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ABSTRACT
Most ethnic Chinese living and working in Britain in the late 1960s were from Hong Kong’s New Territories. Many of these British migrants blamed the Hong Kong government for importing cheap foodstuffs and driving farmers off the land to build new infrastructural projects. In 1967, Hong Kong experienced a wave of social and political unrest commonly referred to as the 1967 Leftist Riots. The unrest spread to parts of Britain’s Chinatown, where a leftist movement emerged in sympathy with the anti-colonial rioters. In response, the Heung Yee Kuk, a legal advisory organisation that represented established interests in the New Territories, proposed to send a ‘goodwill tour’ to Britain’s Chinatowns to demonstrate that the Hong Kong government was committed to their welfare. The unlikely alliance proved politically expedient as both had good reason to foster the political loyalty of Britain’s migrant Chinese. In particular, both parties understood the economic necessity of quieting the unrest to ensure the continued flow of remittance back to the colony. The detailed report of migrant Chinese grievances with the British and Hong Kong governments produced by the Heung Yee Kuk delegates led to welfare reforms for the Chinese communities of Hong Kong and Britain.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
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28. Cheung, Hong Kong’s Watershed, 45–50.
29. TNA, FCO 40/11, August 31, 1967.
30. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 22–23, 79.
31. Benton and Gomez, The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present, 249–250; and, Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 5.
32. MacFarquhar and Schoenhals, Mao’s Last Revolution, 224–225; and Chi-kwan Mark, The Everyday Cold War: Britain and China, 1950–1972 , 115–127. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
33. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Liaison Officer H.T. Woo to Hon. Colonial Secretary, 9 October 1967.
34. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T, 10 June 1967.
35. Hayes, The Great Difference, 163–164.
36. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T. to D.C.S. (S.D.), 31 October 1967; HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T, 10 June 1967; Benton and Gomez, The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present, 256.
37. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 3–6 and 46; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 6.
38. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Minutes of a Meeting among David Lai and members of the Heung Yee Kuk, 27 November 1967.
39. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T. to Hon. S.C.A., November 21, 1967; and HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T., June 10, 1968.
40. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 46.
41. TNA, FCO 40/131, Itinerary for Heung Yee Kuk Delegation.
42. TNA, FCO 40/131, Carter to Cater, 2 January 1968; TNA, FCO 40/131, Carter to Godden, 17 January 1968; and TNA, FCO 40/131, Lai to Sedgwick, 1 February 1968.
43. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Stephen Wong Lap-kwong to Hon. Colonial Secretary, July 25, 1968.
44. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 46–48.
45. Ibid.; and HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Stephen Wong Lap-kwong to Hon. Colonial Secretary, July 25, 1968.
46. TNA, FCO 40/131, Carter to Godden, 17 January 1968.
47. TNA, FCO 40/131, Commonwealth Office to Hong Kong, 2 February 1968.
48. TNA, FCO 40/131, Hong Kong to Commonwealth Office, 3 February 1968.
49. TNA, FCO 40/131, Brighty to Hong Kong Department, 7 February 1968.
50. TNA FCO 40/131, Points Likely to be Raised by the Heung Yee Kuk with Thomson, 13 February 1968: 1–2.
51. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Stephen Wong Lap-kwong to Hon. Colonial Secretary, July 25, 1968; and HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 46–48.
52. Parker, Through Different Eyes, 65–66.
53. HKRPO, HAD 2/90/62: 77–78; TNA, FCO 40/131, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs to Officer Administering the Government of Hong Kong, 28 March 1968; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 6.
54. Emigration and the Chinese Lineage, 119–120.
55. HKRPO, HAD 2/90/62: 78–79; and TNA, FCO 40/131, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs to Officer Administering the Government of Hong Kong, 28 March 1968.
56. Ibid., 79–80; Ibid.; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 5.
57. Ibid.
58. Carroll, Edge of Empires.
59. Ibid., 80–81.
60. Benton and Gomez, The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present, 248; Cheung, Hong Kong’s Watershed, 4–5; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 3.
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62. Alan Smart, The Shek Yip Mei Myth: Squatters, Fires, and Colonial Rule in Hong Kong, 1950–1963, 12–19. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006.
63. Lai, Town Planning in Hong Kong, 52–55.
64. HKRPO, HAD 2/90/62: 81–83; and TNA, FCO 40/131, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs to Officer Administering the Government of Hong Kong, 28 March 1968
65. TNA, FCO 40/131, Notes of a Discussion held in the HKGO, 22 February 1968: 1–6.
66. TNA, FCO, 40/131, Gaminara to Stowe, 29 February 1968.
67. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 1–9 and 55–62; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 10–11.
68. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Liaison with Hong Kong Chinese People Living in Britain: By Mr. Chan Yat-sen, 15 July 1968: 1–2.
69. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, Minutes between District Commissioner, N.T. and the Heung Yee Kuk, 25 July 1968: 1–7.
70. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T. to Director of Information Services, 9 September 1968: 1–2.
71. HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T. to Director of Information Services, 28 October 1968; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 11.
72. Benton, “Chinatown UK v. Colonial Hong Kong”, 336–341; and Rawcliffe, “Turning Over a New Leaf”, 10–12.
73. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62: 46–48.
74. HKPRO, HAD 2/90/62, The Future Organization of the Hong Kong Government’s Agencies in London, 1–4; HKPRO, NT 1/2120/62c, District Commissioner, N.T. to Hon. Colonial Secretary, 5 September 1968.
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77. Tsang, A Modern History of Hong Kong, 190–191; and Hayes, The Great Difference, 164
78. Loh, Underground Front, 117; and Scott, Political Change and the Crisis of Legitimacy in Hong Kong, 113–117.
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86. Portes, “Immigration, Transnationalism, and Development: The State of the Question”, 14.
87. Benton, “Chinatown UK v. Colonial Hong Kong’, 343.