Modern Hong Kong under British rule (1950s 1997)[edit] 1950s[edit] Hong Kong, 1950s Main article: 1950s

s in Hong Kong Skills and capital brought by refugees of Mainland China, especially from Shangh ai, along with a vast pool of cheap labour helped revive the economy. At the sam e time, many foreign firms relocated their offices from Shanghai to Hong Kong. E njoying unprecedented growth, Hong Kong transformed from a territory of entrept t rade to one of industry and manufacturing. The early industrial centres, where m any of the workers spent the majority of their days, turned out anything that co uld be produced with small space from buttons, artificial flowers, umbrellas, te xtile, enamelware, footwear to plastics. Large squatter camps developed throughout the territory providing homes for the massive and growing number of immigrants. The camps, however, posed a fire and h ealth hazard, leading to disasters like the Shek Kip Mei fire. Governor Alexande r Grantham responded with a "multi storey buildings" plan as a standard. It was the beginning of the high rise buildings. Conditions in public housing were very basic with several families sharing communal cooking facilities. Other aspects of life changed as traditional Cantonese opera gave way to big screen cinemas. T he tourism industry began to formalise. North Point was known as "Little Shangha i" (), since in the minds of many, it has already become the replacement for the su rrendered Shanghai in China.[10] 1960s[edit] Hong Kong, 1960s Main article: 1960s in Hong Kong The manufacturing industry opened a new decade employing large sections of the p opulation. The period is considered a turning point for Hong Kong's economy. The construction business was also revamped with new detailed guidelines for the fi rst time since World War II. While Hong Kong started out with a low GDP, it used the textile industry as the foundation to boost the economy. China's cultural r evolution put Hong Kong on a new political stage. Events like the 1967 riot fill ed the streets with home-made bombs and chaos. Bomb disposal experts from the po lice and the British military defused as many as 8,000 home-made bombs. One in e very eight bombs was genuine.[11] Family values and Chinese tradition were challenged like never before as people spent more time in the factories than at home. Other features of the period incl uded water shortages, long working hours coupled with extremely low wages. The H ong Kong Flu of 1968 infected 15% of the population.[12] Amidst all the struggle , "Made in Hong Kong" went from a label that marked cheap low-grade products to a label that marked high-quality products.[13] 1970s[edit] Hong Kong, 1970s Main article: 1970s in Hong Kong The rights of women and men to have equal pay and equal benefits for equal work were openly denied by the British Hong Kong Government up to the early 1970s. Le slie Wah-Leung Chung (, 1917-2009), President of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servan ts' Association [14] (196568), contributed to the establishment of equal pay women, including the right for married women to be permanent employees. Before t his, the job status of a woman changed from permanent employee to temporary empl oyee once she was married, thus losing the pension benefit. Some of them even lo st their jobs. Since nurses were mostly women, this improvement of the rights of married women meant much to the Nursing profession.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21] [22] The 1970s saw the extension of government subsidised education from six years to

nine years and the setup of Hong Kong's country parks system. The opening of the mainland Chinese market and rising salaries drove many manufa cturers north. Hong Kong consolidated its position as a commercial and tourism c entre in the South-East Asia region. High life expectancy, literacy, per-capita income and other socioeconomic measures attest to Hong Kong's achievements over the last four decades of the 20th Century. Higher income also led to the introdu ction of the first private housing estates with Taikoo Shing. The period saw a b oom in residential high rises, many of the people's homes became part of Hong Ko ng's skyline and scenery. In 1974, Murray McLehose founded ICAC, the Independent Commission Against Corrup tion, in order to combat corruption within the police force. The extent of corru ption was so widespread that a mass police petition took place resisting prosecu tions. Despite early opposition to the ICAC by the police force, Hong Kong was s uccessful in its anti-corruption efforts, eventually becoming one of the least c orrupt societies in the world.