1990s in Hong Kong
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The 1990s in Hong Kong marked a transitional period and the last decade of colonial rule in Hong Kong.
Background
The 1984
Politics
The handover
Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, citizens feared the Chinese government would not keep its promise of autonomy after the handover in Hong Kong. As a result, various mediating measures took place in the run-up to 1997. The Hong Kong Basic Law was ratified on 4 April 1990 as a mini-constitution. The pro-Beijing bloc welcomed the Basic Law, calling it the most democratic legal system to ever exist in the PRC. The pro-democratic bloc criticised it as not democratic enough. Patten emphasised the increase in democracy in Hong Kong through a series of measures that affected the election processes of both legislators and municipal officials. In 1994, the PRC announced that it would terminate the Legislative Council (LegCo) in favour of the "provisional legislative council". In 1995, LegCo was passed and the Democratic Party denounced the provisional legislative council as illegal. The provisional legislative council operated from Shenzhen before the handover.
At midnight on 1 July 1997, the
Demographics
Population
The population of Hong Kong in 1995 and 1999 was 6.3 million and 6.9 million respectively.[1] A total of 44,000 illegal immigrants from mainland China were arrested and deported in 1993, with the number decreased to 35,500 a year later. Hong Kong's fertility rate also become the lowest in the world, having declined to just 5.1 child per population of 1,000 in 1996.[2]
Despite the uncertainty brought by handover and economic crisis, the population of Hong Kong in the 1990s had still increased. In 1990, there were approximately 5,700,000 people in Hong Kong. A 500,000 growth in population was seen until 1996. While the numbers of natural increase had been dropping from 1990 to 1996, the growth rate brought by migration rose.
Emigration
In 1990, the
Mass Migration Wave
Throughout the 90s in Hong Kong, there was a Mass Migration Wave due to the concern about the handover from the
Foreign Domestic Workers
From the late 1980s to 1990s, Hong Kong's currency stabilised. The value of the Philippine peso was dropping steadily from 17 pesos in 1984 to 30 pesos in 1993 = US$1.[6] This caused a surge of Philippines workers going to Hong Kong in search of higher salaries under the "maid to order" services. The number of foreign workers grew from 9,000 in 1987 to 28,000 in 1992 and 32,000 in 1993. Women from the Philippines make up the majority with substantial numbers from Indonesia and Thailand. The term "fei yung" (菲傭) became associated with the helpers.
Families in need of the helpers generally have both parents working at full-time positions. In 1993, households were required to have a combined income of HKD $15,000. The foreign workers essentially run all home affairs from cooking, ironing, cleaning and caring for the young and old in the household. Most households had 4 to 5 members including at least 1 child under the age of 12, while some include elderly people over 65.[6] The hiring of workers fuelled a number of social debates. From the worker's perspective, problems range from unfair treatments, discrimination to low wages were raised. From the family perspective, problems range from privacy invasion to abuse type cases. Newspapers, radios and TV broadcasts have covered the subjects on numerous accounts. To stir controversies, the media often claimed traditional amah Chinese servants as superior workers.[6]
Culture
Music
Leslie Cheung dominated the Hong Kong music industry during the 80s and 90s. He started his singing career by winning the runner up in the 1977 Asian Singing Contest and was signed by Polydor Records. His early career was not successful; he was booed during his first public performance and his first three albums had poor sales, leading to him being terminated by Polydor Records. During the early 80s, singers Sam Hui and Roman Tam started the golden era of the Cantopop industry with music helping Leslie Cheung develop his music career, starting with the most iconic song “The Wind Blows On” in 1983. Since then, he released more than 40 albums with multiple platinum-selling records and performed 33 consecutive sold-out shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum in the early 90s.[7]
The Hong Kong music industry had also seen its peak in the 1990s. After Leslie Cheung gradually stepped back from the music industry, the industry was essentially dominated by the
