The Ecology of A City and Its People

The ecology of
a city and its people

The case of Hong Kong
S. Boyden S. Millar K: Newcombe B. O’Neill
This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991.
This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried
out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press.
This project aims to make past scholarly works published
by The Australian National University available to
a global audience under its open-access policy.
The ecology of
The case of Hong Kong
Stephen Boyden, Sheelagh Millar,
Ken Newcombe and Beverley O’Neill
Australian National University Press, Canberra, Australia

London, England and Miami, Florida, USA
1981
First published in Australia 1981
Printed in Hong Kong by Colorcraft Ltd. for the Australian National University
Press, Canberra
© Stephen Boyden, Sheelagh Millar,
Ken Newcombe and Beverley O’Neill 1981
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of
private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written
permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher.
National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
The ecology of a city and its people
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 0 7081 1095 9
1. Human ecology — Hong Kong. 2. Sociology,

urban. I. Boyden, S.V. (Stephen Vickers).
304.2*095175
Library of Congress No. 81-65024
United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Books Australia,

3 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8LU, England
North America: Books Australia, 15601 SW 83rd Avenue Miami, Fla., U.S.A.
Southeast Asia: Angus & Robertson (S.E. Asia) Pty Ltd, Singapore
Japan: United Publishers Services Ltd, Tokyo
CONTENTS
Preface xii
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction 1
PART A THE PAST—ECOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

1 Ecological Perspectives 7
2 Land, Nature and People 21
3 Life Conditions and Biopsychic State in Early Hong Kong 65
PARTB. THE PRESENT—HONG KONG IN THE 1970s

4 Conceptual Framework 87
5 Modern Hong Kong—An Overview 109
6 Extrasomatic Energy 121
7 Energy in the Hong Kong Food System 161
8 Nutrients and Water Supply in Hong Kong 173
9 The Built Environment and Transportation 199
10 The Population 213
11 Material Aspects of Human Experience 243
12 Social Relationships and Some Important Intangibles 275
13 Behavioural Aspects of Human Experience 299
14 Environment, Life Style and Health: Problems and
Principles 325
PARTC THE FUTURE—HUMAN ECOLOGICAL

IMPERATIVES
15 The Future of Urban Settlements 357
Appendix 1 Life Conditions Check List 383

Appendix 2 Common Behavioural Tendencies 387
A p p e n d ix 3 B io s o c ia l S u rv e y 391
A p p e n d ix 4 G lo s s a r y 407
R e fe re n c e s 413
In d e x 429
TABLES
6.1 Global and regional comparison of energy consumption

with Hong Kong, 1971 124
6.2 Use of energy in transport 134
6.3 Energy efficiency of transport l 37' 8
6.4 End-use of energy—international comparison 139
6.5 Comparison of observed and predicted ground level
sulphur dioxide concentrations 148
7.1 Energetics of food production 166
7.2 Energy use in post-farm gate distribution of plant food 167
8.1 Nutrient balance for Hong Kong 176
8.2 Inputs of animal protein I77
8.3 Known nutrient wastes ^^ ^
8.4 Comparison of apparent consumption per capita per
day of energy and protein consumption with countries
of the Far East Region 179
8.5 Comparative apparent consumption data for 1971 180
8.6 Apparent consumption per adult equivalent 185
9.1 Ground area and floor area of buildings used for various
purposes 202
9.2 Estimated population by type of housing 204
10.1 Gross population density in urban regions 215
10.2 Participation in education and workforce by age and sex 217
10.3 Demographic statistics for Hong Kong and various
other countries 221
10.4 Leading causes of death in Hong Kong and various
other countries 224-5
10.5 Mortality from lung cancer in Hong Kong, Australia
and UK 227
10.6 Mortality from cardiovascular disease in Hong Kong
and various other countries 228
viii
10.7 Deaths from heart disease and cerebrovascular disease,

Hong Kong, 1974 229
10.8 Biosocial Survey: General physical health 237
10.9 Biosocial Survey: psycho-physiological maladjustment 239
10.10 Biosocial Survey: life employment 241
11.1 Simplified version o f the human experience check lists 248
11.2 Biosocial Survey: life conditions by type of housing 270-1
11.3 Biosocial Survey: health and well-being by type of
housing 272-3
12.1 Biosocial Survey: hours spent each day making things
by hand 287
13.1 Violent crime against the person in Hong Kong and
various other countries 305
13.2 Biosocial Survey: fear of local crime by housing type 307
14.1 Biosocial Survey: economic status and health and
well-being 328
14.2 Biosocial Survey: relationship between physical density
and maladjustment 336
14.3 Biosocial Survey: the relationship of some psychosocial
variables to health and well-being 345
FIGURES
2.1 Map showing position of Hong Kong in East Asia 25

2.2 Population of Hong Kong, 1841-1975 31
2.3 Yin-Yang symbol and the interrelationship of the Five
Elements 37
2.4 Distribution of houshold income, Hong Kong 1971 61
3.1 The decline in mortality from infectious disease in Hong
Kong 80
3.2 Infant mortality from and vaccination against tuber
culosis 85
4.1 Conceptual diagram—version 1 90
5.1 Land use in Hong Kong, 1974 113
5.2 Area in agricultural use, Hong Kong, 1954-74 114
5.3 The daily ‘metabolism’ of Hong Kong 116
5.4 Annual global production of carbon dioxide from
industrial activities 118
6.1 Determinants and consequences of machine use in
human settlements 122
6.2 Extrasomatic and somatic energy use compared to
population size 126
6.3 Changing patterns of fuel use in Hong Kong 127
6.4 Extrasomatic energy flow chart 128
6.5 Inputs and end-uses of fuels 129
6.6 Industrial and commercial energy use 131
6.7 Map of sulphur dioxide concentrations 147
6.8 Map of carbon monoxide concentrations 150
7.1 Flow of somatic energy in food 162
7.2 Energy in plant food production and distribution 165
X Figures
8.1 Flow chart of nutrients 187

8.2 Socioeconomic variation in daily household intake of
somatic energy, animal protein and calcium per
capita by family income 188
8.3 Socioeconomic variation in daily household intake of
somatic energy, animal protein and calcium per
capita by family expenditure 189
8.4 A schematic representation of phosphorus flow 191
8.5 Map of Hong Kong showing major catchment areas
and storage reservoirs 193
8.6 Water balance of Hong Kong 194
8.7 Annual fresh-water consumption in Hong Kong since
1926 195
8.8 The simulated effect of industrial growth rate and
population increase on water consumption 198
9.1 Secondary Planning Units of the ‘built up’ area of
Hong Kong 201
10.1 Population density in Hong Kong, 1971 214
10.2 Age distribution of the population of Hong Kong, 1971 216
10.3 Crude birth rates, infant mortality rates and total death
rates 218
10.4 Age-specific fertility rates 219
10.5 Death rates from main causes of death 222
10.6 Death rates from selected causes 226
10.7 Death rates and hospital treatment rates for bronchitis,
emphysema and asthma 230
10.8 Death rates and hospital treatment rates for accidents 231
10.9 Death rates and hospital treatment rates for diabetes 232
10.10 Biosocial Survey: distribution of scores on the Langner
Scale, by sex 240
11.1 Biosocial Survey: maladjustment as measured by the
Langner Scale, by type of housing 269
13.1 Violent crime against the person 306
13.2 Opium addiction: a conceptual diagram 319
14.1 High physical density and maladj ustment 331
14.2 Biosocial Survey: the relationship between density
tolerance and age 337
14.3 Biosocial Survey: the relationship between density
tolerance and maladj ustment 338
Figures xi
14.4 Conceptual diagram for the relationship between high

population density and biosychic state 340
PREFACE
We will begin this book by referring to some aspects of the philosophy

which lies behind our work in human ecology.
First, our conceptual approach is based on the fact that all human
situations involve a continual interplay between many different aspects
of reality. These different aspects are conventionally the concern of
experts in different branches of government and in the different
academic disciplines of the natural sciences, social sciences and
humanities. We hold, however, that a proper understanding of human
situations, such as is required for the formulation of wise policies for
the future, demands that we pay a great deal more attention to the
patterns of interplay as such. Indeed, in our view, the persistence of so
many of the problems facing humankind in the modern world is to a
large extent due to the excessive compartmentalisation, fragmenta
tion and specialism which are so characteristic of educaiton, research
and government today. There is an urgent need for more intellectual
effort aimed at improving knowledge and understanding of the
patterns of interplay between different cultural and natural processes
in human situations, and of the principles relevant to this interplay.
We use the word ‘comprehensive’ to describe work which has this
objective.
Since the different kinds of variables which are interacting in human
situations are ordinarily studied by workers in different areas of
specialism, the comprehensive approach necessarily includes an
integrative component, aimed at bringing together the Findings of
different academic disciplines as they relate to the situation under
examination. However, it must be emphasised that comprehensive
work involves a great deal more than merely bringing together a group
of specialists to meet around a table now and again to plan a multi
disciplinary study, only to return after their meetings to the security
of their own academic disciplines. It is essential that there should be a
xiv Preface
central core o f individuals whose main interest, as in our own case, is

the comprehensive and integrative process itself.
Comprehensive scholarship in the m odern setting is, however, in its
infancy, and it is certainly not yet recognised in most o f our institu
tions o f learning and research as a bona fide and respectable pursuit.
Consequently, there is at present a serious dearth o f fulltime ‘experts’
in integrative thinking. In our opinion, if academic institutions are to
take seriously their responsibilities to the communities they serve,
they must give encouragement to the comprehensive approach, so that
it will develop into a meaningful art or science in its own right. W hen
this happens, we believe, new concepts and principles will emerge
relating to the changing patterns o f culture-nature interplay— concepts
and principles o f great relevance to the problem s and predicaments of
contem porary society.
The background to the present study is as follows. In March 1972,
one o f us (S.B.) attended a conference in H ong Kong on hum an
ecology, organised by the Com m onwealth H um an Ecology Council of
London. The point was m ade during the meeting that Hong Kong
offered an extraordinarily good opportunity for carrying out a pilot
ecological study o f an urban settlement. A num ber of overseas dele
gates from various parts o f the world, including Hong Kong itself,
supported this idea. The special advantage offered by Hong Kong for
a study o f this kind lies in the fact that it is, in essence, a city state.
As such, it is a discrete economic, geographical, demographic and
political entity, and excellent records are available relating to inputs,
throughputs and outputs o f material and people.
It happened that at that time, members o f the H um an Ecology
Group* at The Australian National University, who had been con
centrating their efforts on theoretical aspects o f the comprehensive
study of hum an stituations, had come to feel that their work would
benefit from an opportunity to study an actual hum an situation in
terms o f the ideas which had emerged from their research. Thus it was
eventually arranged that the Australian group, comprising the authors
of this book and their colleagues, would take responsibility for a study
which later came to be known as the H ong Kong H um an Ecology
Program m e. The present work is the au th o rs’ first attem pt to study
and describe a hum an settlement in a comprehensive and integrative
way, taking into account physico-chemical, biotic, societal and
*Then known as the Urban Biology Group.

Preface xv
cultural components of the situation, and considering the dynamic

interrelationships between them. Fundamentally, our interest lies in
these interrelationships as they relate to human health and well-being
and to the life-supporting properties of the biosphere.
The work itself involved many visits to Hong Kong by all the
authors, and two of us (S.M. and K.N.) lived there for a continuous
period of about fourteen months, based at the Centre of Asian Studies,
University of Hong Kong. We received a great deal of help and co
operation from staff and members of the University of Hong Kong
and the Chinese University of Hong Kong and from members of many
government departments. One of us (S.M.) conducted, in collaboration
with members of the Social Research Centre of the Chinese University,
a ‘Biosocial Survey’. This took the form of an interview-questionnaire
administered to about four thousand individuals, with the purpose of
providing information on living conditions and the general state of
mental and physical health.
In late 1974 the Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme was
adopted by UNESCO as the first pilot project within Project Area
No. 11 of its Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB). The MAB
11 Project is now promoting a series of integrative ecological studies
on human settlements in other parts of the world. Broadly speaking,
the aim of these studies, like the Hong Kong Programme, is to improve
knowledge and understanding of the ecology of human settlements, so
that communities and their decision-makers will be in a better position
to develop wise policies for the future. Most of the fieldwork was
completed by 1975, and we regret that five years have elapsed since
then, due to unfortunate delays in the analysis of the data and the
preparation and publication of this book.
This book has several objectives. The first is simply the compre
hensive ecological description of Hong Kong. We believe that descrip
tions of human settlements in these terms will encourage holistic
thinking, to the ultimate advantage of society. Second, we aim to
draw attention to the major ecological problems facing modern man
kind, ranging from aspects of the use of energy in society to the daily
experience of people living in cities. Third, we take advantage of the
occasion to introduce and discuss some of our own concepts and ideas
concerning the patterns of interplay between cultural and natural
processes. We know that there will be readers who find themselves in
disagreement with some of our views. But we hope at least that, by
putting them forward, we will generate some discussion and in this
xvi Preface
way contribute to progress in this academic no-man’s land.

Studies of this kind also offer the opportunity to examine various
alternative societal strategies and policies, ranging from quite specific
topics, such as sewage disposal, to broader issues concerned with the
whole future of industrial society. In the final chapter of the book we
comment, albeit only briefly, on our own views on the changes which
are necessary if future society is to satisfy both the ecological needs
of the biosphere and of human populations, and the experiential
needs of individuals.
In presenting this work, we run a risk which must be faced by all
those who attempt a comprehensive description of a human situation.
No matter what the would-be integrator talks about, there are likely
to be some individuals among his audience who know considerably
more about certain aspects of the topic than he does himself. While
the integrator is likely to have a better grasp than the specialist of the
total situation and of the interactive processes which are of significance,
only a very exceptional individual will have a thorough understanding
of all the various specific aspects of the situation he is considering.
Therefore, the integrator must anticipate and, indeed, look forward to
a lively interchange of ideas and information with experts, who can
assist him by pointing out any misinterpretations or misconceptions
that he may have.
Consequently, it is not unlikely that specialists in different fields will
find fault with some of the content of this book. We hope that they
will not hesitate to let us know if they consider that we have made
important mistakes. We also appreciate that many a specialist may
feel that the book does not deal in adequate detail with the particular
aspect of the situation which is the centre of his life’s work.
One further important general point must be made. We envisage
several distinct stages in the adaptive responses which will be necessary
for human society to overcome successfully the ecological threats
which are facing civilisation. These stages are as follows:
(1) Improvement of the comprehensive understanding of human
situations, in terms both of the patterns of interaction between
different aspects of reality and of the relevant ecological and
biocultural principles.
(2) Identification, on the basis of this improved understanding, of the
ecological needs of the biosphere and of human populations, and
the experiential needs of individuals. Clearly, with respect to the
latter, there is some room for differences in opinion. We feel that
Preface xvii
the comprehensive approach is likely to lessen the degree of dis

agreement in this area. In other words, stage 2 leads to the defining
of the ecological and experiential goals of society.
(3) Consideration of the societal conditions that would be necessary
for the achievement of these goals. We include, under ‘societal
conditions’, such topics as the distribution of population, the
kinds of industry and its location with respect to population,
transport systems, the structure and size of societal institutions
and business corporations.
(4) The working out of an economic system and a political system
which permit and facilitate the attainment and maintenance of
societal characteristics which will ensure ecological equilibrium
between civilisation and the biosphere, and the enhancement of
human well-being. This stage is thus not concerned directly with
actual ecological and experiential needs, but rather with the
economic and political machineries that could ensure the satis
faction of these needs.
This book is intended to be a contribution mainly to the first two of
these stages, although we do comment in the last chapter on the
implications of ecological considerations for the organisation of
society in the future.
A few further comments are necessary about the book itself. First,
we do not provide detailed references throughout the text. However,
some references are given at the end of the book under various
headings. These references include some of the main sources of
information about Hong Kong itself, as well as a selection of books
and articles which are relevant to various themes discussed in the
book. Publications arising directly from the Hong Kong Human
Ecology Programme are listed separately.
The book consists of three parts. Part A (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) deals
mainly with the ecological and historical background of the present
situation, although it includes some reference to aspects of modern
Hong Kong (e.g. the economic system). Part B begins with a discus
sion about the conceptual framework on which our study of the
ecology of Hong Kong in the 1970s was based (Chapter 4). Chapters
5-10 are concerned with the ecology of Hong Kong as a whole, with
special emphasis on patterns of flow of energy and of nutrients within
the system. Chapters 11-14 concentrate on the conditions of life and
the health and well-being of the people who live in Hong Kong. In
Part C, we discuss the implications of the ecological facts relating to
xviii Preface
Hong Kong in terms of the future of urban settlements in general.

Much of the statistical information in the book is based on the year
1971, when a full census was conducted, and a great deal of informa
tion collected. However, where available and appropriate, later figures
have been used, although, with few exceptions, data are not given for
years subsequent to 1977.
We have already explained that the Hong Kong Human Ecology
Programme was not master-minded and did not have the benefit of a
long and thorough period of planning. Furthermore, none of us had
had any previous experience in fieldwork of this kind. Consequently,
the Programme has had a number of deficiencies. One of the most
serious of these was the fact that, due to the short time of preparation,
there was virtually no involvement of planners, governmental authori
ties or interested members of the community in the planning stage
(although we received much help and co-operation from government
officials during the Programme itself). We hope that this omission
will not be characteristic of future research of this kind.
Throughout this Preface we have emphasised the importance of the
comprehensive and integrative approach. However, in retrospect, we
find we are not entirely satisfied with our performance in this regard.
Comprehensive scholarship is difficult, and a great deal more intellec
tual effort will have to be devoted to the problem by many people
before it comes easily. Nevertheless, we hope that our work will
contribute something to this process.
Finally, we would like to thank very sincerely all those people, in
Hong Kong and in Australia, who have assisted us in so many ways
and who have entered so willingly into the spirit of this endeavour. It
has been, for us, an extremely worthwhile and enjoyable experience.
This book is dedicated to the people who live in Hong Kong.
Canberra, 1981 Stephen Boyden
Sheelagh Millar
Ken Newcombe
Beverley O ’Neill
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme would not have been
possible without the willing co-operation and assistance of a large
number of individuals in the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese
University of Hong Kong, in many Government Departments, and in
a number of commercial and industrial organisations.
We are particularly indebted to Professor Frank King and the
members of the Centre of Asian Studies at the University of Hong
Kong for providing office space for the field-work phase of the
Programme. We very much appreciated their friendly hospitality and
their help in numerous ways.
We are also very appreciative of the support given to the Programme
by Professor Michael Colbourne, who took on the task of local rep
resentative of the Programme, and by Professors Peter Lisowski and
Gary Kneebone—all at the Queen Mary Hospital, University of
Hong Kong.
We are especially grateful to Dr Ranee Lee, Dr Ambrose King, Dr
Pedro Ng and Dr Y.K. Chan of the Social Research Centre of the
Chinese University, who made the Biosocial Survey possible. Our
interactions with this group were, for us, an extremely enjoyable and
rewarding experience.
Thanks are also due to all the members of the team of research
assistants, coders and interviewers who participated in the Biosocial
Survey, as well as to the 4000 members of the population of Hong
Kong who patiently answered our several hundred questions.
The Programme is indebted to the Nuffield Foundation, London,
for providing financial support for the Biosocial Survey, and to
UNESCO and UNEP for supporting the last part of the Programme.
The Shell Company of Hong Kong also contributed some funds.
Our own institution. The Australian National University, of course,
contributed very substantially to the funding of the Programme
throughout.
XX Acknowledgements
It is not possible to list here all the members o f the Hong Kong
Government Departments who helped us in many ways. We would
like, however, to express our appreciation for the interest shown in
the Programme by M r Ken Topley, who was Commissioner o f Census
and Statistics during the early stages o f our research. We also wish to
thank M r Ben Mok, M r J. Wong, M r Joseph Lee and Ms Annie Yau
of that Department, M r E. Nichols, Director of the Department of
Agriculture and Fisheries and Dr P. K. Wong o f the Medical and
Health Services Department for their co-operation. Our interaction
with Government Departments was also facilitated through the help
of M r Allan Armstrong Wright and M r Graham Barnes o f the
Colonial Secretariat.
We much appreciated the advice given to us by Dr W .H . Lo, the
Director o f Government Psychiatric Services, and are grateful to him
and his colleagues for arranging for the validation o f the Langner
scale on psychiatric patients.
Many other people in Hong Kong helped us in informal discussions
and in other ways. We would like in particular to express our apprecia
tion to Dr Marjorie Topley, Dr Flora Baber, Dr C.Y. Choi, Professor
D. Dwyer and Dr N. Ko.
A very important contribution was made to the Programme by
Dr Jetse Kalma and Dr Alan Aston o f the CSIRO in Canberra, who
acted as consultants with respect to the study o f aspects o f the pattern
of flow o f energy, nutrients and water in Hong Kong. We have also
received a great deal o f invaluable advice relating to the Biosocial
Survey from M r Don Porritt, now at the University o f New South
Wales, Sydney.
Turning now to members o f our own team, we would like to express
our very deep appreciation to Fay Goddard, Secretary o f the Human
Ecology Group, whose good humour and competence has made such
an enormous difference to the Programme and to the preparation of
this book.
Others who have played indispensable roles include: Sue Andrew, as
Secretary o f the Programme in Hong Kong and for a while in Australia;
Elizabeth Barta, who has been responsible for the preparation o f most
o f the charts and diagrams in the text o f this book; Johany Kung, our
computer programmer; Andy Tse, research assistant in Hong Kong
and in Australia; and research assistants Clyde Campbell, Robyn
McClelland, Anita Ko, Marion Christie, Barbara de Zalduondo and
Kaye Bowman. The index has been prepared by Suzanne Ridley.
Finally, we wish to express thanks to Professor Frank Fenner, who,
Acknowledgements xxi
first as Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and

later as Director of the Centre for Resource and Environmental
Studies at this University, supported the idea of the Programme and
so made it possible.
INTRODUCTION
No-one can visit Hong Kong and come away unmoved by the
experience. Even a short stay leaves a host of colourful, contrasting
and bewildering impressions. The reactions of the visitor range from
fascination to despair, and from deep concern about the future of
civilisation to a heightened and warm respect for humanity. As a
human settlement, Hong Kong is in many ways unique. Less than one
hundred and thirty years ago it was the home of a sparse and scattered
community of a few hundred farming and fishing people, and now, in
1980, it accommodates a population of over five million. The built-up
part of Hong Kong is the most densely populated area of its size in the
world, and in the homes of half the population, the amount of free
floor space for each individual is less than two square metres. With a
minimum of direction from an alien government, the multitude of
interacting institutions of Hong Kong maintain the continuous inflow
and distribution of vast quantities of foodstuffs, fossil fuels and
material goods of all kinds, and the massive outflow of wastes and
manufactured products. The visitor marvels that this gigantic seething
structure actually seems to work, at least in the sense that the great
majority of mouths appear to be adequately fed, that nearly everyone
has some sort of shelter, and that the people look active and confident.
The life expectancy of the population is now similar to that of modern
European cities and 90 per cent of the households possess television
sets.
Hong Kong is a place of almost overwhelming contradictions and
incongruities. There is the breath-taking beauty of the coastline of
south-east China, with magnificent hills rising steeply out of the sea,
numerous sheltered inlets, and countless off-shore islands. There is the
harbour between Hong Kong Island and the peninsula, with forty or
fifty big ocean-going ships lying at anchor and hundreds of small
junks and other small vessels busily moving to and fro between the
2 Introduction
bigger ships and the land. There are the teeming masses of human
beings in the streets, over 98 per cent of them Chinese, patiently going
about their business. There are all the flashy material products of our
technological age: cars, cameras, smart fashions, sophisticated
electronic goods and, of course, the multi-coloured neon signs, with
their messages in both Chinese and English symbolising the city’s split
personality. And then there is the most pervasive and ubiquitous
element of all—food: miles and miles of hawker stalls offering for
human consumption a fantastic variety of animal and vegetable
products.
Despite the size and intensity of the crowds, the constant roar of
vehicles and the shattering din of jackhammer», the people seem to be
accepting it all, and each other, with extraordinary equanimity. Neat
bespectacled children are seen in their hordes going to and from
school, or else sitting on the pavement diligently doing their
homework; and smaller children patiently accompany their parents,
sisters and grandmothers on shopping expeditions and on crowded
ferries crossing the harbour. Everywhere we go we are aware of
myriads of seemingly harmonious social interactions and of small
groups of people contentedly engaged in common pursuits in little
stores, markets and street-side factories; some are playing mah-jong,
and others are enjoying food together at the back of little shops which
they own or in the countless restaurants and cooked food stalls which
line the streets.
But Hong Kong, as we have remarked, is a city of contrasts, and
there is in it much that is not beautiful, much that is drab, and much
that is ugly. What of the other small children of Hong Kong, the ones
that we do not see, the majority perhaps, who never experience the
ferry, and seldom even the streets? Are they smiling too? And what of
the lonely people, the inept and inadequate who, for one reason or
another, do not enjoy the protection and support of the traditional
Chinese family? Cities are notoriously cruel places for the lonely, and
Hong Kong is no exception, although the proportion of lonely people
may well be lower there than in many other urban centres. While
poverty is not an obvious feature of Hong Kong today, extreme
material deprivation does still exist. And there are many other
disturbing and unpleasing aspects of this city, including the constant
stench of fumes from vehicles, the extreme population density itself,
the evidence of an increasingly frenetic pace of life, and the
indifference that one senses in so many individuals to the problems and
hardships of other people, both near at hand and far away.
Introduction 3
Hong Kong is a city of paradoxes in a world of paradoxes. In a way,

it epitomises the human situation in the late twentieth century,
highlighting, as it does, so many of the problems, uncertainties and
difficulties that face modern man. Like other modern cities, it has an
increasing crime rate (although probably only a tenth as high as in
many Western cities), it is dependent on an ever-increasing
consumption of material resources and energy, it experiences severe
pollution problems and its population seems to have become
dependent for survival on ever-increasing industrial growth, with all
its implications for the quality of human experience.
Hong Kong is also a sharp reminder of many of the dilemmas,
conflicts and dichotomies of our world: traditionalism versus
modernism: cosmopolitanism versus provincialism; capitalism versus
communism; laissez-faire versus state control; centralism versus
decentralism; propriety versus permissiveness; youth versus age;
capital-intensive versus labour-intensive industry; human
indifference versus human concern; modern technology versus the old
ways; West versus'East.
Hong Kong is also a symbol of the precariousness of the human
situation in a top-heavy world society in which the survival of
civilisation and satisfaction of even the most elemental human needs is
becoming more and more dependent on massive and ever-increasing
flows of energy, on bigger and more complicated machines, and on
the successful functioning and stability of highly intricate but little
understood socioeconomic processes. It is part of a world society
which gives first priority to increasing the gross national product and
the efficiency of machines and institutions, and only secondary
consideration to the quality of human experience and of personal
relationships.
The spectacle of Hong Kong reminds us how far humankind has
travelled, in only a few hundred generations, from the way of life and
the environment which, through evolution, shaped the human species;
the way of life, that is, of the hunter-gatherer, the way of life of man
for 99 per cent of his existence on earth. What are the implications, we
ask, of all the rapid and accelerating changes that have and are taking
place in the human condition—the implications for civilisation and for
the biosphere? Where are we? Where have we come from? How did
we get here? Where do we seem to be going? Where do we want to go?
What is ‘progress’? Does the modern world really satisfy ‘human
needs’? And what, anyway, are the needs of the human species? These
are philosophical questions, but they also have great practical
4 Introduction
relevance in the modern world. They are of course, not new; but they
are being asked today more frequently than ever before and with an
increasing sense of urgency. It is our view that comprehensive
ecological studies of human settlements can, by improving
understanding of the human situation, contribute towards our
attempts to find answers to these questions. This book is the product
of one such ecological study.
PART A
THE PAST — ECOLOGICAL
BACKGROUND
1
ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
There was a time when our ancestors fitted into their environment in much
the same way as any other animal species. As hunter-gatherers, they
had their natural place in the food cycle, they derived their energy, in
chemical form, from natural foodstuffs of animal and plant origin and
they passed on materials and energy to predators and decomposers.
The amount of energy used by an early hominid group in its natural
habitat would have been more or less equivalent to the energy value of
the foodstuffs consumed by members of the group, and it is unlikely to
have constituted more than about one thousandth of the total energy
flow through the local ecosystem to which the group belonged.
Then, probably about half a million years ago, some people in some
places began to use fire, deliberately and regularly, to keep themselves
warm, to cook food and to drive game out from the undergrowth.
Knowledge of how to use fire in these ways soon became embedded as a
part of human culture. Ecologically, as well as technologically, this
was a novel and highly significant development, and it undoubtedly
had considerable ecological impact. It is said, for example, that forest
and grass fires became much more frequent events than hitherto,
bringing about im portant changes in the plant cover of certain areas of
the earth’s surface. This development meant that human society came
to utilise considerably more energy than previously, for the flow of
somatic energy through the bodies of human beings for metabolism,
physical work and growth was now supplemented by additional
extrasomatic energy, that is, energy which does not flow through living
organisms. This particular use of extrasomatic energy at least doubled
the total per capita flow of energy through human societies.
The use of fire thus brought about a qualitative change in the
relationshiphetween the human species and the biosphere. It is an early
and clear example of the potential of human culture to modify the
ecology of human populations and to produce significant impact on
8 Ecology of a City
the environment. Although the effects of this cultural development

were slight in comparison with what was to happen later, culture had
already become a significant ecological force, and as a consequence
human groups no longer fitted into their local ecosystems in quite the
same way as other animals.
Of much greater ecological portent than the use of fire was the later
introduction, some four or five hundred generations ago,* of
techniques involving the domestication of animals and plants. With
this development, for the first time in the history of life, a living
creature came to deliberately and consciously manipulate the biotic
processes of nature for its own purposes.
The interplay between culture and nature t has been characterised
by a number of other qualitative changes or transitions of major
ecological importance. Apart from the introduction of the use of fire
and the domestic transition referred to above, the most significant
such development has been the introduction of techniques involving
the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy for driving machines. This
change has been associated with a great intensification of culture-
nature interactions and with an ever-increasing impact of humankind
on the biosphere. The magnitude of this impact is reflected in the fact
that the human species now utilises about ten thousand times more
energy each day than was the case just before the domestic transition,
and at present the rate of energy use is doubling in around twenty
years. In fact, the scale of activity of human society in the biosphere
has now reached proportions that many people consider to be a cause
for grave concern, with respect both to the integrity of the ecosystems
on which we depend for our existence, and to the future of civilisation.
*We sometimes refer to ‘generations ago’ instead of ‘years ago’. This is because
we feel that for some people, it is easier to picture time in terms of say, 200
generations, than in terms of 5000 years. In other words, the occasional use of
‘generations’ rather than ‘years’ improves our sense of perspective.
fT he word ‘nature’, as used in this book, refers to all things and processes of a
kind which existed on earth before the advent in evolution of human culture.
‘Culture’ refers to that set of processes which are characteristic of human
societies and which involve the acquistion and accumulation of information
and its transmission by non-genetic means, mainly through the use of learned
symbols, from one human being to another, from one society to another and
from generation to generation.
Ecological Perspectives 9
Four ecological phases of human existence
It is useful to recognise in history four distinct ecological phases of

human existence. We shall refer to these phases as follows: Phase
1—the primeval phase, Phase 2—the early fanning phase, Phase 3—the
early urban phase, and Phase 4—the modem industrial phase. Such a
simple categorisation of human ecological or biocultural history is, of
course, an oversimplification. Nevertheless, the ecological
characteristics of the four phases, in terms of both the impact of
human society on the natural environment and the conditions of life
of human beings, are sufficiently distinct, and the differences between
them sufficiently important to render the four-phase concept valid
and meaningful.* The characteristics of the four phases, in terms of
the ecological relationships between human populations and the
environment may be summarised as follows:
Phase 1—the primeval phase

As we have already noted, human populations in the primeval phase
differed little from those of other omnivorous mammals in the nature
of their interactions with the other components of the ecosystems of
which they were a part. The most important exception was the use of
fire and its ecological consequences. But these effects were restricted
to the destructive effects of fire itself, and the chemical products of the
combustion of wood (mainly carbon dioxide) were easily absorbed
into the system as a whole—with negligible repercussions. The most
significant ecological effect of human culture in the primeval phase
was probably the spread of the human species itself into areas
characterised by a wide range of different climatic conditions and into
all five continents of the world.
Phase 1 was by far the longest of the four ecological phases. Beings
classifiable as belonging to the genius Homo have been inexistence for
at least 80,000 generations (2 million years), and the species Homo
sapiens for at least 10,000 generations. People whom we classify as
belonging to our own sub-species, Homo sapiens sapiens, were
♦Strictly speaking, the term ecological ‘phase’ should relate to a period in time
which was characterised by certain ecological conditions; and the way of life of
society during that period could appropiately be referred to as a ‘mode’. The
use of both terms would obviate the difficulty associated with the fact that
societies based on the four different modes can and do coexist. However, for
the sake of simplicity, we shall use the word ‘phase’ to cover both meanings.
10 Ecology of a City
walking the earth about 2500 generations ago. The domestic

transition, marking the introduction of ecological Phase 2, did not
even begin until 400 or 500 generations age.
The conditions of life during ecological Phase 1 were those which
are ‘natural’ to mankind, in the sense that our species evolved
under these conditions and developed, through natural selection,
phylogenetic characteristics which rendered individuals and
populations admirably suited to the primeval environment. The
relevance of this fact to the understanding of biocultural aspects of
human situations in the other phases will be discussed in Chapter 4.
We will not describe the conditions of life of people in the primeval
phase here, but reference will be made to them in later chapters.
Phase 2 — The early farming phase

The early farming phase began with the domestic transition, about
12,000 years ago. Its most essential features were the domestication of
animal and plant food sources and the domestication of human
beings.
With respect to the overall ecological relationship between human
society and the natural environment, the early farming phase and the
early urban phase (Phase 3) are not very different, and the following
few paragraphs therefore apply to both these phases. The most
important differences between the two phases relate to the quality of
human experience, which will be discussed later.
As domestication spread and as farming techniques advanced, the
total impact of human society on surrounding ecosystems increased
significantly. Humankind was in the process of ‘changing the face of
the earth’. As a result of human activities, vast areas of forest land in the
northern hemisphere disappeared, to be replaced in some instances by
farmland, in others by areas of erosion, and in others by forms of less
luxuriant vegetation. Another change, resulting from increasing human
travel and the use of boats, was the transportation of numerous species
of animals and plants from their natural habitats to different parts of
the world.
Among the other important ecological implications of farming
practices was the introduction of monocultures of food crops, on which
many populations came to be almost solely dependent for sustenance.
This development clearly had some practical advantages, but it also
involved serious risks, for if the monocultures for some reason failed,
then widespread starvation was virtually inevitable.
One further consequence of mankind’s deliberate manipulation of

biotic processes is worthy of mention. Selective breeding of animals and
cultivation of plants for desirable qualities relating to food production
brought into existence an array of forms of life which, had it not been
for human culture, would certainly never have seen the light of day.
Fire was, of course, still in use in the second ecological phase, and it
came to play an important role in the manufacture of implements made
out of metal. With the invention of such devices as water-mills,
windmills and sailing ships, extrasomatic energy now came to be used
for performing work of various kinds. However, compared with the
situation in Phase 4, the ecological impact of these machines was
relatively slight, restricted mainly to the role that ships played in the
migratory movements of the human species, to the geographical spread
of technologies and to the redistribution of some animal and plants
species.
Despite all the changes that agriculture produced, the early farming
phase shared two important ecological characteristics with the primeval
phase which are not features of modern Phase 4 societies. First, the rate
of use of extrasomatic energy (mainly in fire) paralleled the rate of
increase of the human population. Second, the activities of humankind
did not interfere significantly with the natural biogeochemical cycles of
the biosphere, such as the cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.
Turning to the biosocial sphere, the conditions of life of people in the
early farming phase were clearly different in some respects from those
typical of the primeval setting. Human groups became much less
nomadic, although the length of time they remained in one place
depended to some extent on the kind of farming they practised.
Swidden agriculturists and horticulturists moved camp more frequently
than groups using other forms of farming practice. The new lifestyle
had significant consequences for the interrelationships between human
populations and their microbial, protozoal and metazoal parasites and
pathogens. In some areas, for example, malaria and schistosomiasis
became important causes of ill-health and death, counteracting to some
extent the reduced mortality resulting from the protection which the
domestic conditions afforded against some of the hazards of the
primeval environmental lifestyle.
The diets of individuals in Phase 2 varied from place to place and
from time to time. The most significant difference from diets of the
primeval phase was a tendency toward less variety in foodstuffs. There
were clearly fundamental changes in the kind of human activity
associated with the acquisition of food, involving trends toward more

monotonous tasks, harder physical labour, and less time for non
subsistence activities.
Despite these and some other important differences, the conditions
of life characteristic of Phase 2 were more like those of Phase 1 than
those of the succeeding phases.
Phase 3 — The early urban phase. The first cities became established in
certain parts of the world around two hundred generations ago. They
differed from earlier settlements in the relatively large size of their
populations and by the fact that the majority of their inhabitants were
not directly involved in subsistence activities such as farming, fishing
and hunting. The urban populations were supported nutritionally by
food surpluses produced by nearby farmers who lived and worked
beyond the city walls.
These early cities ushered in the third ecological phase of human
existence. Although there was a great deal of variability in the political
and economic structure of cities in different places and at different times
during Phase 3, with respect to the biosocial conditions of life of their
inhabitants, they all shared, right up until the industrial transition, a
distinct set of characteristics which set them apart from earlier or later
societies.
The early urban phase introduced a series of fundamental changes
affecting the organisation of human society and the life experience of its
members. Some, but not all, of these changes have persisted into Phase
4, and are therefore features of the situation that exists today in Hong
Kong and many other urban settlements in the modem world.
The most obvious of all the biosocial changes associated with
urbanisation from the beginning was simply the big increase in the
number of people aggregated together in one place. There has been
much discussion, especially following studies on the effects of crowding
on animal populations, of the possible detrimental behavioural and
psychological consequences of high density living for human beings.
This question is very pertinent to the Hong Kong situation,and will be
discussed later in this book. However, perhaps the most significant
consequence of increased population density was the effect that it had
on the interrelationships between human populations and potential
parasitic or pathogenic organisms. Pestilence became one of the
outstanding facts of life of Phase 3 society. Typhus, cholera, typhoid,
the plague, smallpox, malaria, infantile diarrhoea and many other
infectious diseases were constant causes of fear and alarm, and were
among the main causes of death. As we shall discuss in Chapter 3, one
hundred years ago Hong Kong was still well and truly a Phase 3 society,
and infectious disease accounted for at least three-quarters of the deaths
in the population.
On the societal level, one of the most significant biosocial
developments which accompanied early urbanisation was the advent of
occupational specialism. Some degree of specialism existed in Phase 2,
and even Phase 1 societies; but, apart from the sex-based division of
labour, most people were jacks-of-all-trades. It was in the early urban
phase that specialism really came into its own, and it has remained the
hallmark of civilisation to the present day. Part of the ecological
importance of this development lies in the fact that, for the first time in
human history, different groups within a single society experienced
quite different biotic and social conditions of life. Occupational
specialism led in turn to a reinforcement of the tendency of human
societies to establish hierarchies. Instead of being relatively
spontaneous, transient and dependent on the nature of the task at hand,
the hierarchical structure of society became much more rigid, more
extreme and more permanent; and it frequently came to be determined
by heredity, rather than by common consent based on talent and
personality. This development further contributed to the variations in
the life experience of people in different sub-populations within urban
settlements.
Phase 3 society also had quite distinct characteristics with regard to
diet and nutrition. Because many urban populations came to rely for
their sustenance on a single staple food, such as rice, maize, a cereal
grain or potatoes, there was a narrowing of the range of foods
consumed by individuals. Specific deficiency diseases, including
rickets, survey, beri-beri and pellagra were common in different parts
of the world in the early urban phase. Another nutritional
characteristic was the constant threat and repeated occurrence of
famine. The reliance of large populations on a single monoculture meant
that, should a season of unsuitable weather or an infestation of pests
result in a failure of the crop, mass starvation was likely to follow.
Unlike the situation in primeval society, populations did not have a
wide range of alternative sources of food to turn to when one failed. It
has been said that for the past 2000 years China as a whole has
experienced severe famines in one province or another at the rate of
one per year and, as we shall see, this fact may well have had biotic and
14 Ecology o f a City
cultural repercussions o f relevance to the hum an situation in H ong

