6.1 Immigration and Life of the Immigrants

By 1945, the territory's population had fallen to 600,000 as a result of the Japanese deportation program and voluntary migration of the Chinese to the Mainland.

With the return of peace in Hong Kong and the outbreak of Civil War in China, people began to flood into the territory at an unprecedented rate, and by April 1950 the population stood at 2.36 million.

Immigration controls were put into force in May, but the influx continued. Most of these immigrants, who came with their spouses, were either semi-skilled or unskilled, but some could only earn their living as labourers.

In 1946 the daily wage of a labourer was between $3.20 and $3.60, barely enough to match the abnormally high price of staple commodities. In the early 1950s, these unskilled immigrants earned a little more, but it was hardly sufficient to meet the inflationary living coasts.

Credit : History Museum of HK.