ABSTRACT
The Hong Kong government countered their influence by arguing that their activities had more to do with the Central People’s Government than with the welfare of the worker. According to the government, the workers had begun to realise this and turn away from the ‘unsuccessful violence’ and ‘ideological campaigning’ of the right-wing and left-wing unions towards ‘honest unionism. The post-war period witnessed numerous disasters in squatter areas occupied mainly by refugees. Government was far removed from the people. It was also late to follow post-war United Kingdom thinking on the responsibilities of the state towards the people in its colonial possessions. One of the first post-war incidents to ruffle political sensibilities was a 1947 order to squatters in the Kowloon Walled City to quit the area in which they had taken up residence within two weeks. In China, the incident was interpreted as yet another example of the unfair treatment of the Hong Kong Chinese by the British colonial administration.
