4.6 Daily life of the Chinese

In the early days, carrying a birdcage, ordering a pot of tea and enjoying "dim sum" in the morning were economical and leisured activities among the Chinese.

At night, going to Koon Hoi Lau at Shek Tong Tsui for drinking wine and listening to sing-song girls was livelier entertainment for the rich.

Chinese would also spend their leisure time in the pleasure grounds such as Tai Pak Lau Gardens, in the Ko Sing Cinema or matsheds for Cantonese opera, in gambling houses for "fantan" and other games of chance, or at the racecourse.

Credit : History Museum of HK.

4.5 Nineteenth Century Fashion

In the early days of British rule, the Chinese still retained their customery way of living including traditional clothing style. For joyous and special occasions, "cheungsam" (grown) and "makwa" (short jacket) remained the apparel for men while beautifully embroidered "shanku" (upper garment and trousers) and "aoqun" (upper garment and skirt) were worn by the wives and daughters of the notable and wealthy families.

But Hong Kong is a place where East meets West, and from the 1920s and 1930s, Western dress began to come into fashion for the locals.

The style was set by wealthy Chinese, merchants engaged in foreign trade, office personnel or well educated young men returning from abroad.

However, the traditional women's dress, "qipao" (lady's gown), was still the fashion for the ladies in the first half of the 20th century.

Credit : History Museum of HK.

4.4 Chinese Medicine

The Chinese have long placed their faith in herbal medicine, and traditional Chinese medical science was widely trusted by the early settlers of Hong Kong in preference to Western medicine.

When the Chinese inhabitants fell ill, traditional Chinese medicine was their cure.

After the Tung Wah Hospital was officially opened in 1872, both patients in its wards and outpatients were treated with Chinese medicine.

However, with the passing of the Medical Registration Ordinance in 1884, the practice of Western medicine began to dominate the scene, forcing herbal medicine more or less into the background.

The trend was confirmed in the Great Plague of 1894, when Western medical science played a major role in ensuring the health of Hong Kong's inhabitants. By 1896, the Tung Wah Hospital also started to adopt Western medicine.

Credit : History Museum of HK.

4.3 Grocery stores before the Second World War

In the period before the Second World War, grocery stores played an important role in the daily life of Hong Kong people. Most staples could be bought there, including what the Cantonese called "the seven essences of a household" - firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea - as well as peas and preserved food.

The majority of customers were neighbours of the store owners, who lived on the premises.

To maintain their business by word of mouth and their local knowledge, the owners were highly selective when it came to choosing the goods they stocked.

These grocery stores have gradually been replaces by supermarkets and convenience stores since the 1970s.

Credit : History Museum of HK.

4.2 Tea Industry

Tea planting in China stretches back to nearly fifteen hundred years ago.

Apart from its popularity for local consumption, the delicate flavour of Chinese green and red tea captured the taste of the foreigners, especially the British and Americans.

The figures of the Imperial Maritime Customs in 1907 reveal a great total of 214,683,333 pounds of Chinese tea were exported to foreign countries, of which only 13,250,000 pounds went to Hong Kong.

Sometimes, semi-finished tea leaves were imported into Hong Kong from China for further processing, This included sieving leaves, roasting and then cooling the tea, and finally packing it.

Then the finished products would be re-exported to America in large volume, and to Australia, South Africa and England in limited quantities.

Credit : History Museum of HK.

4.1 Lease of the New Territories

Russia secured its eastern seaboard through more unequal treaties while France, after acquiring Tongking (Vietnam), threatened to control China's neighbouring Provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi.

When France leased the port of Guangzhouwan (Zhanjiang) in Guangdong, Britain forced yet another concession from China. Under a lease signed on 9 June 1898 it took control of what was to become the New Territories.

The expiry of the 99-year lease on 30 June 1997 became the fulcrum for Hong Kong's return to China.

Credit : History Museum of HK.

4.0 The Second Opium War

Claiming that the Qing government did not fully honour the Treaty of Nanking, Britain renewed her territorial designs on China. In October 1856 the Chinese detained the "Arrow", a lorcha flying the British flag.

Britain started the Second Opium War on this pretext. The murder of a French missionary in Guangxi at this time caused France to join ranks with the British.

Anglo-French forces occupied Guangzhou, took Ye Mingchen, Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, then proceeded north to capture Dagu (Taku).

The Qing government had no alternative but to accept the terms put forward by the British and French, and sign the Treaty of Tientsin.

Credit : History Museum of HK.