Kong today.
From among the various other biosocial developments associated
with urbanisation, one o f the m ost striking relates to the ‘in-group: o u t
group experience’ o f individuals. In primeval times, m ost.people
belonged to only one in-group, the small nom adic band o f which they
were members. Except for populations o f other species of animals, and
perhaps in some cases spirits or gods, there were few out-groups in the
life-experience o f the average individual. The num ber o f neighbouring
bands was small and contacts with them were unlikely to have been very
frequent. With urbanisation this situation changed dramatically, and
whereas animal out-groups largely disappeared from hum an
experience, these were replaced by hum an out-groups. The common
behavioural tendency* o f hum an beings to treat out-groups with
suspicion has become an im portant determ inant o f societal behaviour
in cities, and sometimes the suspicion erupts into overt hostility.
Moreover, urban society, especially that of Phase 4 society, offers the
individual the opportunity for membership o f m ore than one, and often
several in-groups. Sometimes these groups have different sets of values,
providing a potential source o f personal conflict for the individual. In
C hapter 12 we will discuss how these changes in the in-group:out-group
structure o f society have had im portant consequences with respect to
the control o f societal behaviour.
We will refer here to one other biosocial development associated with
Phase 3 society. U rbanisation introduced entirely new concepts of
ownership. In primeval times, an individual ‘ow ned’ usually only those
possessions that he had made himself and no m ore than could be easily
carried when he moved from one camp site to another. In Phase 2,
animals, crops and stored grain became the objects o f ownership but, at
least in the early stages, this was usually com m unal ownership, in that
the whole village or in some instances the extended family owned and
shared these possessions and protected them against out-groups who
might covet them and attem pt to take them away. In early cities,
individual and family ownership became very im portant and has
remained so ever since. In H ong Kong, for example, when it was
representative, o f ecological Phase 3 society, a single individual might
*The expression ‘common behavioural tendency’ as used in this book has a

relatively specific meaning which is defined in the glossary and discussed in
Chapter 4 and in Appendix 2.
have owned tenement buildings which housed many thousands of

people, while he himself lived in a private house which, of course, he
also owned. Thus, wide discrepancies in material wealth become
common and, as will be suggested later, in the modern world this
situation is likely to be a major factor contributing, on the societal level,
to the spiralling processes of industrial growth and, on the individual
level, to a good deal of frustration and consequent maladjustment.
The agricultural com ponent of Phase 3 societies differed
fundamentally from the early farming phase only in the fact that the
farmers produced a surplus of foodstuffs beyond their own subsistence
requirements, this surplus being used to support the populations of the
cities. In the early urban phase, as in the preceding phases, the natural
biogeochemical cycles were still intact, and the rate of energy use by
society still paralleled changes in population size. The biosphere as a
whole and most of the ecosystems to which human populations
belonged were, despite some short-term fluctuations, still essentially in
a state of dynamic equilibrium. The existence of cities did not, of
course, mean an end to self-sufficient subsistence agricultural societies,
which indeed continue to exist in some areas of the world today.
Until very late in the period, few cities contained much more than
100,000 inhabitants. One notable exception was Rome around the time
of Jesus Christ, when it had a population of about one millon.
However, although cities have until very recently contained only a very
small percentage of the total human population, they have had an
ecological impact out of all proportion to the number of people living in
them. This applies even more to Phase 4 society than to Phase 3. To take
one extreme example, the situation has recently developed, unique in
the history of life on earth, in which a single species is in a position to
wipe out, either deliberately or through a series of misunderstandings,
most, if not all, of its own kind from the face of the earth, destroying at
the same time numerous other species of animals and plants. This
development is clearly of overwhelming ecological significance, and it is
strictly the consequence of processes that have taken have place within
cities.
Phase 4— The modern industrial phase

The fourth ecological phase of human existence began with the so-
called industrial revolution or, as we prefer to call it, the industrial
transition. It started in Europe and in North America some 150-200
years, or six to generations ago. This phase has a number of outstan-
ding ecological characteristics which are not shared with any of the
preceding phases of human existence. With respect to the impact of
human society on the total environment, these characteristics may be
summarised under four headings: (1) Energy; (2) Biogeochemical
cycles; (3) Chemicalisation; and (4) Population.
Energy. One of the outstanding features of Phase 4, and the determi

nant of many of its other characteristics, has been the introduction of
machines and manufacturing processes which are powered by ex-
trasomatic energy. The chief sources of this energy have been the
various fossil fuels, beginning with coal, but with petroleum products
and natural gas at present the most important. In some places
hydroelectric power makes a significant contribution, and recently
energy has been extracted from certain natural rocks through the
development of thermo-nuclear power. In highly industrialised coun
tries like the United States, the amount of energy used in the com
munity per capita has increased about thirty times since the beginning
of the industrial transition.
Thus, unlike the situation in Phases 2 and 3, the rate of increase in

energy use in Phase 4 no longer parallels the rate of increase in popula
tion; and the ratio of extrasomatic energy to somatic energy used by
society is continually increasing. At the present time, the energy flow
through human society as a whole is doubling about twice as fast as the
world population.
Biogeochemical cycles. Another characteristic of Phase 4 is the fact

that in many areas the natural biogeochemical cycles have been
significantly modified by human action. In the case, for instance, of
the nitrogen cycle, the nitrogenous waste products of large human
communities, which in previous eras would have been returned to the
soil, are now lost to the rivers and oceans; and enormous quantities of
nitrogen oxides are now being discharged into the atmosphere by in
dividual processes. And, as will be discussed in later chapters, human
interference with the carbon and phosphorus cycles is on a scale that
may well give rise to very serious ecological problems in the future.
Apart from the disturbances in natural biogeochemical cycles, the
massive growth of industry and technology has resulted in the extrac
tion of certain minerals from the earth at unprecedented and increas
ing rates. The patterns of flow of these substances, unlike the
ancient biogeochemical flows, are not cyclical, and will therefore

come to an end when the sources of supply are exhausted.
Chemicalisation. Another significant change of a qualitative nature

associated with Phase 4 has been the synthesis, often in very large
amounts, of many thousands of new, and consequently biologically
novel, chemical compounds, many of which have potent effects in
biotic systems. Vast quantities of these synthetic chemical substances
are finding their way into the oceans, the soil and the atmosphere and,
of course, into living organisms.
Population. As already noted, while Phases 2 and 3 provided

protection from some of the primeval causes of death, they were
associated with new causes of mortality in the form of malnutrition
and pestilence. In Phase 4, greatly improved knowledge of the
nutritional requirements of the human species and of the causes of
infectious diseases is resulting in a remarkable change in the
population dynamics of the human species. As a consequence largely
of new practices in public health and medicine, including the
pharmaceutical revolution, the human population is now doubling at
the rate of once every thirty-five to forty years, in contrast to the
overall rate of once in 1500 years during Phases 2 and 3.
We will not comment further at this point on the characteristics of
Phase 4 human society. It is, after all, what most of this book is about.
One final point, however, needs to be made. It is certain that, with its
characteristics of spiralling growth in the use of energy and natural
resources, rapidly expanding human populations and ever-increasing
impact on the natural environment, Phase 4 cannot last indefinitely.
Opinions of ecologists differ with respect to how much longer the
biosphere is likely to be able to tolerate the ever-increasing load which
human society is placing on it. But whether the answer to this question
is fifty or two hundred years, Phase 4 will, without any shadow of
doubt, come to an end. There lies ahead another transition, and a
Phase 5.* Perhaps the greatest single challenge facing human society
T h is is an optimistic point of view. There are some who believe that mankind
is incapable of bringing under control the accelerating processes which
threaten the biosphere and civilisation, and that the collapse of the system will
be total and will involve the extinction of the human species.
today is, along with the control of nuclear weapons, to work out ways
and means of bringing about a smooth transition to a fifth ecological
phase of human existence—a phase with characteristics which protect
the integrity of the biosphere and which ensure the health and well
being of human individuals.
The ecology of cities

There has been some argument whether it is correct to apply the term
‘ecosystem’ to a city. This debate reflects the existence of two rather
different interpretations of the concept of an ecosystem. Many
ecologists today, perhaps the majority, restrict the term‘ecosystem’ to
a more or less closed and self-sufficient system of biotic and non-
biotic components, the only significant inflow and outflow being that
of energy. The other usage is older and goes back to the original
definition of A.G. Tansley, who first coined the word ‘ecosystem’.
According to his definition, the term applies to any system of
interacting and interdependent parts ranging from the universe to an
atom, and it need not even contain any biotic components at all. In
other words, an ecosystem is taken as any system of interacting
components which is isolated for the purpose of ecological analysis
and description.
Although we accept Tansley’s definition, in that we refer to Hong
Kong as an ecosystem, it is nevertheless necessary to stress that urban
systems are quite unlike natural ecosystems in the more common
modern usage of the term. Urban settlements are very far from being
self-sufficient, and they could not survive for more than a day or two
without a massive input of natural resources, renewable and non
renewable, from rural areas. In fact, from the ecological viewpoint,
the city is in many ways rather like a gigantic immobile animal. It
consumes vast quantities of oxygen, water and organic matter (in the
form of fossil fuels and food substances), it releases carbon dioxide
and water vapour into the atmosphere and it excretes into its
surroundings organic waste material suspended or dissolved in large
volumes of water. But it differs from an animal in various important
respects, especially in the fact that many of its products are quite
unlike the products of any living organism. The ‘metabolism’ of the
city involves the re-arrangement of matter to form not only such
ubiquitous products of civilisation as concrete and numerous metal
alloys, but also an impressive array of new synthetic chemical
compounds, many of which, although alien to the biosphere, are very
potent biotically and consequently liable to cause disturbances of one

sort or another in organisms and in natural ecosystems with which
they may come in contact. Some products of cities, like ‘hard’
detergents and many plastics, are almost undegradable by biotic
processes. It has been said that some half million different chemical
products of industry are released by cities into the environment, most
of them finding their way eventually into the oceans.
The number and size of these massive, metabolising urban
conglomerations is rapidly increasing the world over, and their
collective impact on the biosphere as a whole is a cause for serious
ecological concern.
There is, of course, considerable variation between different cities
with respect both to their ecological impact on the total environment
and to the biosocial conditions of their human inhabitants. Hong
Kong, for example, cannot be regarded as ‘typical’ of modern urban
systems. Nevertheless, all modern cities share some important
ecological characteristics, and a much improved understanding of
these common factors, as well as of the nature and significance of the
ecological differences between human settlements is, we believe, an
essential prerequisite for the formulation of wise policies for the
future.
Before proceeding with our description of Hong Kong, one further
point must be made about the ecology of human settlements.
Extremely important among the forces which determine the ecological
characteristics of human ecosystems is a series of factors which come
under the general heading human culture. Consequently, if we wish
to understand properly the ecology of a city or a region, it is
imperative to take full account of the relevant cultural components as
well as the physical, chemical and biotic aspects. In the present study,
therefore, we are necessarily concerned with many variables of a kind
that would normally not come within the orbit of the biologist who
studies the ecology of a natural ecosystem. Needless to say, this trans-
disciplinary and comprehensive approach, ranging as it does across
many areas of academic specialism in the natural sciences, social
sciences and humanities, is not without its problems. Among these is
the fact that many ecologically important aspects of human situations
are difficult or impossible to quantify, and many are even difficult to
describe in precise terms. However, to omit variables from con
sideration simply because of their unquantifiability or intangibility
would be to produce an incomplete, distorted and misleading picture
of reality. In this book, therefore, we will not avoid discussion of

aspects of the Hong Kong situation which are difficult to describe
precisely or on which we have been unable to collect hard numerical
data. Human ecology is both scientific and humanistic.
2
LAND, NATURE AND PEOPLE
In this chapter we present an overview of the historical, cultural and

economic background to the present situation in Hong Kong. It is not
our intention to attempt a complete analysis of these themes, but
rather to emphasise those aspects which are of special relevance to the
understanding of the ecology of the territory today.
The area defined politically by the British government as the Colony
of Hong Kong lies on the coast of south-eastern China (see Figure
2.1). It covers a total land area of 1046 km2. The region is
characterised by a deeply indented coastline and numerous small
islands, and by hills rising steeply from the shore, from which narrow
valleys extend into the nearby countryside. The political boundary
with mainland China lies at the neck of the peninsula, mostly along the
Sham Chun River. Except for a triangular area of about 115 km2 on
the north side of the peninsula, the land is mainly hilly, reaching to
over 600 m on the Island and 900 m in the southern part of the
peninsula. Hong Kong is about 145 km south-east of the big
commercial centre of Canton, which lies on the Pearl River (Chu
Kiang) in China.
The area is geographically similar to the neighbouring land mass
and structurally part of the South China massif, and its geological
composition is exceptionally varied and complex for its size. About
one-third of the area is covered by granite, the main intrusion of
which incorporates Kowloon Peninsula, Kwun Tong and northern
Hong Kong Island. Outcrops of volcanic rocks cover an extensive area
which includes Lantau Island, much of the New Territories and the
southern part of Hong Kong Island. Pockets of sedimentary and
metamorphosed rock outcrop can be found dotted all over the
territory.
Hong Kong lies just within the tropics (22°25’N 114°10’E), being
about 150 km south of the Tropic of Cancer. Climatically, it
experiences a monsoon-type annual rhythm, with generally hot and

wet summers, and- drier and cooler conditions prevailing during the
rest of the year. From the human point of view, October and
November are the most pleasant months. The mean annual rainfall is
in the region of 217 cm, the December average being 25 mm and the
June average 401 mm. In the summer months temperatures frequently
exceed 32°C, with a mean relative humidity exceeding 80 per cent, and
in the winter temperatures occasionally drop to 7°C, when the relative
humidity is usually between 70 and 80 per cent. On rare occasions,
temperatures have been known to fall briefly to freezing point. The
considerable variability in Hong Kong’s weather from year to year
distinguishes it from that of more classic monsoon areas.
A well-known feature of Hong Kong’s climate is the frequent
occurrence of typhoons in the summer months, especially in August
and September, some of which have caused great loss of life and of
property. In 1906, for example, 10,000 people were drowned, 2413
sampans and junks were lost and 141 large ocean-going vessels
foundered or were badly damaged; and in 1937, 11,000 people were
drowned, and 1255 junks and sampans were lost. Typhoons often
seriously affect agricultural production and are a serious threat to
squatter settlements. The danger zone of the typhoon is its narrow
centre of extremely low atmospheric pressure, and only a small
proportion of the twenty-five or so typhoons that affect Hong Kong
each year pass directly over the area. The others pass well to the south
on their westward journey.
Severe rainstorms also represent an important feature of the
climate. In 1966, for instance, rain fell every day for the first half of
the month of June, the daily total was well over 25 mm for each of
several consecutive days and the maximum fall for a twenty-four hour
period was 401 mm. Such torrential rain causes serious flooding and
sometimes major landslides. In 1972 rainfall in excess of 200 mm fell
on three consecutive days, resulting in a mud landslide in Kowloon
which engulfed a squatter area, causing 71 deaths. On Hong Kong
Island another landslide destroyed or damaged reinforced concrete
buildings, including a 13-storey block of flats, taking a further 67
lives.
Over the centuries, human culture has brought about extensive
change in the biotic components of the total environment of the area.
Until about a thousand years ago, the land was covered with dense
tropical rain forest and was inhabited by a rich fauna which included
Land, Nature and People 23
elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, leopards, wolves and crocodiles.

Chinese agriculturalists moved into the area in considerable numbers
in the latter part of the tenth century AD, and at once began to clear
the trees to provide land for rice cultivation and to discourage large
animals from approaching their crops and settlements. Today almost
none of the original forest is left, and the countryside and hills are
bare, except for some patches of natural vegetation in narrow ravines,
the plantations established in Hong Kong during the past thirty years
and, near the villages, the small patches of fung shui woodland
(described later in this chapter), some of which are 800 years old.
Most of the large forest animals have disappeared from the region;
the last authenticated report of a tiger in Hong Kong was in 1947 and
the last leopard was seen in 1957. The numbers of the surviving forms
of mammalian wildlife are declining in the area, although monkeys
are still present in considerable numbers in the forests of the New
Territories. One of the most interesting surviving mammals is the
Pangolin or Scaly Ant eater, a creature which grows to over a metre in
length and is covered by horny reptile-like scales.
People
The year AD 960, the beginning of the Sung Dynasty, is often
mentioned as the date when the agriculturalists began to move in force
into the region. Previously the area appears to have been inhabited by
aboriginal people, known today as the ‘Yeh’. They possessed a
neolithic culture and practised some horticulture and fishing; but they
are thought to have been fairly sparsely distributed and to have had
little overall impact on the total environment. Although palaen-
tological and archaeological evidence is so far lacking, it is likely
that the region was earlier inhabited for a long period by groups of
hunter-gatherers.
The picture, then, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, was of
*
a relatively barren countryside dotted with small villages inhabited by
the families of farmers or fishermen. The population was made up of
four linguistically and culturally distinct groups, namely, Cantonese
peasants (or Puntis), Hakka peasants and two groups of seafaring
people, the Tanka and Hoklo. The Cantonese are considered to be
descended from the original farming people who moved into the area
at the beginning of the Sung Dynasty. The Hakka were a minority
group who came later from northern and central China and who,
presumably because the better land was already occupied by the
Cantonese, were forced to take up residence in the poorer mountain

regions. Today the Hakka predominate in some rural areas, such as
the Sai Kung Peninsula.
It has been suggested that the Tanka, who are boat people, took to
the sea in the thirteenth century when the Southern Sung Dynasty gave
way to the Yuan or Mongol Dynasty, and they spread eventually
southwards along the coast to the Hong Kong area. Other authors
suspect that they inhabited the coast of the region long before the
settlement of the land by the Chinese from the north. The origin of the
Hoklo is also uncertain, although they are thought to have arrived in
the area in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. These
people had a local reputation for daring and piracy.
The first Western contact with the region is said to have been made
by Arabs and Persians during the Tang Dynasty, when they settled in
Canton and a sizable trading community flourished. In the sixteenth
century, Portuguese adventurers were the first Europeans to establish
fairly regular trading relationships with Canton. At that time, as well
as later, the coast was terrorised by pirates, and the Portuguese gained
some favour with the Chinese authorities in Canton by heavily
defeating some of the local pirates in a sea-battle. It was partly as a
result of this that the Viceroy of Canton personally granted them the
use of Macao as a residential trading post, a situation which was not
formally recognised by the Chinese government until 1887. Macao,
which is today still a Portuguese colony, is situated on a peninsula
about 64 km south-west of Hong Kong, on the opposite side of the
mouth of the Pearl River.
The Portuguese were followed by traders from Spain, Holland,
England and France. The first British trading voyage to Canton took
place in 1637, and although it was not in the least significant
commercially, it was apparently important in another respect. The
British are said to have behaved very arrogantly in ignoring the
instructions of the Chinese to await permission before proceeding up
the river to Canton, and in various other ways. This behaviour may
well have influenced Chinese attitudes towards the*British, and thus
helped to set the scene for the series of misunderstandings which
contributed eventually to the British take-over of Hong Kong and to
all the extraordinary consequences of this event. The Chinese
assessment of the British character was no doubt reinforced by a
number of later episodes which involved a similar display of Anglo-
Saxon arrogance. Indeed, one of the factors that influenced the
MON GOL I A
P e k i ng
*V = KOREA
CHI NA Shanghai :JAPAN
TAIWAN:
\L A 0 s ; HONG KONG
LAND \ VIETNAM : PHILIPPINES:
Figure 2.1 Map showing position of Hong Kong in East Asia
interactions between the Chinese and the European traders in the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the assumption by people of
both groups that their own culture was infinitely superior to that of the
other.
An entry in the diary of Peter Mundy, who was the ‘chief factor’ of
the first British ship to pass up the Pearl River, is of special interest in
terms of subsequent events. Mundy was a member of a small British
party which received some hospitality in a Chinese village. He wrote ‘The
people there gave us a certaine Drinke called Chaa, which is only water
with a kind of herbe boyled in it. It must bee Dranke warme and is
accompted wholesome’.* Peter M undy’s observation is relevant
because Hong Kong, as we witness it today, owes its existence to the
•Quoted by Coates, A. (1966), Prelude to Hong Kong, London, Routledge

and Kegan Paul, p. 8.
tendency of human beings to develop an extraordinarily compelling

taste for extracts of certain plants—in this case, the tea plant and the
opium poppy. However, neither tea nor opium played any role in
these early trading expeditions of Europeans to the Orient.
After 1637, British ships continued to trade spasmodically with
China, mainly through the port of Amoy, which lies about 500 km
along the coast to the north-east of Hong Kong, and which was
operated by pirates from Taiwan under the name of the deposed Ming
Dynasty. Silk was by far the most important purchase by the British,
but towards the end of the seventeenth century, tea was just beginning
to find its place in the cargo of ships returning to Europe, replacing
some of the porcelain, pearls and rhubarb. In 1664, 2lbs 2oz of tea
were imported to England; the annual import for the period from
1821 to 1830 was over 30 million lbs.
Although Amoy had to be abandoned for trade purposes in 1683,
the last decade of the seventeenth century saw a general easing of
conditions of trade with China. Eventually, the East India Company,
encouraged by the fact that the French had recently succeeded in
establishing trading relations with Canton city, sent their ship, the
Macclesfield, to try again.
One characteristic of the early period of trade between Europe and
China was that the Chinese were relatively uninterested in the whole
process. China was more or less self-sufficient and there was no great
demand for European goods. The British tried hard to interest them in
woollen fabric and garments, but these items had little appeal under
local climatic conditions. Nevertheless, the Macclesfield returned to
Europe with a cargo made up mainly of silk items, but also some tea
and various oddments, including 300 ‘ornamental tea tables’.
As time went on, partly as a consequence of effective advertising,
tea became more and more popular in Britain. Eventually, it came to
constitute the sole item of cargo on some of the ships returning to
Britain, and it was a source of great prosperity to the East India
Company and many British merchants. Interest in Chinese silk and
porcelain was meanwhile declining, because these industries were by
that time becoming well established in Europe. However, the climatic
conditions of Europe did not favour the growing of tea, and
consequently this aspect of trade with the Orient continued to
flourish.
The other major determinant of the establishment of Hong Kong as
a British base was the development among the Chinese of a taste for
another herbal product, in the form of the dried sap of the opium
poppy, Papaver somniferum. This trend eventually had important

repercussions for trade between Britain and China, and it was the
trade in opium that precipitated the crisis which ultimately led to the
British occupation of Hong Kong. However, before discussing the
opium story itself, it is necessary to note that, while the actual trade
between the Europeans and the Chinese in Canton had been relatively
smooth and conflict-free, there were nevertheless serious tensions
between the European traders and the Chinese governmental
authorities. We have already referred to the fact that each side
regarded its own culture as superior to that of the other. The Chinese
in particular were loath to allow the barbarians to pollute their society
more than absolutely necessary. Accordingly, the Europeans were
confined to a very restricted area of Canton, and were only now and
again permitted to visit other parts of the city or countryside, and even
then always escorted by a a official Chinese ‘linguist’. In general, the
Europeans found the conditions distinctly irritating and they
frequently called for ‘strong action’ by their governments to relieve
them of these indignities.
Returning to the question of opium, this substance had been known
in China since the first century AD, when it had been introduced by
Buddhist priests and doctors from Tibet for use in reducing pain.
Poppies were subsequently cultivated in Yunnan Province in China
for this purpose, and it is said that they still flourish there. However,
the Chinese, unlike the Indians, did not at that time develop the
practice of taking opium as a mood-altering drug. The practice of
smoking opium for its psychotropic effects is thought to have been
introduced to China in the seventeenth century, probably indirectly
via Taiwan, from Java, where the Dutch had experimented by mixing
a little opium and arsenic with their tobacco. It was the Chinese in
Java who discovered that, with appropriate techniques, they were able
to do without the tobacco.
Once introduced, the opium smoking habit soon became popular in
China, and by the late eighteenth century opium was carried by most
of the ships coming from India, where the main area of growing the
opium poppy was Bengal.
The debilitating and degrading influence of opium smoking on
human beings gave the authorities in China cause for concern, and in
1729 the Emperor Yung Cheng issued an edict forbidding the import
of opium. This action was, however, completely ineffective, as was a
later edict issued in 1800.
The British traders were well aware of these regulations, but the sale
of opium in China was becoming an extremely important source of

revenue for the administration in India, and the promise of financial
gain far outweighed any pangs of conscience with respect to Chinese
governmental regulations or humanitarian concern. The illicit opium
trade therefore continued to grow, although eventually the traders
found it necessary to conduct it from the island of Lintin at the mouth
of the Pearl River rather than from Canton itself. The following
figures can be taken as indicators of the commercial enthusiasm of the
British traders and the inadequacy of the Chinese controls. From 1800
to 1821, the average number of chests imported per year into China
has been estimated at 5000, and by 1831 the annual figure had risen to
16,500. In 1835, after the abolition of the East India Company
monopoly, 40,000 chests were imported, representing over 2000
tonnes of opium. Needless to say, the complete disregard of the local
laws by the British traders did not improve their relations with the
Chinese authorities. Matters came to a head in 1839 after the Chinese
Emperor had appointed an Imperial High Commissioner in the
person of Lin Tse-hsu to take the opium matter in hand. Very soon
after his arrival in Canton, Lin Tse-hsu ordered the confiscation of all
opium, including that still owned by the British and held mainly on
Lintin Island.
It should be mentioned that for some years suggestions had been
put forward by some British traders and naval men that Britain should
take possession of one of the offshore island to use as a base where
trading could take place without interference from the Chinese
authorities. Hong Kong Island was among the places which were
mentioned. In fact, the advantages of the harbour at Hong Kong had
been discovered in 1829, and it had been used on and off by the British
in the intervening years. During hostilities in 1839, all British residents
in Macao were evacuated and lived for a while on board ship in Hong
Kong^ harbour.
To cut short a long and complicated story, the British eventually sent
out an expeditionary force and, in 1841, following a verbal agreement
with the Chinese, Hong Kong Island was taken over by Britain. The
ceding of the Island to Britain was formally agreed upon by the
Chinese with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 and ratified, if somewhat
reluctantly, by the British Parliament in 1843. And so it came about
that, in spite of much anti-colonial sentiment in Britain at the time,
Hong Kong was established as a British Crown Colony. It was this
decision which set in motion a series of changes of immense
significance in terms of the ecological characteristics of the area.
The purpose of Hong Kong as far as the British were concerned was
to provide security and protection for the merchants trading in the
area. The merchants, of course, were there to make money, initially by
exploiting the respective addictions of the Chinese for opium and the
British for tea. Thus, underlying the whole venture was the quest for
money, a theme which has remained dominant in the value system of
Hong Kong society from that day to this.
The British merchants lost no time after Commodore Bremer raised
the British flag at Possession Point on 26 January 1841. They began
moving in immediately, and the construction of temporary dwellings
was soon well under way. Within a few weeks there began a steady
inflow of Chinese artisans and labourers and Tanka boat people, who
were seeking cargo and ferry work. By May of that year there are said
to have been already over 7450 Chinese residents, of whom 2000 were
boat dwellers.* By October the figure had risen to about 16,000. A
small group of traders soon became firmly established on the
foreshore of the island facing the harbour, and by 1843 they included
the representatives of twelve large English trading companies, ten
English merchants trading on their own, and six Indian firms. Six
years after its inception, in 1847, the population, excluding the troops
of the garrison, was 23,872.
The subsequent population changes in Hong Kong up to the present
day must represent one of the most extraordinary demographic stories
of all time (Fig. 2.2). It has been well and fully described many times,
and here we need merely present a summary. An important factor
relevant to the population changes was the agreement made in
Nanking, and repeated in subsequent treaties, to the effect that
Chinese nationals were allowed free movement in and out of the
territory. This arrangement persisted until relatively recent times.
The overall trend in the one hundred and thirty-nine years which
have passed since the foundation of the Colony of Hong Kong has
been one of continuing and often massive immigration. The flow has
not, however, been a steady one, at times being in the opposite
direction; and for much of the period a considerable proportion of the
population, especially males, was transient. The details of the pattern
of demographic movement have been determined by a complicated
*According to G.B. Endacott (1973), ‘The Hong Kong Government Gazette

o f May 1841 gives the figure of 7,450, made up of 4,350 in the villages, 2,000
boat people, the rest being visiting labourers and vendors. But one village was
said to have 2,000, and it is probable that this is a clerical error for 200, and so
the estimate is perhaps properly 5,650’ (p.65).
series of political, economic and biotic influences, which can only be

touched upon here.
As already mentioned, the first influx into Hong Kong after British
occupancy was made up of people who were seeking work. But it was
not long before factors other than economic attraction came into play.
For example, political and military events in China around 1850, when
the Taiping Rebellion came to a head, were associated with a wave of
immigration into Hong Kong, and by 1853 the population had
increased to over 39,000. This rapid increase had not, of course, been
foreseen and it gave rise to conditions of extreme congestion. In 1860
Kowloon, on the southernmost tip of the mainland, and Stone Cutters
Island were both ceded by China to Britain and this brought the
population of the territory to just over 119,000.
In 1894 there occurred a biotic event which temporarily halted, and
indeed reversed the population increase. In that year, the plague
descended on Hong Kong and by 1896, 50,000 people had fled to the
mainland. At about this time, further troubles occurred on a political
level between China and Britain, and these resulted in another treaty
being signed in 1898 in which the Chinese government agreed to grant
to Britain a 99-year lease of 945 km2 of the peninsula north of
Kowloon. This further acquisition, known as the New Territories,
more than compensated demographically for the population loss
resulting from the appearance of the plague in Hong Kong, bringing
the total population to 254,400.
Another politically induced immigration occurred around 1900 in
response to the Boxer Rebellion in China. This was primarily an ‘anti-
foreign’ uprising and it reflected grievances against missionaries and
against the government for allowing foreign political and economic
encroachment in Chinese affairs. Although the government crushed
the rebellion, unrest persisted and the activities of its followers were
directed against foreigners themselves. Most of the immigrants into
Hong Kong at this time consisted of Chinese who feared for their lives
and property because of their associations with Western influences,
and they brought the population of Hong Kong to nearly 284,000 in
1901. Further great waves of immigrants surged into the territory in
response to the events which led up to the founding of the Republic in
China in 1911. By 1916 the population was 528,000.
The biggest influx before World War II occurred between 1937 and
1941, during the Sino-Japanese war, and resulted in the addition of
750,000 people to the population, bringing the total to about
1,639,000. In 1940, the government of Hong Kong for the first time
made an attempt to control immigration, but this was largely
ineffective, mainly because of the difficulty of preventing people from
crossing from the mainland in boats. In addition to the impact of
political refugees on the population, the economic incentive continued
to be a significant determinant of the immigration pattern throughout
most of the period. Its importance has varied from time to time,
depending on the relative economic conditions on both sides of the
border with China. This particular component of the population
movement has been demographically important, since most of the
immigrants who came in order to seek employment were men who had
every intention of eventually returning to their families on the
mainland, a factor which had important implications for the age and
sex structure of the total population. In 1865, for example,when the
total population was 125,500,63 per cent were adult males. In 1901,72
per cent of the total population were male. By 1931, the difference was
reduced, so that males constituted only 57 per cent of the total
population. This excess of males, living away from their families, had
a number of societal, behavioural and ultimately biological
consequences. For instance, a governmental authority in the 1870s
claimed that only one-sixth of Chinese women in the Colony lived
with one man, either in marriage or concubinage, and that all the rest
could be described as prostitutes. Apart from its implications for birth
rates, this situation is likely to have had an effect on the incidence of
Yf AP
Figure 2.2 Population of Hong Kong, 1841-1975

venereal disease in the population. Dr Ayres, the Colonial Surgeon

from 1873 to 1897, claimed in a report around 1883 that, at the
Government Civil Hospital, the deaths of Chinese were often due to
venereal disease. Most of the European deaths in the hospital were due
to alcoholism. In other hospitals, however, it was said that only a
relatively small proportion of female patients had overt venereal
disease, and some medical authorities even speculated about the
possibility of an innate immunity among Chinese to this kind of
infection.
Another transient component of the population of Hong Kong has
been the flow of immigrants from China passing through the territory
on their way to other parts of the world, especially to Malaysia,
Singapore and America. At times, the number of such transients
arriving in and leaving Hong Kong for other destinations was
estimated to average about 8000 per day.
The most dramatic reversal of the immigration process occurred
during the period when the British colonial government was replaced
by another alien regime, that of the Japanese, whose occupation of
Hong Kong lasted from December 1941 to August 1945. The exodus
from Hong Kong began at once with the arrival of the Japanese, and
the road to the north was packed with a teeming mass of
people, fleeing to China, many of them struggling with heavy loads.
According to Japanese figures, the population, which had been over
1.5 million in March 1941, had dropped to 982,000 by June 1943, and
by May 1945 it had fallen to 650,000. These few years must have
represented the only period in the history of Hong Kong since 1841
when severe overcrowding was not a problem.
In August 1945 Hong Kong once again came under British rule and
this political change produced a new wave of immigration. In the first
six months, more than 350,000 people entered Hong Kong from the
mainland, and the flow continued so that by 1949 the population
already exceeded that of 1941, reaching 1,800,000. In 1949, the change
of government in China brought a further wave of immigrants to
Hong Kong. The great majority of these new immigrants were
villagers and townspeople from Kwangtung Province and Canton,
but they also included professional men and academics from all over
China and some businessmen from Shanghai, often with
commercially important international connections. There were also
governmental and military officers from the Nationalist regime who
found it necessary to flee the mainland but who did not wish to
proceed to Taiwan. Since that time the flow of immigrants from

