ABSTRACT
Through the 1960s and 1970s, manufacturing had dominated Hong Kong’s economy. In the latter decade, the goods emerging from the factories became more diverse and sophisticated to include electrical, electronic and optical items, watches, and chemical products. But while Hong Kong’s manufacturing was changing, so was its larger economy: just as 1963 was a marker in the emergence of an industrial Hong Kong, 1980 provided another significant marker, again heralding an important new phase in the city’s economic development. In this year financial services nosed ahead of manufacturing in the value of exports, accounting for 26 per cent of exports: that was 1 per cent more than manufacturing (Lo, 1992, p. 15). Following the introduction of more open Chinese trading and foreign investment
policies, Hong Kong was also regaining its entrepôt and service role. With these changes, and accompanying developments in banking, communications and transportation, Hong Kong was on the verge of true world city status. And it was during this phase that the city emerged quite literally as the skyscraper capital of the world.
