed to achieve improvements in economic efficiency, either by eliminating or reducing distortions in individual sectors of the economy or by reforming economy-wide polici ...
, began opening up manufacturing to the mainland. Middle-aged men and women who had spent decades in manufacturing were suddenly left with no place to go.


Real estate

In 1960, the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
and
Hong Kong Technical College The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university located in Hung Hom, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. The University is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded ...
were one of the first schools to offer real estate education, but the curriculum was considered a sub program. In 1981, the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
became the first institution to be accredited by the
RICS The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...
. It was the first step in connecting real estate education and the industry itself. By 1983, 61% of capital investments belonged to the real estate sector. The amount of money entering the communities for infrastructure expenses in the 1980s eclipsed the sum of all real estate investments from 1940 to 1979. An up-to-date understanding of the industry along with the high-density population provided many with the opportunity to capitalise on realty sales. Areas like
Lan Kwai Fong Lan Kwai Fong (often abbreviated as LKF) is a small square of streets in Central, Hong Kong. The area was dedicated to hawkers before the Second World War, but underwent a renaissance in the mid-1980s. It is now a popular expatriate haunt ...
were improving at the time and became an "alternative" or "open" avenue to attract people who wanted things to be different.Lui Tai-Lok, "The malling of Hong Kong", in; Mathews, Gordon; Lü, Dale (2001). ''Consuming Hong Kong''. Hong Kong University Press. If construction was not open before, many areas found themselves redeveloping.


Finance

The lack of foreign-exchange control, and low tax, contributed to the competitiveness of Hong Kong's economy. Though a floating rate, coupled with panic about intensified political talk of the handover, sent consumer confidence to an all-time low, causing Black Saturday in 1983. The end result was that Hong Kong adopted a
linked exchange rate A linked exchange rate system is a type of exchange rate regime that pegs the exchange rate of one currency to another. It is the exchange rate system implemented in Hong Kong to stabilise the exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) and t ...
system. The exchange rate between the
Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, currency symbol, sign: HK$; ISO 4217, code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cent (currency), cents or 1000 Mill (currency), mils. The H ...
and the :United States dollar was fixed at HKD $7.8 = US$1. The
Hong Kong Monetary Authority The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is Hong Kong's central bank, central banking institution. It is a government authority founded on 1 April 1993 when the Office of the Exchange Fund and the Office of the Commissioner of Banking merged. Th ...
's exchange fund was responsible for keeping the market rate stable. In the short period from just a decade previously, inflation would also increase from 5% in the 1970s to 12.7% by 1983.Jao Y.C. (1998). ''Money and finance in Hong Kong: retrospect and prospect''. Singapore University Press.


Transport

The Modified Initial System, the first line of the
Mass Transit Railway The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...
(MTR), was officially opened by Princess Alexandra in February 1980. Over the course of the 1980s the MTR expanded rapidly. An extension to Tsuen Wan opened in 1982, while the more technically challenging
Island line Island Line or Island line may refer to: * Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong * Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England ** Island Line (brand) Island Line is a brand of the ...
opened in 1986. The new metro system was instantly successful at attracting heavy patronage. In addition, the much older
Kowloon–Canton Railway The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC ...
(KCR) was fully modernised in the early 1980s. It was double-tracked and electrified. New stations were built to serve growing new towns and new housing estates, while many several older stations were closed. The KCR also opened a new light rail network in 1988 to link the new towns of
Yuen Long Yuen Long is a town in the western New Territories, Hong Kong. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu (), Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin (), and to the north N ...
and
Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more re ...
.


See also

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980s In Hong Kong British Hong Kong