China, legal and illegal, has continued with a few fluctuations. In 1962
there was a large influx of illegal immigrants, of whom the authorities
detained, on average, nine per day between 1967-1974. The number of
legal immigrants entering the territory from 1961 to 1971 was 3411.
The population of Hong Kong has thus grown from a few hundred
in 1841 to well over 5 million at the present time which is about 0.1 per
cent of the population of the world. Immigration, as we have seen,
has been responsible for most of this increase. However, with the
present much lower rate of immigration (1977), and with much
improved figures for infant mortality, natural increase is contributing
a bigger proportion than previously to the total annual population
growth.
Since the early days of the trading post in Hong Kong, the great
majority of the inhabitants have been concentrated in the urban area
of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, usually at very high population
densities. Clearly, however, the political and demographic events
which we have noted were not without impact on population
distribution in the rural areas of the New Territories. Originally, the
population of the rural areas was distributed in small, relatively
isolated villages. Clusters of five to ten such villages were connected to
a somewhat larger market town, which provided the recreational,
political, economic and social focal point of interaction between
villages. The inhabitants of each cluster of villages regarded
themselves as related to each other and descended in the male line
from a common ancestor who had originally settled in the area,
perhaps eight hundred years ago.
The old villages and lineages still exist today, although the overall
pattern has been affected by the massive immigration into the area and
also by other changes such as the introduction of more rapid means of
communication. In the last decade or so, many refugees have settled in
the New Territories, renting farmland from the villagers and erecting
their wooden huts across the countryside. They raise vegetables,
poultry and pigs, and they have been relatively successful in these
activities. The changes in communication, which include the
improvement of roads and the provision of bus and taxi services, have
resulted in much more daily movement from place to place than was
possible hitherto, with various societal consequences. For instance,
villagers, especially youths and old men, spend more time in market
towns, and there has been greater movement in general of rural people
into urban areas. A concomitant effect has been the increasing

movement of urban people into rural areas for such recreational
purposes as picnicking and hiking at weekends and on public holidays.
Cultural Background
We have emphasised that cultural factors, although not easily
definable or quantifiable, are important forces in human ecosystems.
We shall discuss here some of the essential features of the cultural
background to the Hong Kong situation, especially as it has a bearing
on the human ecology of the area, where both the Chinese and the
modem Western traditions have profound influences.
First we shall comment on the cosmology of the Chinese people—
that is, the set of ideas and principles relating to the universe and
man’s place in it which have been understood, developed and
communicated by intellectuals and scholars in traditional Chinese
society. Then we shall consider the influence of this philosophy on the
everyday life of people and on their relationship with their
surroundings. The Western view will then be discussed—in particular
the modern idea of ‘progress’ and its importance as an influence on
attitudes toward nature, and toward changes in the total environment.
Finally we shall consider the relevance to the ecology of Hong Kong of
both traditional Chinese and modern Western cultural systems, and
the extent of their influence on developments affecting the quality of
the environment and the life conditions of the people.
Chinese cosmology
The ancient cosmology of the Chinese people is inextricably bound up
with their environment and way of life. For many thousands of years
in China, as in many other parts of the world, most people depended
almost solely upon agriculture for their livelihood, and their feelings,
thoughts and ideas were conditioned by the kind of understanding of
nature which comes through this closeness with the land. Among the
Chinese people, these feelings became a fundamental part of their art,
literature and philosophy.
A central theme in Chinese thought since very ancient times is the
idea of an intrinsic regularity in the universe, a regularity which
involves two elemental processes—cyclical change, and growth and
decline. These ideas were inspired by the constant rhythms in nature of
which the farmer is so aware, such as the rotation of the seasons, the
sequence of night and day and the waxing and waning of the moon. A
third feature of this universal regularity is the inherent bipolarity of

nature, a concept which became the most specific characteristic of
Chinese metaphysics, and was incorporated in the two main trends in
Chinese thought, Taoism and Confucianism.
The idea of bipolarity is expressed through the concepts of Yin and
Yang, two complementary cosmic principles or forces which are
inherent in all natural phenomena, and whose continual interplay
constitutes the workings of the universe. Yin and Yang can be
describes only in terms of each other—Yang implies positive, male,
warmth, light and heaven whereas Yin personifies negative, female,
cold, darkness and earth. When Yin and Yang are evenly balanced
there is perfect harmony in nature (see Figure 2.3).
Perfect health, or harmony within the human organism is also
represented by the state of dynamic equilibrium between Yin and
Yang. The human body is seen as a microcosm of the universe, and
such conditions of the body as waking and sleeping and all organic
processes are manifestations of the interplay of the forces of Yin and
Yang. An imbalance in either direction denotes illness, and any
disorder is seen as affecting the whole bodily system.
The natural world is described by the Chinese, within the dual
system of Yin and Yang, in terms of five characteristics, known as
fire, metal, earth, water and wood. These qualities continually
interact in a fixed sequence, both opposing and ‘helping’ each other
(see Figure 2.3).The microcosm of the human body is also divided in
terms of the number five; each stage of development, each organ, each
emotion and each sense is a manifestation of one of the five
fundamental qualities, and each relates to the other accordingly. Thus
man fits into the totality of nature, and the well-being of both
macrocosm and microcosm is profoundly affected by the state of
harmony or disharmony in the other.
Perhaps the most important concept in Chinese philosophy is the
concept of Tao. Tao has two general applications in Chinese thought,
and is virtually untranslatable. In its first sense Tao may be described
as the actual inherent regularity of the universe, as the ultimate
metaphysical Truth, or as that by which all things come to be,
including the forces of Yin and Yang. In its second sense Tao is a
metaphor which is often rendered in English as ‘The Way’, and refers
to the ethical principle of human life. According to both Taoist and
Confucian thought, the perfect man, the true sage, is the man who
achieves oneness with Tao.
Taoism and Confucianism are the two mainstreams of Chinese
philosophy, and they represent two different points of view with

respect to man’s place in the universe; in Confucian thought the
system is essentially moral, while in the Taoist view the system is
essentially amoral.
The early Taoists were probably drawn from among the recluses of
ancient times—men who withdrew from society to the mountains and
forests and the world of nature. Their philosophy was primarily
concerned with the preservation of life and the avoidance of injury;
but Taoist thought developed from this early phase and came to have a
much deeper significance. The ideas attributed to Lao-tzu,* the most
well-known proponent of Taoism, are an attempt to understand the
unchanging laws which underly all change in the universe. The path to
absolute happiness lies in being ‘natural’ and living in a harmony with
Tao, which is beyond the duality of good and evil. In the final phase of
the development of the Taoist philosophy, the self and the existing
world are transcended so that things are seen from a higher point of
view. Heaven and Earth, the two complementary halves of the
universe, are equally important, and man is just another phenomenon
in the total system, no more and no less significant than any other.
Taoism had a profound overall influence on China’s philosophy
and especially encouraged the view that man should live in harmony
with the natural environment. However, it was Confucianism which
had the greater effect on societal conditions in China and on the way
of life of the Chinese people.!
Confucius was born in 551 BC and lived at about the same time as
Lao-tzu. Basically he was a conservative who had a great respect for
his country’s ancient tradition, and in communicating this tradition he
rationalised and interpreted it in his own way. Confucius was a very
influential teacher with many hundreds of followers, and his ideas are
best known through the Lun Yu, or Confucian Analects, which
consists of a collection of sayings compiled by some of his disciples.
* Lao-tzu was, according to tradition, an older contemporary of Confucius

and the author of the book bearing his name, the Lao-tzu, also known as the
Tao Te Ching (Classic of the Way and Power). The modern view is that, in
fact, the book was a much later production, and although the existence o f Lao-
tzu the man is not seriously disputed, it is unlikely that the book consists merely
of the sayings of this one man.
fEventually Taoist and Confucian thought were blended, with some influence
from Buddhism, into a synthetic system of thought called Neo-Confucianism.
The Yin - Ya ng symbol
The interrelationship of the Five Elements
Figure 2.3 Yin-Yang symbol and the interrelationship of the Fire Chernies
In the Confucian view, Heaven is of overwhelming significance in

the universe and is the fount of moral order. Earth, on the other hand,
is basically amoral, although its workings are always ultimately
corrected by the moral principles of Heaven. In contrast to the Taoist
concept, man is of great importance in this system, since in his social
and personal life he is able to provide the harmony necessary for world
order. Confucian doctrine is primarily concerned with human nature
and human relationships, and is essentially an ethical code and a social
philosophy.
For over 2000 years in Imperial China the teachings of Confucius

dominated the ideology and customs of the Chinese people, and
perhaps the most fundamental feature of these teachings was an
emphasis on the family as the primary unit in society. The agricultural
economy had been associated with a family-centred societal
organisation in China since ancient times, but Confucius gave this
system an ethical significance, by emphasising the virtues of family
relationships. He developed a family-based morality which came
eventually to permeate all of Chinese society.
Confucius named five fundamental social relationships, three of
which occur within the family: between sovereign and subject, father
and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and
friend. Each of these relationships involves certain duties and
responsibilities, but the most important is that between father and
son; Confucius stressed that the devotion of children to their parents,
that is, filial piety or hsaio, is the ‘root of all human virtue’. Indeed,
hsaio is regarded as the cardinal virtue of the good man, and as the
foundation of societal order. Other human relationships are also
important, however, and moral perfection consists of a life based on
jen, or ‘human-heartedness’, that is, on being considerate towards
others.
This emphasis on moral excellence—on ‘character’—was central to
Confucianism. Before Confucius, a ‘gentleman’ was a man of noble
blood; after Confucius he was a man who possessed the ‘character’
that a gentleman should possess. The education system of China was
based on this philosophy and was designed to train people in the
Confucian doctrine, and to select those individuals with the greatest
propensity for ‘character’ in the Confucian sense for high admi
nistrative office (see Chapter 12).
Although in Confucian teaching the present life is of ultimate
importance and there is no belief in an existence after death, in
Imperial times the very ancient Chinese practice of ancestor reverence

was maintained and even strengthened. This tradition, in which rites
are performed in order to help and to obtain help from the souls of
departed ancestors, served to strengthen the power of the family
through extending respect and awe for the family head to beyond his
lifetime. Ancestor reverence also operated through the closely-knit
organisation of the clan, a group of families of the same name and
linked by descent from a common ancestor, and it thus played an
important role in reinforcing cohesion within the kinship group.
The family, as an economic unit, as the centre of social relationships
and as the sphere in which man’s moral duties are performed, was a
central feature of Chinese society for two millennia. The people who
came to Hong Kong in the early days of the Colony wished and tried to
retain their family tradition in the new setting, in spite of the fact that
many family members had been left behind. The expanding urban
situation, however, had a disruptive influence on this system—the
feeling of continuity was weakened and high density living conditions
often made it impossible for a large family to live together under one
roof. Nevertheless, there is still a considerable ‘family feeling’ in Hong
Kong today and, as we shall discuss later, the kind of support which it
still gives to individuals may be very important in this potentially
stressful urban environment.
Folk tradition
The set of beliefs and ideas about the universe which were held by the
Chinese philosophers and their followers among the literate
population had a profound influence on societal organisation and the
everyday life of people. But at the same time, among the masses of the
population there existed a complex set of traditional practices and
beliefs which were not directly related to the doctrine of the
philosophers and yet were not entirely inconsistent with the formal
Chinese cosmology. This ‘folk’ tradition evolved, not through formal
essays and treatises, but through oral communication and the
practical experience of ordinary people. Some elements of the
tradition are pertinent to broad ecological issues and to the health and
well-being of individuals, and we shall briefly discuss three of these
elements here: the belief in supernatural beings, the principle of fung
shui and the traditional art of healing.
Supernatural beings. In almost every home in Hong Kong a small red

and gold shrine can be found, containing perhaps some oranges, a
stick of incense, a lighted candle, and a colourful painting of the figure

of some local god or deity. The belief, represented by these shrines, in
a world of spirits which can influence one’s fortune or the fortune of
one’s family has always been widespread in the Chinese population,
although at first sight it might seem to be inconsistent with the
distinctly ‘this-worldly’ orientation of the Confucian philosophy.
Nevertheless, the world of spirits may be regarded as an ‘animated
version’ of abstract cosmological principles. The shen spirits, for
example, which are powerful and bring luck to those who can obtain
their favour, are associated with Heaven (Yang), and the kuei spirits,
which are amoral, mischievous and occasionally evil, are associated
with the Earth (Yin).
The belief in spirits which can interfere in the lives of human beings
is closely linked in traditional Chinese thought with the belief in the
influence of cosmic forces on a person’s ‘soul’ at birth. An individual
may have a soul which, depending upon his or her time of birth, is
predominantly ‘bright’ and influenced by Yang, or predominantly
‘dim’ and influenced by Yin. To have a bright soul means that one is
likely to be successful m all aspects of life—in economic matters, in
social life and in terms of health and happiness; but with a dim soul
one is destined to have at best a rather ordinary life and at worst a life
plagued by kuei spirits and filled with misfortune and failure. This
dismal fate can, however, be lessened somewhat by the careful
observance of various rites and rituals which, if carried out correctly,
help to ward off the kuei.
There is then, in Chinese tradition, a strong belief in the influence of
fate or destiny in human life, but at the same time the system is
flexible, and the opportunity exists for an individual to modify his fate
through an appropriate behaviour pattern. Hence almanacs are
consulted in order to avoid an unlucky date for marriage, or an
‘expert’ is asked to determine the most auspicious day for the
treatment of a certain illness. Although a great deal of superstition
and, indeed, often a misconception of natural processes is inherent in
this apparently contradictory idea system, it has some very important
implications for the well-being of individuals and for the cohe
siveness of society. The belief in fate is conducive to an attitude of
acceptance or resignation in the face of unavoidable bad luck or
difficult environmental conditions, while also there is the hope that by
some prescribed action one’s situation can be ameliorated. Perhaps
most important, this dual belief system provides the opportunity for
people to blame something outside themselves for personal failure.
Individuals are thus more able to accept their position in life in relation
to others who may be more successful, an attitude which may be of
value in the highly competitive society of Hong Kong. At the same
time, prosperity, longevity and good fortune are seen to be the
rewards of personal effort and moral behaviour.
On a more general level, these folk beliefs may be effective in
bringing down to earth the abstract principles of the formal
metaphysical philosophy, so that for ordinary people there is a certain
richness and meaning in life through being in touch with the universe.
Fung Shui. Fung shui, literally ‘wind and water’, is a principle with
considerable ecological and societal significance. It may be described
essentially as the effect of natural influences on the physical
surroundings and on the people who live in these surroundings; and it
is a system by which, if it is used properly, good fortune may be
obtained and an insight gained into the workings of the universe. Fung
shui is responsible for the deliberate effort in traditional society to live
in a way perceived as being in harmony with the forces inherent in the
natural environment.
Traditional Chinese villages were located and structured according
to six'xcifung shui principles. For example, the position of the village in
relation to mountains, rivers and forests, the relative position of
houses and shrines, and even the position of doorways and
windows in individual dwellings were determined on the basis oifung
shui rules. The result was usually a settlement which was beautifully
integrated with the natural surroundings nestling between hills and
protected by a ‘fung shui woodland’. Many of the villages in the New
Territories today retain their original fung shui structure, although
this is usually obscured by changes which have occurred as a result of
recent development in the area.
The Hong Kong government’s plans for the urban and industrial
development of the New Territories have frequently been objected to
by the village people. They protest that the physical alteration of the
landscape resulting, for example, from the construction of roads,
reservoirs or drainage ditches, would affect the fung shui properties
inherent in the land and consequently influence their prosperity and
well-being. The government has adopted an attitude of considerable
tolerance towards this kind of objection, and has publicly
acknowledged the legitimacy of the villagers’ claims on these grounds.
In some cases plans are changed, and roads may sometimes wind
tortuously around a village rather than pass directly through it, while
in others plans go ahead, but monetary compensation is given to the

affected people.
Fung shui beliefs are closely related to the economic and societal
system, and function as a form of social control in the traditional
Chinese community. A family may, for instance, seek the advice of a
fungshui expert (a ‘geomancer’) and obtain the most auspicious piece
of land upon which to build a suitably respectable grave for the
departed family head. The family can then expect to obtain good
fortune, the father’s bones will rest comfortably within nature and his
descendants will be rewarded with prosperity and fertility, provided
they also perform the appropriate rituals of reverence. Of course, only
those families who can afford the advice of a fungshui expert and can
then meet the great expense of building and maintaining an elaborate
ancestral grave, can thus expect to gain further worldly prosperity as a
result. Nevertheless, differences in terms of success and fortune can be
attributed to the influence of fung sh u i, and in this way personal and
familial antagonisms may be lessened.
Fung shui is taken very seriously even in Hong Kong today. All
branches of the major Chinese bank, the Hang Seng bank, are
designed in accordance with fung shui principles. Economic
prosperity is important to a bank.
Traditional healing and medicine. The traditional Chinese view of

mental and physical health and the associated methods of medical
practice are largely based on fundamental Chinese cosmology.
However, folk beliefs have also had a great influence on the attitude of
people toward health and health care; it is commonly believed, for
example, that supernatural beings can affect an individual’s state of
health and well-being.
Chinese medicine, as described in the scholarly texts and as taught
in medical institutions, is based upon the underlying concept of the
dynamic interplay of the two polar forces of Yin and Yang. The body
is divided into Yin and Yang parts, with a constant flow of ‘vital
energy’, ch’i, maintaining the balance between these parts. Illness is
seen as an imbalance between Yin and Yang due, for example, to a
block in the flow of ch’i along the ‘meridians’. It may be cured by
stimulating the ch’i at certain points on the surface of body—the
acupuncture points—in order to restore the flow of ch’i and hence the
overall balance of forces.
In China the idea of Yin and Yang and the five elements as they
influence the workings of the body led to the development of a

complex ‘philosophical anatomy’. The Chinese system differs from
that which has dominated Western medicine, in that it considers the
body as a microcosm of the universe, and it emphasises process rather
than structure as its most fundamental aspect. Traditional methods of
preventive care and healing are thus geared to this view.
Thus, the philosophers and medical practitioners studied and
believed in a sophisticated and cosmologically consistent system of
human physiology. However, for the relatively illiterate masses of the
rural society, health care was essentially pragmatic and
unsophisticated. Most people depended upon their own experience in
coping with illness and among these people there evolved a tradition of
‘home medicine’. This body of knowledge was based upon down to
earth concepts and is only indirectly related to the formal
philosophical views.
The nature of this folk tradition is illustrated by the traditional
attitude towards measles, which is common among the children of
Hong Kong (see Chapter 10). Measles is not regarded as a disease by
the more traditionally oriented members of the population, but as
‘something that has to come out’. Everybody must have measles at
some time and is much healthier as a result. This popular theory of
measles is evidently based on metaphysical ideas; it is seen as an
inevitable process which cleanses the system of poison and which
corrects an imbalance in the body of ‘heat’ and ‘cold—concepts which
are related in more scholarly medicine to the principles of Yang and
Yin. Medical treatment is directed at allowing the process to occur as
quickly and thoroughly as possible. Certain ritual behaviour is also
involved, since a child with measles is thought to be in a delicate
‘ambiguous’ state of transition and must be handled with great care if
harm is to be avoided.
Traditional Chinese medical knowledge clearly includes some false
notions about physiology and disease, and medical care is often
surrounded by superstition and sometimes by magical beliefs.
Nevertheless, the empirical experience gained throughout Chinese
history has given rise to methods of healing and preventive care some
of which are clearly effective and are valued both in modern China
and in the West. Such traditional methods of treatment as massage,
moxibustion and acupuncture are taught and practised today in Hong
Kong as well as in many other parts of the world.
This brief and oversimplified discussion of some of the com-

ponents of traditional Chinese thought and behaviour has touched

upon the significance of this system for the people’s physical
environment, societal organisation and state of health and well-being.
The ideas and notions of the ordinary people of China were consistent
with ecological principles, in so far as they were based upon the
recognition of dynamic interrelationships and interdependencies
between all the components of the universe, including man, and upon
an underlying respect for harmony within human society and within
nature. This view contrasts with the attitude which has dominated the
Western World during the past century.
Western philosophy and values

Hong Kong represents an extraordinary blend of the Chinese and
Western cultural systems. Over 98 per cent of its population is
Chinese, but it is governed by a British regime, and the life-style and
attitudes of the people are greatly influenced by the modern Western
value system. Before discussing some of the implications of the
meeting of East and West in Hong Kong, let us consider the modern
Western view of the world as it contrasts with that represented by
traditional Chinese philosophy.
A difference of great ecological relevance between the Chinese and
Western cultures lies in the attitudes which they engender toward
nature. In the traditional Chinese view, humankind should live in
harmony with natural phenomena. In the West, on the other hand,
traditional attitudes advocate that man should conquer and harness
natural forces from which he should thus achieve a certain
independence in order to determine his own future.
Deeply conditioning the exploitative Western attitude toward
nature is the idea, which lies at the roots of the culture of modern
Western society and its way of life, that the history of mankind is one
of ‘progress’ toward a better state. This notion is fundamentally
different from the classical Chinese view, according to which the
relationship between man and the universe is constant, although not
static. The history of man in this Chinese view involves a process of
rhythmic and cyclical change which occurs according to fixed
principles. In the West, on the other hand, human history is seen as the
continual improvement of life and advancement of civilisation. This
Western Idea of Progress, as manifest in the modern faith in
technology and economic growth and the increasing consumption of
energy and resources, has had an enormous and often detrimental
impact on the natural world, and has led to the present situation in
which the integrity of global ecosystems on which humankind depends

is considered by many ecologists to be in serious danger.
Many components of the Western European tradition have
contributed to the Western Idea of Progress. Although the
predominant classical Greek view was that man had degenerated since
the Golden Age of Homer, and that the subsequent history of
civilisation was essentially one of decline, elements of the modern view
of progress existed as early as the sixth century BC. Xenophanes, a
Greek religious thinker and poet, revealed in his poems a faith in the
potential o f human reason to understand nature. But this was
certainly a minority opinion at the time.*
The rather pessimistic classical Greelc view was eventually replaced
throughout the Western world in the Christian era by a philosophy
which provided a sound foundation for the modern concept of progress
through technological development and economic growth. The
Judeo-Christian doctrine offered m an the hope that, in some future
age, salvation and eternal life would come to humanity as a result of
divine intervention. Undoubtedly this belief was a solace and source
of strength for countless thousands of people. Furthermore, it
encouraged a forward-looking orientation in life and it stressed that it
was both G od’s will and m an’s duty to conquer nature for the sake of
the betterment o f hum ankind on earth. Thus the Christian era
provided a basis for the eventual emergence of a more secular belief in
human progress.
During the Renaissance, the idea o f man as a controller of nature
began to crystallise; navigators were expanding human frontiers
around the globe and Copernicus demonstrated the earth’s position in
the solar system. By the sixteenth century, two attitudes of great
importance for the emergence of the Western Idea of Progress were
established: a realisation of the value of this life, and a confidence in
the power of human reason to understand the world. The other
worldly view of Christianity was gradually replaced by the idea,
strengthened by the achievements o f science in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, that hum an beings, through the rational
application of knowledge, continually improve the quality of life on
earth.
♦It is very interesting to note that one Greek philosopher, Heraclitus of

Ephesus, believed in a world of perpetual change. His description of this
change in terms of the continual cyclic interplay of opposites is remarkably
similar to that of the Chinese.
In the early seventeenth century, Francis Bacon was influential in

the development of the modern Idea of Progress, through his
insistence on scientific inquiry and the scientific experiment as the
means of understanding nature. But it was surely the outstanding
scientists of the seventeenth century, notably Newton and Galileo,
whose work caused the Western world to believe that the Christian
duty to conquer nature was within man’s power. Classical physics
seemingly ‘explained’ the world, suggesting that matter was composed
of elementary particles, the existence and nature of which were only to
be demonstrated experimentally, and man would then understand the
very substance of the universe.
The belief that science and the exercise of human reason would
enable man to control the processes of nature has been reinforced in
the succeeding centuries by extraordinary advances in science and
technology, and man’s destiny now indeed lies in his own hands.
However, the exploitative attitude toward nature is today being
questioned, with the realisation that an unwise and arrogant treatment
of the natural world threatens to destroy the biosphere, the life
support system on which the human species is totally dependent.
Nevertheless, the dominant attitude in the West is still one which
equates human progress with the advancement of technology.
Hong Kong
Let us now briefly consider the implications of both traditional
Chinese and modern Western cultures for the ecological situation in
Hong Kong today. First we shall consider whether, and in what way,
the two cultures influence changes in the total environment; and
second we will discuss their relevance for the life experience and well
being of individuals.
During the past twenty years, the environmental changes in Hong
Kong have been spectacular, as it has developed into the major
manufacturing and commercial centre that it is today. The ‘economic
miracle’ of Hong Kong has involved the ever-increasing use of
machines powered by extrasomatic energy, ever-increasing levels of
air and noise pollution and ever more displacement of natural
vegetation by concrete. No effort has been made to preserve
substantial areas of parkland in the city. The observer is left with the
impression that any ideas about harmony with nature, which are so
important in Chinese philosophy, must have been very far from the
minds of all those involved in bringing about these changes. There is
little evidence of protest from the Chinese inhabitants of the city, who
represent more than 98 per cent of the population. In fact, the most
vociferous conservationists in Hong Kong come from the very small
European minority in the population.
What is the explanation of this apparent paradox? Can it be that all
this emphasis in Chinese philosophy about harmony with nature is
mere empty words, and has no meaning when it comes to practical
matters? Our own view is that the confusion probably lies in our use of
the word ‘nature’. We suggest that when we speak in English of the
Chinese ideal of harmony with nature, we should perhaps more
accurately be referring to harmony with the environment. Of course, in
ancient times, the environment did largely consist of ‘nature’ in the
form of soil, rocks, water, and various forms of plant and animal life.
Thus, according to this alternative interpretation, the individual may
view the city in much the same way as his ancestors viewed the natural
environment—in that it comprises his physical surroundings over which
he has no control. As already discussed, change is seen in ancient
Chinese thought as a spontaneous and natural occurrence which
should be naturally followed. Thus, the massive changes that are
taking place in the total environment of Hong Kong are to be accepted
and tolerated, just as are other aspects of life experience. The aim of
the individual is to adapt to, and thus live in harmony with these
changes.
It is important to appreciate that even the Western Idea of Progress
itself, as the value system espoused by most Westerners today, is not
really a driving force behind the processes of change. Basically, it
plays a permissive role, merely providing the milieu in which processes
of growth and modernisation can accelerate and gain further
momentum. This is not to say that these processes are necessarily
beyond societal control. But, if ecological equilibrium is to be restored
and the great economic disparities between sections of the world’s
population are to be eliminated, then something quite new has to
happen. In our view, the main hope lies in the possibility of the
emergence of a truly holistic philosophy, which embraces scientific
principles, humanitarian concerns and respect for the processes of
nature, and finds expression in government and community activities
throughout the world.
The way of life of the Chinese people in Hong Kong is profoundly
affected by modern Western culture. For example, their livelihood
depends upon a striving for material wealth and status as defined by
the West, and the education system is a British one. This meeting of
East and West appears to produce remarkably little evidence of
conflict in the lives of individuals. Perhaps the inconsistency between

the two cultures is felt most among young people. Their parents may
hold strongly to the values of their traditional past, and encourage
their children in family responsibility and filial piety. At the same time
these young people are continually exposed to Western values through
the education system and the mass media. They follow Western
fashions and many wish to be independent and free of their family
duties. However, the overwhelming impression is that the young
people cope very well with this apparently contradictory cultural
environment.
Certainly, the Chinese cultural heritage is itself still evident in the
lives of the people of Hong Kong. The great majority of the
population refer to themselves as Chinese, and not as ‘Hong
Kongese’. The Confucian code has a considerable influence on
everyday behaviour, and the family, although it may not always be
harmonious, remains an important source of support for the
individual. Few people live alone, old people are still cared for within
the family circle, and filial piety is still an especially highly respected
virtue.
Traditional ideas and practices regarding disease and medical
treatment also remain strong in Hong Kong today. A large proportion
of the population prefers to attend Chinese herbalists or practitioners
of the traditional art of healing rather than Western doctors, and many
people produce their own ‘folk’ remedies at home.
A very important way in which Chinese philosophy may influence
human experience in Hong Kong is through its encouragement of an
attitude of tolerance in relation to difficult environmental conditions.
We have already noted how such an attitude may permit potentially
undesirable changes to occur in the total environment, but it has
significance also in the daily lives of individuals. It is likely to
contribute, for example, to the ability to cope with the potentially
stressful conditions associated with high population density (see
Chapter 14). Related to this attitude of passivity or acceptance in the
face of unsatisfactory environmental circumstances is the belief that
the individual is not wholly responsible for his personal situation in
life, that certain outside forces and density must be accepted as a part
of reality. This belief is likely to help people to come to terms with
personal failure in a competitive society.
In conclusion, then, we can say that the special blend of modern
Western and traditional Chinese cultures in the territory has an effect
which appears at first sight to be paradoxical. Despite the Chinese
emphasis on m an’s responsibility to live in harmony with nature,

nature is subordinated to man as in few other societies, to the extent
that mountains are literally moved in order to accommodate the roads
and housing required by the swelling population. In fact, the
traditional Chinese attitude of humility with respect to the forces
inherent in the surroundings actually encourages the acceptance of
such change, and it also contributes to the remarkable ability on the
part of individuals to tolerate extremely evodeviant and potentially
stressful conditions in their life experience.
Background to hierarchies and the power

structure in Hong Kong
The ecological characteristics of a human society are influenced to a
large extent by the values, objectives and behaviour of the dominant
groups in that society. Consequently the system of hierarchical
ranking within that society is an important aspect of its ecology.
Evidence from contemporary or recent hunter-gatherer groups
suggests that in the ecological Phase 1 of human existence, societal
ranking is a relatively simple, spontaneous and often transient matter.
In any particular circumstance one person, male or female, emerges
naturally as leader, the choice apparently being a function of the
individual’s particular personality, talents and experience. In another
circumstance, involving a different kind of activity or task, another
individual might be given the lead. The same spontaneous process also
determines the relative ranking of all the members of the group in each
circumstance.
The domestic transition to Phase 2 was associated with some
important changes in this respect, and many subsistence farming
societies today exhibit relatively rigid and fixed hierarchical
structures, which are frequently determined by heredity. For a
number of reasons, with the development of occupational specialism,
the picture in Phase 3, or early urban, societies became very much
more complex and showed a great deal of variation from one
population to another. This complexity and variability has persisted
into Phase 4, the modern industrial phase.
Before Hong Kong was taken over by the British, the societal
structure of the indigenous population had developed along
traditional Chinese lines. In essence it comprised two sets or
dimensions of hierarchies, operating side by side. In the first place,
there was a ranking order based on the powerful ancient lineages or
clans—based, that is, on kinship. The men from whole clusters of
villages considered themselves brothers, descended from a single

ancestor who settled the area many hundreds of years previously.
Each lineage had its lineage elder and the separate families within the
lineages had their family elders. The lineage elder was a very powerful
influence in all matters, economic and otherwise, affecting the clan as
a whole. It was the lineage elders who, in 1898, forgot their habitual
rivalries and rallied the different lineages together to resist by force the
British takeover of the New Territories. This aspect of societal
organisation in traditional Chinese society is based on Confucian
doctrine, with its emphasis on filial piety and respect for elders.
The other dimension of the hierarchical structure of Chinese society
was also linked with Confucian ideas and theoretically was based
entirely on scholastic performance, independent of heredity.
Basically, governmental administrators were selected for their ability
to pass government examinations, which were conducted on district,
provincial and metropolitan levels. Individuals who passed the district
examinations were eligible to take provincial examinations, and the
successful candidates were eligible to take higher metropolitan
examinations. The ultimate position of .an individual in the ruling
hierarchy depended on his level of achievement on this scale. These
state examinations tested the scholar’s knowledge of the Confucian
books and his capacity to compose essays and poems along very
conventional lines. The examinations were relatively narrow in scope
and of an impractical nature, and they did not select for imaginative
thinking, nor, indeed, for any administrative ability.
One of the major weaknesses of the system, then, was the obvious
fact that selection for governmental responsibility was based on a
rather narrow range of mental attributes. This situation is reminiscent
of one which exists today in much of Western society, where an
individual’s progress in the hierarchy also depends to a considerable
extent on his or her scholastic performance. In the modern situation
the system also involves performing well in various kinds of tests at
primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, and the criteria
for success in these institutions are also relatively narrow. It has been
suggested, for example, that the system tends to select ‘convergent
thinkers’ rather than the more creative ‘divergent thinkers’. The
resulting imbalance naturally tends to be perpetuated, in view of the
fact that successful convergers determine the criteria for success
among new generations of students.
Another unsatisfactory aspect of the traditional Chinese system for
the selection of administrators lay in the fact that only the sons of the
land-owning gentry class were usually able to achieve the necessary

level of education to allow them to pass the examinations. Moreover,
the system was entirely male dominated; women were not eligible to
take the examinations and there was consequently no place for them in
the administration of the country. This represents a notable societal
evodeviation in that, according to anthropological literature, most
hunter-gatherer societies appear to be characterised by relative
equality of the sexes with respect to overall influence on the behaviour
and decisions of the group.
Thus we see that the hierarchical system, on which the govern
mental administration of China was based, while selecting individuals
for authoritative positions on the basis of mental aptitude rather than
solely on heredity or wealth, nevertheless resulted in an imbalance
with respect both to the kind of intelligence of the men selected, and to
the relative influence of males and females.
For all the weaknesses of the system, it seems to have been
successful, in the sense that it provided a remarkably stable
administration over a vast area that operated, with only a few
interruptions, for almost 2500 years.
After the British took over the New Territories in 1898, the
Confucian gentry began to be replaced by leaders of a new kind,
chosen for their degree of influence with the alien authorities. In the
New Territories, and even more so in the urban area, wealth became
the main determinant of status and influence among the Chinese
population. The Chinese had to buy themselves into high positions in
the hierarchical structure, often by displaying their wealth through the
donation of large sums of money to various charitable organisations.
The unofficial Chinese members of the various government bodies,
such as the Legislative Council and the Urban Council, have
been mainly wealthy men, most of whom have drawn attention to
themselves through such displays of generosity. Some of them have
had considerable influence on government policy in Hong Kong and
have often understood to a better degree than Europeans the nature of
the problems facing the Chinese population. Nevertheless, they have
also been members of the property-owning class, and their influence
on the government may not always have been in the best interests of
the population as a whole.
Broadly speaking, the power structure of Hong Kong throughout
its history as a British colony can be seen in terms of four categories.
They are as follows: (a) the expatriate members and staff of the
colonial government and supporting military and police forces; (b) the
expatriate traders, industrialists and businessmen, or ‘Taipans’ as
they were called; (c) the rich and influential Chinese; (d) the rest of the
Chinese population. Until recent decades, the main conflicts in Hong
Kong with respect to decision-making were between the
administrators and the Taipans. It is said that the influence of the
latter group has now waned somewhat, and certainly there is much
evidence of a growing participation of Chinese people in the
administration. Nevertheless, Hong Kong makes no pretence at being
a democratic society in any of the different present-day meanings of
that phrase.
The formal structure of the government of Hong Kong, which has
not changed a great deal over recent decades, may be summarised as
follows. The ultimate executive and administrative power lies with the
Governor as representative of the British Crown. The administration
is in the hands of a public service which, through the Colonial
Secretary, is responsible to the Governor. Most of the senior officials
in the departments of the public service come from the United
Kingdom.
The Governor is advised by an Executive Council, over which he
presides and which is a small group of senior civil servants and
community leaders. There are five ex-officio members (the
Commander British Forces, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-
General, the Secretary for Home Affairs and the Financial Secretary).
There are also eight unofficial (i.e. non-governmental) members and
one official member, appointed by the Queen or by the Governor on
the recommendation of the Secretary of State. Half the members of
the Executive Council in 1976 were Chinese. The Executive Council,
while it can influence policy, is nevertheless only a consultative body,
and the Governor is not obliged to follow its advice, although in most
matters he is required to consult it.
There is also a Legislative Council, through which the Governor is
empowered to introduce and change legislation. The Governor is a
member of the Legislative Council and is its President. There are four
ex-officio members, namely the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-
General, the Secretary for Home Affairs and the Financial Secretary.
There are ten official members and fifteen unofficial members, all of
whom are appointed by the Queen or by the Governor on the
instructions of the Secretary of State. In 1976, about half of the
members were Chinese. The main functions of the Council are to
enact legislation and to control the expenditure of public funds. Bills
before the Council are debated and must be passed by a majority vote
before becoming law, and unofficial members can introduce bills.
However, the Council is powerless to counter the government’s
wishes, in that the Governor has the casting vote.
In the New Territories there is a Consultative Assembly, which is
also an advisory body. In this instance, its members are elected, but
most of the New Territories population is not eligible to vote.
Another administrative body is the Urban Council, which replaced
the Sanitary Board in 1935. It comprises twenty-four members, twelve
of whom are appointed by the Governor and twelve elected by
residents eligible to vote under the Urban Council Ordinance. Their
terms of office are four years, but a member may be re-appointed or re
elected for further terms. There are no official members. The Urban
Council’s responsibilities are restricted to Hong Kong Island,
Kowloon and New Kowloon. Its main duties relate to public
sanitation, the licensing and hygienic control of all food premises and
markets, the management of the City Hall, City Museum and Art
Gallery, public libraries and places of public recreation and
entertainment.
Since the government is firmly is firmly committed to the concept of
a laissez-faire economy, it is clear that ecologically important develop
ments are largely determined, not by the government, but by financial
forces. Money is the instrument and motivator of ecological change.
Thus, there exists a hierarchy in Hong Kong which lies outside
government and which we can refer to as the ‘dollar hierarchy’. The
existence of this hierarchy is ofgreat ecological significance, and it will
be discussed in the following section.
Economics
Introduction
The foregoing discussion on the cultural background and hierarchical
structure leads naturally to consideration of the economy of Hong
Kong. Indeed, these three topics are inextricably linked with each
other.
Although economic processes play an extremely important role
among the influences on the ecology of human settlements, a detailed
analysis and description of the economy of Hong Kong is beyond the
scope of the present study. We will nevertheless discuss briefly some of
the historical aspects of the situation and also some of the outstanding
characteristics of the present economy of the territory.
It is well known that the economic growth in Hong Kong over the
past few decades has been quite remarkable. In fact, it is regarded by
many as representing a classic ‘success story’, in terms of the criteria of
the conventional economic thinking of the Western world. In the
present context, however, we are especially interested in the economic
happenings of the society insofar as they may have impact on both the
ecological properties of the total environment and the life experience
of the people.
The quest for money has been a characteristic of Hong Kong since
its inception as a British Crown Colony in 1842, and today aggressive
financial acquisitiveness is an outstanding feature of Hong Kong
society. At first consideration this fact may seem difficult to reconcile
with the traditional disapproval of economic acquisitiveness in
Chinese literature, and it is pertinent to give some thought to this
aspect of the value system of China and to its influence in Hong Kong
today.
There were a number of factors which tended to discourage the
acquisition of great material wealth in China. Some of these related
directly to the value system of the society, or at least of its literate
members, and some were more the consequence of the societal
structure and organisation. Relevant to the situation is the fact that the
great majority of the population, about 80 per cent, were peasants and
most of them rented the land they cultivated. For these people
acquisitiveness had real meaning in terms of their very survival.
Nevertheless, acquisitiveness or gain centred not on the individual but
on the family. The father and son relationship was especially
important in this context, although the ‘mutual dependence’
behaviour often extended to other close members of the lineage and to
friends. The economic ambition of the family was always to purchase
land, or if it already owned some, to acquire more. Thus, even if some
financial wealth accumulated, it was very soon converted into land.
There were other factors tending to mitigate against the
accumulation of wealth among the peasants. One of these was the
system of inheritance, involving an equal splitting of property among
all sons of the deceased male, leading to the continual division of
family fortunes. Another factor was the extraordinary cost of certain
family commitments, including weddings, funerals and even
birthdays. It has been said that the average cost of a wedding was
equivalent to about four months’ income, and a funeral cost about
three months’ income.
It is true that the belief systems of Chinese tended to disapprove of
acquisitiveness. This was so for Buddhism, Taoism and various

related religious ideas. They advocated, for example, spiritual
progress through ‘personal cultivation’, and the best route or path to
personal cultivation involved the renunciation of any desire for
material wealth. Confucianism, although its emphasis was on social
matters rather than spiritual ones, also recognised the undesirability of
material acquisitiveness.
These idea systems also accepted, however, that not everyone
would be able to follow such a path. Thus, an alternative approach to
spiritual progress was offered, in the form of ‘mutual help’; and one
of the best ways to help people was to give them things. In order to do
this, the individual must first possess things. Thus, the recognition of
this second route to spiritual salvation meant that wealthy people, so
long as they were seen to give to the needy, were not necessarily subject
to disapproval on ethical grounds. It is said that it was among the
intellectuals that the personal cultivation method of progress was
more popular, while the mutual help method was by far the more
common method adopted by the more religious members of the rest of
the population.
Traditional Chinese philosophy as a whole also recognised that
material acquisitiveness among the poor was a necessary behavioural
characteristic, since it was the means by which families provided
themselves with food and shelter. Indeed, the gods of the folk-
religions of China specialise in matters relating to material wealth and
many cults are devoted to the achievement of economic prosperity.
Nevertheless, the underlying assumption is that economic gain should
not continue beyond the satisfaction of the basic needs for survival.
There was one section in Chinese society which, although of low
social status, had considerable potential for making money.
This was the merchant class. However, when these people were
financially successful, the first thing they did was to acquire land.
Thus there was no tradition of sons taking over and expanding the
flourishing family business. Rather, the successful merchant bought
land, became a member of the gentry, and his sons thus had a better
chance of being able to take the state examinations and so to become
scholars and members of the administrative hierarchy.
With respect to the gentry, Confucian ideology, as well as Taoism
and Buddhism, tended to discourage the accumulation of wealth in
forms other than the possession of land itself and the right not to have
to work on it for their subsistence, so that they couid devote their
energies to scholarship or administration.
In the nineteenth century there came into existence one other small
group in Chinese society which must be mentioned because of its
special relevance to subsequent developments in Hong Kong. After
Shanghai was opened to Western influences in 1843, industrial activity
came to be regarded as a worthwhile and socially acceptable pursuit,
and there emerged an industrial and commercial elite which was less
constrained by the various traditional institutions and values which we
have mentiond. Unlike the merchants, the members of this section of
Chinese society did not give up their vocation as soon as they had
sufficient money to acquire land. Instead, they put excess profits back
into their various enterprises and as a result some very rich industrial
families came into being.
The economy o f Hong Kong past and present

