![]() ![]() The refugee flow continued through the catastrophe of the Great Leap Forward in the late 50s and of the Cultural Revolution in the 60s, despite the best efforts of Beijing to persuade its citizens that life was better in the People’s Republic. When, in 1950, numbers reached 3 million, the Hong Kong government reluctantly closed the border. ![]() ![]() But proximity also allowed Hong Kong to benefit from the talent and energy of the millions of people who fled China, beginning in 1949, when the CCP’s victory in China’s civil war triggered the exodus of some 100,000 people a day. That Hong Kong flourished as much as it did under British colonial rule was in no small measure thanks to China: proximity, of course, allowed Hong Kong to play its critical role as intermediary between China and the world of global trading, finance and investment. The unappealing rock, lacking in almost every natural resource beyond a deep and safe harbour, was to grow into one of the world’s most dynamic and prosperous societies. ![]()
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