Jacky Cheung was the most successful artist among the 4 of them. He started his singing career by winning the Amateur 18-Hong Kong District Singing Contest in 1984. He then won two IFPI Gold Disc Awards and eight IFPI Platinum Disc Awards in his singing career. He had also won many awards for his acting such as Best Supporting Actor in the 8th
Andy Lau started his career in 1981 by participating in TVB’s artist training programme and published one of his most famous albums, “Would It Be Possible” that won him Top 10 Gold Song Award from RTHK in 1990. Since then, Andy Lau had set a Guinness World Records for winning the most awards with at least one RTHK award each year until 2007. Throughout his career, he has more than 60 albums published.[9]
Aaron Kwok had a similar beginning with Andy Lau with joining TVB as a dancer trainee in 1984. He was then becoming an actor in
Leon Lai started his singing career by winning the second runner-up in the New Talent Singing Awards in 1986 and being signed by
Entertainment
In the early 1990s, the entertainment industry became increasingly linked to
Foreign culture
In the early 1990s,
Apart from Japanese culture,
Cinema
The Hong Kong film industry had its golden age in the 1990s with a record of around 200 films in a year. An iconic director was
Stephen Chow is another icon of the Hong Kong film industry. He has been named as Hong Kong's “king of comedy”. He started his career in 1981 as TV series actor and became a movie actor in 1988 which brought him great success from his first movie, “Final Justice (1988 film)”. He was awarded the best supporting actor award at the 25th Golden Horse Awards. A popular culture of “mo lei tau” was invented by him which is some nonsensical humour and most of the 1990s Hong Kong movie consisted of such elements. Some of Stephen Chow’s famous movie in the 1990s are the gambling comedy “All for the Winner” in 1990, the gangster comedy “Fight Back to School” in 1991 and action comedy “Justice, My Foot!” in 1992.[13]
Apart from the contribution to music industry,
Law and order
In 1999, Hong Kong's
Economy
Finance
Three months after the handover in July 1997, Hong Kong was dragged into the
In 1997, a large-scale financial crisis occurred in Asia in which
Manufacturing sector
During the 1990s, Manufacturing sectors in Hong Kong had been shrinking due to increasing manufacturing costs such as transportation cost, salary and rent. According to the statistics from
Real estate
In 1998, the
Transportation
In 1998, the Kai Tak Airport was closed. The new US$20 Billion Hong Kong International Airport opened for commercial use. The initial years of operation were challenging as it utilised state-of-the-art computer systems, in just about every function imaginable. The scale and size of the airport also required many innovative solutions from the Airport Authority. Over time, it became the central connecting point for many flights in the far east.
The
The Tung Chung and Airport Express MTR lines opened in 1998.
Other major transport projects completed in the 1990s include the Tate's Cairn Tunnel (1991), San Tin Highway (1993), Yuen Long Highway (1993), North Lantau Highway (1997), Kap Shui Mun Bridge (1997), Western Harbour Crossing (1997), and Tai Lam Tunnel (1998). Many of these related to the airport project, or to completing the New Territories orbital highway.
See also
References
- ISBN 962-209-612-3
- ISBN 0-415-22269-9.
- ^ Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong. (1997). Demographic Trends in Hong Kong. Demographic Statistics Section Census and Statistics Department. Retrieved from https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1991_2000/B11200171997XXXXB0100.pdf
- ISBN 0-674-01486-3
- JSTOR 2645049.
- ^ ISBN 0-8014-8382-4.
- ^ a b "Why Leslie Cheung's rise and fall matched Hong Kong's". South China Morning Post. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ "13 of Canto-pop king Jacky Cheung's greatest hits". South China Morning Post. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ a b "'Four Heavenly Kings' of Hong Kong – net worths, ranked". South China Morning Post. 5 November 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ ISBN 9789888390588
- S2CID 144261076.
- ^ Chow, Vivienne. "Wong Kar-wai: The master of 'Hollywood East'". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ "5 Stephen Chow movies that made him Hong Kong's comedy king". South China Morning Post. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- S2CID 154236308.
- ^ Legislative Council Secretariat. (1999). Relocation of the Manufacturing Sector Outside Hong Kong in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Legislative Council. Retrieved from https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr98-99/english/sec/library/98901.pdf
- ^ "Hong Kong & China Online Wholesale and Manufacturing Suppliers | HKTDC Sourcing". sourcing.hktdc.com. Retrieved 11 August 2023.