It is necessary to stress that Hong Kong is, in essence, a city state with
very little in the way of natural or mineral resources of its own, and it is
therefore extremely dependent for its economic survival on active trade
with the outside world. As we have seen, Hong Kong originated as a
means of permitting British merchants to make money through trade
with China and other Eastern countries, with minimum interference
from Chinese authorities. Most of the Chinese immigrants to Hong
Kong in the early years also came in order to seek financial prosperity.
The economy of Hong Kong during the last century and up to the
time of the Japanese occupation was based on entrepot trade. In the
very early years opium still played a substantial part in the trading with
China, although its place was later taken by other items. There was a
certain amount of industrial activity, but it was on a small scale, and
mainly involved ship building, repair and provisioning, rattan
production, and small enterprises such as the manufacture of electric
torches. Because of its entrepot function, Hong Kong soon developed
such services as banking and insurance, and large warehouse facilities.
During the entrepot era there were already features of the situation in
Hong Kong which resulted in the weakening of the restraints which
had existed in China on the gain of material wealth. In the first place,
the immigrants who had come to Hong Kong in order to improve their
position economically had, in doing so, to some extent broken their
ties with their families. Indeed, there may have been a certain selection
of acquisitive personality types moving into the area. As time went on,
there came to be less emphasis in Hong Kong on Chinese classical
education, with its teachings concerning, the dangers of the acquisition
of wealth, and more emphasis on the Western value system. Moreover,
the gentry class did not, as such, become important in Hong Kong;
and in any case the situation with regard to land ownership was totally
different from that which had existed in China.
Another important factor was the status value of wealth per se. As
we have noted, wealthy Chinese men were often invited to sit on
various prestigious government councils and committees, as well as
being looked upon for leadership in various Chinese community
organisations within the city. Wealth was, in fact, the only means by
which a Chinese individual in Hong Kong could come to have any
influence at all on community affairs, and the only means by which he
could stand out in society as an important person. Thus, there grew up
in Hong Kong a class of very wealthy Chinese, who played an active
role in trading, and whose financial interests also found expression in
the ownership of residential buildings. This situation led to the
existence of the wealthy ‘Hong Kong families’ which are still a
recognisable group in Hong Kong today.
Thus, even before the industrial phase of the Hong Kong economy,
various influencs resulted in a situation in which financial gain came
to be regarded by the Chinese as not only acceptable, but also as a
major social end.
However, it was the events which occurred in the few years
following the Japanese occupation which determined the economic
characteristics of Hong Kong as it is today. The most important of
these events can be summarised as follows. In the first place, there
occurred a massive immigration of people, all of whom were seeking a
means of making money for simple survival purposes. Secondly,
following the political changes in China, a considerable number of the
Shanghainese industrialists, to whom we have already referred,
moved to Hong Kong. It will be recalled that these people were
relatively uninfluenced by the traditional Chinese values disapproving
of the individual accumulation of wealth. Indeed many of them
brought a good deal of capital with them, as well as experience in
modern industrial techniques, and many had business contacts
overseas. Other very important influences were the embargo imposed
by the United States on the import of all goods originating from
China, and then the United Nations embargo on the export of
strategic goods to China. These had a drastic effect on Hong Kong’s
trade with China; and exports to China, which in 1951 had made up
two-thirds of Hong Kong’s total exports, very quickly dropped to
about 1 per cent of the total.
Thus it came about that, in the laissez-faire environment of Hong
Kong, the entrepreneurs, among whom Shanghainese were especially

important, began to establish the manufacturing industries which
have since become the mainstay of the economy of Hong Kong. As we
shall discuss later, it is relevant to the ecology of the system that these
are, by and large, comparatively light industries, and that their
consumption of extrasomatic energy is relatively low as compared
with the heavy industries of many Western countries. However, their
impact on the personal environments of the people of Hong Kong is
still considerable, because they are concentrated in the very densely
populated urban area of the territory.
In 1973 the percentage of the working population in manufacturing
industry was 48 per cent, of whom almost half were engaged in the
manufacture of textiles and clothing. Next in importance came plastic
products and electrical appliances and electronics, each employing
about 11 per cent of the manufacturing workforce.
Although inflationary trends must be taken into account, the
changes in the annual dollar value of exports from Hong Kong gives
some idea of the change that occurred in the period between 1950 and
1974. In the former year total exports were valued at HKS3715
million, whereas in 1974 they amounted to HK$30,035 million,
including HK$22,911 of domestic origin and HK$7,124 million of re
exports. The average rate of increase of domestic exports was about 14
per cent per year between 1961 and 1971.
The four main countries receiving these exports are the United
States, the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany and
Japan, which in 1973 took about 35 per cent, 14 per cent, 10 per cent
and 5 per cent respectively of the total domestic exports. The
geographical location of these countries illustrates the dependence of
the economy of Hong Kong on the smooth flow of fossil fuels to
power the ships which deliver the goods.
Imports have also increased over this period—to a greater extent, in
fact, than the exports. In 1971 there was a total trade deficit of
HKS3093 million and in 1974 the figure was HKS4084 million.
However, this apparent deficit is able to be sustained because of
various invisible receipts, such as those coming from tourism (which
accounts for about 5 per cent of the gross national product), the
earnings from the services of shipping, insurance and banking, and
the very substantial inflow of capital. Together, these sources of
foreign exchange make possible the excess of imports over exports.
The imports come mainly from Japan, China, the United States,
the United Kingdom and Taiwan which in 1973 contributed about 22
per cent, 19 per cent, 13 per cent, 6 per cent and 6 per cent respectively
to total imports. These imports reflect Hong Kong’s dependence on
other places for much of its food, raw materials and capital goods. For
example, in 1974, 18 per cent of the total imports of HK$34,120
million were foodstuffs; 41 per cent raw materials and semi
manufactured items; 13 per cent capital goods; 6 per cent fuel; and the
balance was made up of consumer durables and manufactured goods.
Hong Kong still serves an entrepot function, in that in 1974, for
example, 21 per cent of all imports were re-exported, accounting for
24 per cent of total exports. This entrepot trade was largely in
manufactured goods, the principal sources of which were Mainland
China, Japan and the United States.
Approximately 90 per cent of all domestic manufactures are
exported from Hong Kong, placing it ninth in the world for volume of
trade per capita, and eighteenth in absolute terms. Although among
the nations it is only eighty-sixth in population size.
Changes in bank deposits also reflect the increasing economic
prosperity of Hong Kong. The total funds on deposit in the banks in
m id-1954 was valued at just under HKSIOOO million. The figure had
doubled by the end of 1959, doubled again by 1962, again by 1966,
and again by 1971, by which time the total sum on deposit exceeded
HK$ 18,000 million. In 1974 it reached HK$30,998 million and the
figure is still increasing.
Associated with this economic growth, there has been a steady
increase in average income, which doubled during the period
1961-71, and, taking inflation into account, this represents a 50 per
cent increase in real wages for that period.
Although the range of incomes is very great, abject poverty at a level
that threatens survival is much less in evidence today than it was a few
decades ago. The household income distribution in 1971 is shown in
Figure 2.4.
The spatial distribution of households with different incomes is
uneven, as is probably the case in all other human settlements.
Households with incomes of HKS2000 or over per month are found
mostly in the following districts: The Peak District (which, of the
various Census Districts has the highest average household income of
HK$4972 per month), Mid-levels and Po Fu Lam and Hong Kong
South—all on Hong Kong Island—and Tai Hang, Kowloon Tong and
Marine on Kowloon Peninsula.
We will return shortly to the question of Hong Kong’s spectacular
economic growth. First, a few words are necessary about the budget of
the Hong Kong government itself. Perhaps the most striking feature
of government finance is that, although its standard rate of tax on
earnings and profit is the lowest in the industrial world, its annual
accounts have shown surpluses now for many years. In other words, it
does not spend beyond its means. For example, in the financial year
1971-72, the government’s revenue amounted to HKS3504 million and
its expenditure was HKS2902 million, leaving a surplus of HKS602
million. This accumulation of surpluses, which has now been building
up for a considerable period, is regarded by many as a considerable
achievement. Critics of the government, however, suggest that there is
no excuse for such a surplus when there are still very serious problems
facing sections of the population, which could be alleviated by further
government expenditure on housing or various social services.
The government of Hong Kong has in the past been somewhat
unusual in its apparent disregard for the collection and dissemination
of official economic statistics, apart from trade returns. In fact no
official estimates of national income were published until the 1973-74
budget. Recent government figures show a total GDL in 1969 of
HK$ 15,499 million (HKS4011 per capita) and in 1974 of HK$34,066
million (HKS8018 per capita).
It is abundantly clear that the state of the economy of Hong Kong is
extremely dependent on what is happening in other countries. It was
the political events in China and the embargoes of the 1950s which,
although nearly bringing economic collapse to Hong Kong, resulted in
a major change in the main source of its income, this change
eventually resulting in the extraordinary economic growth which
followed. The growth itself was also dependent, of course, not only on
a steady supply of raw materials and of fossil fuel from other countries
far away, but also on the ability and willingness of the markets
overseas to absorb products from Hong Kong. Moreover, a
substantial, but unknown proportion of the investments in industry
and business in Hong Kong have originated from outside the territory.
The economic system

The outstanding feature of the economic system of Hong Kong can be
summed up simply with the phrase ‘laissez-faire capitalism’, which
implies the absolute minimum of government interference with the
activities of the private sector. Associated factors include low taxes
and the minimum of trade controls. The government has not
attempted to master-mind the economic development of the territory,
and it is essentially the enterprise and financial self-interest of
individuals which have produced the economic growth that has taken
place.
Other aspects of the laissez-faire policy include the fact that there
are no restrictions in Hong Kong on exchange between the Hong Kong
dollar and other currencies. Furthermore, until very recently, there
have been no restrictions on the hours that people work in industry
and there is no government-determined minimum wage. It is also said
that, with respect to taxation and to the labour regulations that do
exist, the number of governmental staff available for inspection is
small relative to the tasks for which they are employed, and
consequently some business establishments tend not to take their
theoretical obligations in these areas very seriously.
Another relevant aspect of the situation is the weakness of trade
unionism in Hong Kong, and only a small proportion of the industrial
workforce are members of unions. This is due partly to political
1000 15 0 0 2000 2500
HOUSEHOLD INCOME (H.K $ FER MONTH)
Figure 2.4 Distribution of household income, Hong Kong, 1971

divisions among the unionists, and the fact that the unions are not
allowed to establish political funds for their members.
As mentioned in the last section, there can be said to exist in Hong
Kong a dollar hierarchy which lies outside the government. The more
money an individual possesses, the more powerful he is, in terms of his
impact on the environment and on the life experience of other people.
Apart from individuals, however, there is another extremely
important set of forces, in terms of ecological potency. These are the
big, often largely international, industrial and commercial
corporations. These organisations are, of course, dominated by
individuals who are themselves relatively high up in the dollar
hierarchy. Nevertheless, the corporations tend to take on behaviour
patterns in their own right, with their own value systems, and they
seem to operate almost as if independent of the human beings who
find themselves in executive positions within them. They are extremely
powerful and they have no built-in ecological conscience; their overall
potential for doing serious damage to the total environment and to the
quality of human life is very great.
All this should not be taken to imply that the government has played
no part in the economic development* of Hong Kong. On the contrary,
it is often argued that its adherence to the laissez-faire policy has itself
been an important positive contribution. Nevertheless, the
government has departed from this policy in certain ways, and it is
doing so increasingly. Thus, as we shall discuss in the next chapter,
even in the early years of the Colony, the government began to accept
that it had certain responsibilities to the community beyond the mere
maintenance of law and order. These involved the introduction of
legislation concerning the public health standards of residential
buildings, although each attempt to introduce legislation of this kind
has met with opposition from some quarters in Hong Kong on the
grounds that to do so is inconsistent with the accepted laissez-faire
policies and that it interferes with free enterprise.
Perhaps the most outstanding exception to the non-interference
policy of government has been the massive housing program which
has provided homes for more than 3 million people over the last 20
years (Chapter 9). It has been pointed out that this development itself,
by providing a stable residential background for the workforce, has
contributed significantly to economic growth. The government, as
owner of all land in Hong Kong, is also responsible for overall land-
use planning and for the development of the various new towns. It
also sets aside sites for industrial and commercial use, although it
leaves the development of these sites to the entrepreneurs and the

market mechanism. The Hong Kong government is also reponsible
for the water supply, 60 per cent of which now comes from reservoirs
within the territory and only 40 per cent by pipeline from China. With
the exception of the part of the Kowloon-Canton Railway which runs
from Kowloon to the border with the People’s Republic of China (and
which may be one of the few in the world today that operates at a
considerable profit), public transport is in the hands of free enterprise.
This is also true for the electricity and telephone services, which are
under the control of private companies and are operated for private
profit.
The government is responsible for one radio station, Radio Hong
Kong, but the television stations and other radio stations derive their
income from advertising.
A further recent departure from the strict laissez-faire approach has
been the increase in environmental legislation introduced by the
govenrment. This consists mainly of a piecemeal approach aimed,
for example, at alleviating problems of pollution of the air and
waterways and the control of noise. In this case, as in the case of
housing standards and regulations with respect to the working
conditions of the labour force, legislation is one thing, and its proper
enforcement is another. It remains to be seen to what extent the recent
environmental legislation is effective.
If the assumption of most commentators is true, that the rapid
economic changes in Hong Kong are basically due to the laissez-faire
economic system operating in the territory, then it follows that this
policy has been responsible for the very substantial increase in
material wealth in the city. Nevertheless, from the overall ecological
point of view, there are certain causes for concern which will be
discussed in later chapters and which relate both to the interactions
between societal conditions and the natural environment and to the
quality of human experience. Associated with these broad issues is the
great and increasing extent of the disparities in material wealth in the
society, a trend which inevitably accompanies a thoroughly laissez-
faire economic policy.
It is clear that the ecological risks of a laissez-faire economic system
become greater as the use of extrasomatic energy in a society increases
and as the industrial and commercial corporations within it become
bigger and less human. It is not, however, only laissez-faire
economies, based on the desire for personal profit that give rise to
disturbing environmental problems. From the ecological point of view
there is serious reason to question the long-term wisdom of the whole

concept of perpetual escalatory growth which the economic system of
the world now forces upon human societies, capitalist and socialist
alike.
3
LIFE CONDITIONS AND
BIOPSYCHIC STATE
IN EARLY HONG KONG
The political decisions of 1841 transformed Hong Kong in a

remarkably short time from what was essentially an ecological Phase 2
situation to a Phase 3, or early urban, society. This chapter is
concerned with the life conditions and biopsychic state* of the
population of Hong Kong during its Phase 3 period and during its
transition to Phase 4 in the early decades of the present century.
In Chapter 1 we summarised some of the more important
biocultural characteristics of human societies in ecological Phase 3.
All of the characteristics mentioned apply to Hong Kong during the
period under consideration. Here, however, we will concentrate on
only two aspects of life conditions which are of special relevance in the
Hong Kong situation, namely, diet and population density.
Diet
A characteristic of the diet of humankind in the primeval environment
was its built-in variety. Except for the case of the Eskimos, who are far
from typical representatives of primeval society, the diet of the great
majority of recent hunter-gatherer populations has consisted mainly
of heterogeneous mixtures of plant material, including fruits, berries,
seeds, leaves and nuts, supplemented with some animal products,
ranging from the muscles of large herbivores to bee larvae and other
insects.
One of the recurring characteristics of early urban societies was the
tendency, for reasons of convenience and economics, for populations
or sub-populations to rely on a relatively narrow range of foodstuffs,
sometimes consisting of only a single food source, the ‘staple diet’ of
the society. The main staple foods of the various civilisations during
*The term biopsychic state’ means the actual physical and mental state of an
individual at any given time. This concept is discussed in Chapter 4.
the past few millennia have been rice, wheat and related cereals, and
maize. This drastic narrowing of the sources of nutrients has given rise
throughout recorded history to maladjustment in the form of a series
of deficiency diseases such as scurvy, rickets, beri-beri and pellagra.
In general, the transition from ecological Phase 3 to Phase 4 has been
marked by successful cultural adaptation with respect to specific
malnutrition, and this trend has been associated with an increasing
knowledge of the nutritional requirements of the human species.
Effective cultural adaptation in this area is always corrective, rather
than antidotal, and takes the form of restoring to the diet the missing
components, thereby correcting the underlying evodeviation
responsible for the maladjustment.*
This particular kind of cultural adaptation ultimately depends for
its success on two further factors. First, the appropriate foodstuffs
must be made available and at a price that does not preclude their
consumption. Second, it depends on decisions on the part of
individuals to eat wisely, or to feed their families wisely, and this in
turn requires that people be provided with the relevant information.
In other words, the role of education, always important to successful
cultural adaptation, is particularly obvious in the case of the
prevention of nutritional disorders.
In Hong Kong, as in other Chinese cities, the staple diet was
polished rice. This was normally supplemented with a variety of
vegetables and meat, especially pork and poultry, providing an
adequately nutritious diet. However, lack of money forced a section of
the population to omit the vegetables and meat, and the resulting
monodiet of rice led to a deficiency of Vitamin B,, or thiamine, and to
the illness known as beri-beri. This disease was an important cause of
death among the Chinese population in Hong Kong in the nineteenth
century. Successful cultural adaptation to the condition came
relatively late and 2600 deaths from beri-beri were reported in 1938
and 1318 in 1946. The slowness of cultural adaptation in this instance
was due to lack of knowledge about the nature of the disorder. In
official papers in 1906, reference was made to the fact that it had been
found ‘impossible to find any micro-organism which could be
brought into causal relationship with the disease’.t The authors of this
statement wrote that their bacteriological studies ‘strongly point to the
conclusion that beri-beri is not due to any micro-organism of the
*See p. 98.
tH ong Kong Sessional Papers, 1906, p. 126.
Life Conditions and Biopsychic State 67
hitherto described types. Indeed, we doubt if the disease is an acute

specific infectious disorder’.* In an earlier official paper in 1889 a
medical authority noted that a Chinese doctor’s treatment consisted
of giving the patient as much mutton and beef as possible in place of
their usual rice. This authority also took the view that beri-beri was
not an infectious disease, but he quoted authors in the British Medical
Journal who concluded that it was infectious.
Another recurring feature of societies in Phase 3 has been straight
under-nutrition, either because of the failure of the monoculture on
which a population has become dependent, or because of sheer
poverty for some sections of the population. Starvation does not,
however, seem to have been an important cause of death or ill-health
in Hong Kong, except during the last part of the Japanese occupation.
Life conditions and infectious diseases

Life conditions
Almost from the day that the British assumed possession of Hong
Kong Island in January 1841, large numbers of people came streaming
into the settlement. By 1853, the job seekers and political refugees had
already brought the population to over 39,000. Because these
dramatic increases in population were neither planned nor controlled,
it is not surprising that the town became extremely congested, and
large numbers of people were living in very inadequate housing.
Indeed, this state of affairs has, with the brief exception of the period
of Japanese occupation, remained a constant feature of Hong Kong
from that time to the present day.
Even in the early days the Colonial government, reflecting the
growing acceptance in nineteenth century Britain of the responsibility
of the state for setting some standards for residential buildings,
attempted to introduce regulations in the interests of public health and
safety. In one early example it was decreed that the leaseholder shall
‘well and sufficiently repair, maintain, pave, purge, scour, cleanse,
empty, amend and keep the messuage or tenement... and all walls,
rails, lights, pavements, privies, sinks, drains and whatsoever, the
whole to be done to the satisfaction of the Surveyor of Her said
M ajesty...’.! A Buildings Ordinance in 1856 required that dwellings
should be provided with an adequate safe place for lighting fires and
*Ibid. p. 127.
fExtract from an early set of lease conditions held in the Crown l ands and
Survey Office, Hong Kong. Quoted in Pryor, E.G. 1973, Housing in Hong
Kong, London, Oxford University Press.
the cooking of food and with a privy or ashpit. However, the

Ordinance contained no reference to the height of buildings, lighting,
ventilation, or to the width of streets. In any case, little attention was
paid to the government’s regulations, and the government did little to
ensure compliance with the law.
The Colonial Surgeon in 1859 wrote as follows:
Ordinance No. 8 of 1856 makes it unlawful to construct a house
without a sufficient water closet and ashpit to the satisfaction of
the Surveyor General. Houses recently built have been allowed to
be erected without the slightest regard to any one of these
particulars. The fact is there is legal machinery enough to enforce
any and every reasonable requirement and to ensure the sanitary
condition of the Colony, but there exists an unaccountable
objection to putting that machinery into action.*
In 1873 Dr Phineas Ayres took over as Colonial Surgeon, a position
which he held for 24 years. Throughout this time he was an outspoken
critic of the government’s failure to deal effectively with the housing
problem, and in 1874 he forecast the eventual outbreak of an epidemic
of ‘unenviable renown’.f He found that houses commonly had three,
to eight families living in one room and were ‘constructed without any
regard to basic sanitary requirements’. In addition to the many human
occupants of these sub-standard dwellings, pigs were to be found in
large numbers, a favourite place for them being under the beds.
By 1882 the situation was so bad that the government finally
decided to bring out a sanitary engineer from Britain to prepare a
report on the problem and to make recommendations. The man
selected was Osbert Chadwick, the son of Edwin Chadwick who had
played so crucial a role in the public health movement in Britain.
Chadwick noted that the most common type of housing in Hong
Kong consisted of buildings with relatively narrow frontages, the
width of 4 to 5 m being determined essentially by the length of the
poles of the China fir used for the floor beams. The depth of the
dwellings ranged from 9 to 18 m. Except for those built on the slopes,
houses were usually back to back. In terraced houses there were
windows only in the front rooms. Right at the back of each building
♦Wellington, A.R., 1930. Quoted in Pryor, E.G. 1973, Housing in Hong

Kong.
tAnnual Report of the Colonial Surgeon, Hong Kong Government Gazette,
4 April 1874.
there was a cook house, usually about 2 m deep, which was commonly
also used as a latrine and sometimes as sleeping quarters. The upper
floors of tenement buildings were divided by wooden partitions into
cubicles about 2.5 m by 3 m and only 2 m high, each of which would be
occupied by an individual or a family.
The life conditions associated with high population density in Hong
Kong in this period were thus typical of the worst Phase 3 societies. In
keeping with the early urban pattern elsewhere, however, not all
sections of the population were exposed to the same kind of life
conditions. In the first decade of the twenteenth century, when
conditions for the mass of the population in Hong Kong were much
the same as those described by Chadwick in 1882, one English author
was able to write, referring to Hong Kong, as follow:
A fine city of 300,000 inhabitants who live amid all the advantages
of Western civilisation, has sprung up along the northern shore and
overflowed to the neighbouring peninsula. ‘It may be doubted’ as
Sir William des Voeux, a former Governor, wrote in a dispatch to
the Secretary of State for the Colonies, ‘whether the evidence of
material and moral achievement, presented as it were in a focus,
make anywhere a more forcible appeal to the eye and imagination,
and whether any other spot on the earth is thus more likely to
excite, or much more fully justifies, pride in the name of
Englishman.*
The European members of the community had in fact isolated
themselves residentially in the Peak District of Hong Kong Island.
According to a guide book of the 1920s:
The Peak District, which has its own church, club and unofficial
civic body, is reserved for Europeans. Here it is that the Colony’s
higher officials live, ther Governor in the wet season forsaking his
official residence in Upper Albert Road for Mountain Lodge, his
summer residence situated on a commanding site. . . .
A clause in the Peak District Reservation Ordinance of 1904 reads
as follows:
It shall not be lawful (save in accordance with the previous
provisions of this Ordinance) for any owner, lessee, tenant or
occupier of any land or building within the Peak District to let such
land or building or any part thereof for the purpose of residence by
any but non-Chinese, or to permit any but non-Chinese to reside
on or in such land or building.
This ordinance was repealed in 1946.
♦Cartwright, H.A. 1908, ‘Hong Kong’ in Wright, A. and Carwright, H.

(1908), Twentieth Century impressions o f Hong Kong, Shanghai and other
Treaty Ports o f China, London, Lloyd’s, p. 145.
Infectious diseases
As in other Phase 3 societies, especially those with very high
population densities, the overall mortality rate and the infant
mortality rate in Hong Kong were both high during this period, as
compared with the situation in Phase 4 societies. Although the early
figures are of doubtful accuracy, according to official reports the
mortality rates fluctuated between 19 and 27 per 1000 until 1939.
However, it is likely that they were a good deal higher than this,
due to the under-reporting of infant deaths. Chadwick noted in his
report that the mean age at death of adults (persons over 20 years) in
Hong Kong in 1881 was 43, as compared to 55 years for the whole of
England in 1840. There can be little doubt that the high mortality rates
were largely due to the high incidence of various infectious diseases.
Hong Kong came to develop a reputation for disease very soon after
its inception. Initially, the death rate among Europeans was very high
and in 1841 Mr Robert Montgomery Martin, the Colonial Treasurer,
prepared a long report stressing his view that the place would never be
habitable for Europeans. A similar opinion was expressed by the
Commander of the Armed Forces, General D’Aguilar, who said that
to retain Hong Kong would involve the loss of a whole regiment every
three years. The main cause of death among aliens in these early years
appears to have been a condition which was known at the time as
Hong Kong Fever. This has been variously described as an unusual
form of cholera, as malaria, as plague, and even as yellow fever.
Sometimes it carried off its victims within two days.
There is little point in attempting to compile here, on the basis of
existing rather unreliable data, a comprehensive list of the death rates
from the different infectious diseases during the period under
consideration. It is sufficient to state that the main causes of death
were smallpox, typhoid fever, dysentery, malaria, syphilis, tuber
culosis, pneumonia, and gastro-enteritis due to undefined infectious
agents. At certain periods cholera and plague were also important. In
the paragraphs which follow, special reference will be made to plague
and tuberculosis, because the societal responses to these diseases
illustrate particularly well certain important biocultural principles.
Although the transition from ecological Phase 3 to Phase 4 in Hong
Kong did not invole any reduction in the evodeviant concentrations of
population which were responsible for the high prevalence of
infectious diseases in early urban societies, the transition was
nevertheless associated with a dramatic decline in the incidence of
these diseases. This change was the consequence of very successful
cultural adaptation, one of the most important components of which

was, in essence, a local Hong Kong application of the British public
health movement. This movement was aimed in general at improving
the residential conditions of the people, providing more light and
ventilation in dwellings, and introducing new standards of public
hygiene appropriate for high density living.
The public health movement in Britain had its origins in the
expressions of concern, coming especially from medical practi
tioners, about the very high morbidity and mortality rates from
various diseases in the extremely crowded and congested working class
populations in industrial cities. Typhus appears to have been the main
cause for this concern, although cholera, because of its often rapidly
fatal course, added considerable impetus to official action when it first
appeared on the scene in the 1860s. Interestingly, concern about
tuberculosis, which was certainly the most important single cause of
death in the country at that time, played virtually no part in eliciting
the reforms.
It is noteworthy that typhus was apparently relatively unimportant
in Hong Kong as a cause of death. Reference is seldom made to it in
the official reports of the nineteenth century and between 1873 and
1880, for example, only 93 deaths from typhus were recorded. However,
Chadwick suggested that some of the illness described simply as
‘fever’ may have been typhus. According to the Hippocratic
postulate,* this apparent difference between the biopsychic state of
congested populations in early industrial Britain as compared with
those in Hong Kong is most likely to be explained by some
environmental differences, and it is worth speculating on what they
may have been. Typhus is due to infection with a rickettsia and it is
spread by the body louse, which also suffers from the disease and
usually dies from it. The body louse is an evolutionary descendant of
the head louse, and owes its existence to the human custom, first
adopted by some people early in the primeval phase, of wearing
clothes. That is to say, the body louse evolved as a creature which
requires clothing, preferably very thick and seldom washed, for its
protection and survival. A marked characteristic of the Chinese
people in Hong Kong today is the attention they pay to keeping
themselves and their clothing clean. Although many European
observers referred to the filthy living conditions and ‘dirty habits’ of
the Chinese population in Hong Kong in the last century, it is difficult
*See p. 94.
to imagine that this characteristic cleanliness is entirely of new origin.

It is perhaps more likely that the European observers, noting the
general and probably unavoidable unhygienic state of the physical
environment, simply assumed that the people themselves, like many
Europeans at that time living under similar conditions, wore dirty
clothes and seldom washed. Also relevant is the fact that, due to the
climatic conditions, the people of Hong Kong wore clothes of cotton
rather than of wool, and they wore fewer layers of clothing than did
the inhabitants of European cities.
As mentioned above, some governmental action directed against
infectious disease was already in evidence early in the Colony’s
history. Various ordinances relating to housing standards and public
hygiene were introduced and, however ineffective they may have been,
they did represent the first steps towards successful cultural adaptation
and indicate at least an awareness among the authorities that all was
not well. It will be recalled that the two very concerned and frustrated
reformers, Dr Ayres, the Surgeon General, and Osbert Chadwick,
had both predicted that if conditions were not improved, severe
epidemics might be expected.
Following the recommendations of Chadwick, various forms of
legislation were introduced to the Legislative Council with the aim of
improving the situation. For several reasons these moves met with
little success. First, even when important legislation was introduced,
it was extremely difficult to enforce it. In some cases this was due
simply to the immensity of the task, in relation to the resources
available to the government, of bringing about effective control. To a
large extent, however, the lack of success was due to the sheer
inappropriateness of the legislation itself, which was often based on
standards developed in a very different society on the other side of the
world. For instance, it was made illegal for people to live in a dwelling
in such numbers that there was less than 350 cu.ft. (10 m3) of air space
for each individual; that is, about 4.5 m2 floor area per person
(assuming 2.25 m high ceilings). However, there were so many
thousands of instances of infringement of this law that enforcement
was simply not a practical proposition. The same problem exists in
many developing countries today, where Western standards for
housing are often required by law, but where the number of people
breaking the law is so great that no attempt whatsoever is made to
enforce it.
Another difficulty in bringing about effective control lay in the
ever-continuing growth in the population, so that the demand for
accommodation was always ahead of the supply. Already in the 1880s

Dr Ayres was advocating the abolition of the squatting system but, as
we shall see later, there are to this day over 500,000 squatters in Hong
Kong. To illustrate the attitude of some of the alien government
officials at that time, it may be noted that the Surveyor General
objected to Dr Ayres’ suggestions that compensation should be paid
to squatters who had been forcibly displaced from their homes. His
objection was based on the fact that the squatters were illegally using
Crown land. The main reason, however, why so little progress was
made lay, as it had done in Britain, in the strong opposition from
vested interests, in the form of property owners, who were extremely
reluctant to spend money on improving the buildings they owned or to
include any costly refinements in the new buildings they were about to
construct. In general, Chadwick is said to have found the actual
occupants of the houses enthusiastic about the need for better
conditions, and intelligent in their suggestions as to what might be
done. He wrote that he found the Chinese ‘as anxious as any for
decency, cleanliness and order’ and said that the sanitary inspectors
‘met with goodwill and courtesy, and were offered tea’. But when,
after his visit, a new Public Health Bill was introduced into the
Legislative Council, proposing a slum clearance scheme, it was
defeated through the eloquence of a Dr Ho Kai, who spoke on behalf
of the property owners.
Thus, we see that, as in many other places at many other times,
improvement of the human situation was hindered through the lack of
satisfaction of one of the essential prerequisites for sucessful cultural
adaptation, namely sufficient motivation among the most influential
groupings in society (see Chapter 4). Reformers were in conflict with
anti-reformers, and progress was slow.
A successful cultural adaptive response to biological
maladjustment is also favoured by knowledge of the cause of the
maladjustment. However, an incomplete or even incorrect
understanding of the cause of maladjustment may sometimes give rise
to successful cultural adaptive responses. Such was the case in the
British public health movement, which began in the early nineteenth
century, at which time it was widely assumed that typhus and similar
diseases were due to noxious fumes emanating from organic refuse
and building up to high concentrations due to poor ventilation. The
solution to the problem thus seemed to be to improve living conditions
in such a way that organic refuse, including human excreta, should be
effectively removed from residential areas and that buildings should
be less crowded and better ventilated. Needless to say, improvements

in this direction resulted in a reduced likelihood of infection with a
variety of micro-organisms, although the prevalence of typhus itself is
unlikely to have been influenced by these measures.
A similar situation with respect to knowledge of the causation ot
disease existed in Hong Kong at the time when public health reforms
were first advocated and introduced. Around 1908, for example, one
author wrote as follows:
‘Malarial fever which proved such a scourge in those days owing, it
seems, to the noxious exhalations from disintegrated granite
disturbed in the course of building operations-...’.*
Another example is provided by the following statement by one
authority in the first decade of the Colony’s history:
The geological formation of Hong Kong is found to consist of
strata which quickly absorbs any quantity of rain, which it returns
to the surface in the nature of a pestiferous mineral gas. The
position of the town prevents the dissipation of this gas, while the
geological formation favours the retention of the morbific poison
on the surface, to be occasionally called to deally activity.!
Another authority claimed that
in the intervals of rain, the nearly vertical sun acts with an intense
evaporating power, and the noxious steam or vapour rises from the
foetid soil, yielding a gas of a most sickly and deleterious nature.
This morbiphic gas does not arise from vegetable or animal decom
position but decomposed mineral substances yield an aeriform
poison, under some circumstances of a more deadly description.
The gas produces a depressing effect on mind and body which
undermines and destroys the strongest constitutions. A malignant
influence operates on the system in a most distressing manner.!
It was also written that ‘the rain will every year keep the surface
continually saturated with moisture, and also uncover large portions of
the hills, washing the putrifying substances down the deep ravines,
thus generating a fruitful crop of diseases.’!
With regard to plague, an official paper of 1895 included the
following statement:
The question of the infection of rats, previous to the epidemic being
noticed in human beings, has been made too much of, as have
several other points in connection with plague. It is only natural
*Cartwright, H.A., 1908. ‘Hong Kong’ in Wright, A.,and Cartwright, H.,
(1908) Twentieth Century impressions o f Hong Kong, Shanghai and other
Treaty Ports o f China. London, Lloyds p. 149.
tThe three quotations are quoted in Choa, G.H., 1973. ‘A History of Medicine
in Hong Kong’ in The Medical Directory o f Hong Kong, Federation of
Medical Societies of Hong Kong.
that as rats have their snouts about an inch above the floors of
houses, they are much more liable to inspire plague-infected dust
than people who have their mouths at least two feet higher.’*
Although these statements have interesting connotations with
respect to certain human ecological problems today, they were, as an
explanation of disease, clearly inadequate.
History has shown that a sudden virulent epidemic is vastly more
effective in producing a vigorous societal adaptive response than is a
constant rate of mortality from endemic disease. It took epidemics of
cholera to stir the municipal authorities to action in Britain in the
nineteenth century, in spite of the fact that cholera, even at its height,
accounted for only a small proportion of the theoretically avoidable
deaths due to infectious disease. In Hong Kong it was the first definite
visitation of bubonic plague in 1894 that provided the biggest impetus
to the public health movement.
Bubonic plague, the disease known as the Black Death in the Middle
Ages, is due to infection with the bacterium Pasteurellapestis, which
infects rat populations, and which is transmitted to human beings by
the rat flea. It spread to Hong Kong from Canton and other parts of
South China, and within a few months of its arrival in the spring of
1894 it had accounted for 2488 deaths. Not unexpectedly, partly
because of the notorious role of the disease in history, and partly
because of its symptoms and the very high mortality rate, the epidemic
caused great alarm. There were renewed calls for government action,
and the opposition of the anti-reformers was distinctly weakened.
Thus, the appearance of plague in Hong Kong caused the
government to take its public health responsibilities rather more
seriously. An additional complicating factor, however, was an aspect
of the cultural situation which still exists in Hong Kong today, namely
the difference between the views held by the traditional Chinese
population and those of the alien administration, with respect to the
appropriate form of cultural adaptation. The Chinese, who
considered the maladjustment to be the consequence of the activities
of disturbed or maligned spirits, could see little point in the rigorous
programs of disinfection of their homes advocated by the
government, and sometimes carried out forcibly by British soldiers.
The Chinese also objected to the Western forms of treatment for
plague applied in hospitals, especially the practice then in vogue of
*‘The epidemic of bubonic plague in Hong Kong’, in H ong Kong Sessional

Papers, 1895.
applying ice to the heart of the patient.

