Hong Kong: Random Facts and Trivia

Some random facts and trivia for the country of the world Hong Kong, corruption and crime, trade in opium, history and American soldiers.

HONG KONG

NOTES

Hong Kong suffers from police corruption, heavy crime, widespread heroin addiction (an estimated 300,000 in 1973), gang warfare, huge slums, and incredibly poor working conditions. Half the colony's workers work 10-hour days; 60% of all male workers work a 7-day week.

The main business of Hong Kong has always been trade. During its initial colonization, the main product was opium; then the port became a debarkation point for "coolie" labor. Today Hong Kong is among the world's top 20 trading nations, exporting some 65% of its domestic product. One quarter of Hong Kong's exports are 1st imported from Communist China.

When communist forces drove Kuomintang troops ("Nationalist Chinese") from the mainland in 1949, business groups from Canton and Shanghai transferred their investments to Hong Kong. Hong Kong's industrialization is largely a product of this shift.

Hong Kong was a popular "R&R" (Rest and Recuperation, also known as Rape and Run) spot for American GIs and sailors during the Indochina Wars. In 1968 some 220,000 American troops spent their leaves in Hong Kong.

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