One particular episode which occurred during the government’s
attempts to bring about what it believed to be the appropriate adaptive
procedures is worthy of special mention. It occurred in 1903 when Sir
Henry Blake, the Governor of Hong Kong at the time, took a personal
and active interest in attempts to deal with the problem. He selected a
certain district in Hong Kong which came under the authority of an
Inspector of the Sanitary Department who spoke fluent Cantonese.
The Governor then went to this area himself with the Inspector and
asked the inhabitants to elect from among themselves a committee of
control. All the people in the district were given an explanatory
pamphlet and certain buildings were set aside to accommodate plague
patients. Tanks of disinfectant were provided and taken along the
street from house to house, so that the people could clean out their
own homes under the guidance of the committee which they had
themselves elected, and which also instructed them to block up all
holes from which rats might emerge. This illustrates an important
principle relevant to cultural adaptive processes, namely, the fact that
a much more vigorous community response can be expected if local
residents are provided with relevant information and encouraged to
exercise responsibility for their own neighbourhood, than if all
measures are merely directed impersonally from a faceless central
authority. However, sadly for our argument, we have to admit that,
despite the enthusiastic response of members of the community, this
particular effort does not seem to have had much influence on the
incidence of plague, perhaps because the area was too small.
One traditional device used by the Chinese in their attempts to deal
with the plague threat was the planchette board. With the aid of this
device, many official efforts were made to approach Kwaan Tai, the
God of War, Righteousness and Faithfulness, for advice. One of these
attempts was rewarded by a reply to the effect that honesty, bravery
and intelligence were required and that the unworthy would know of
their unworthiness. Another attempt brought the information that
Kwaan Tai felt constrained to remark that the year was not peaceful
and that his devotees were at times wicked and ill-mannered and must
learn to reform. Eventually, after the involvement of at least one other
god, Kwaan Tai advised his followers to burn incense, repent of all
wrong-doing, and be honest in all dealings with others. They should
also drink water and a prescription which contained seventeen
ingredients, including liquorice root, cypress, various grasses and
area nut.
This approach to the plague problem is reminiscent of the attempts

at cultural adaptation in England in 1666 after the Great Plague and
the Fire of London. There was widespread feeling that these calamities
were divine punishment for neglect of religious matters by the
community, and a Bill was introduced in Parliament designed to curb
atheism in the country. Although the Bill was eventually dropped,
Parliament continued to be influenced in its actions by this assessment
of the situation. Among a series of cultural response aimed at
preventing the recurrence of plague, we may note the refusal of the
authorities to allow the English philosopher, Hobbes, whose views
were frequently at variance with those of the Church, to publish any of
his writings on religion or morality.
While advocates of Western science may doubt the efficacy of the
traditional Chinese approach in this instance, the government’s own
programs showed little sign of success and plague continued to cause
many deaths for several years. The government had by this time
invited to Hong Kong the Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato, who was
able to isolate for the first time the plague bacillus, Pasteurella pest is;
and by 1901 large-scale studies of rats in relation to plague were being
carried out and the government was finally convinced that the main
danger of plague did indeed emanate from these animals.
With respect to the treatment of plague, in 1895 the death rate
among infected Chinese was 93.4 per cent and in Europeans only 18.2
per cent and in 1901 the death rate among infected Chinese was about
96 per cent and in Europeans only 34.6 per cent. This difference was
usually taken by the administration as an indication of the superiority
of Western methods of treatment. However, another interpretation is
recorded in the Sessional Papers in 1895 which states: ‘There is no
doubt that European blood and stamina have a good deal to do with
recovery.’*
In 1902, a year in which there were 572 cases of plague, with a 94.6
per cent mortality, Osbert Chadwick was again brought out from
England to make a report and recommendations, and this time he was
accompanied by a Dr Simpson whose specific task was to study the
problem of plague prevention. They eventually prepared a joint report
and drew up the draft of an ordinance to present to the Legislative
Council, containing legislation which they believed would bring about
a substantial improvement in the situation in the following few years.
However, again because of opposition from property owners and
*Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1895, p. 22.

because of the costs which would be involved, the Council did not accept
their suggestions fully. Nevertheless, a considerable proportion of their
proposals were adopted and actually became law, although it proved
very difficult to induce the local population to act in accordance with
the new legislation. For example, when a case of plague occurred in a
home, or even when a dead rat was found, the occupants were
required to report the fact to the authorities. The house then had to be
fumigated and the walls and floors cleaned with disinfectant, the
furniture taken out into the streets and washed, and clothing and
bedding taken to the disinfecting station. Because of this
inconvenience, many people neglected to comply with this regulation.
Sometimes a body would be removed by night and dumped
somewhere well away from the house in which the death occurred.
Despite all the efforts of the authorities and of the co-operative
members o f the population, plague continued to cause deaths in Hong
Kong every year until 1923. The lowest figure in this period was 1910,
when there were 25 cases and the highest in 1914, when there were
2146. In most years the mortality rate was above 90 per cent, and it was
never below 80 per cent. There were 1181 cases in 1922, and 148 in
1923, after which plague was not seen again until 1928, when there
were 4 cases, followed by another 2 in 1929. Since that time no cases of
plague have been reported in Hong Kong.
Plague played a most im portant role in promoting effective
governmental action to control and improve public hygiene in Hong
Kong. Bit by bit, more demanding legislation was introduced, as well
as more effective means of implementing it. Thus, although the high
population density persisted, the likelihood of pathogenic micro
organisms spreading from one individual to another steadily declined,
and it is certain that, as in other areas, the improvement in public
sanitation played an im portant role in the decline in deaths from
infectious diseases. Nevertheless, plague itself presents something of
an enigma in this respect. No one really knows why plague ceased in
Hong Kong as suddenly as it did, and the general scientific opinion is
that, whatever the reason, the disappearance was not due to improved
sanitation. In fact, plague vanished from the whole of southern China
at about this time. The same puzzle exists with respect to plague in
Europe. The last outbreak in Britain was in 1665, and the last
epidemics in Western Europe were in Marseilles in 1720 and Messina
in 1743. In the five years 1839-1844 plague also disappeared entirely
from its old haunts in south-eastern Europe, the Middle East and
Egypt. Several theories have been put forward as possible ex-
planations, but none has been proven and the mystery remains
unsolved.
The transition to ecological Phase 4

The health and disease patterns of Phase 4 society are charac
teristically very different from those of the early urban phase, and one
of the most outstanding of these differences is the relative
unimportance of severe infectious diseases as causes of death and of
ill-health. The difference is due to very effective cultural adaptive
responses to these forms of maladjustment, these responses being
basically of three kinds. The first kind, which we have already
discussed, consisted of a general improvement in living conditions,
involving the introduction of new standards of hygiene with the public
health movement, and improved nutrition of the population. The
second component of the adaptive response consisted of large-scale
vaccination programs, and the third involved the use of
chemotherapeutics and antibiotics. All three of these measures have
had major impacts on the important infectious diseases, and it is often
difficult, in retrospect, to determine the relative roles of each. The fact
of the matter is that, as depicted in Figure 3.1, these three sets of
adaptive processes together were associated with a remarkable
decline in deaths from infectious diseases, and consequently in the
overall death rate in Hong Kong.
We conclude this chapter with a brief discussion on vaccination,
chemotherapy and antibiotics and with an account of the changing
situation with respect to tuberculosis, which was, for many years, a
major cause of death in Hong Kong.
Vaccination
Strictly speaking, vaccination is an antidotal form of adaptation(see
Chapter 4), in the sense that it makes no attempt initially to correct the
underlying evodeviations which are responsible for the high incidence
of a particular infectious disease. However, it lacks some of the
disadvantages of most puiely antidotal measures. Vaccination, in
fact, represents a combination of cultural adaptation and innate biotic
adaptation, in that it depends for its success on the human organism’s
natural mechanisms of resistance to potentially pathogenic microbes.
In other words, vaccination simply converts individuals to that
physiological state that they would be in if they had contracted the
disease naturally and had recovered, becoming specifically immune to
further attack.
80 Ecology o f a C ity
Vaccination is another example o f successful cultural adaptation

in itia lly introduced in the absence o f complete knowledge o f the
underlying causes o f the m aladjustment against which it was directed.
Vaccination as practised today dates back to Jenner’s famous
experiments in 1796, in which he a rtific ia lly inoculated individuals
first w ith cowpox and later w ith smallpox, and found that they were
then resistant to the latter. Jenner’s studies were based on the
observation that people who showed signs o f having been naturally
affected by cowpox were likely to be resistant to smallpox.
Vaccination was thus introduced in the absence o f any knowledge o f
the role o f living m icro-organisms in the infectious disease.
It was not u ntil the w ork o f Louis Pasteur, Ludw ig Koch and others
in the late nineteeth century that the role o f specific m icro-organisms
both in eliciting disease and in conferring specific im m unity became
known. It is worth noting that, im portant as these great discoveries
were in contributing to our knowledge o f the nature o f infectious
diseases, they may nevertheless have had some disadvantages in terms
o f our total understanding o f disease problems. They resulted in an
attitude in an attitude in medical science that every disease was due
to a specific noxious living agent fo r which a specific cure must be
found, and they tended to distract attention away from the environ-
§ 250 ~\
o 200 -
total
§ 150 -
d eat hs
100 - deat hs from '

infectious disease
195 0 1954 195 8 1962 1966 197 0 197 4
YEAR
Figure 3.1 The decline in mortality from infectious disease in Hong Kong with
the transition to Phase 4 society, 1949-1974
mental conditions which were, as Hippocrates had appreciated, more

fundamental determinants of the maladjustment.
The first vaccinations in Hong Kong were also against smallpox,
which was a leading cause of death in the territory in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the spring of 1867, for
example, the disease was said to have raged among the Chinese
people. The Colonial Surgeon, J. I. Murray, urged the introduction of
vaccination, but the government did not act on this recommendation.
He wrote:
Medical staff of the Government does not do* very much in the way
of vaccination as far as the great mass of the community is
concerned. But certain Chinese doctors, who are paid by the
Director of the Tung Wah Hospital are indefatigable vaccinators.
They do not confine their labours to the town of Victoria, but travel
through the villages of the Island vaccinating all newly born
children.
Finally, in 1890 an ordinance was passed by the government,
requiring that all residents over the age of 6 months and under the age
of 14 years be vaccinated against smallpox. This move was only
partially successful, despite two special vaccination campaigns in
1916-17 and in 1921-22, and the deaths from smallpox fluctuated
from 15 to over 500 each year. In 1946, the year after the end of the
Japanese occupation, there were 1306 deaths from smallpox and
1,525,105 vaccinations. The vaccination program has continued on a
very thorough basis since that time and there have been no deaths
from smallpox in Hong Kong since 1949.
Another disease which appears to have been greatly influenced by
vaccination in Hong Kong is poliomyelitis. In 1949, five cases of polio
were reported and, over the next ten years, its incidence increased
substantially. A peak was reached in 1962, when there were 363 cases
and 52 deaths. Early in 1963, the government introduced a major anti
polio campaign based on the use of the oral Sabin vaccine, and
vaccination has continued ever since. The incidence of the disease
declined from 1966 onwards, and no cases were reported in 1974.
Vaccination has also been widely used against diphtheria. In the
1950s, this was the second or third leading cause of death from
infectious disease in Hong Kong. In 1959 there was a major outbreak,
involving over 2000 cases, and the vaccination program was
intensified. Since 1959 there has been a decline in the number of cases
and deaths, and no deaths from diphtheria have been recorded in the
population since 1972. The notification rate fell from about
70/100,000 in 1959 to 1.6 in 1969 and 0.1 in 1972.
It is necessary to emphasise that vaccination, like many other

antidotal forms of cultural adaptation, is not without its problems.
Occasionally vaccines, some more than others, have undesirable side-
effects, and may even cause death in an extremely small proportion of
those inoculated. Thus, the time comes, once the prevalence of a given
infectious disease is reduced to very low levels, when the vaccination
process itself eventually causes more suffering than the disease it is
aimed to prevent. Once this stage has been reached, it might seem that
the most sensible thing to do would be to stop the vaccination
program. But this action, of course, often involves the risk of a
resurgence of the disease in question. Medical authorities and
governments today in many countries are faced with this dilemma,
and it is one that forms the basis of much lively controversy.
Chemotherapy and antibiotics

The taking of medicine of one sort or another for the purpose of
overcoming ill health must be as old as humankind. Certainly, there is
a strong tradition of folk medicine among the Chinese people.
However, the technology Phase 4 human society has produced a
revolution with respect to the treatment of the great majority of
serious infectious diseases which affected human populations in earlier
civilisations. This change has been due to the introduction of what has
now grown to be a vast series of agents of both chemical and biotic
origin which, on the whole, are very much more effective against
pathogenic bacteria and protozoa than the various herbal remedies of
the past. The development of this approach on a scientific basis dates
back to the work of Paul Ehrlich at the turn of the century, who
described the therapeutic value of arsenobenzol (‘Salvarsan’) in
syphilis. This was the six hundred and sixth arsenic compound that he
had prepared and tested for an effect in this disease, and although by
no means as effective as he would have liked it to be, its discovery
nevertheless offered encouragement to the search for other specific
chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of contagious disease.
This chemical approach found expression in the development of the
so-called sulpha drugs, beginning with sulphanilamide, in the 1930s.
After this came the discovery of penicillin, leading eventually to the
development of a multitude of other extremely effective antibacterial
agents of biotic origin. These agents have played an enormous role in
reducing mortality rates due to infection with bacteria and protozoa;
being purely antidotal in their effect, however they are not without
some disadvantages.
The chemotherapeutic and antibiotic agents, as components of the

cultural adaptive processes, appeared on the scene in Hong Kong
without the same lag period that was evident in relation to various
aspects of the public health movement. There are several reasons for
this, including the fact that the large well-organised multinational
pharmaceutical firms take every opportunity to increase their profits
by introducing their latest products with a minimum of delay to all
potential markets, including Hong Kong. Economically, the situation
is very different from that which determined the pattern of the public
health movement, and in this instance the vested interests were on the
side of desirable change.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deserves special comment, partly because it has been a
very important cause of death in Hong Kong and partly because the
eventual decline in its prevalence illustrates the combined influence of
several different adaptive processes.
Data are scanty regarding tuberculosis in Hong Kong in the last
century. It seems that the disease was not, in fact, especially common,
at least as indicated by admissions and deaths reported by the
Government Civil Hospital. This hospital was opened in 1847, and in
1849 one case of phthisis, one case of scrofula and one case of
haemoptysis were treated in this hospital. The phthisis case died, and
another case of phthisis died in the hospital in 1851. In 1883, 32 cases
of tuberculosis were admitted to the Government Civil Hospital, and
the disease was said to be not uncommon in Victoria gaol.
Tuberculosis, however, is not reported as being really prevalent until
about 1900, when the crude death rate from the disease was 290 per
100.000 population. The highest number of deaths was reported in
1938, when 4920 people died, representing a death rate of 332.7 per
100, 000 .
Since the end of World War II there has been a steady decline in the
death rate from tuberculosis. In 1974, it had dropped to 22.9 per
100.000 population and it was 14.8 per 100,000 in 1975. Evidence
from other parts of the world suggests that four factors are likely to
have contributed to this decline. They are:
1. Evolutionary adaptation through natural selection (see Chapter 4).
The selection pressure in the case of tuberculosis, which often
strikes before child-bearing age, may have been sufficient to
produce a change in the genetic constitution of urban populations
with respect to resistance to the disease. Infectious diseases are
among the few adverse environmental influences associated with

urban conditions likely to have exerted sufficiently strong selection
pressures to render later generations more fit, in the Darwinian
sense, to urban conditions.
2. Improvement of living conditions, including less crowding, better
ventilation, improved hygiene and better diets. Tuberculosis
showed a sharp decline in many European countries as the public
health movement gathered force, well before the introduction of
vaccination.
3. Vaccination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). BCG is an
attenuated form of tubercle bacillus, and it is inoculated alive.
BCG vaccination was introduced in Hong Kong in 1952 and was
concentrated on infants, since at that time 34 per cent of all deaths
from tuberculosis were occurring in the under-five age group. At
present, about 97 per cent of new-born babies receive BCG
vaccination. It seems likely that this vaccination program has
played an important role in the spectacular decline in infant deaths
from tuberculosis since 1949. Nevertheless, we must be wary in
attributing this decline wholly to the effect of vaccination. As can
be seen from the graph in Figure 3.2, infant mortality from
tuberculosis had apparently already begun to decrease before
vaccination was begun in 1952. A similar situation has been shown to
exist in other countries where the use of BCG has been associated
with a continued decline, in the tuberculosis death rate, a decline
which had already commenced before the introduction of
vaccination.
4. Specific chemotherapy for tuberculosis in Hong Kong began in
1950 with the introduction of PAS (para-aminosalicylic acid.) The
antibiotic streptomycin was brought in the following year, and the
chemical agent Isoniazid added in 1952. This approach was not
initially as effective as it might have been, due to difficulties with
patient supervision. However, these problems have now been
largely overcome, and the basic first-line treatment for out
patients now consists of streptomycin, PAS and isoniazid for three
months, followed by streptomycin and isoniazid for a further
eighteen to twenty-four months. There is no doubt that this
treatment has contributed substantially to the decline in the death
rate from tuberculosis.
Nevertheless, despite all these adaptive processes, tuberculosis in
Hong Kong is still a serious problem today. It is the sixth leading
cause of death and in 1974, 2341 females and 5979 males were
notified as having tuberculosis. In males, tuberculosis of all forms

is now most common in the older age-groups, but young women
are also relatively likely to contract the disease. The notification
rate is lower in females as a whole, and tuberculosis is now rare
under the age of 15.
This concludes our discussion of the historical background to the
present human ecological situation in Hong Kong. The remainder
of the book will concentrate on the ecological study of the territory
in the 1970s.
------ number of borns voccmoted
s*----- mfant mortality from tuberculosis per 1,000 live births -20 o
Figure 3.2 Infant mortality from and vaccination againsts tuberculosis,

Hong Kong, 1949-1974
4
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Before we attempt our description of the ecology of contemporary

Hong Kong, it is necessary to say something about the conceptual
basis of our approach. Ecology involves the study of the dynamic
interrelationships between the various biotic and non-biotic
components of ecosystems, and it aims to improve understanding of
the nature of these complex interrelationships and to recognise the
fundamental principles which govern them. Where, however, does an
ecological study of an urban system begin and where does it end? It is
certainly not a matter simply of making a vast number of
measurements on as many variables as possible, feeding the data into a
computer and expecting something meaningful to come out. For an
ecological study to be successful and to contribute something to our
understanding of what is really going on in the system, it must be
based on a logical and workable conceptual framework.
This framework, and the theories and hypotheses arising from it,
provides the study with structure and direction and provides a
rationale for the selection of variables on which to collect
information.
We suggest that a satisfactory conceptual framework for work of
this kind should possess the following characteristics:
1. It should provide a theoretical basis for studying the inter
relationships and interactions between variables and processes of
many different kinds. That is to say, it should be such that any
aspect of a human situation can be taken into account—whether
biotic, physical, chemical, societal, cultural, economic, psycho
social or experiential. It should allow proper consideration not only
of easily quantifiable items, but also of those intangible aspects of
reality which are relatively difficult to define and measure, such as
creative behaviour, cultural values, sense of purpose and aesthetic
quality.
2. It should permit consideration of such interactions at all levels—at

the level, for example, of the individual, the family, the society, the
region or the biosphere. Moreover, it should permit consideration
of the interrelationships between variables at these different levels
(e.g. the effects of environmental developments in a region on the
life experience of individuals or sub-populations); and it should
provide a rational means of identifying the components of the
complex networks of influences affecting the quality of the
environment and the quality of human experience.
3. It should provide a theoretical basis for considering the
implications of the ecological characteristics of a settlement or
region, or of changes in these characteristics, both for the
ecosystems of the biosphere and for human health and well-being.
4. It should incorporate, as it develops, a set of principles, concepts
and ideas concerning the interrelationships between diverse
variables, both cultural and natural, relating in particular to
interactions between human beings and their environments. It
should be a fruitful source of hypotheses concerning inter
relationships between cultural and natural variables.
5. It should be adaptable for use at all levels of study or interest and so
should be meaningful for the primary school student, the layman,
the planner or decision-maker and the academic integrative
scholar. That is to say, the essentials of the conceptual framework
should be easily communicable.
6. It should provide a theoretical basis for studying and under
standing the various patterns of cultural adaptive response to
undesirable environmental developments or changes.
7. It should have internal consistency (meaning that the various ideas
and concepts relating to the many different components of human
situations should be entirely consistent or compatible with each
other). It should also have external consistency (meaning that it
should be consistent with the established findngs of the natural and
social sciences).
The purpose of this chapter is to summarise the conceptual
background to our study of Hong Kong. In this description, it will be
necessary to introduce a number of new terms. We would like to make
it clear that we are well aware of the undesirablity of unnecessary
jargon, and we have endeavoured to keep the use of novel expressions
to the minimum. However, we have found that in some cases there are
no words or simple phrases in common usage to describe processes or
Conceptual Framework 89
phenomena to which we frequently wish to refer. One reason for this is

that there has been very little serious intellectual effort devoted to the
study of the dynamic interrelationships between cultural and natural
processes, and so some of the concepts which we consider important
have seldom been discussed in the literature. In such instances, we
have therefore coined new words or expressions, a process which has
usually involved many hours of discussion and debate among
ourselves and our colleagues, and we hope that these new expressions
will not be found too tedious by our readers. This theoretical
discussion will begin with a description of the development of our
conceptual diagrams.
The conceptual diagrams

The components and processes of our planet are of three kinds, non-
biotic, biotic and cultural. The biotic components arose out of,
interact with, and are entirely dependent on the more ancient non-
biotic components. Similarly, the cultural components arose out of,
interact with, and are entirely dependent on the underlying non-biotic
and biotic components. Each of the three sets of processes is subject to
certain laws or principles, as are the interactions between them.
Ecology is the study of the interactions and interdependencies of the
various non-biotic, biotic and, in the case of human ecology, cultural
components of ecosystems. In biological science it is conventional to
regard ecology as comprising two distinct approaches, usually
referred to as system ecology and population ecology. In system
ecology, ecosystems as a whole are studied, and special emphasis is
placed on the patterns of flow of energy and of important materials or
substances within the systems. In population ecology, the emphasis is
on a given population or sub-population and on the important
interrelationships between this population and the non-biotic and
biotic components with which it interacts.
In our study of Hong Kong, we have been concerned both with the
system as a whole and with the population of human beings which
lives in it. However, we have found the conventional distinction
between system ecology and population ecology to be not entirely
appropriate for our purposes. Nevertheless, we do recognise two
distinct aspects or orientations, and the difference between them is an
essential feature of our conceptual diagrams. We refer to these as the
total environment and human experience. In the present study the
total environment is mainly the territory of Hong Kong and all that
exists within it. For other purposes we might wish to extend the total
environment to include the whole biosphere. The human experience
orientation is based on appreciation of the fact that, within this total
environment, there are a large number of individual human beings,
each of whom experiences his own personal environment, which is
likely to be an important and direct determinant of his health and well
being. The two aspects are clearly interrelated, and our main interest
in the total environment stems ultimately from our concern about the
quality of life of the individuals who live in it.
Let us examine these two aspects in slightly more detail.
The total environment

In our conceptual diagram we recognise in the total environment two
broad sets of components, which we refer to as the natural
environment and societal conditions respectively. These two sets of
variables and their components are depicted on the left-hand side of
three versions of the conceptual diagram which are shown in Figures
4.1, 4.2 and 4.3.
The ‘natural environment’ is taken to include all the biotic and non-
biotic components of the system other than the human population and
m an-m ade objects. The term also embraces a processes
dimension—reflecting the fact that the characteristics of an ecosystem
are the consequences of certain changes and activities involving its
i nterf ace(fiIters)
Figure 4.1 Conceptual diagram— version 1

component parts. These include certain non-biotic processes, such as

the evaporation of water, or its flow along rivers, and the various
climatic changes consequent upon the movement of the earth in
relation to the sun, and of the moon in relation to the earth. And an
ecosystem’s capacity to support and maintain life requires an input
and outflow of energy, and the circulation within it of numerous
chemical substances. Knowledge of these biogeochemical cycles and
of the pattern of flow of energy is crucial to the proper understanding
of the multiple subtle interrelationships in the system. Moreover, in
attempting to describe, for instance, the contribution of a population
of a particular species of animal or plant to the ecological properties of
an ecosystem, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the number of
specimens of the species and their distribution in the system, but also
to what the members of the population actually do.
In the case of animals, the relevant processes include aspects of
behaviour (e.g. hunting, foraging, territorial behaviour, migration)
and of metabolism, such as use of energy and consumption of oxygen
and discharge of carbon dioxide and other waste products. The
ecologically important processes in plants include photosynthesis and
growth.
life conditions biopsychic state
interface(filters)
Figure 4.2 Conceptual diagram— version 2

‘Societal conditions’ in our diagrams includes the human

population itself and such variables as its demographic, economic,
occupational and hierarchical structure and societal organisation
(institutions, groupings etc.). It also includes all man-made
components of the total environment, which we refer to as products o f
labour, such as buildings, machines and works of art. Another set of
components of societal conditions is referred to as culture—and is
made up of relatively intangible items like knowledge, technology (i.e.
knowledge of how to make and use machines), the economic system,
values, beliefs and laws. Societal conditions, like the natural
environment, has a processes dimension, which we refer to as human
activities and the use o f machines. This set of variables includes, for
example, production, construction, decision-making and commercial
activity.
Thus, the term ‘total environment’ is used to include all aspects of
the ecosystems to which individual human beings belong. It is useful,
however, in ecological studies of human settlements to recognise
different levels of the total environment. Thus we may take the human
settlement itself and its immediate hinterland as an ecological unit
(total environment 1 in the version of the diagram shown in Figure
4.3). In the case of the present study, total environment 1 is the area
politically defined by the British government as the territory of Hong
(nu.il I ty of 11fe)
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
HUMAN ACTIVITIES
& THE USE OF
Figure 4.3 Conceptual diagram—version 3

Kong. The ecological properties of a settlement are, however, very

much influenced by forces in a wider total environment beyond its
borders, which we refer to as total environment 2. These different
levels of the total environment can be considered ecologically to be
made up of the same sets of variables, that is, the natural environment
and societal conditions and the various parts thereof.
Everything that happens in an ecosystem involves the transfer and
conversion of energy. Consequently, the study of patterns of energy
flow in the system provides vital information on the interrelationships
and interdependencies of the components of the total environment,
and insights into its dynamic organisation. This is as true for urban
situations as it is for natural ecosystems. However, there are two
important differences between natural and urban ecosystems relating
to energy use. In natural ecosystems, studies of patterns of energy use
concentrate mainly on dynamic processes taking place among the
biotic populations in the system, although energy is also involved, of
course, in changes among the non-biotic components—as, for
example, in the cycling of water in the system. In modern urban
ecosystems, however, dynamic processes in the non-biotic sector have
become, as a consequence of technological developments, major
determinants of the ecological characteristics of the system. Thus, the
analysis of extrasomatic energy flow in the total environment becomes
a very significant aspect of the ecological study of an urban
settlement. Indeed, by far the greater part of the energy flowing
through Phase 4 urban societies is used, not in the metabolism of
human beings or other biotic organisms, but by man-made machines.
The other significant energy-related difference between natural
ecosystems and human ecosystems is the tremendous potential for
bringing about major ecological change inherent in human thought
processes. The creation of an idea or the reaching of a decision and its
effective communication may involve the expenditure of im
measurably small amounts of energy, but the consequences may be
far-reaching in terms both of energy use and of the overall ecological
characteristics of the total environment.
Human experience
Every single human being in a settlement is, of course, a component
part of the total environment and, as such, is affected by the
properties of the system as a whole and also has the potential, however
small, to influence this system. As we have already emphasised, we are

especially interested in these interrelationships—the interrelationships,
that is, between human individuals and the total environment. In this
connection we have found it useful to consider what we call the ‘human
experience dimension’ separately from the total environment.
The approach that we have taken is based on the fact that the
human population of a settlement is made up of a number of different
individuals, each of whom experiences only a part of the total
environment (Figure 4.4). This personal environment ranges from
such material and physical variables as the quality of air and the level
of environmental noise to such psycho-social variables as the quality
and size of the emotional support network and the opportunities and
incentives offered by the environment for co-operative small group
interaction.
Within the personal environment the individual acts or behaves in
certain ways; that is to say, he manifests a distinctive behaviour
pattern. This behaviour pattern is influenced by the personal
environment. It is convenient for some purposes to refer to the
personal environment and the behaviour pattern together as the life
conditions of the individual.
The individual also exists, at any given time, in a certain biological
and psychological state, which we refer to in the model as the
biopsychic state. This term incorporates all aspects of the individual’s
being including, for example, his height, weight, hair colour,
physiological characteristics, physical fitness, knowledge, mental
capacities, mood and feelings. All components of health and well
being are thus part of the biopsychic state.
Clearly, the personal environment relates in some way to the total
environment; but the relationship is not a simple one, and different
individuals sharing the same total environment may have very
different personal environments. Each individual can thus be
regarded as being separated from the total environment by an
interface which acts like a series of filters, especially important among
which are economic and cultural factors. The personal environment
of an individual consists, therefore, of those aspects of the total
environment which pass through the interface and impinge directly on
him. There may, for example, be a wide range of different foodstuffs
available in the total environment, but only a fraction of these, for
economic or cultural reasons, may be available to a particular
individual as a source of nutriment.
The biopsychic state of an individual at any time is affected not only
by his present personal environment and behaviour pattern, but also

by his previous personal environment and previous behaviour pattern
(i.e. his previous life conditions) and by his genotype. The previous
personal environment is, in turn, a function of the previous total
environment and of the interface between it and the individual. These
refinements are taken into account in the version of the diagram
shown in Figure 4.2.
Another factor which plays a most important part in determining
the response of an individual to his life conditions is his perception of
components of his personal environment. Thus, his biopsychic
response to noise can be greatly influenced by whether or not he
perceives the noise as a threat. Perception itself is a resultant of
previous interactions between personal environment and genotype,
and is in fact an extension of the biopsychic state.
The human experience variables have thus far been discussed as
they relate to the individual. The diagrams can also be applied,
however, to a sub-population (e.g. a socioeconomic or occupational
group) which, as a group, may have a characteristic personal
environment,* behaviour pattern and biopsychic state. In fact, one
can discuss the whole population of a settlement in terms of the human
experience variables. Thus, in the case of Hong Kong, it is reasonable
to talk in terms of the effects of air pollution on the biopsychic state of
the population, since it affects the personal environments of all the
inhabitants of the city.
Evolutionary considerations
The interrelationships and interdependencies in a natural ecosystem
are the product of the processes of biotic evolution, as are the genetic
characteristics of the component biotic populations of the system. The
principles of biotic evolution are therefore very relevant to ecological
understanding, whether we are concerned with the biosphere as a
whole, or with a given ecosystem, population, sub-population or
individual.
Our consideration of the significance of evolutionary theory for
human ecology may be introduced by reference to the views on health
and disease put forward about 2600 years ago by Hippocrates and his
*The word ‘personal’ is not entirely appropriate when applied to the

environment of a group. However, we have been unable to think of a better
word, and so we use the expression ‘personal environment’ for an individual,
for a group or for a whole population.
associates. The Hippocratic treatise ‘Airs, Waters, Places’ was based

on the idea that health is associated with a desirable state of balance
between the human organism and its environment; and ill health was
perceived as an attempt on the part of the body to restore this
equilibrium when it had become disturbed. The physician, like his
traditional Chinese counterpart, was encouraged to make a study of
the environment of his patients. It was not only the individual’s
personal environment, however, that Hippocrates believed
important, but also the individual’s behaviour pattern in that
environment. In the treatise ‘Regimen’, for example, the notion is
developed that health depends on a proper balance between food
intake and exercise. In other words, the state of health of an
individual, or the health and disease pattern of a community, was
taken to be largely a function both of the quality of the environment
and of life-style. We shall refer to this guiding principle as the
Hippocratic postulate.
The Hippocratic postulate has already been assumed in our
discussion above. In fact, the diagrams incorporate a refinement of
the postulate in the distinction they make between the total
environment and the environment actually experienced by
individuals—the personal environment. It is the life conditions (that
is, the personal environment and the behaviour pattern) which directly
affect health and well-being; and life conditions often vary in
important ways from one section of a population to another. This
variability in life conditions within a population is a function of that
part of the total environment which we refer to as societal conditions.
However, the Hippocratic postulate perse, significant as it is, does
not provide us with any clues with respect to the kinds of life
conditions which are likely to be conducive to human health and well
being. For this purpose it is useful to consider some concepts of biotic
evolution which provide a theoretical basis of the Hippocratic
postulate.
As depicted in the version of our conceptual diagram shown in
Figure 4.2, the biopsychic response of an individual at a given time to
any particular set of life conditions is determined by his previous life
conditions and by his genetic constitution or genotype. Let us examine
further the role of the genotype in this regard.
The genotype of an organism can be regarded as comprising two
aspects—the phylogenetic characters (i.e. species characters) and the
individual genetic characters. The phylogenetic component of the
genotype is an extremely important determinant of the biotic
responses of an individual to a given environmental situation. A

human being will drown under water; a fish will not. Similarly, any
human being can be killed by sufficient doses of botulinum toxin or
lead, and this is a phylogenetic characteristic. However, the fact that
the precise lethal doses of these agents will differ from one person to
total personal
biopsychic
envi r onment environment
" percept i on
beha vio ur
pattern
life conditions
human exper i ence

Figure 4.4 Conceptual diagram—version 4
another is likely to be due in part to variability in individual genetic

characteristics as well as to variability in previous life conditions.
The significance of the phylogenetic component of the genotype as
a determinant of the response of an individual (and hence, ultimately,
of populations) to culturally-induced environmental changes is best
explained in terms of a biological principle which we consider to be of
crucial importance for the proper understanding of many of the
problems that humankind faces in civilisation. The principle is a
corollary of the Darwinian theory of evolution, according to which
species become, through natural selection and over many generations,
increasingly well adapted in their genetically-determined charac
teristics to the conditions of life in the environment in which they are
evolving. It follows from this fact that if the environmental conditions
of a population suddenly deviate significantly from those which
prevail in the usual environment of the species, and if these changes
persist, then it is likely that the individual animals will be less well-
suited in their biotic characteristics to the new conditions, and
consequently some physiological or behavioural signs of mal
adjustment may be expected.
Henceforth in this book the term ‘evodeviation’ will be used to
denote any condition of life, experienced by an individual or by a
population, which represents a significant deviation from the
conditions of life to which the species has become genetically adapted
through natural selection. Maladjustment which is the consequence of
evodeviation will be referred to as ‘phylogenetic maladjustment’.* In
nature, if an important evodeviation persists, the affected population
will in the long run either become extinct, or eventually become
genetically adapted to the new conditions through natural selection.
Although this fundamental principle, which we refer to as the
principle of evodeviation, is hardly ever discussed in the scientific
literature, it is often taken for granted. The principle is generally
assumed, for example, by those who keep wild animals in captivity. If
specimens of an animal species are brought into a zoo for the first time
and then show signs of ill health, the zoo authorities immediately look
to the natural environment of the species to find out what they are
doing ‘wrong’. Are the animals being provided with an unnatural
*Maladjustment of this kind is termed ‘phylogenetic’ because it is due
fundamentally to the fact that the phylogenetic characteristics of the species
are not suitable for the new environment. It is only in humankind that the
opportunity exists for reversing the environmental changes to render the
conditions once again suited to the phylogenetic needs of the species.
diet? Are they too crowded? Do they need branches to climb on?
Indeed, nowadays every effort is made in zoos to provide the animals
with life conditions as similar as possible to those which exist in their
natural habitats.
In order to avoid unnecessary confusion and debate, we should
make it clear that it is not implied that every conceivable evodeviation
in the conditions of life of a species necessarily gives rise to
maladjustment. However, we do suggest that any clear deviation in
life conditions from those that prevail in the natural environment
should be regarded as a potential cause of maladjustment, until
proven otherwise.
The evodeviation principle applies as much to Homo sapiens as it
does to any other species, and it is of obvious relevance to problems of
human health and disease. The phylogenetic characteristics of the
human species were determined by the selection pressures operating in
and before the ecological Phase 1, or primeval phase, of human
existence; and it is clear that one of the most outstanding
consequences of cultural evolution during the past ten thousand years
has been the degree of change that it has brought about in the
conditions of life of human populations. As would be expected, there
have occurred, in response to these culturally-induced changes in
human life conditions, countless examples of phylogenetic
maladjustment including numerous forms of nutritional, infectious
and organic diseases.
With respect particularly to urban conditions of life, there are
several reasons why we can rule out the possibility of any major
genetic adaptation, through natural selection, of human populatons
to the new situation. In the first place, it is pertinent to recall that the
first cities came into existence only about 200 generations ago, and
that since that time only a very small minority of the human
population has actually lived in cities. Moreover, many of the
important evodeviations associated with urban living today have been
introduced within the last one or two generations. Even over the
longer period, appreciable change in the genetic constitutions of
urban populations in response to the changed environmental
conditions would only be expected in cases where the selective
advantage of a given genotype was particularly strong. It has been
suggested, for example, that certain infectious diseases associated
with urban crowding, such as tuberculosis, may have exerted selection
pressures sufficiently strong to render succeeding populations
somewhat more resistant to them. It is also conceivable that the
prevalence of certain forms of malnutrition may have influenced the

genetic constitution of some urban populations with respect to
susceptibility to specific nutritional deficiency diseases, although we
are not aware of any evidence that this is so. By and large, however, we
can state with confidence that natural selection has not produced a
new breed of Homo sapiens, significantly better adapted in its genetic
characteristics than pre-urban populations to the conditions of life
prevailing in modern cities.
Nevertheless, despite numerous evodeviations and consequent
maladjustment, the number of human beings in the world has not
declined since the domestic transition; indeed it has increased about
one thousandfold. There are two reasons for this. First, people in
cities who are in poor health are at less of a survival disadvantage than
they would have been in the more hazardous primeval situation. They
are not required to keep on the move, they have their food and water
brought to them, they are protected from climatic changes by
permanent shelter, and they are unlikely to be attacked by predators.
Thus, through the ‘molly-coddling effect’ of civilisation, they are
more likely to be kept alive long enough to recover; and even if they do
not regain full health, they may still be able to reproduce. The second
reason which applies especially to ecological Phase 4 is that processes
of cultural adaptation, in the form of specific measures aimed at
countering certain undesirable forms of maladjustment, have
effectively rendered individuals and populations better able to cope
with the new conditions.
It is necessary to emphasise that, even in the case of
phylogenetically-determined reactions to evodeviations, there is
likely to be variability among individuals in their sensitivity to given
environmental pressures. These variations may be due to differences
in previous life conditions or in individual genetic characteristics.
The significance of the principle of evodeviation for biocultural
studies lies in its value as a source of ideas concerning the effects of
environmental change on people. That is to say, in attempting to
identify causes of maladjustment in Hong Kong or in any other
society, the principle provides a biologically valid starting point for
the selection of life condition variables for assessment in human
population ecology studies, the general hypothesis being that all
recognisable deviations from the primeval conditions are under
suspicion as causes of ill-health, until proven otherwise. It is thus a
fruitful source of specific hypotheses concerning relationships
between environment and life style on the one hand and health and
well-being on the other. The principle certainly applies to many

material aspects of life conditions, such as air quality and diet. It is
therefore relevant in ecological studies of human settlements to take
note of any clear evodeviation in the material components of the
environment and to inquire whether it may be the cause of
maladjustment. It is also apparent that the principle applies to certain
aspects of behaviour. Gross evodeviations in sleeping patterns or
levels of physical work, for example, are known to give rise to ill-
health.
It is our working hypothesis that the principle of evodeviation
extends beyond these rather obvious material and behavioural aspects
of life conditions to less tangible social and psycho-social aspects of
human experience, many of which are very difficult to describe in
quantitative terms, and indeed even to define precisely. The following
list of some of the characteristics of life conditions in the ‘natural’
environment of the human species, that is, the hunter-gatherer
environment, will serve to illustrate the kind of variables that we have
in mind. Most hunter-gatherers experience: a support network
provided by the extended family; a considerable amount of co
operative small-group interaction; the opportunity to move freely
from one small group to another and to seek solitude when desired;
the daily exercise of learned manual skills and associated creative
behaviour; a sense of personal involvement and a sense of purpose in
daily activities; the opportunity for the individual to behave much of
the time as he or she feels like behaving; a reasonable likelihood of
fulfilling aspirations. According to our working hypothesis, major
modifications in such aspects of life experience as these might be
suspected of being detrimental to health and well-being. It is only
proper to mention that many academics, for a variety of reasons, take
exception to this working hypothesis. Nevertheless, whether or not it
is correct, it does at least provide a starting point for comparing and
contrasting the life conditions of people in different human
settlements and in different sub-populations within a society, and for
inquiring into the possible implications for health and well-being of
variations in the social, psycho-social and behavioural aspects of
experience.
We will refer to the principle of evodeviation and its implications
many times throughout this book, and will further discuss the
principle as it relates to the social and psycho-social aspects of life
experience in Chapters 12 and 13.
Before concluding this section on the relevance of evolutionary
theory for human ecology, it is perhaps necessary that we emphasise

that, by drawing attention to the principle of evodeviation and by
incorporating it in the conceptual framework of our study, we are
neither advocating a return to the primeval state, nor entering a debate
on whether or not our hunter-gatherer ancestors were ‘better off’ than
we are. We are simply suggesting that, for sound biological reasons,
many of the illnesses and disorders of humankind in both developed
and developing countries today are examples of phylogenetic
maladjustment; that is to say, they are the consequences of
evodeviations in life conditions and life style and they are not
therefore inevitable, unavoidable aspects of human life. Appreciation
of the importance of the principle can help us to identify which aspects
of life experience, in different cultural settings, represent important
evodeviations and are therefore suspect as potential contributors to
maladjustment. These comments are necessary because some people,
perhaps as a result of intellectual conditioning, invariably respond to
this evolutionary approach with cries of ‘Noble Savage!’, and they
assume that we are promoting the idea that human beings should ‘go
back to living in caves or trees’. Foolish as such a recommendation
might be, the frequent contention that ‘we cannot turn back’ is equally
silly, for history shows it to be manifestly untrue. There are plenty of
examples in recent history of successful selective reversal with respect
to human life conditions. The symptoms of scurvy and rickets, which
were common in the cities of Europe a couple of hundred years ago,
were clear examples of phylogenetic maladjustment, due to
evodeviations in the diet of human populations. These forms of
maladjustment have now been overcome through the reintroduction
of the appropriate nutrients into the diet. This effective cultural
adaptive response represents a ‘turning back’ with respect to the
quality of foodstuffs, that is it involves a correction of the evodeviation
responsible for the maladjustment.
One further comment must be made here about the principle of
evodeviation. So far, we have referred to evodeviations essentially on
the level of the individual. Thus, the absence of a vitamin in the diet is
an individual evodeviation which has direct consequences for the
individual’s biopsychic state. However, we also recognise the
existence of evodeviations on the level of society, including, for
example, fundamental changes in the nature of societal hierarchies or
in the ‘in-group: out-group’ structure of society. Of course, these
societal evodeviations may well give rise to individual evodeviations
and sometimes therefore to phylogenetic maladjustment. We should
also point out that we use the word ‘maladjustment’ only with respect
to individuals. Disturbances in society which are regarded as
undesirable, such as a high rate of violent crime, are referred to as
societal disharmonies.
A word relating to health which often gives rise to scientific
confusion is ‘fitness’, since it is used in quite different ways by
different groups of specialists and appreciation of the distinctions
between these different uses is important in human ecology. We
recognise four main uses of the word, which can be referred to as
Darwinian fitness. Darwinian fitness implies a capacity to successfully
survive and reproduce, and so contribute genes to subsequent
generations; physical fitness is the capacity to perform physical work
of various kinds without undue exhaustion; affective fitness is the
state of feeling ‘fit’; and socio-economic fitness refers to the capacity
of an individual to climb, or maintain a high place, in the
socioeconomic hierarchy. Clearly, these four kinds of fitness are
interrelated but they are definitely not, especially in modern industrial
society, one and the same thing.
Human behaviour
The extent to which human behaviour is genetically determined is the
subject of a good deal of controversy. While, on the one hand, many
authors have compiled lists of what they believe to be the innate
‘instincts’ or ‘drives’ of man, others have dismissed as nonsense the
very idea that there are any genetic determinants of human behaviour
at all. Of course, if the human species does possess any phylogenetic
behavioural characteristics, these were determined by natural
selection and were consequently of survival value in the environment
in which the species evolved. Therefore, any postulated innate
behavioural characteristic should be explainable in terms of its
selective advantage in the primeval environment.
Our own view is that there are, indeed, some important phylo-
genetically determined behavioural traits in humankind. However, in
view of the sensitivity of some people to the notion that any human
behaviour might be genetically influenced, and in order to avoid
needless controversy we will refer to these traits simply as common
behavioural tendencies. For whether they are innate or not, they do at
least seem to be characteristic of all human societies, and are therefore
very relevant to our topic. They include, for instance, the tendencies to
seek approval, to avoid ridicule, to demonstrate loyalty to in-group
members, to avoid unnecessary exertion and to eat when hungry. A
fuller list is given in Appendix 2. As we shall discuss later, some of

these common behavioural tendencies are of considerable ecological
importance.
Adaptation.
We have emphasised the relevance to human ecology of the
evolutionary background of Homo sapiens, and we have observed
that evodeviations in life conditions associated, for example, with
urban living, may give rise to disturbances in health. At least as
relevant, however, as determinants of the biopsychic state of
individuals or populations, are the various influences which tend to
counter undesirable environmental effects and which thus promote
human health and well-being. Important among these influences are
the processes of adaptation which come into play in human
populations and individuals in response to unsatisfactory life
conditions.
The adaptive processes available to mankind are of several different
kinds. The distinction and differences between them are of great
importance for the understanding of human situations and problems
in biocultural terms. In the present context, however, we must be
content to do little more than refer to the distinction between biotic or
‘natural’ adaptive processes on the one hand and cultural adaptive
processes on the other, and to expand later in the book on some
important principles relating to cultural adaptation.
The natural adaptive processes include evolutionary adaptation,
that is, long-term adaptation of populations through natural
selection, and innate adaptation, which comprises the various
spontaneous physiological and behavioural adaptive responses in
individuals to environmental threats—responses which are
phylogenetically determined and which are not the consequence of
learning. In the human species these innate adaptive responses
include, for instance, the out-pouring of adrenalin or non-adrenalin
in certain threatening situations and the increase in haemoglobin
concentration in the blood at high altitudes.
Another kind of adaptive response which is important in animals is
adaptation through learning. In the human species there operates a
special and unique form of adaptation through learning, which we call
cultural adaptation. Cultural adaptation is defined here as adaptation
through cultural processes. Needless to say, cultural attempts to
counter undesirable environmental influences are not by any means
always successful. Nevertheless, the very fact that the huge population
of Hong Kong or any other big city survives is largely due to the
processes of cultural adaptation. Since both the survival and the well
being of mankind in the future depend on successful cultural adaptive
responses, it is very important that this set of processes and the
principles which govern them should be thoroughly understood.
This is not the place to attempt a detailed discussion of principles
relating to cultural adaptation. The subject is a complicated one, and
there are many kinds of cultural adaptive processes which differ one
from the other in a number of important ways. Here we will merely
draw attention to one very important distinction between two forms
of cultural adaptation, which are referred to as corrective and
antidotal cultural adaptation. Corrective cultural adaptation consists
of a cultural response which is aimed at reversing the underlying
environmental change which is responsible for a state of phylogenetic
maladjustment. Moves in Hong Kong, inadequate though they may
be, to reduce the level of air pollution, which is a known cause of lung
disease, provide an example of an attempt at corrective cultural
adaptation.
Antidotal cultural adaptation is directed at a symptom of a state of
maladjustment, or at an intermediate or subsidiary cause, but not at
the underlying change which was responsible for the disorder in the
first place. Clear examples in Hong Kong are the use of antibiotics in
the treatment of tuberculosis, the use of antidepressants, tranquillisers
and sleeping pills, the application of surgery for lung cancer, and the
widespread personal use of a fantastic variety of Chinese and Western
medicines for countless mild forms of maladjustment.
In general, in terms of long-term effectiveness, corrective cultural
adaptation is superior to antidotal adaptation, which not only allows
the unsatisfactory life conditions to persist, but also often introduces
further evodeviations which, in turn, may give rise to further
phylogenetic maladjustment. Only too often, however, either because
the underlying condition responsible for the maladjustment is not
known or for some other reason, the only forms of adaptation
available are antidotal.
Cultural adaptation is a societal phenomenon; but it may ultimately
be practised or put into effect on either the societal level or the level of
the individual. Thus, legislation with respect to sanitation in Hong
Kong is an example of societal cultural adaptation, directed in this
case against certain infectious diseases. But when a sick person goes to
visit a doctor or decides to take an aspirin, he is taking advantage of
the consequences of societal cultural adaptation through an individual
adaptive response.
It is pertinent to our theme to recognise that successful societal
cultural adaptation in the past has usually required the satisfaction of
four prerequisites. These are:
(i) an awareness that an unsatisfactory situation (with respect to
individual maladjustment or societal disharmony) exists or is
expected,
(ii) some knowledge either of the cause of the unsatisfactory
situation, or at least, some knowledge of some means of
countering it,
(iii) the resources (e.g. human or financial) for putting into effect
an appropriate adaptive response,
(iv) motivation in the influential groupings of society to put the
adaptive response into effect.
It will be suggested later in this book that successful cultural

adaptation of the kind that could bring about a satisfactory transition
to ecological Phase 5 will depend on two further prerequisites.
Unfortunately, in the Hong Kong study we have not been able to
deal with cultural adaptive processes in the depth that we would have
liked. Nevertheless, the theme has been constantly in mind, and the
role of cultural adaptation in relation to the future of the population
of Hong Kong and other cities will be discussed towards the end of this
book.
PART B
THE PRESENT—HONG KONG
IN THE 1970s
5
MODERN HONG KONG—
AN OVERVIEW
The foregoing account of Hong Kong’s ecological background has

been written in general terms, with the main emphasis on the human
population and its material life conditions and biopsychic state. In the
following discussion on the ecology of Hong Kong in the 1970s we
take a more comprehensive approach and deal with a wider range of
variables. As in any attempt to describe a situation integratively or
holistically, we are faced with the problem of organisation. The
arrangement which we have adopted is based in the first place on the
distinction in our conceptual diagram (Chapter 4) between the total
environment and human experience. In the present chapter, and the
three which follow it, the emphasis is on the ecological characteristics
of the total environment, that is, the system as a whole.
As the book proceeds, we will progressively pay more attention to
human beings, discussing first the characteristics of the population as
a whole, on the level of the total environment and, in Part D of the
book, considering the situation in terms of human experience.
It must be stressed that the divisions implied in this organisation are
not always sharp. Our study of the total environment, as well as being
concerned with the implications of the properties of the system for the
integrity of the biosphere, is strongly motivated by our interest in the
health and well-being of individuals. Thus in the chapters in which the
major emphasis is on the total environment, the significance of the
findings for the life experience and health of individuals will
sometimes be touched upon, although in most cases these
interrelationships will be discussed in more detail in later chapters.
The population of the built-up part of Hong Kong is, like that of
any other city, completely dependent on land, materials and human
activities beyond its borders. The territory of Hong Kong, as it is
politically and economically defined, does itself include a rural area
which makes some contribution, albeit small, to the nutritional needs
no Ecology of a City
of the population. Thus, although the theme of this book is urban

ecology, we shall include some discussion of the ecological
characteristics of this rural part of Hong Kong, partly for the sake of
completeness, and partly because characteristics of the rural sector
illustrate some principles of human ecology which are very relevant to
the problems of the modern world and, indeed, of modern cities.
In this and the following four chapters, then, we shall consider the
ecological features of Hong Kong as an urban ecosystem. The system
approach in human ecology is useful, not only because of the
information it provides about interdependencies and interactions
within human settlements and between them and the outside world,
but also because it can contribute effectively to one’s sense of
perspective with respect to the scale and rates of ecological change in
man-dominated ecosystems. We will begin our description of the total
environment in this chapter with a brief account of land-use in Hong
Kong, and with some facts about the ‘metabolism’ of the city in terms
of the gross imputs and outputs of gases, liquids and solids.
Like a living organism and like a natural ecosystem, Hong Kong
depends for its survival as a dynamic, functioning system on a
continual inflow and outflow of energy. We shall therefore, in the
next chapter, take the patterns of extrasomatic energy use in the area
as our entree to the more detailed account of the ecology of the
system. Since everything that happens in an urban system involves the
transfer or conversion of energy, a detailed analysis of the pattern of
energy flow provides meaningful information about the various
activities and interdependencies in the system. The way in which
energy is used also has important implications for the quality of the
environment, and there are also numerous subtle connections between
patterns of energy use and the state of health and well-being of the
human population. At this point, let us simply point out that, in most
modern societies, the common assumption among policy-makers is
that increases in energy use in a community are necessarily to the
advantage of its members. Whether this assumption is true, either for
the short term or the long term, is a question which deserves very
careful consideration, not only because of threats to the future supply
of energy, but also because of the various known detrimental side
effects, both for human beings and for the environment, of energy-
intensive activities.
Consideration of the flow of somatic energy in Hong Kong in
Chapter 7 begins with a description of the energetics of food
Modern Hong Kong — An Overview 111
production in the New Territories. This is followed in Chapter 8 by a

discussion on patterns of flow of certain important nutrients and of
water in Hong Kong.
Chapter 9 is concerned with the overall picture of the built -
environment and transport network, and is followed in Chapter 10 by
a discussion dealing with the human population on the level of the
total environment.
Before proceeding with our ecological description of Hong Kong,
there are a few further points to be made concerning the analysis of
human settlements at the level of the total environment. First, we must
be wary in studying human systems of falling victims of the condition
which has been called ‘systemphilia’, a mental state characterised by
an excessive fascination with a system perse, and a tendency to attach
a positive value to its ‘smooth runningness’ or efficiency, regardless of
the implications of the state of the system for the quality of the life
experience of its human components. While this tendency is
understandable in terms of the thinking processes of humankind and
the natural attraction of aesthetically satisfying patterns, there is no
necessary and constant relationship between smooth runningness in
human systems and the quality of human experience. It would be quite
possible, for example, to have an urban system which was very
efficient, energetically and economically, and smooth running in
terms of the absence of disruption in the patterns of flow of materials,
but in which most people most of the time lived like automatons,
blindly accepting monotonous low-experience jobs and a life style
devoid of warm and enjoyable human relationships—in short, a
dehumanised society. It would also be possible for a society to run very
smoothly with a constant infant mortality rate of 50 per cent. The
tendency to regard ‘system fitness’ as a criterion of goodness in human
settlements is dangerous because it can lead people to advocate
policies aimed at benefiting the system in this way, but unwise in terms
of human health and well-being.
Another point to be borne in mind relates to the ecologically
significant changes which are taking place in cities today. The
ecological analysis of large human settlements like Hong Kong
highlights the spectacular growth in the scale of human activity over
recent years, and the ever-accelerating rate of technological change.
An indication of this is the simple fact that the consumption of
extrasomatic energy in Hong Kong more than doubled between 1961
and 1971, while the population increased by only about 26 per cent.
Some people will see no cause for concern in these developments, and
will view them as totally desirable, a reflection of human genius. It is
questionable, however, whether human beings are in the least in
control of these spiralling processes. For all its fascinating and
remarkable qualities, the massive, intense and seething phenomenon
which is Hong Kong is not the consequence of wise foresight and
planning on the part of any human societal organisation. Hong Kong
just happened, and it is still just happening. In Hong Kong, as
elsewhere, the extraordinary increase in energy consumption, whether
or not it is in the best interests of the people in the long run, has not
been carefully thought over and deemed desirable. There is no master
plan with the explicit aim of ensuring that knowledge is used in the
wisest possible way and in the best interests of human health and well
being.
Bearing in mind, therefore, that most of the dramatic changes
which have and are taking place in Hong Kong are not the
consequence of any well considered long-term plan, let us now look at
the ecological characteristics of the system as it is at the present time,
beginning with a brief summary of the uses, or lack of uses, to which
the land in Hong Kong is put.
Land-use
The total land area of the city state of Hong Kong comprises 1046
km2, including 235 islands, most of which are very small. The largest
islands are Hong Kong, Lantau, Lamma and Cheung Chau. The island
of special importance in the present study is Hong Kong Island,
because it contains 25 per cent of the human population of the
territory.
We have already described how the whole area was once covered by
sub-tropical forest—long since vanished in the face of the activities of
agriculturalists. The overall picture in 1971 with respect to land-use is
shown in the map (Figure 5.1), and was approximately as follows:
13 per cent —urban and industrial purposes
13 per cen t—agricultural purposes (133 km2 was under
cultivation, including orchards, fish ponds and
fallow)
74 per cent —marginal, most of which is steep grassland or scrub.
About 3 per cent of the marginal land is woodland,
about 2 per cent swamp and mangroves.
New T e r r i t o r i
Tsuen Wan /?:■iv-7^Sha Tint
'Hong Kong Is 1 fndl .
füll urban area
f l marginal land
Figure 5.1 Land use in Hong Kong, 1974

The agricultural land is thus about equal to the size of the built-up
area, and it produces about 2.7 per cent of the total somatic energy
consumed by the four million inhabitants of Hong Kong. The
agricultural land is restricted mainly to the alluvial lowlands in the
north-west and to the lower ends of valleys where there is sufficient
depth of soil to permit effective cultivation. It is generally agreed that
the nature of the land over the area as a whole is such that it will not be
feasible to increase significantly the area under cultivation.
Some noteworthy changes have occurred during the past twenty to
twenty-five years in the uses to which the cultivable land is put. The
main changes from 1954 to 1974 have involved:
1. A decrease in paddy land for growing rice from 9417 to 2282
hectares.
2. An increase in permanent market garden land from 883 to
4528 hectares.
3. An increase in fish ponds from 140 to 1331 hectares.
4. An increase in the area of abandoned land from 1108 to
3484 hectares.
These trends are summarised diagramatically in Figure 5.2. The
changes have been partly due to changing economic pressures, six to
eight crops of vegetables per year being more profitable than one or two
crops of rice. Another influence has been the influx into rural areas
after 1949 of skilled migrants who rented land from existing families
and began growing vegetables as well as breeding pigs and poultry.
The officially defined urban area of Hong Kong, which in 1971
housed 4,045,300 people, or 85 per cent of the population of the
territory, covers 139 km2. It is concentrated on the north shore of
Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon and New Kowloon on the
’000 hectares Percent of

agricultural land
1954 1964 1974
I abandoned/
8.3 7.0 27.0
---- 1 fallow land
15 -
^lll] fish ponds 1.0 4.0 10.5
££ orchards 3.0 5.0 5.0

ill
K f,e'd land
...... crop
11.2 11.0 3.5
H I marjke' land 6.5 24.0 36.0
i — paddy land 70.0 49.0 18.0
1954 1964 1974
Figure 5.2 Area in agricultural use, H ong Kong, 1954-1974

southern tip of the peninsula. It includes the new towns of Kwun

Tong, Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun.
In many regions of the world where rapid urbanisation is taking
place, one of its undesirable features is the replacement of much
needed fertile agricultural land by the man-made structures of the
city. This problem is recognised in Hong Kong, and certainly the
urban area has recently made some inroads into agricultural land,
especially on the outskirts of Kowloon and at Tsuen Wan. In 1972, for
instance, 176 hectares of arable land were lost to the city. However,
the problem is much less extreme than might be expected for a city
with the growth rate of Hong Kong, since an outstanding feature of
the built-up area of Hong Kong is the fact that 25 per cent of the
population is housed on land reclaimed from the sea. For many years
there has been a steady levelling of the hills around the city and their
granite and volcanic rock has been pushed into the sea. Both the land
reclaimed from the sea and the newly flattened hillsides have been
used as sites for new housing or other development.
Land utilisation in the urban area will be further discussed in
Chapter 9, which deals with the built environment.
The metabolism of Hong Kong

The expression ‘metabolism’, as applied to a city, was coined by A.
Wolman and it refers to the total flow of materials into and out of the
system. The description of the metabolism of Hong Kong thus
provides an overall picture of the rate of consumption of gaseous,
liquid and solid resources, both renewable and non-renewable, and of
the production of wastes by this settlement of 4 million people.
The metabolism of Hong Kong is depicted diagrammatically in
Figure 5.3. It is, of course, impossible to achieve absolute accuracy in
an analysis of this sort. Nevertheless, the figures given are based on the
best available data—those for 1971—some of which are described in
more detail in later chapters, and we consider they are unlikely to
deviate very much from reality. The estimates refer to the whole of the
territory of Hong Kong.
As in the case of a living organism, by far the most important
gaseous input is oxygen (0 2), the total consumption of which amounts
to about 27,000 tonnes per day, 3000 tonnes of which are used by
people and the rest by machines. The gaseous output represents a
much more complex picture. It includes 26,500 tonnes of carbon
Figure 5.3 The daily ‘metabolism’ of Hong Kong—some important inputs and
outputs, 1971 (tonnes)
dioxide (C 02), 208 tonnes of carbon monoxide (CO), 110 tonnes of

nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 29 tonnes of hydrocarbons per day. Also
discharged into the atmosphere are 0.34 tonnes of lead (Pb) and 42
tonnes of particulate matter or ‘dust’ each day.
About 1,068,000 tonnes of fresh water are used by the system every
day. The mains supply provides approximately 800,000 tonnes, of
which 23 per cent is piped from mainland China, and the remainder
comes from Hong Kong’s own reservoirs. In addition, the system uses
about 3,600,000 tonnes of sea water each day for flushing and for
cooling power generators and buildings; most of this is discharged
directly into the sea and harbours. The amount of water discharged
through the sewers every day into the harbours is estimated at 819,000
tonnes.
Hong Kong also uses each day about 11,760 tonnes of petroleum
products, the distribution of which in the system will be discussed in
detail in the next chapter. As will also be explained later, there are
certain built-in constraints in Hong Kong relating to fossil fuel, so that
this input is considerably lower, on a per capita basis, than in most

modern Western communities.
Other daily inputs include 5985 tonnes of food for the human
population (758 tonnes are provided from within the territory), and
335 tonnes of food for livestock.
The organic wastes discharged from the system each day amount to
about 6300 tonnes of organic solids in sewage, 1880 tonnes of pig and
poultry manure, and 1130 tonnes of food wastes (at least 350 tonnes of
which is recycled to pigs as food).
The other main input into the system comprises 18,000 tonnes of
cargo (excluding food and fuel) and the daily output of cargo amounts
to 8150 tonnes.
The average daily inflow of people in 1971 was 8827 and the outflow
8632 (excluding births and deaths within the territory).
Later chapters will be concerned in some detail with a breakdown of
the inputs of fossil fuels and food constituents, and also the relevance
for Hong Kong and its inhabitants of the pattern of discharge of
gaseous and organic waste products. Let us here consider briefly the
global implications of the ‘metabolism’ data, bearing in mind that the
consumption of extrasomatic energy is considerably lower in Hong
Kong than in many modern industrial cities. Some of them use much
more fossil fuel per capita, and some considerably less. Nevertheless,
in most cities the trend is towards the increasing consumption of
extrasomatic energy. Also, of course, vast human populations exist
outside the cities and they too are using up resources and pouring out
wastes.
Of the various discharges into the atmosphere, those which have
given rise to most concern on the global level, mainly in terms of their
ultimate effect on the climate (as distinct from the direct effects on the
health and well-being of urban communities), are carbon dioxide,
particulate matter and nitrogen oxides.
With respect to carbon dioxide, the concern is based on the fact that
in the atmosphere this gas reflects back to earth some of the infra-red
irradiation from the earth’s surface, and its accumulation in the
atmosphere is therefore likely to result in a warming-up of the earth’s
surface. Since the beginning of the industrial transition, human
activities have resulted in ever-increasing emissions of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere (see Figure 5.4) and, according to one estimate,
the release from industrial activity was about 2 billion tonnes in
1900 and 18 billion tonnes in 1974. It appears, however, that only
about half the carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere by
18, 00 0
16,000 -
14,000 -
12,000 ~
10,000 -
8,000 -
6,000 -
4,000 ~
2,000 “
18 6 0 188 0 1900 1920 1940 196 0 1980
YEAR
Figure 5.4 Annual global production o f carbon dioxide from industrial

activities. Adapted from SCOPE (International Scientific
Committee on problems o f the Environment) (1976), Environmental
Issues 1976. Report to the ICSU General Assembley.
industrial processes remains there, the rest being absorbed mainly by

the oceans, the effects on which are uncertain.
Various simulation models have been devised in attempts to predict
future trends in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, and
some of these suggest that, if present trends are allowed to continue,
the atmospheric concentration will increase as much as eightfold over
the next two hundred years. According to one model, a mere doubling
of carbon dioxide concentration would result in an increase in the
average surface temperature of the earth of from 2-3°C, although this
effect would not be distributed uniformly around the world. It is not
possible to predict precisely the effects of a change of this magnitude
in the earth’s temperature, but they would certainly be far-reaching,
and would have enormous biological, socioeconomic and political

consequences.
On the other hand, the concern about particulate matter relates to
the possibility that increasing dust in the atmosphere will lead to a
cooling of the surface temperature of the earth, although there is some
disagreement about whether it would, in fact, have this effect.
Nevertheless, according to one estimate, an increase of 2 million
tonnes of dust would be capable of reducing world mean temperatures
by about 0.4°C. It has been estimated that about 3 per cent of the
particulate matter generated by human society remains in the
atmosphere at any time, giving an overall particulate loading in the
atmosphere comparable to the contribution of moderate global
volcanic activity.
The release by industrial processes of nitrogen oxides amounts to an
addition of about 14 per cent to that released by natural processes as
part of the nitrogen cycle. The cause for concern lies in the possible
influence of nitrous oxide (N20 ) in decreasing the ozone
concentration in the stratosphere. The ozone layer protects life from
the lethal effects of the ultraviolet irradiation from the sun. P.J.
Crutzen estimates that a 20 per cent increase in nitrous oxide in the
atmosphere would produce a 4 per cent reduction in ozone in the
stratosphere. It is pertinent to mention that other human activities,
generated mainly in the cities of the world, also give rise to concern
with respect to the ozone layer. Crutzen has estimated that the
doubling of the 1972 production of ‘freons’ (chlorofluoromethanes),
which are used mainly in aerosol cans, in refrigeration and in foam
plastic, would reduce the ozone in the stratosphere by 12 per cent; that
a fleet of 500 supersonic aircraft flying for 11 hours a day would
reduce it also by 12 per cent, and that a nuclear attack wiping out a
single world power would reduce it by 50 per cent. He states ‘it is very
important to limit all activities which may significantly reduce the
ozone content of the atmosphere’.
Many scientists have recently expressed concern about the fact that
governments are not paying sufficient attention to the views expressed
on these matters by the scientific community, such as those discussed
in the reports of the International Scientific Committee on Problems
of the Environment (SCOPE). We share this concern, and take the
view that it is the responsibility of all governments in the world,
because of their obligations relating to the well-being of the people
they represent, and of their children and grandchildren, to take these
warnings extremely seriously.
6
EXTRASOMATIC ENERGY
The dynamic characteristics of natural ecosystems are in essence the

function of three sets of variables. These are: (1) the availability of
solar energy, (2) the availability of certain substances or materials and
(3) the existence of mechanisms and devices for trapping and
converting the energy from the sun and utilising it to bring about a
transient reordering of certain substances or materials in the
environment. These mechanisms and devices are the processes of life,
and range from the photosynthetic and metabolic mechanisms of
green plants to the metabolic processes involved in the respiration,
growth and behaviour of animals.
The emergence through evolution of Homo sapiens and of human
culture has resulted in the introduction into the biosphere of an
entirely novel set of non-biotic mechanisms and devices for tapping a
number of sources of energy. This energy is used by people to perform
various kinds of work and to bring about various changes in the
organisation of matter. We refer here to these man-made mechanisms
and devices as machines, and include in this category not only such
items as motor cars and manufacturing equipment, but also electronic
devices like computeis and transistor radios. The machinery
component of most human settlements today is an extremely
important determinant of their overall ecological characteristics, and
is a function of several sets of variables (Figure 6.1). The first three of
these correspond to those mentioned above for natural ecosystems.
They are: (1) the availability of suitable sources of energy, (2) the
availability of suitable materials and (3) the existence of machines
which convert and utilise energy to bring about a reordering of
materials in the environment.
In the case of machine use, however, we recognise two other
important sets of determinants of the overall picture. They are: (4)
supply of energy
technology
Figure 6.1 Determinants and consequences of machine use in human

settlements
technology*—that is, that aspect of human culture which consists of

the knowledge of how to make and use machines, and (5) human
behaviour, especially that aspect of behaviour which involves the
making of decisions whether to make and use machines, and the
implementation of these decisions.
Man-made machines utilising extrasomatic energy range from early
inventions such as the sailing ships, watermills and windmills already
in use in ecological Phase 2 and 3 of human existence, to the sophis
ticated manufacturing equipment, tractors, aeroplanes and com
puters of Phase 4.
The extrasomatic energy used in the machinery of modern human
society is mainly derived from sunlight, having been converted long
ago by biotic processes into chemical energy. The main sources at
present are the fossil fuels derived from petroleum products and coal.
The energy in hydroelectric power is also derived from sunlight, but
does not involve intermediary biotic processes. Whatever the
*The word ‘technology’ is sometimes used to denote what we mean by machine

use. We use ‘technology’ in the more correct meaning o f the word, that is,
‘science of the industrial arts’, or the knowledge of how to make and use
machines.
Extrasomatic Energy 123
particular source of energy used in machines, it is, just as in the case of

living organisms, ultimately dissipated in the form of heat.
From the standpoint of energetics, ecological Phase 4 societies the
world over share important and distinctive characteristics. First, they
utilise extrasomatic energy, mainly in the form of fossil fuels, to drive
machines. Second, their rate of use of extrasomatic energy is
continually increasing. Third, concomitant with the first two
characteristics, there is a progressive increase in the ratio of
extrasomatic energy to somatic energy flowing through society. Thus,
unlike the situation in Phase 1,2 and 3 societies, the total use of energy
by human communities is no longer running more or less parallel with
population size. Fourth, human populations are becoming
increasingly dependent on increasing flows of extrasomatic energy for
their survival and health. In fact, the prevailing view of most
governments is that an expanding energy budget is absolutely
necessary for human well-being.
With respect to these four characteristics of energy use in ecological
Phase 4, the societal conditions of Hong Kong today fit the pattern
well. However, the transition from Phase 3 began some fifty to
seventy years later than it did in Western Europe, and for this and
other reasons, the per capita use of extrasomatic energy lags well
behind that in many Western countries by a factor of from five to ten.
Hong Kong i s , nevertheless, well ahead of many developing societies
in per capita extrasomatic energy use (see Table 6.1).
The ratio of somatic to extrasomatic energy use in Hong Kong in
1971 was about 1:8, as compared with a ratio for the world as a whole
of about 1:17. This global ratio is very much influenced by the
extraordinarily high extrasomatic energy use by the developed coun
tries, which in 1971 had an overall ratio of about 1:50. The ratio
in the USA was 1:94. The bulk of the world’s population, however,
lives in societies which, on 1971 figures, have a somatic: extrasomatic
energy ratio of around 1:4. Much of the extrasomatic energy in these
developing regions is that which is used in burning wood and, for
example in India, burning the dung of cattle.
The overall trends in Hong Kong are shown in Figure 6.2. It will be
seen that, between 1950 and 1971, the population of Hong Kong
increased about twofold, while the total energy use increased fivefold.
Between 1971 and 1974, the population increased by 7 per cent, and
energy consumption by nearly 14 per cent.
In recognising trends in energy and machine use, we must
constantly give thought not only to their economic significance but
also to their implications for the quality of human life experience. The
effects on people’s life conditions of changing patterns of energy use
may be relatively direct, for example, by saving individuals from
having to perform muscular work; or the effects may be indirect,
resulting from changes in the total environment, such as the chemical
pollution of the atmosphere, which in turn ultimately influence
human health and behaviour (see Figure 6.1).
TABLE 6.1 Golbal and regional comparison o f energy consumption

with Hong Kong, 19 71
Place MJ x 103
per capita
per annum*
Australia 166
Burma 2
China 17
Hong Kong 31
India 6
Indonesia 4
Japan 99
Khmer Republic 0.7
Korea 26
Macao 9
Malaysia 14
Nepal 0.3
Singapore 26
Thailand 10
United States 342
Vietnam Republic 10
Developed countriesf 183
Developing countriesf 11
World 59
*Excluding bunkers and exports

fThe Developed Market economies of Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New
Zealand, South Africa, United States and West Europe (inc. Yugoslavia).
fThe Developing Market economies of Africa, Caribbean America, North
America, other America, Middle East (inc. Turkey), Far East and Oceania.
Overall energy trends in Hong Kong

According to the United Nations classification, Hong Kong is in the
Far East region, and within this region it has the second highest per
capita consumption of extrasomatic energy, at 31,000 MJ per person
per year. Japan has the highest consumption in the region, at 99,000
MJ per capita per year (Table 6.1).
The average annual growth rate of energy consumption in Hong
Kong over the seventeen year period 1954 to 1971 was 4.6 per cent and
over the seven year period 1964 to 1971 it was 8.9 per cent. According
to the United Nations data, during this seven year period consumption
of energy increased by 2.7 per cent per annum in the United States, 2.5
per cent in Australia and in the world as a whole by 3.4 per cent.
Within the region, Hong Kong’s growth parallels that of Korea and
Japan, each with a 9 per cent increase per annum, and it is significantly
greater than the regional average increase in energy consumption of
6.5 per cent.
Important changes have occurred throughout the world during the
last hundred years in the proportions of different extrasomatic energy
sources. The outstanding features of the changes are major drops in
the proportion of wood and dung and increases in the proportion of
coal and, since 1900, of oil. Another change is the appearance of
natural gas, which by 1970 is estimated to have contributed about 15
per cent of the total energy used by humankind.
The changes which have occurred in fuel consumption in Hong
Kong are, in general, in keeping with these world-wide trends. The
changing picture for the years 1954 to 1971 is depicted, using a
logarithmic scale, in Figure 6.3. It differs from the world-wide picture
only in that the shift from solid fuels to liquid fuels is more complete.
This change has been associated with the rapid growth of high density
housing since 1954 and with accompanying restrictions on the use of
smoky and bulky fuels. In addition, coal was replaced by fuel oil as the
primary fuel for the generation of both electricity and gas during this
period.
The overall flow of extrasomatic energy in Hong Kong in the year
1971, and its distribution in terms of six broad categories*—domestic,
♦Energy used in governmental activities is allocated according to the type of

activity undertaken, on the basis of the government’s own classification of its
activities. Governmental uses in administration, for instance, have been
classified under ‘commerce’.
-11600
LEGEND:
POPULATION
EXTRASOMATIC
ENERGY
ss SOM ATIC
ENERGY
900
800
°o
o
25
5
700
200
w
1950
B::
■■■!■ H r
W■ Mr
?■v ■r.v
1971
. 1! 1
YEARS
Figure 6.2 Extrasomatic and somatic energy use compared to population

size in Hong Kong, 1900, 1950, 1971 and 1974
commercial, industrial, transport, overseas bunkers and exports, is

illustrated in Figure 6.4. The distribution of the different petroleum
products and of electricity in the different sectors is shown in Figure
6.5. The total extrasomatic energy in fuels flowing into and through
the system in 1971 is estimated to have been about 178 billion MJ.
Most of this—98.65 per cent—was in the form of petroleum and

petroleum products, and only 1.35 per cent in the form of solid
fuels— wood, charcoal, coal and coke. Ships and aircraft bound for
overseas ports received 17.6 per cent and 11 per cent respectively of the
1. 000,000
Gos Oi l s .
Di e s e l Fuel s
Mot or Spi r i t *
100,000
\ Cool
10,000
YE AR
'including gosolme and other light oils ( or s i mi l ar uses
Figure 6.3 Changing patterns of fuel use in Hong Kong, 1954-1971

total and 1.3 per cent was re-exported. The remaining 70 per cent, or
125 billion MJ, was distributed for use in Hong Kong.
Losses occur at all stages in the supply and use of energy. In
particular, they occur in the following three ways: (1) in the
conversion from primary to secondary energy, as in the conversion
from coal or fuel oil to electricity or town gas; (2) losses during
transmission of power to sites of end-use; (3) losses due to inefficient
use of energy in, for example, industrial processes, and by the failure
of appliances to convert all the energy used by them into useful work.
Conversion and transmission losses in Hong Kong amount to about
39 per cent of the total extrasomatic energy use within the system
(Figure 6.5), bringing the total local energy consumption, excluding
the losses incurred in the generation of energy and gas, to about 76
billion MJ. By comparison it has been estimated that these losses in the
United States amount to about 16 per cent of total energy use. This
Figure is lower than that for Hong Kong mainly because of the use in
the United States of hydroelectric power and greater efficiency in the
use of a range of fossil fuel feedstocks.
Figure 6.4 Extrasomatic energy flow chart: Hong Kong, 1971 (MJ x 108)
No calculation has been made of the overall loss of energy through

inefficient end-use in Hong Kong, but the figure of 60 per cent loss at
this stage has been quoted for the United States. During the ‘energy
crisis’ of 1973-74, Labour Department engineers in Hong Kong
examined the energy efficiency of the operation of a large textile
dyeing, bleaching and printing factory which had been considered to
INPUT energy
END USE
CONVERSION
FUEL OIL
OVERSEAS BUNKERS
LOST ENERGY
INDUSTRIAL
G A S O IL S, DIESEL
i■■■
OIL & DISTILLATE
......................... ««H
i ELECTRICITY
X 1 l l «?«'
!J
1 i
5 1 i SSSH TOW N GAS
LOCAL TRANSPORT
AVIATION
TURBINE FUEL
COMMERCIAL
DOMESTIC
MOTOR SPIRIT
I I I i I I I I II I I I 1 I
EXPORT
LIQUEFIED
PETROLEUM G A S LEGEND:
[ 100 MJ X 108
AVIATION SPIRIT
Figure 6.5 Inputs and end-uses of fuels: Hong Kong, 1971

be reasonably efficient in its fuel usage. The engineers estimated

conservatively th at the factory could be operated on 20 per cent less
fuel with little additional cost. In this period the owner o f a smaller
m anufacturing establishm ent was told th at his factory could operate
effectively on one boiler instead o f three, using 70 per cent less energy.
H e replied th at he could not m ake this change, because his
com petitors would imagine th at his business was not doing very well.
The uses of extrasomatic energy in Hong Kong

Let us now examine the uses o f energy m ore closely.*
Industry
The extrasom atic energy utilised in industry comprises 31 per cent of
the total local energy consum ption, excluding the losses incurred in
the generation o f electricity and gas. The m ain form s o f energy used in
industry are fuel oil and electricity, which com prise 50 per cent and 31
per cent respectively o f the to tal industrial use.
The various industrial uses o f energy and their relative share o f the
consum ption are shown in the top part o f Figure 6.6. The textile
industry consumes 61 per cent o f the total industrial use. As
m entioned earlier, H ong Kong has changed in character very rapidly
from being predom inantly a trading port, or entrepot, to a m a n u
facturing centre, o f which textiles are the m ajo r product. The export
o f m anufactured goods increased from 10 per cent o f total export
value in 1947 to 75 per cent in 1971, in which year the textile industry
employed 49 per cent o f the m anufacturing industry w orkforce. M ost
o f the textile establishm ents are sm all, and only 9 per cent o f them
em ploy a w orkforce o f m ore th an fifty people.
In term s o f energy consum ption, the next m ain group o f industries
are those which m anufacture glassware, ceramics, porcelain and
products m ade o f copper and alum inium . This group collectively
utilises about 9 per cent o f the industrial energy.
A constant feature o f m any m odern hum an settlem ents is a
continuous cycle o f construction and dem olition, and this is especially
true for H ong Kong, where a construction boom began in 1953 and
♦Absolute accuracy is not possible in estimations of the amount of energy

utilised in different activities in a society as complex as Hong Kong. However,
we consider that none of the Figures given here is likely to deviate from the true
value by more than 10 per cent.
E xtrasom atic Energy 131
still continues. This activity consum es about 7 per cent o f the total
industrial energy.
The food industry,.w hich includes baking and refining and brewing
for the local m arket, as well as canning and food p reparation for
export, also uses about 7 per cent o f the total industrial consum ption.
In H ong Kong, high energy intensive industries, such as iron and
steel smelting, the m anufacture o f chemicals and artificial fertilisers
and heavy m anufacturing industry are not prom inent. In co n
sequence, the industrial energy-use profile is very different from that
INDUSTRIAL ENERGY USE
TEX1MS 1«. (W-hns. dye.ng 4 gorm< « i ]
METALS. GLASS & RELATED PRODUCTS
FOOD h h i
CONSTRUCTION mm
WATER PUMPING u
FARMING ■
CHEMICALS & PAINTS ■
CLOTHING. OTHER w,gs & shoes ■
IRON & STEEL 1

RUBBER & PLASTICS .nc toys ) 1
ELECTRONIC. ELECTRKTAl 4 EINE MECHANICAL GOODS
ENGINEERING & MACHINING
PAPER PRODUCTS & PRINTING
WOODWORKS & TANNERIES
COMMERCIAL ENERGY USE
hotels & RESTAURANTS
GOVERNMENT
! RETAIL & WHOLESALE TRADE
I OFFICES
I ARMED SERVICES
STEAM LAUNDRY & DRY CLEANING
HOSPITALS
SCHOOLS & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
COMMUNICATIONS
GODOWNS & COLD STORAGE
CINEMAS & THEATRES
FILM & TELEVISION STUDIOS
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL ENERGY USE
Figure 6.6 Industrial and commercial energy use in Hong Kong, 1971
of many Western countries. For example, in the State of New South

Wales in Australia, machinery manufacture and the metal industry
use 67 per cent of industrial energy, and a further 15 per cent is used in
the preparation of chemicals and paints. The difference also accounts
for the fact that in the United States and Australia, industry uses 42
per cent and 44 per cent respectively of the total use, as compared with
only 31 per cent in Hong Kong.
Commerce
Commercial extrasomatic energy use in Hong Kong represents 22 per
cent of the total local consumption, excluding the losses in electricity
and gas generation. The main fuels used are the gasoils, diesel oils and
distillates, accounting for 41 per cent of the total, and electricity,
accounting for 38 per cent.
The overall distribution of energy in commerce is shown in the
lower part of Figure 6.6. The apparent high use by restaurants and
hotels is a reflection of the frequency with which Chinese people in
Hong Kong eat away from home. In 1971, there were 2735 restaurants
and light refreshment houses, 10 per cent of which seated more than
three hundred people, as well as 1695 licensed cooked food stalls with
a legal capacity to serve twelve people seated at one time. This works
out as about 0.17 restaurant seats per capita, which is more than
double that for the other city for which we have comparable data,
namely Canberra, the capital city of Australia.
The great majority of restaurants use diesel oil as the principal
cooking fuel, with liquid petroleum gas, coal, charcoal or coke as an
auxiliary fuel for special purposes, such as roasting meats. Only the
older, poorer restaurants still use coal as the major fuel. In contrast,
most hotels now use town gas for cooking, and the cooked food stalls
which are so common in Hong Kong mostly use kerosene, although
this is now beginning to be replaced by liquid petroleum gas.
The second largest ‘commercial’ energy consumer is the govern
ment. This consumption largely reflects the energy overheads of office
administration. An important energy-expensive trend in Hong Kong
is the construction of buildings with so-called ‘total energy systems’,
which utilise no external ventilation. In times of energy shortage, since
there is no way by which they can reduce their usage of energy and
remain functional, such buildings must either continue to operate with
high energy inputs, or they must close down.
Transport
Extrasomatic energy used in transportation amounts to 29 per cent of
the total local use, excluding the losses incurred in the generation of
electricity and gas. This figure includes energy used by the local fishing
fleet, but does not include that used by ocean-going vessels or aircraft
travelling to overseas ports.
The total local transport energy used in 1971 was equivalent to 4800
MJ per capita: 50 per cent of the energy was used for carrying
passengers, 17 per cent for cargo and 33 per cent for ‘other uses’,
which includes the fishing fleet.
Table 6.2 shows the extrasomatic energy used in 1971 by different
road, rail and marine vehicles and by local aircraft. The amount of
energy used by road vehicles represents about 58 per cent of the
transport energy, and is equivalent to 3300 MJ each year per capita.
As compared with some other Phase 4 societies, this figure is low. In
Sydney, Australia, for instance, the annual expenditure of energy on
road transport works out at about 26,000 MJ per capita. Public buses
in Hong Kong use 20 per cent of road transport energy and taxis, legal
and illegal, use about 23 per cent. Government vehicles account for
only 3.3 per cent of the road transport consumption, and most of this
is used by the Police Department, the Public Works Department and
the Urban Services Department.
Rail vehicles use only 1.4 per cent of local transport energy (trams
0.9 per cent and trains 0.5 per cent).
Whereas in most urban settlements the amount of energy used in
local marine transport would be very small or non-existent, in Hong
Kong this usage (excluding the fishing fleet) accounts for 11.2 per cent
of the local transport energy, half of which is used by the passenger
ferries plying between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula.
The important recreational centres of Lantau, Lamma and Cheung
Chau Island lie within a few kilometres radius, and there is a
considerable ferry traffic connecting them with the urban area,
especially at weekends (see Chapter 9). Ferries use about 42 per cent of
the local marine transport energy (excluding that used by the fishing
fleet). Another 48 per cent is consumed by the fleet of about one
thousand motorised cargo boats which serve the large ocean-going
vessels, fifty or sixty of which are often anchored in the harbour at one
time.
The fishing fleet of Hong Kong uses up about 28 per cent of the total
energy used in transport. It consists of about 5200 vessels, ranging
from junks to trawlers. The fleet travels as far as the Paracel Islands,
T A B LE 6.2 Use o f energy in transport in Hong K ong-1971
Overall percentage Sub

not including heading
bunker fuels percentage
Road vehicles
Private cars 18.7 32.2
Pak Pai (illegal taxis) 3.9 6.8
Goods vehicles 12.4 21.3
Public light buses 5.7 9.8
Buses 5.7 9.8
Taxis 9.8 16.8
Government 1.9 3.3
Sub-total 58.1 100.0
Rail vehicles
Tramways 0.9 66.4
Trains 0.5 33.6
Sub-total 1.4 100.0
Marine vehicles
Ferries etc. 4.7 12.1
Cargo boats, etc. 5.4 13.8
Pleasure craft, etc. 0.5 1.2
Government craft 0.6 1.5
Fishing fleet 28.1 71.4
Sub-total 39.3 100.0
Local aviation
Government and military 1.1 95.0
Other 0.1 5.0
Sub-total 1.2 100.0
Overall Total 100.0

which lie about 650 km to the south, on voyages which often last
several weeks. It supplies about 80 per cent of the fresh sea food (28
per cent of the animal protein) consumed in Hong Kong.
Locally used aviation fuel, which accounts for only 1.2 per cent of
local transport energy, is mainly for governmental and military
purposes, although a little is used by private air charter companies and
aeronautical clubs.
The energy efficiency of the various modes of transport in Hong
Kong are given in Table 6.3, in terms of MJ per tonne/km for cargo
and of MJ per passenger/km for human transport. Some figures for
the United Kingdom are also given for comparison.
With respect to cargo, the least energy-efficient is the 1-tonne goods
vehicle, which is the most common size; and the most efficient is rail
transport. Bicycles are used to deliver small amounts of meat, fish and
vegetables from markets to restaurants and stalls. This mode of
transport, of course, uses no extrasomatic energy and, in terms of its
somatic energy usage, it is very energy-efficient. Its efficiency in Hong
Kong could be improved further by the introduction of pedicabs
similar to those seen in Macao and Singapore or of the heavy-frame
bicycle of Korea, which can carry 140 kg. Marine handling of cargo is
from three to ten times more efficient than road vehicles.
With regard to the transportation of people, rail vehicles (trains
and trams) are clearly more efficient as passenger carriers than all
other forms of transport, excluding pedicabs. The next most efficient
in the Hong Kong situation are the double-decker buses, when full.
The least energy-efficient are the private cars and taxis. In marine
passenger transport, the ferries are quite efficient when full, whereas
the hydrofoils are extravagant in energy terms.
By comparing the annual increase in vehicle types and the passenger
journeys taken in each over the same time period, it is clear that
transport in Hong Kong is rapidly decreasing in energy efficiency.
This is in keeping with studies in other parts of the world, which have
shown that there is a tendency for the energy efficiency of transport to
decrease as the volume of the traffic increases.
Domestic energy use
Domestic uses account for 18 per cent of the total local energy
consumption, excluding losses in the generation of electricity and gas.
The main forms of energy used are kerosene, electricity and liquefied
petroleum gas, representing 47 per cent, 31 per cent and 12 per cent
respectively of local consumption. Firewood is still widely used in the
urban area in resettlement cottages and squatter settlements* and

among the boat people, as well as in the many villages of the New
Territories.
With respect to the specific end-use of each of the domestic fuels,
kerosene is used largely for cooking, heating water, limited space
heating and lighting. Liquefied petroleum gas is increasing in usage,
replacing kerosene for cooking, water heating and some lighting.
Where town gas is used, it is also usually for cooking and water
heating.
Electricity, which is connected, legally or illegally, to 98 per cent of
households, is used mainly for lighting, replacing the more traditional
kerosene and oil lamps and candles. Its application to cooking is
confined to the use of rice cookers, except in the 10 per cent of
households with electric stoves. In general, open flame cooking is
desirable for the Chinese cuisine.
Electricity is also the main fuel used for fans, air conditioners and
refrigerators. According to the results of the Biosocial Surveyj, about
96 per cent of households have one or more fans, 91 per cent have a
television set, 80 per cent have a refrigerator, 33 per cent have an
electric washing machine and 12 per cent have an air-conditioner.
An interesting feature of the domestic energy use in Hong Kong is
the fact that the Chinese family has a choice of five or six fuels for
cooking, and they often have facilities for using all of them. Many
families retain a charcoal burner, which can also burn firewood, coke
or coal. These fuels are most commonly used to roast meats and to
brew Chinese medicines, and are used annually for the preparation of
special foods on such occasions as the Dragon Boat Festival and
Chinese New Year.
International comparisons
Although Hong Kong is becoming increasingly dependent upon
extrasomatic energy and, like other Phase 4 societies, is characterised
by a continual increase in the ratio of extrasomatic energy to somatic
energy, it has a long way to go before it ‘catches up’ with typical
Western societies. Thus, while current trends will undoubtedly
increase the dependence of the population on extrasomatic energy, at
present this dependency is in some respects not as complete as it is in
other countries, for which the consequences of a sudden major drop in
*For a description of the types of housing in Hong Kong, see Chapter 9.

fSee Appendix 3.
TABLE 6.3 Energy efficiency o f transport in Hong Kong
Transport mode Energy use in MJ per

tonne/km and per
passenger/km
Hong Kong UK
CARGO CARRYING:
Land:
Goods vehicles:
(a) approx. 1 tonne 8.36 8.67
(b) approx. 5 tonnes 3.04
Train, diesel 0.28 0.52
Bicycle—27 kg load 5.20
Pedicab— 136 kg load 1.04
Scooter—27 kg load 48.80
Marine:
Towage of dumb steel lighters 0.91
Motorised cargo boats (average) 0.73
PASSENGER CARRYING:
Land:
Public light buses:
(a) actual average occupancy 1.04 1.05
(b) full load 0.70
Taxi and Pak Pai, 2.5 passengers 3.34
Double decker buses:
(a) standard 0.24 0.23—0.38
(b) ‘Jumbo’ 0.18
Tramways, two decks:

(a) maximum 0.078
(b) usual 0.21
Train, diesel, 15 carriage 0.087
Private car: (a) five people 1.51
(b) two people 3.39
Scooter: (a) one passenger 1.22
(b) two passengers 0.60
Motorcycle: (a) one passenger 1.45
(b) two passengers 0.80
Pedicab—two passengers 0.07
Bicycle 0.13
Walking 0.23
Marine:
Hydrofoils:
(a) maximum 2.27
(b) actual 3.34
Ferry: (a) maximum 0.46
(b) actual 1.12
Source: New combe,
local energy supply would be more serious.

It is interesting to compare the per capita energy expenditure in the
four main sectors of energy use in Hong Kong with the situation in
some representative Western countries, namely, the United States, the
United Kingdom and Australia (Table 6.4). The greatest discrepancy
between Hong Kong and the other societies is in the industrial sector.
Of the other three countries, the United Kingdom has the lowest per
capita use of energy in industry, but this is 8 times that of Hong Kong,
while the United States has a 20 times greater per capita use of energy
in this sector. This difference is largely explained by the fact that the
main industries of Hong Kong, the manufacture of textiles and
electronic equipment, although mechanised and using extrasomatic
energy, are not nearly as energy-intensive as the heavy industries of
the other countries.
Hong Kong also stands out very markedly from all the other
countries with respect to the energy used in transport, in that its per
capita use is only one-quarter that of the United Kingdom, one-eighth
TABLE 6.4 End-use o f energy— international comparisons (MJ x

103per capita per year) *
1971 1973 1972 1970-1
Hong Kong United United Australia
States Kingdom
Industry 6.0 121.1 46.3 65.1

Commercial
(and other) 4.2 38.2 13.9 3.9
Transport 5.6 94.5 23.1 48.7
Domestic 3.5 58.8 27.7 15.9
Total 19.3 312.6 111.0 133.6

*A11 excluding conversion losses in electricity generation, town gas
manufacture and other energy producing industries.
that of Australia and one-seventeenth that of the United States. The
difference in this case can be explained in terms of the compactness of
Hong Kong and by the fact that there is essentially no room on the
roads for more than the present 190,000 motor vehicles of all kinds.
There is less difference in the commercial sector, although even here
the per capita use is nine times greater in the United States than in
Hong Kong.
With respect to the domestic sector, there are also big differences.
For example, the per capita use of energy in the home in the United
States is sixteen times greater than in Hong Kong.
Once again, the question arises whether, in a world where existing
sources of energy are dwindling and where the most discussed major
alternative, nuclear power, is known to be associated with very serious
risks, these high levels of extrasomatic energy use in all these sectors in
the developed Western countries are really necessary to ensure human
health and happiness.
Seasonal and diurnal variations

As would be expected, extrasomatic energy is not utilised at the same
rate all the year round, nor at all times of day and night.
Overall, there is a 26 per cent increase in energy consumption in
mid-summer, as compared with mid-winter. The increase is due
mainly to the use of air-conditioners in the domestic, commercial and
industrial sectors, but greater use in road and marine transport also
contributes to the rise in summer.
Generally, energy use is concentrated between 7 am and 9 pm, with

peak usage from 7am to 1lam and from 3pm to 7pm, corresponding
to peaks of traffic density and domestic consumption. It is clear that
air pollution densities could be reduced significantly by the adoption
of staggered working hours, spreading transport activity and
industrial and commercial activity over a more extended period.
Future trends and possibilities

At the end of this chapter and in Chapter 15 we will discuss the general
dilemma which is associated with the existence of two conflicting
assumptions—the first that human well-being requires unceasing
industrial growth involving the increasing consumption of
extrasomatic energy, and the second that, for ecological reasons,
growth in energy use by humankind cannot possibly go on
indefinitely.
First, however, we will comment on possible trends in the energy
pattern of Hong Kong in the foreseeable future which are likely, or at
least feasible, in terms of the dominant values and the prevailing
economic system and societal organisation of modern Western
communities. We will not be concerned, therefore, with radical
changes which might result in a halting or reversal of current energy
trends. Nor will we discuss the very dismal subject of what might
happen in Hong Kong should its energy supply for some reason be
suddenly cut off.
If there are no important changes in general energy policy in Hong
Kong, a further per capita increase in energy use is likely to occur over
the next ten or fifteen years. In fact, it has been predicted that there
will be a fivefold increase in energy consumption in the territory by the
year 2000. The increase will be associated with a further shift towards
heavier and more energy-intensive industry. It is probable, for
example, that in the near future plastics and machinery industries will
be expanded in Hong Kong under the sponsorship of various
international firms. There are also proposals for an oil refinery, which
would include the construction of adjacent petro-chemical
complexes. Among the developments which will increase energy
consumption is the desalination program, resulting in an additional
annual consumption of 350,000 tonnes of fuel by 1980 (i.e. 15 billion
MJ), which is equivalent to a 12 per cent increase in total energy use
over that of 1971 .* There is also likely to be a greater domestic use of
*We learn that the desalination plant has now been decommissioned due to the
increase in the cost of fuel oil (three times since the project was planned). The
Extrasom atic Energy 141
energy to drive m ore machines to do w ork which was previously done

by hum an muscles.
Possibilities o f saving energy

A lthough the overall trend over this period seems likely to be tow ards
considerably greater use o f energy, possibilities exist for significant
changes which w ould result in som e conservation o f energy, w ithout
being inconsistent with the objectives o f the dom inant cultural
influences in H ong Kong.
One potential area for saving is in the conversion from prim ary to
secondary fuels. At present, alm ost tw o-fifths o f the fuels im ported
into H ong Kong are lost during the conversion to electricity. Because
o f the significantly higher therm al efficiency o f the production of
tow n gas as com pared with electricity, the use o f tow n gas for all
purposes which involve direct heating could reduce these losses,
perhaps by as m uch as 5 billion M J per year.
T ranspo rt, as we have seen, consum es annually about 22 billion
M J, or 29 per cent o f the total consum ption in H ong Kong. M ost of
this is used in form s o f transport which are, in energy term s, m uch less
efficient than others; and the present trend is tow ards a further
decrease in energy efficiency in tran sp o rt. Some local policy
directives, such as ‘b us-only’ lanes and higher fees for private car
registration and parking, will slow dow n this trend, but are unlikely to
eradicate it. Rail vehicles move people efficiently and with a relatively
low energy consum ption per passenger kilom etre. According to an
official report, the underground railway mass transit system under
construction is designed to cater for a third o f the total 7,500,000
passenger journeys per day by 1985. W hen this is com pleted, it is likely
to reduce the energy cost o f tran sp o rt in H ong Kong considerably,
perhaps by 1.7 billion M J per year.
In general, transport is an aspect o f m achine use where feasible
m odification could result in very significant energy savings, not only
in H ong Kong, but also in m any other W estern or W esternising cities.
Relevant to this issue is the question o f the residential distribution of
the w ork-force in relation to its w ork locations, since often a
substantial p roportion o f tran sp o rt energy is used conveying
individuals from one end o f a city to another, to and from their places
o f w ork. In fact, the m aldistribution o f population in this respect is of
less consequence in H ong Kpng th an it is in m any other cities.
desalter produced 36 x 106m3 desalinated water in 1977, using 200,000 tonnes
of fuel oil.
It would be possible, then, to make savings in total energy

consumption in Hong Kong by using existing industrial equipment,
such as steam generators, more efficiently; by ensuring the maximum
use of fluorescent rather than incandescent lamps and restricting
excessive lighting; by using town gas or LPG instead of electricity for
all direct heating purposes; and by the introduction of mass transit
and by reducing the use of the private car. Small savings are also
possible in agriculture (see Chapter 7). We have estimated that all
these savings could amount to about 13 billion MJ, or 17 per cent of
the 1971 energy use. There can be little doubt that a concerted
campaign to introduce new energy-efficient technology to industry
and transport and to design all buildings for energy efficiency could
save as much again.
Potential fo r harvesting energy in Hong Kong

There appear to be a number of quite practical alternatives for energy
generation within Hong Kong which present themselves immediately
and which depend less on technological or economic feasibility than
on societal and political acceptance.
First, direct harvesting of solar energy is possible even in the densely
crowded urban area. As is the case in the United States, as much as 25
per cent of the energy used in Hong Kong is for relatively low-grade
applications such as space heating and the heating of water up to
100°C. Direct solar radiation is well suited to these uses and,
furthermore, there is now the prospect that it can be used to produce
temperatures up to 300°C.
If we take only the roof area within the urban area of Hong Kong
and assume a conversion efficiency of 50 per cent, 13.2 billion MJ is
available, or 17 per cent of total end-use in Hong Kong.
Second, bioconversion of animal wastes in large and small
converters is an immediate prospect. In all, they represent a potential
source of 6 per cent of 1971 energy use in the form of methane,
although it is likely that no more than two-thirds of these wastes
would be available for conversion. Thus, a more realistic estimate of
their contribution is 4 per cent of total end-use.
Third, almost a million tonnes of refuse was collected in 1971.
Bioconversion of the organic component of these wastes could
generate around 3.8 billion MJ or about 5 per cent of energy end-use
in 1971. It may be noted that this resource is currently increasing in
availability at around 7 per cent per annum, compared with 2 per cent
per annum increase in population.
Through conversion of these three sources alone, a quite practical

goal of 25 per cent of 1971 energy end-use would be obtainable. It is
possible that this contribution could be further increased by using a
greater surface area to trap solar radiation than that assumed in our
calculations and through the increasing availability of organic refuse.
There are two further energy sources which, although presenting
more difficult planning and implementation problems, are not only
technologically possible, but also increasingly becoming economically
attractive. They are the bioconversion of human sewage and the
harnessing of wind energy. Human sewage represents at least four
times the energy potential of animal sewage, though at present it is
much less accessible in an engineering sense. However, smaller
quantities, amounting perhaps to 20 per cent of the total, could be
diverted to bioconversion, representing a further 3 to 4 per cent of
1971 energy end-use.
Wind energy is now competitive in economic terms with fossil fuel
and nuclear-powered electric generators, but the equipment, at least
at the 2 megawatt windmill level, is not yet readily available—due to
lack of demand rather than to technological difficulties of
construction. On the whole, the prospects for harvesting wind energy
locally appear attractive. More than 10 per cent of total energy use,
i.e. about 40 per cent of total electricity demand, could be met from
400 to 450 2 megawatt windmills requiring an area of 35 to 40 km7.
There are more than 500 km2 of grassland, scrubland or badly eroded
waste land in Hong Kong which could be used for this purpose.
In summary, it is apparent that a combined program of energy
conservation, recycling and the harvesting of readily available
alternative resources could reduce by more than half Hong Kong’s
reliance on external energy sources for its internal consumption.
This section on future possibilities would be incomplete without
reference to the fact that the possibility of building a nuclear reactor in
Hong Kong has been a subject of discussion. In fact, the proposal has
been seriously put forward that a floating nuclear power station be
constructed. This suggestion represents an example of the ‘more-
energy-the-better’ school of thought, which will be discussed later in
this chapter. We will not discuss further here the complicated question
of a nuclear alternative for Hong Kong, beyond recalling that nuclear
power inevitably involves serious risks for humankind and that the
safety issue has certainly not been satisfactorily resolved. It must not
be forgotten that the byproducts of nuclear power are, without
question, very dangerous substances; nor must it be forgotten that, so
long as human beings exist on earth, so will the chance of human

error. There is no sphere of human activity in which this simple
principle does not apply. As we have seen again and again, accidents
still occur, no matter how stringent the safety precautions or how
sophisticated the safety devices.
The effects of changing patterns of energy

use on the natural environment
The environmental and societal consequences of changes in the

pattern of machine use in human settlements, as reflected in the
patterns of energy flow, are often far-reaching and very complicated,
and in the present work we are able to touch on only some of the more
obvious of these.
It is logical to recognise two broad kinds of direct effects, namely,
direct effects on the non-human (non-biotic and biotic) components
of the total environment, and direct effects on the life conditions of
people, and hence on their health and well-being. With respect to
effects on the non-human components of the total environment, we
shall restrict our attention here to some of those environmental
consequences of energy use which obviously influence, indirectly, the
quality of human experience.
Some of the results of changing patterns of energy use are beneficial
to human health and well-being and some are detrimental, and many
have both beneficial and detrimental effects. Moreover, a given
technological development may be beneficial for one sector of a
community, but detrimental for another. Because the benefits, real or
otherwise, of modern industrial economy and the associated growth in
energy use already receive a great deal of attention, we will
concentrate here on the less desirable influences.
We must also recognise the distinction between those effects which
are intended, such as the rapid movement of people or goods from one
place to another, and those which are incidental, such as the resulting
noise and air pollution. The emphasis here will be on the incidental or
side effects of the uses to which extrasomatic energy is put.
A ir pollution
As is well known, the rapid increase throughout the world in the use of
machines powered by fossil fuels is resulting in a parallel increase in
the rate of discharge of a range of chemical pollutants into the
atmosphere. Some of the implications of this change for the biosphere

as a whole were mentioned in Chapter 5, and those for human health
will be commented on in Chapter 11. Here we will deal in somewhat
more detail than in Chapter 5 with the emissions in Hong Kong of
three sets of air pollutants resulting from the use of extrasomatic
energy. They are the sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide and lead
compounds.
Unfortunately, good data on actual measured levels of air pollution
throughout Hong Kong were not available to us, although in
formation was provided on the results of the monitoring of certain
pollutants by government authorities at four points in the city. A
climatological dispersion model was therefore used to predict
concentrations of air pollutants. The model was adapted to the Hong
Kong situation by Jetse Kalma and is described in detail elsewhere. It
is based on a detailed inventory of ‘area sources’ and ‘point sources’
of significant energy-using industrial or commercial activities which
generate pollutant by-products and artificial heat. The point sources
are a relatively small number (31) of very large energy users such as the
power stations and big textile factories. Area sources are made up of a
myriad of small energy users, such as family-based textile industries,
laundries, wood-working and toy-making industries and restaurants.
A grid reference map for Hong Kong was used to chart the area
sources and point sources of emission. The total of small emission
sources within a grid square was taken as the area source strength of
emission, which was assumed to be evenly distributed over the square.
Meteorological conditions such as wind speed, wind direction and
atmospheric stability conditions are extremely important in the
dispersion of air pollutants and these are taken into account in the
model as climatic averages. Three stability conditions are modelled
for: they are unstable, where turbulence and wind speed is high; near-
neutral, the most common condition of average wind speed and
direction; and stable, where there is little turbulence and little wind.
The model provides predictions only for annual averages of ground
level concentrations of air pollutants.
It must be stressed that the difficulties associated with the accurate
estimation of air pollution in urban areas are many. Simple dispersion
models such as that used in the present study do not consider the
effects of dry deposition and rainfall on pollutants such as sulphur
dioxide. It is also extremely difficult to take into account the special
problems of urban locations, such as surface roughness and street
corridor effects on pollutant dispersal. We make these points in order

to emphasise the caution which must be exercised when interpreting
the predictions of air pollution computer models. Nevertheless, in the
absence of better data, these models do provide useful tools for
assessing likely pollution problems. Moreover, as we shali see below,
in the Hong Kong study there is some agreement between the
computer estimates and the few data which are available on sulphur
dioxide levels at the four monitoring stations.
Sulphur oxides. The major fuels used in Hong Kong today are
moderately high in sulphur content (2.5 per cent S). Although
alternative low sulphur fuels are available, their cost is generally
prohibitive in the highly competitive market place of Hong Kong. We
have estimated the total emission of sulphur oxides in 1971 to be
112,000 tonnes.
During the past twenty-five years, first coal and then fuel oil, both
high in sulphur content, have been used to generate electric power.
The first two power stations were located in the heart of the urban
areas, close to densely populated residential districts. In the late 1960s
new power stations were built at Ap Lei Chau on Hong Kong Island
and on Tsing Yi Island, near Tsuen Wan in the New Territories.
Although these new and larger installations are further removed from
the urban area, under certain weather conditions (particularly in
summer) they still appear to contribute to the pollutant load of the
populated areas. In 1971, the power stations and gas works emitted
about 88,864 tonnes of sulphur oxides. According to an estimate made
in 1973, in that year 147,000 tonnes of sulphur oxides were emitted by
the four power stations.
In the computer model used to predict the atmospheric distribution
of sulphur dioxide, only the pattern of fuel oil use was taken into
account, since it has been estimated that fuel oil use is responsible for
92 per cent of all sulphur oxide emission in Hong Kong.
The predicted annual average sulphur dioxide levels under near-
neutral conditions are shown in Figure 6.7, in which the continuous
lines delineate areas equal in estimated pollutant densities, in the
manner of a relief map. The highest concentration is 1100/^g/m3 for
the Kwun Tong/Ngau Tau Kok area on the Kowloon Peninsula (grid
square 10.14). Under stable conditions (not shown in diagram) the
model predicts sulphur dioxide levels of up to 3100^g/m3 for this
area, while levels of 500/*g/m3are predicted to be fairly common even
under unstable conditions. The average levels of sulphur dioxide for

January and July 1971-74 actually recorded by the four monitoring
stations and those predicted by the computer model for 1971 are
shown in Table 6.5. The recorded figures fall within the predicted
range in the case of Hung Horn, Central Market and Chai Wan Kok.
However, the monitoring figures for Queen Elizabeth Hospital and
Sham Shui Po are considerably below the predicted range. Possibly
the difference might be explained by the fact that the monitoring
stations measure pollutants at a single point not representative of a
large volume of air, whereas the model predicts broad levels of
Figure 6.7 Computer generated map of sulphur dioxide concentrations in

urban Hong Kong under ‘near neutral’ conditions, 1971 (units are fig/m3)
TABLE 6.5 Comparison o f observed and predicted ground level

sulphur dioxide concentrations, Hong Kong (ng/m3)
Observed concentrations Computer

predictions
Average Average Mean
January July value
1971-4 1971-4
Hung Horn
Resettlement 276 220 248 100-300
Estate
Queen
Elizabeth 86 66 76 200-300
Hospital
Shum Shui Po 38 32 35 100-300
Central Market 46 16 31 < 100
Chai Wan Kok

(yearly range 150-350 100-900
of mean monthly
values 1973-77)
pollutants within a grid square of 2.3 km2. These values may be

compared with data from cities of a similar size in the United States.
For example, monitoring programs have shown annual averages
ranging from as low as 6 ^.g/m3 in Kansas City to 485 /*g/m3 in New
York, where the highest concentration recorded over a 24 hour period
was 1086 Aig/m3.
We have already emphasised the weaknesses of the simulation
modelling approach for predicting concentrations of air pollutants.
However, in the absence of a comprehensive and accurate monitoring
system we suggest that the results of the computer model should be
regarded seriously.
There is a growing appreciation that the level of suspended
sulphates and not sulphur dioxide perse is the most important index of
the health hazard of air pollution. Experience from American cities
has shown that a correlation exists between suspended sulphates
(rather than sulphur dioxide) and the incidence of respiratory illness,
and that the level of suspended sulphates is not directly related to the
level of ambient sulphur dioxide. This has important implications for
Hong Kong for two reasons. First, it indicates that consideration
should be given to an intensive monitoring network for suspended
sulphates as well as for sulphur dioxide. Second, there are certain
conditions which appear to promote the formation of suspended
sulphates from sulphur dioxide emissions. These conditions include
high humidity and temperatures above 10°C (50°F); also sulphur
dioxide emitted from oil-fired steam boilers may be more readily
converted to suspended sulphates than sulphur dioxide from coal-
fired boilers. All of these conditions are common in Hong Kong, and
consequently air pollution standards applicable or appropriate to
certain other cities in the world may not be appropriate to Hong Kong.
Carbon monoxide. We will consider here only the emission of carbon

monoxide from transport sources, for the predictions of the computer
model are based on data on the spatial pattern of energy use of
transport. This information was drawn mainly from detailed
observations of road traffic patterns at 270 check-points maintained
by the Traffic Survey Division of the Public Works Department.
From these observations, calculations were made of the consumption
of petrol and diesel fuel in individual Secondary Planning Units* in
urban Hong Kong. Carbon monoxide emission per vehicle kilometre
has elsewhere been estimated as 55 grams for motor spirit and 625 mg
for diesel fuel. The general figure of 38 grams of carbon monoxide per
vehicle kilometre has been adopted for this study. This makes
allowance, on the one hand, for the high proportion of diesel powered
vehicles and, on the other hand, for the short travel distances and the
high percentage of older cars, which have high emission rates.
Figure 6.8 shows the estimated average concentrations of carbon
monoxide at ground level for near-neutral atmospheric stability
conditions.
Although not presented in the figure, stable conditions yield
♦These are planning areas, ranging in size from 1-13 km2, the average being
about 5 km2.
concentrations 2 to 3 times those of near-neutral conditions which, in

turn, are 2 to 3 times greater than those for unstable conditions. The
highest values obtained for stable and near-neutral conditions were
13
1 022
400
1000
_u
Figure 6.8 Computer generated map of carbon monoxide concentrations in

urban Hong Kong under ‘near neutral’ conditions, 1971 (units are /*g/m3)
those for Yau Ma Tei (grid square 10,10—Figure 6.8), for which the
model predicted 5.9 m g /m 1and 2.3 m g /m 1 respectively. For unstable
conditions, the highest value obtained was 0.76 m g /m 3 for King’s
Park. High concentrations were also estimated for Lai Chi Kok and
Cheung Sha Wan (8,8) in the North West, Central (15,10), and Wan
Chai (15,11) and Causeway Bay (15,12). Assuming peak traffic
conditions between 9-11 am and 5-7 pm, the highest daily
concentrations predicted are 8.7 m g /m 3, 3.4 m g /m 1 and 1.1 m g /m 3
for stable, near-neutral and unstable conditions respectively. The
necessary sim plicity of the com puter m odel ignores certain
complicated effects of vehicle movement, eddies and flows around
buildings and the effects of deep, extensive street corridors. Large
numbers of actual measurements of carbon monoxide concentrations
are necessary to validate the model predictions. Unfortunately official
data are not yet available in Hong Kong. However, the results from
one set of readings have been made available to us by Professor D.S.
Payne of the University of Hong Kong. The figures for various sites
and for peak hour traffic range from 7-13 m g /m 3.
Lead. The computer air pollution model has not been used directly to
estimate lead pollution levels. However, the m ajor source of lead
emissions is the same as that for carbon monoxide, and the
atmospheric lead concentrations can thus be inferred from the
predicted ground level carbon monoxide concentrations.
Atmospheric lead results mainly from the tetra-ethyl lead which is
added to m otor spirit to prevent premature detonation. It is emitted as
an aerosol of inorganic salts and oxides, most of the particles being
less than 1 micron in diameter. In 1971, the lead content of petrol in
use in Hong Kong amounted to about 3.75 tonnes per million gallons.
Assuming vehicle consumption to be about 32 kilometres per gallon,
the emission rates are conservatively estimated at 0.12 g per vehicle
kilometre. Taking into account the proportions of vehicle fuels with
and without lead, we have adopted an actual emission rate of 0.05 g
per vehicle kilometre. From the computer model, we find that average
lead concentrations at ground level are predicted to fall within the
range of 2-3 /*g/m3 under near-neutral atmospheric conditions.
Maximum values occur in Yau Ma Tei, where values of 8 /ig/m 3,
3/ig/m 3 and 1/xg/m3 for stable, near-neutral and unstable conditions
have been predicted. As with carbon monoxide levels, peak traffic
conditions significantly affect the ambient lead concentrations, and
between 9 am and 11 am and between 5 pm and 7 pm maximum
figures 12, 4.5 and 1.5 fig/m3 are predicted for Yau Ma Tei under
stable, near-neutral and unstable conditions respectively.
According to international reports, the lead content of air in
modern city streets is commonly between 1 and 10 ^.g/m3, sometimes
reaching 25 ng/m3, but being on the average between 2 and 4 /xg/m3.
Thus the predicted figures for Hong Kong are similar to those
recorded in many other cities.
The implications for health of the levels of lead in the atmosphere in
Hong Kong will be discussed in a later chapter, but it is of interest in
this regard that by 1975, premium grade motor spirit, at 0.84 g
lead/litre, had completely replaced regular motor spirit at 0.72 g
lead/litre. This would result in concentrations considerably higher
than in 1971. In this regard it is fortunate that only 41 per cent of the
energy used in road transport is derived from the combustion of motor
spirit, the remainder being contributed by diesel fuel, which contains
negligible quantities of lead. The trend in the lead content of petrol in
Hong Kong contrasts with the situation in some countries where
authorities have introduced legislation aimed at reducing the lead
content of petrol.
Heat. Whatever the source of extrasomatic energy used in the

machines of modern society, it is ultimately dispersed as heat which is
no longer available for human use. At present most of the energy
entering industrial societies is in the form of fossil fuels. The use of
these fuels releases over a relatively short period of time the solar
energy that was trapped by photosynthesis over a period of many
millions of years. Clearly, this relatively sudden release of extra heat
must have some influence on the ambient temperatures. On a global
level, the heat added to the biosphere through mankind’s use of fossil
fuels appears still to be quite trivial when compared with the daily heat
input due to the total solar influx. The ratio at present is in the order of
1:10,000. Nevertheless, if world energy use were to continue to
increase at the present rate, the artificial heat generation would equal
that of solar radiation within 200 years. Major climatic disturbances
are predicted, however, when the ratio reaches 1:100, which it may
well do before the end of the coming century.
On a more local level, it is now well established that the intensive use
of extrasomatic energy causes significant and sometimes undesirable
increases in environmental temperature, giving rise to the so-called
‘heat island’ effect. It has been estimated that in one area of Sydney,
Australia, artificial heat production sometimes reaches 49 per cent of

the incoming solar radiation, and the average figure of 15 per cent has
been estimated for all North American cities. One author has forecast
that, by the year 2000, the Boston-Washington conurbation will yield
artificial heat equivalent to 50 per cent of incoming solar radiation in
the winter and 15 per cent in summer.
In the territory of Hong Kong as a whole, artificial heat production
due to the use of extrasomatic energy varies from 1.7 per cent of
incoming solar radiation in mid-summer to 2.3 per cent in mid
winter. The intensity of heat production is, of course, considerably
higher in some locations, e.g. in Hung Horn, a populous area of
Kowloon where the Hok Yuen Power Station and Tokwawan Town
Gas Plant are situated.
Somatic as well as extrasomatic energy contributes to heat
production in urban areas, in direct proportion to population density.
On the basis of a conservative estimate of a daily somatic energy
consumption of 10 M J per individual, and assuming 75 per cent of this
is radiated as heat, we can predict that in the residential and industrial
area of Kwun Tong, for instance, which has a population density of
345 persons per hectare, the heat arising from human metabolic
activity is around 1.5 per cent of the solar input and 15 per cent of the
artificial heat generated in the area.
The average increase in environmental temperature at night time
due to artificial heat production and the surface characteristics of the
urban area in Hong Kong has been estimated to range from 1.5-2°C.
Since this is an average figure, the increase is likely to be considerably
more than this in some areas of the city. Of course, an increasing
number of families are purchasing air-conditioners, thus reducing the
temperature of their personal environments. The number of air-
conditioners in Hong Kong increased from 10,000 in 1964 to 190,000
in 1971. Nevertheless, by installing air conditioners, people contribute
further to local extrasomatic energy consumption and artificial heat
production, so that other people who cannot afford an air conditioner
are worse off than before.
Other aspects of changing patterns of energy use
We will now digress for a few pages for a brief discussion on some
other aspects of changing patterns of energy use in urban settlements.
The whole energy issue is extremely complex, since it relates to every
aspect of individual experience and societal affairs. All the things that
people do and all the things that go on in human settlements involve

and depend upon energy—somatic or extrasomatic. There are
problems and controversies concerning the future supply of the so-
called ‘conventional’ forms of extrasomatic energy; there are
arguments about possible alternatives and about the risks involved in
their use; and there is the question of the impact of energy use on the
biosphere. The problem relates to politics, to power structures, to
economics, to technology, and, perhaps most importantly of all, to
the value systems of society. Moreover, we cannot fully discuss energy
use in the future without facing up to such scientifically difficult, but
extremely important topics as human enjoyment and concepts of
dehumanisation and rehumanisation. The energy issue touches on all
these and many other sensitive questions, and it is relevant to a whole
series of interconnected matters which are normally considered
separately by sociologists, social psychologists, economists,
agricultural scientists, ecologists, engineers, medical scientists and
many other specialists.
As we have already noted, the present situation is characterised by
the existence of two sharply conflicting viewpoints—or indeed
assumptions. On the one hand, there is the dominant assumption that
there is necessarily a positive relationship between the degree of
industrialisation of a society as reflected in the level of energy
utilisation, and the well-being of the human population. This idea,
which we will refer to as the ‘more-energy-the-better’ assumption, is
held by the influential groupings, including governments, in most
countries today. It is identifiable with the Western Idea of Progress
and is exemplified by a statement by a member of the USA Senate
Committee on Energy. His view, with respect to energy consumption
in the United States is that ‘the doubling factor every decade for the
next thirty years is basic to our standard of living, now and in the
future’.* Statements like this are commonplace in the Western world;
and it is generally assumed that the principle applies equally well to the
Third World, although its member countries are recognised to be far
behind in the race towards ever higher rates of energy consumption. It
should be emphasised that the assumption is not merely that human
well-being requires a high level of energy use, but also that the level
must forever be increasing.
*Holified, C., 1971. Electrical energy and pollution. USA Congressional

Record, 4 June p.H4722.
Most of those who accept the more-energy-the-better assumption

appear to be unaware of, or at least dismiss as ‘doom talk’, the
opposing viewpoint, which we refer to as the ‘ecological’ assumption.
This holds that the current exponential growth in the use of energy by
humankind cannot possibly go on indefinitely. The proponents of this
latter view argue that, for ecological reasons, the increase in energy use
by human society must and will come to a halt, if not through
deliberate planning, then by default. Opinions differ with respect to
how long the present growth processes can continue, but whether they
must cease within fifty or five hundred years does not alter the
substance of the the predicament posed by the existence of the two
assumptions. Let us hope that both assumptions are wrong, for if they
are not, the future prospects for humanity are very gloomy indeed. In
our view, there can be no doubt about the validity of the ecological
assumption, which is based on immutable scientific principles.tThere
is some hope, however, that the more-energy-the-better assumption
may be false, and that human society may be able to find ways of
maintaining and improving the quality of human experience without
attempting to increase the per capita consumption of extrasomatic
energy ad infinitum.
Before proceeding further, it may be useful to introduce an analogy
to illustrate the scale of the problem. We need first to change our time
scale, and imagine that the domestic transition to ecological Phase 2
occurred some sixteen or seventeen hours ago, and that at that time a
section of the human species jumped into a new vehicle that it had
invented (that is, agriculture and the domestication of animals and
plants for food production). Let us also suppose that the speed of this
vehicle at a given point of time is proportional to the actual amount of
energy utilised by human society this being a reasonable indicator of
the overall impact of civilisation on the biosphere. Sixteen to
seventeen hours ago, then, our ancestors stepped into their new
invention, and set off at a speed of 1 kilometre per hour; eight hours
later they had gathered speed and were travelling at 25 kph. By
twenty minutes ago the vehicle had picked up more speed, reaching
500 kph. During the last few minutes its rate of acceleration has
*If adequate techniques could be developed for trapping and utilising solar
energy, considerably higher levels of energy use would be ecologically feasible
than is the case for all other energy forms. However, the possibility of such
techniques being developed to produce energy on such a scale seems remote at
present.
increased dramatically and now, at this moment, it travels at 10,000

kph.
The critical question, of course, is whether we know how to stop the
vehicle, should we discover that it is heading faster and faster towards
a precipice. Have we neglected to provide it with brakes?
In attempting a critical examination of the more-energy-the-better
assumption, it is necessary to examine, as objectively as possible, both
the evidence relating to the real benefits for people of the changing
patterns of energy use, and the societal determinants of these patterns.
We will not attempt discussion here on the latter aspect, but a few
comments on the implications of this aspect of modernisation for the
quality of life are appropriate.
The impact of energy use on people
In this chapter, we will do little more than draw attention to the
existence of some uncertainties relating to the benefits of increasing
energy use for human beings. The topic will be discussed again when
we later come to consider the life experience of people in Hong Kong.
Let us begin with a rather simplistic observation. Between the years
1961 and 1971 the consumption of extrasomatic energy in Hong Kong
increased about twofold. With respect to the quality of human
experience, we can pick out three variables which also happened to
change by a factor of about two in these ten years. In 1971 there were
about half as many deaths from tuberculosis as in 1961. This change is
consistent with the more-energy-the-better hypothesis. During the
same period the number of deaths from lung cancer doubled, and the
incidence of violent crime increased about four-fold. Whatever the
connection, if any, between these aspects of life experience and the
pattern of energy use, these facts illustrate the simple truth that not all
the changes in life experience which have accompanied the increase in
the consumption of extrasomatic energy in Hong Kong are of a kind
that would usually be considered desirable. We see that a whole series
of changes is taking place in societal conditions and in the life
conditions of individuals, involving and resulting from the increasing
use of energy-intensive applications of technology. The changes are
very complex and are little understood, and blanket assumptions to
the effect that industrial growth, and therefore increasing energy
consumption, are either good or bad for people would seem to be ill-
conceived. And yet most government policy at present is based on the
premise that hum an welfare depends on ever-increasing
industrialisation and energy use.
As we come later in this book to concentrate more on the human

component of urban systems, we must constantly bear in mind the
subtle ways that human experience is influenced by the changing
applications of technology. Our emphasis will tend to be on the less
desirable influences, because the real and imagined benefits of the
energy-intensive life style are already well advertised in our society.
This emphasis does not mean that we are oblivious of the advantages
arising from technological advances in twentieth century society.
Probably the most obvious beneficial changes which have
accompanied the increasing use of energy are a general improvement
in nutritional state and a decline in the likelihood of serious infection
with pathogenic micro-organisms. However, the assumption that
energy-intensive machinery is necessary for either of these trends
would seem to be in question. In planning for the wise use of energy in
society in the future, it is necessary to be aware of both sides of the
picture, and we take the view that, until now, the advantages of
technological progress have received more than their proper share of
attention.
There are a number of different pathways by which changes in
machine and energy use can have adverse effects on people. First there
are direct influences of energy perse in the form, for example, of heat
or an electric current. We have noted how energy-intensive machines
in city centres can produce a rise in environmental temperature, which
might in some circumstances contribute to discomfort and possibly to
maladjustment. More important, however, are the various indirect
influences, which frequently affect the life conditions of large
numbers of people. These influences include, for example, increased
levels of environmental noise and air pollution. They also include
many subtle effects on the social and psychosocial aspects of life
experience—through an influence, for instance, on the kind of jobs
people do, on the sense of personal involvement they experience when
at work and on the opportunities and incentives for co-operative small
group interaction. On the societal level, there are good arguments for
the view that the introduction of energy-intensive machinery has
resulted in the increasing ‘bureaucratisation’ of industry, a change
which in turn has had detrimental consequences with respect to job
satisfaction and the quality of personal interrelationships within
industrial establishments.
Technoaddiction
Fortunately for humankind, we believe, the more-energy-the-better
assumption is by no means unassailable. Nevertheless, we must also

face the fact that, in many societies in the world today, a high rate of
flow of extrasomatic energy is absolutely necessary in order that their
populations remain alive and, in certain respects, psychosocially
satisfied. This state of affairs is a reflection of a phenomenon which is
of great significance in human ecology, and which we have called
‘technoaddiction’. It has frequently been the case that when new
machines, often involving high energy use, have been introduced into
a society, they have not been really necessary for the satisfaction of the
survival and health needs of the population, although they may have
brought about some apparent benefit for a section of the population.
With passing time, however, and as the machines in question have
become increasingly well established, the society has become
reorganised around them, and has insidiously become more and more
dependent on them for the satisfaction of basic needs, until eventually
a state of complete dependence has been reached.
A simple example of technoaddiction on the level of the family is
provided by the situation which prevails today in certain parts of the
Western world where most nuclear families possess two motor cars.
Let us consider briefly the function of these two vehicles for a small
middle class nuclear family in say, the United States. Basically, they
provide the family with (1) some prestige; (2) the means by which
essential provisions are brought to the home; (3) the means by which
the adult male, and sometimes also the adult female, reach their places
of work; (4) the means by which the children participate in various
educational activities; (5) the means by which the nuclear family
interacts with relatives and friends; (6) the means by which the
members of the family reach places of entertainment and recreation;
and (7) the means by which the whole family on occasion visits the
natural environment. The significant point, of course, is that in earlier
societies all these functions were carried out, and the corresponding
human needs fully satisfied, without motor cars and with the
expenditure of only a small fraction of the amount of energy which
they use. But the modern middle class family which we have in mind
would, in fact, be unable to satisfy these simple needs without its two
cars.
In summary, then, it is very important that we look much more
carefully than we have done in the past at the numerous and diverse
effects on the life experience of human beings arising from the
applications of technology involving the increasing use of energy.
When we do so, we will certainly find that, in terms of the quality of

human life, there are important costs as well as benefits associated
with the increasing use of extrasomatic energy. The wise application
of technology in a society is not necessarily synonymous with a
doubling time in energy consumption of ten, twenty, fifty or even a
thousand years.
7
ENERGY IN THE HONG KONG
FOOD SYSTEM
In this chapter we turn from extrasomatic energy to the somatic energy

flow through Hong Kong. Following an overview of the somatic
energy inputs into the system, we consider the energetics and certain
other aspects of primary production in the territory.
For many millennia, apart from the contribution of fire, all the
activities within human settlements were fuelled by somatic energy
flowing through living organisms. In ecological Phase 4 societies,
however, the major energy input is extrasomatic, and, as we have
seen, Hong Kong is no exception in this respect. The somatic energy
flow in Hong Kong today is only about one-tenth of the extrasomatic
flow.
The flow of somatic energy is summarised in Figure 7.1 which
shows that, of the total solar input into the land area of Hong Kong,
about 0.07 per cent (3.7 billion MJ per year) is trapped by
photosynthesis and converted into chemical energy; About 15 per cent
(0.5 billion MJ) of the energy trapped by photosynthesis in the area is
converted into energy available for food for human beings, 59 per cent
of this being in rice, 26 per cent in vegetables, 14 per cent in roots and
tubers and 1 per cent in fruit. Only 8 per cent of the total food energy
pool for the population of Hong Kong is provided by the plant and
animal foods grown in the territory and the fish produced by the
ocean-going fishing fleet. The bulk—92 per cent—is imported.
Approximately 78 per cent of the total somatic energy supply
(excluding food produced or imported solely as feed for animals) is
consumed by human beings, 10 per cent is exported, and 12 per cent is
‘wasted’, half of the latter being recycled to feed pigs and poultry.
This account of the somatic energy pattern, however, provides an
incomplete picture of the total energy budget of the food system in
Hong Kong, because it does not include the energy used in preparing
the soil, protecting, nourishing and harvesting crops and in the
SOMATIC ENERGY
Figure 7.1 Flow of somatic energy in food through Hong Kong, 1971
preparation and distribution of food for human consumption. Let us,
therefore, consider the energetics of the production of plant foods in
Hong Kong in somewhat more detail, taking into account these
additional inputs. Before proceeding with this analysis, however, a
few general comments on the energetics of primary production are
necessary.
The topic of energy in relation to food supply is characterised today
by two independent and conflicting schools of thought. On the one
hand, many of the proposals for alleviating the world’s food
problems, such as those put forward in recent years by FAO, advocate
increasing mechanisation, the use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides
and pesticides and intensive irrigation systems, all of which
procedures are very energy-expensive. On the other hand, influenced
perhaps by recent problems of energy supply and the growing
appreciation that energy is not an unlimited resource, some ecologists
are expressing doubts about energy-intensive agricultural practices
and have become increasingly interested in the comparative
efficiency, in energy terms, of alternative agricultural systems.
Historically speaking, the simplest mode of food acquisition is
Energy in the Hong Kong Food System 163
represented by the hunting and gathering economy of primeval

people, and it has been estimated that, in that situation, for every unit
of human somatic energy put into hunting and gathering, 15 units of
somatic food energy were obtained. That is to say, the ratio of energy
input:energy yield was 1:15. This estimate does not take into account
the energy spent in manufacturing weapons used in hunting or utensils
used in food preparation, but the inclusion of this additional energy
expenditure would not significantly alter the ratio.
Like hunter-gatherers, early subsistence agriculturalists in the
ecological Phase 2 of human existence utilised no form of extra-
somatic energy in food production, except for the occasional use of
fire for clearing woodland. The energy budget of a community in New
Guinea which depends on subsistence horticulture shows an energy
input:yield ratio of 1:17.
Some Phase 2 societies made use of domesticated herbivores,
mainly cattle, as a source of tractive power for ploughing and
transport. This practice modified the energy budget of food
production and, in some areas of the world, animal power eventually
became the main energy input into agriculture.
One of the most energy-efficient agricultural systems of all time was
that of traditional China. On the basis of a detailed description of the
rural economy of two southern Chinese villages presented by Fei and
Chang in 1945, it can be estimated that the energy input:yield ratio
was about 1:24, only 1 per cent of the energy input being from
extrasomatic sources. The greater energy efficiency of this economy,
as compared with that of the New Guinean horticulturalists, was due
mainly to the nature of the crops and the high energy content of a crop
of rice as compared with that of leafy green vegetables.
With the exception of the relatively minor amount of extrasomatic
energy in the manufacture of metal implements, and the occasional
windmill or watermill, the energy input in primary production
remained entirely somatic until the advent of ecological Phase 4. Since
then the input has come to include extrasomatic energy used for
driving machines to do various kinds of work previously done by
human beings or draught animals, for mechanical irrigation and for
the manufacture and transport of machines, artificial fertilisers and
pesticides. At the same time, there has been a decrease in the human
somatic energy input per unit yield. Thus the energy input:yield ratio
for Australian agriculture as a whole at the present time is in the region
of 1:1.5. This figure applies only to the pre-farm gate situation; that is
to say, it does not take into account energy spent in the transport,
distribution, packaging and preparation of foods before they are
actually consumed. This latter aspect of the energy budget of food
production become more important in urban situations, and
especially in countries such as Australia, where food has to be
transported over great distances. The energy input:yield ratio from
farm gate to retail outlets in the Australian food system is about 1:0.6,
bringing the overall input:yield ratio in Australia to about 1:0.4 by the
time food reaches the shops.
The analysis described below of the energetics of the food system in
Hong Kong relates to the local production of all foodstuffs of plant
origin, except the produce of orchards, which accounts for only 1 per
cent of the total. The estimates have involved the allocation of an
energy value to as many as possible of the important inputs to the local
production and distribution of these foods. This procedure requires
the identification both of the direct energy costs (e.g. as used in
irrigation) and of the indirect costs, such as the energy input into the
manufacture of the various items used in food production, from
machines to fertilisers. We have excluded from the estimate energy
uses which are very small in relation to the major energy costs. For
instance, the energy used in the construction of buildings and the
intricate networks of concrete water reticulation channels is not
included, because the durability of these structures means that their
energy cost per year is minimal.
The description of energy inputs has been divided, for purposes of
the present discussion, into pre-farm gate and post-farm gate inputs.
All inputs are schematically represented in Figure 7.2.
Pre-farm gate
The inputs of energy into vegetable and rice production in Hong Kong
in 1971 are shown in Table 7.1 and are schematically represented in
Figure 7.2. The total yield, in terms of energy, was 543 million MJ, of
which 318 million MJ was rice. The total input was 517 million MJ, of
which only about 12 per cent was somatic energy in the form of human
labour and 2 per cent somatic energy contributed by the estimated
12,600 remaining draught cattle. All other inputs, representing about
86 per cent of the total, were in the form of extrasomatic energy. This
gives a pre-farm gate energy input:yield ratio of around 1:1.
The Hong Kong agricultural system is thus clearly representative in
this respect of ecological Phase 4 of human society. However, there
'0 60 I HUMAN I
LABOUR |
Figure 7.2 Energy in Maurfred production and distribution in Hong Kong,

1971
are some interesting and important differences between the picture in

Hong Kong and that in many Western countries. For example, in
Australia the human somatic energy input is only 1.5 per cent of the
total input, and about 72 per cent of the input of extrasomatic energy
is used in machines (i.e. both in the manufacture of the machines and
the fuel they use). By far the biggest extrasomatic energy input in the
Hong Kong agricultural system is that which goes into the production,
outside Hong Kong, of fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides and
fungicides and into their transport across the oceans and to the farms
of Hong Kong. This amounts to 47 per cent of the total pre-farm gate
input.
Post-farm gate
In the industrialised world, the post-farm gate aspect of food
production has come to be the most energy-expensive part of the food
system as a whole. Most of the post-farm gate energy is used in
transportation, packaging, refrigeration and commercial domestic
cooking.
The post-farm gate energy budget for the Hong Kong food system
with respect to plant foodstuffs is shown in Table 7.2. This budget
takes the process to the retail outlet stage, and it does not include
energy used in cooking. Overall, it can be seen that, for every unit of
somatic energy made available at the retail outlets, one unit of energy
TABLE 7.1 Energetics o f fo o d production (vegetables and rice) in

Hong Kong, 1971
Energy input °7o of total

(108M J/year) input
Herbicides, insecticides
and fungicides 0.23 4.4
Fertiliser 1.47 28.4
Machinery 0.02 0.4
Animal labour 0.11 2.1
Human labour 0.60 11.6
Irrigation 0.60 11.6
Agricultural administration
research and extension 0.21 4.1
Hand tools 0.01 0.2
Transportation to farm 0.79 15.3
Seeds 0.13 2.5
Other weed and insect control
(flame-throwers for burning
weeds and insects in them) 1.00 19.4
TOTAL INPUT 5.17 100.0
Gross yield 5.43

Net yield 5.36
Ratio of energy input to 1:1.04 (pre-farm gate)

output
is expended in post-farm gate activities. This post-farm gate energy

input:yield ratio of 1:1 in Hong Kong for the sector up to food
retailing contrasts with the situation in the United States and
Australia, where ratios of 1:0.2 and 1:0.6 respectively have been
calculated. There are many features of the Hong Kong situation which
account for this difference. First, because of the short distances
involved, transportation costs are relatively low, bearing in mind that
the present analysis refers only to food production in Hong Kong.
TABLE 7.2 Energy use in post-farm gate distribution o f plant food

in Hong Kong, 1971
Inputs Energy equivalent

(MJ x 108)
Labour 0.16
Transportation 0.74
Marketing negligible
Packing 3.82
Administration and research 0.21
Total inputs 4.93
Somatic energy of food for

distribution 5.36
Somatic energy of food losses
in distribution 0.54
Net somatic energy of food
distributed 4.82
Ratio of energy input to

somatic energy distributed 1:0.98
Analysis of the energetics of the total food supply to Hong Kong

would, of course, give a very much higher post-farm gate ratio of
input to output. Second, the Hong Kong food system is a very
dynamic one. The Chinese demand food that is as fresh as it is possible
to have it. This means that the storage component of the food system
is minimal and that most of the vegetables reach the market without
undergoing any factory processing. Third, the packaging of
vegetables in Hong Kong still often consists of no more than
newspaper tied with sea-grass.
The post-farm gate energy input:yield ratio of 1:1 and the pre-farm
gate ratio of approximately 1:1 brings the overall primary production
ratio in Hong Kong to about 1:0.5.
Implications and possibilities for the future

Let us consider the energy implications of various current trends and
the possibilities for the future in the Hong Kong food system, with
respect both to the pre-farm gate and post-farm gate stages of the
process. It must be appreciated that, although the level of
extrasomatic energy used in the production stage of the Hong Kong
food system is typical of a Phase 4 society, the system is still in a state
of transition. For example, in 1971 about 100 mechanical cultivators
were in use, but by 1976 the number had risen to about 1800. The
number of fully automated sprinkler irrigation systems, each covering
one-fifth of a hectare, doubled between 1971 and 1975. Although the
energy cost of irrigation in Hong Kong is still small in relation to the
total energy cost of food production, with a doubling time of four
years it would only take about two decades for the energy used in
irrigation to equal the total pre-farm gate energy input in 1971. It
would seem that in Hong Kong, where the size of the average plot is
less than one-third of a hectare, the mechanised application of water
to crops, as opposed to the traditional water-conserving bucket and
furrow irrigation, is of very questionable value. It can be argued that,
where labour is abundant, it is not so much a labour-saving device that
is required as a labour-using device.
We have estimated that, if all the agricultural land in Hong Kong
were farmed, using the most sophisticated machinery which is already
available but used at present only on a fraction of the land, the pre
farm gate energy input:yield ratio would be about 1:0.2 instead of the
current ratio.
Turning now to possibilities for energy conservation in primary
production in Hong Kong, we have noted that a major component of
the energy input into Hong Kong agriculture is the contribution of
artificial fertilisers. This relatively new development is in keeping with
world-wide trends. In 1957, about ninety tonnes of fertilisers per
hectare were applied to land in Hong Kong used for multiple-cropped
vegetable production, and only 1 per cent by weight of this was
chemical fertiliser. Of the remainder, 86 per cent was human manure
(night soil), 4 per cent animal manure, 8 per cent fish meal and 2 per
cent compost. The overall rate of application of organic manure in
Hong Kong had dropped to 5.4 tonnes per hectare by 1967 and to 2.5
tonnes by 1971. In these fourteen years, the rate of application of
artificial fertiliser was increasing at the rate of 10 per cent per annum.
If artificial fertilisers were replaced in Hong Kong by available
organic fertilisers, if insecticides were used on the ‘treat where

necessary’ principle, and if irrigation were carried out in the
traditional manner using human labour instead of automatic
sprinklers, then the energy input at the pre-farm gate stage of food
production for a given yield would be reduced by up to 50 per cent.
An analysis of the energy costs of vegetable production (species of
Brassica) in Hong Kong in the late 1950s and early 1970s shows an
increase in energy costs of 585 per cent, with an increase in yield of 8
per cent, some of which must be attributed to the introduction of new
varieties. Yields in some parts of the cropland were actually falling,
due to increase in soil toxicity resulting from excessive and poorly
managed artificial fertiliser application. It is thus clear that all of the
new energy input could be avoided without a significant drop in yield,
if farmers were prepared to return to older methods of cultivation.
With regard to post-farm gate activities, one of the new energy-
expensive trends is the shift from paper to plastic bags for packaging
foods. A reversion to the exclusive use of paper would save more than
half the energy invested in packaging, which even in Hong Kong
represents the major energy input in the post-farm gate stage of food
production.
Transport is the other important energy input in the post-farm gate
phase. Currently 80 per cent of vegetables in Hong Kong are delivered
from wholesale to retail outlets by large goods vehicles, often loaded
to only a fraction of their capacity. With appropriate changes in
transport arrangements, it would be quite feasible to reduce the
transport energy used in post-farm gate transport of foodstuff by
about half. If these various steps were taken to conserve energy at both
the pre-farm gate and post-farm gate stages in the process, we
estimate that it would be possible to improve the overall energy
input:yield ratio from the present 1:0.5 to at least 1:1.
It can be argued from the strictly economic viewpoint that, so long
as supplies of resources of extrasomatic energy are not interrupted and
so long as the profit margin is satisfactory, there is no particular
incentive, perhaps no reason, to aim to save energy in food
production. On the other hand, in the light of the undeniable
ecological fact that the present explosive growth in energy use
characteristic of Phase 4 human society cannot continue indefinitely,
it would seem to be unwise for human populations to become
increasingly dependent for survival on novel farming techniques
which are very energy-expensive. It has been said that, in the 1973-4
energy crisis, Asian farmers who had followed the advice of the
International Rice Research Institute by planting grain with high
fertiliser requirements ended up with a lower yield per hectare than
they had previously obtained with traditional varieties. This was
because they were unable to purchase fertiliser to apply to their crops,
since the Japanese factories had been closed by the fuel oil shortage
resulting from political events in the Middle East.
Some other aspects of food production in Hong Kong

An important feature of the transition from traditional to Western
agricultural practices in Hong Kong is the geographical extension of
the agricultural ecosystem. In traditional agriculture in southern
China, the only input of energy coming any distance from the village
(apart from the rays of the sun) was that invested in steel production
for hand tools. Today, most of the artificial fertiliser in use in Hong
Kong is produced in West Germany and has to be brought about
20,000 km by sea.
The transition to Western agricultural practices results in an
increase both in the geographical size of the food production system
and in its economic and societal complexity. This fact is illustrated, for
example, by considering the separate energy costs involved in the
supply of artificial fertilisers in Hong Kong. Energy is required to
build the factories which prepare the fertiliser in Europe, to produce
the chemical feed stock, to fuel the production process, to power the
transport of the fertiliser from the factories to ships, to power the
ships on their voyage to Hong Kong, and to distribute the fertiliser in
Hong Kong itself. By the time foodstuffs reach the consumer, many
more links have been added to the ever-lengthening and ever-
ramifying chains of dependency. Whereas Adam and Eve had merely
to pluck fruit from trees to get their ascorbic acid, their modern urban
counterparts depend for their supply of this vitamin on a host of
different specialists, machines and commercial transactions.
Food production in the traditional system is threatened mainly by
the vicissitudes of climate and occasional plagues of parasitic animals
or micro-organisms. These threats have been very important in the
history of Phase 2 and 3 societies, in which communities often became
nutritionally dependent on a staple diet of a single plant which they
grew in monoculture. A classic example from Europe is the Irish
potato famine of 1845, which resulted in the death or emigration of
one-quarter of Ireland’s population. The modern food system, with
its tendency to greater diversity in foodstuffs, has in this respect taken
a step back towards the primeval situation, and populations are

nowadays much less dependent than those of most Phase 3 societies
on the successful harvest of a single crop. On the other hand, the
modern system is much more precarious in terms of its dependence on
the supply of energy, materials and machines, often from far-away
places.
8
NUTRIENTS AND WATER
SUPPLY IN HONG KONG
Nutrients
Having discussed the energetics of food production, it is logical to
move on to the next stage in the pattern of flow of somatic energy, that
is, to its subsequent distribution in the Hong Kong ecosystem.
However, for convenience, we will combine the discussion of the
pattern of distribution of somatic energy with a description of the flow
of certain important nutrient constituents of food.* At the end of the
chapter we will briefly consider the pattern of flow of water in the
Hong Kong ecosystem.
It was a feature of the very earliest cities that a substantial number
of their inhabitants were not involved in farming. This fact is taken
account of in Gordon Childe’s definition of a city:
In English this untranslatable word [city] implies a cathedral, a
bishop’s palace, a body of canons and other clergy, and a large
number of laymen who are neither farmers, fishers nor hunters...;
a community that comprises a substantial proportion of pro
fessional rulers, officials, clergy, artisans and merchants who do
not catch or grow their own food, but live on the surplus produced
by farmers and fishermen who may dwell within the city or in
villages outside its walls.
The development of cities, as so defined, depended on techniques of
production which provided more food than was required by the
farmers themselves. Until recent times, however, only a small
minority of the world’s population was urban, and so the amount of
surplus food over and above the requirements of the farmers and their
families was not great.
*In the following pages, somatic energy will for simplification be referred to as
if it were a specific nutrient, although of course it is an aspect of the nutrients
themselves.
In the early cities of four or five thousand years ago, the bond
between their inhabitants and the land was still close. Many of the city
dwellers owned farm land or orchards and, even if they did not take an
active part in primary production, they were very much in touch with
the whole process. The situation was somewhat different about 2000
years ago in Rome, with its exceptionally high population of at least
one million people, most of whom were presumably rather far
removed in their daily experience from agricultural activities. But even
there, the cart-loads of grain and vegetables trundling into the city
from surrounding areas and the herds of cattle being driven along the
streets to slaughter must have been constant reminders to the urban
masses of their dependence on the farmers. The inhabitants of the
much smaller cities of the Middle Ages and later periods in Europe
were also very aware of the countryside and of all the important things
that went on in it—the cultivation and harvesting of crops and the
husbandry of sheep, cattle and pigs.
However, such generalisations can hardly be said to hold for most
inhabitants of modern ecological Phase 4 societies, who are becoming
further and further removed from the country—mentally and
spiritually, as well as physically. The implications of this divorce of
people from the natural processes on which they depend may be far-
reaching. In Hong Kong this effect may be somewhat less evident than
in many other large modern cities, since so many of the people over the
age of forty originally came from rural villages in Kwangtung
Province or other parts of China, and most people still rely on the
fresh vegetables and meat brought into the city, mainly from China,
and distributed daily to the food stalls. For the younger generation,
however, more and more foods will be coming out of cans and plastic
containers acquired at supermarkets. In comparison with many
Western cities, the process is still in its very early stages, but it is
definitely under way. There were no supermarkets in Hong Kong in
the late 1960s; by 1971 there were twenty-five and in 1975 there were
one hundred.
The maintenance of a constant and adequate supply of foodstuffs
to urban populations is a gargantuan societal task, and it is perhaps
surprising, as well as gratifying, that in recent times there have been no
major urban famines due to breakdowns in the complex networks of
supply. Where hunger has occurred in cities, or in sections of their
populations, it has been for other reasons. In fact, the victims of the
most serious famines of this century, from the great famine of 1920 in
Nutrients and Water Supply in Hong Kong 175
the southern part of the USSR, when two million people starved to
death, to the more recent tragic situations in Biafra and Ethiopia, have
been mainly members of rural communities.
Modern Phase 4 urban communities are also relatively well off, as
compared with at least some Phase 3 societies, with respect to the
quality of their diet. By and large, during the past century advances in
knowledge of the nutritional requirements of the human species have
resulted in a marked decline of specific deficiency diseases, such as
rickets, beri-beri, pellagra and scurvy. This is not to say, of course,
that there is not still a great deal of room for improvement, and that
maldistribution of important nutrients is not a major problem in some
places. But the nutritional disorders characteristic of most modern
urban communities seldom involve deficiencies of specific chemical
nutrients. They are more likely to be the consequence of over
consumption—over-consumption, for example, of chemical
additives, of contaminants, of alcohol, of refined carbohydrates, or
of food calories. Perhaps the most important nutritional deficiency in
modern Western society is non-digestible fibre (see Chapter 11).
With respect to animal protein, the total input into the system,
including imports, is shown in Table 8.2. It will be noted that about 47
per cent of this animal protein is in the form of fish and marine
products, and that about 25 per cent is in the form of poultry
(including eggs). The other major contributing source is pork, which
represents about 21 per cent of the total.
‘Local production’ of animal protein includes about 135,000
tonnes of seafood brought in from the South China Sea per year,
yielding 67 per cent of the ‘locally produced’ animal protein, or 28 per
cent of the total input of animal protein. Another 13 per cent of the
total input of animal protein is produced within the territory. About
6300 tonnes of this is from fish products produced locally, including
freshwater fish, 5000 tonnes from poultry, 2600 tonnes from pork, 30
tonnes from beef and 20 tonnes from milk.
The pig and poultry populations in the territory are fed commercial
and domestic food refuse (containing about 8800 tonnes of digestible
protein) as well as imported animal feeds (containing about 17,700
tonnes of digestible protein). Recycled and imported feed thus
together provide 26,500 tonnes of digestible protein, for a yield of
7600 tonnes of animal protein for human consumption. The
conversion efficiency of feedstuff protein to animal protein by the pig
and poultry populations would, on the basis of these figures, appear
TABLE 8.1 Nutrient balance for Hong Kong, 1971
Protein
Category Somatic Animal Plant Fat
energy
MJxlO6 KgxlO6 KgxlO6 KgxlO6
Imports 21,989 62 78 104
Local production 1,878 43 6 15
Total input 23,867 105 84 119
Export 549 1 2 1
Re-export 1,834 2 10 7
Known wastes 2,956 7 13 15
Total output 5,339 10 25 23
Apparent
consumption 18,528 95 59 96
Carbo- Calcium Phosphorus Iron Thiamine Ascorbic

hydrates Acid
KgxlO6 KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO3
877 749 1984 33 2.48 108
27 400 475 7.3 0.33 125
904 1149 2459 40.3 2.81 233
14 125 91 0.8 0.04 2
91 93 204 3.9 0.11 18
126 149 354 4.8 0.68 90
231 367 649 9.5 0.83 110
673 782 1810 30.8 1.98 123
to be 29 per cent, which is unusually high. However, it is certain that

there are additional sources of animal feed, such as further domestic
refuse and unrecorded wastes from local crop production. The
conversion efficiency is generally accepted to be between 15 and 19 per
cent.
With respect to the other components listed, the local Hong Kong
contribution (including marine products) ranges from 2 per cent for
TABLE 8.2 Inputs o f animal protein, Hong Kong 1971 Tonnes o f

animal protein
Tonnes of animal protein

Locally produced Imported Total
Fish, marine products 6300 41,830 48,130
Poultry (incl. eggs) 5000 20,380 25,380
Beef 30 4410 4440
Pork 2600 18,830 21,430
Milk (& products) 20 3770 3790
Mutton (& goat) — 260 260
Total 13,950 89,480 103,430
carbohydrates and 5 per cent for somatic energy to 29 per cent for
calcium and 54 per cent for ascorbic acid. The low local contribution
of carbohydrates is accounted for by the fact that 97 per cent of the
rice consumed in Hong Kong now comes from outside the territory.
As we have noted in Chapter 5, fresh vegetables have largely replaced
rice as the main product of the farms of the New Territories,
explaining the relatively high local contribution of ascorbic acid to the
total input.
Losses
According to our estimates based on available data, 18 per cent of
plant protein and 14-16 per cent of other important nutrients entering
the Hong Kong ecosystem and intended for human consumption are
lost before they reach their intended destination (see ‘known wastes’
in Table 8.3). In the case of animal protein, the losses are estimated at
only 7 per cent, presumably because the more expensive animal
products are subjected to greater care and supervision at all stages of
the processes of food marketing and preparation. These figures are in
accord with the estimate, made by the US President’s Science
Advisory Committee in 1967, that 15 per cent of foodstuffs are lost in
contemporary urban food systems; about 90 per cent of the losses
occur in homes, restaurants and hotels. Nevertheless, we suspect that
our estimates for Hong Kong are too low, and that an overall figure of
20 per cent would be more realistic. As will be discussed later, much of
the food waste in Hong Kong enters an unusual system of nutrient
recycling.
TABLE 8.3 Known nutrient wastes in Hong Kong, 1971
Somatic Protein Carbo-

Category energy animal plant Fat hydrates
MJxlO6 KgxlO6 KgxlO6 KgxlO6 KgxlO6
Domestic refuse 1272 4.6 5.2 7.1 50.7
Condemned food 3 * ★ 0.1
Abattoir wastes 61 0.4 1.4 —
Market wastes 246 0.2 1.3 0.4 14.8

Restaurant and stall
wastes for pig food 1374 1.8 6.0 6.3 60.7
Total known wastes 2956 7.0 12.5 15.2 126.3
Phos- Thiamine Ascorbic

Calcium phorus Iron Vit. B acid Water
KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO3 KgxlO6
76.8 137.5 1.8 0.2 41.0 79.2
0.1 0.5 * * * 0.2
2.3 55.4 0.6 0.2 - 1.4
43.5 30.9 1.0 0.1 44.2 118.2
25.9 130.2 1.4 0.2 4.7 51.1
148.6 354.5 4.8 0.7 89.9 250.1
♦Negligible
Apparent consumption o f nutrients

For each of the food constituents considered, the difference between
the total input and the sum of the figures for export, re-export and
known wastes represents the apparent consumption of the nutrient by
the population of Hong Kong. Because of the inevitable under
estimation of losses in the system (only known losses have been taken
into account), the figures for the apparent consumption are
necessarily slight over-estimates. However, the error is in part
balanced by the unknown contribution to the diet made by foods
gathered locally and which are not recorded in ‘local production’,
such as estuarine molluscs and fish poached from public reservoirs.
These figures take on more meaning when compared with similar
data from other populations, and with recommendations of
TABLE 8.4 Comparison o f apparent consumption per capita per

day, o f energy and protein consumption with countries
o f the Far East Region
Somatic Total Animal

Country Year energy protein protein
KJ g g
China (Taiwan) 1969 10,969 68.2 20.9
India 1969 8122 47.9 5.6
Japan 1969 10,257 75.1 29.7
Pakistan 1969 9839 53.5 10.0
Philippines 1969 8334 51.6 20.0
South Korea 1969 10,509 69.0 8.3
Hong Kong 1971 12,887 107.4 41.0
nutritional authorities concerning the human requirements for the

various nutrients. Table 8.4 compares the situation in Hong Kong
with other places in the Far East Region with respect to the apparent
per capita consumption of somatic energy, total protein and animal
protein. It is clear that the population of Hong Kong is relatively well
supplied with all these food components. This applies especially to
protein, for Hong Kong’s per capita consumption of total protein is
almost twice that of Pakistan, the Philippines and India, and is also
significantly higher than that of the other populations considered. The
Hong Kong intake of animal protein is seven times that of India, Five
times that of the Korean Republic, and double that of Taiwan.
Table 8.5 compares Hong Kong with some developed countries
with respect to the apparent consumption of somatic energy, protein,
carbohydrates, iron, ascorbic acid, fats, calcium, thiamine and
phosphorus. The only notable differences are in respect of fats and
calcium. In the case of both these nutrients, the apparent consumption
in Hong Kong is about half that of Australia, the United Kingdom and
the United States of America.
On the basis of figures for ‘recommended intake’ of energy, total
protein, thiamine, ascorbic acid, iron and calcium given by Passmore
and his colleagues in 1974, we have constructed a per capita
‘recommended’ intake of these items for the population of Hong
Kong as a whole. This calculation takes account of the age structure of
the population and of data on the intake of nutrients for different age-
TABLE 8.5 Comparative apparent consumption data fo r 1971 (per

capita per day)
Energy Protein Fats CHO

KJ gm gm gm
Hong Kong 12,887 107.4 66.7 468.2

Australia* 13,795 101 112.6 409.6
USA* 13,816 101 158 381
UK* 13,104 81.2 143 382
Reommended daily
allowance for the
average Hong Kong
citizent 10,100 30 — —
Calcium Iron Phos- Ascorbic Thiamine
phorus acid
mg mg mg mg mg
543.9 21.5 1258.3 85.1 1.3
1,008 14.6 — 98.0 1.0
930 17.0 — 114.0 T.O
1,110 14.0 — 101.0 1.0
450— 8.2 — 27 1.0

550 16.1
*From ‘Apparent Consumption of Foodstuffs and Nutrients’, 1971-72,

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, pp. 42-3.
tCalculated from data on age structure of Hong Kong population and
recommended intake for different groups from Passmore et at. (1974).
— = Data not available.
groups, as well as the increased nutritional requirements of pregnant

and lactating women. However, it is necessary to point out that the
figures given by Passmore are based on a standard reference male
weighing 65 kg. It is likely that the average weight of adult males in
Hong Kong is considerably less than this, but since relevant
anthropometric data are not available, we have not been able to
include an allowance for this factor in our estimates. Our
‘recommended’ p er capita intakes are therefore likely to be somewhat

on the high side. It should be mentioned that much controversy now
surrounds the whole question of the recommended levels of intake of
nutrients proposed by nutritional authorities, and it may well be that
considerable revision is necessary of the new internationally accepted
figures. Consequently, there is need for caution in the interpretation,
in health terms, of differences between recommended and actual
levels of intake of the nutrients.
It can be seen from Table 8.5 that, according to these estimates, the
apparent intake of total protein in Hong Kong is 3.6 times the
recommended intake, the consumption of somatic energy 1.3 times,
thiamine 1.3 times and ascorbic acid about 3 times the recommended
level. The average intake of calcium, however, is only about the same
as the recommended intake.
The problem, of course, is that nutrients are not fairly and equitably
distributed in the population. Consequently, the smaller the excess in
the estimate of apparent intake, the greater will be the likelihood that
some members of the population will receive less than the amount they
need for the maintenance of health. For example, somatic energy and
the nutrients thiamine and iron are available at levels which suggest
that a slight unevenness in their distribution in the population could
make their consumption marginal in terms of dietary requirements.
This applies even more so to calcium, and some further discussion on
the low calcium content of the Hong Kong diet is warranted.*
There is still considerable debate among nutritionists concerning
the am ount of calcium required for a proper balanced diet. The
recommended allowances for an adult male range from the 450-550
mg per day suggested by Passmore et al., to 800 mg per day
recommended by authorities in the United States. However,
information has been accumulating that some populations have
apparently been doing remarkably well on levels of calcium intake
much lower than 400 mg per day, without the appearance of any
maladjustment which can be related to calcium deficiency. In the case
♦During our work in Hong Kong, it was pointed out to us that bean curd, a
jelly-like product available at foodstores throughout Hong Kong, often
contains calcium carbonate. Unfortunately, we experienced great difficulties
in obtaining useful information on the recipes used for the preparetion of bean
curd, owing to the reluctance o f the cooks to divulge the secrets of their trade.
Moreover, we have no figures on what proportion of the population consume
bean curd, or how much. We must suppose, however, that bean curd is an
additional source of calcium for a section of the Hong Kong population.
of adult males, extremely low levels appear to be tolerated, and any

attempt to define a recommended allowance therefore becomes
almost meaningless. It has been said that calcium is ‘a nutrient in
search of a disease’.
The directors of a nutritional survey carried out in China between
1972 and 1973 claimed that the outstanding finding from the analysis
of the food composition data was the widespread and severe
deficiency of calcium. Historical evidence suggests that the
environmental conditions which produced this situation around 1930
had been in existence for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It is not
impossible, therefore, that natural selection may have resulted in
changes in the genetic constitution of the population of China, such
that individuals are better able to tolerate low calcium levels.*
However, apart from the unproven possibility of genetic adaptation
to low levels of calcium in the diet through natural selection, it is
known that poor nutrition in general, and low levels of calcium in
particular, do result in slow growth in infants and children, and late
maturation and small body size in adults. Although it is usually
assumed, on the basis of the norms of most modern societies, that it is
advantageous to be big and tall, there is no objective evidence to
support this contention, except perhaps in situations where
individuals are liable to find themselves in physical conflict with each
other. Certainly, when food supply is severely restricted, the lower
metabolic requirements of the small individual must surely be to his
advantage. Thus, within reasonable bounds, slow growth, late
maturation and small body size may all be regarded as biotic adaptive
responses to relatively low levels of nutrition, enabling individuals to
survive and to live in a state of health with an intake of nutrients which
would be distinctly inadequate for large people.
There remain two disconcerting aspects of the apparent low calcium
intake in the contemporary Hong Kong diet. First, it is generally
recognised that the calcium requirements of women are higher during
*It has been said that, on average, there has been a severe famine in one or
other Province of China each year for the past two millennia. Several authors
have pointed out the likely survival advantage of small body size in times of
food shortage. Anthropometric data show that southern Chinese do tend to be
o f small body size, and if this relative smallness is due to a genetic difference
between these people and other populations, then it may well be the
consequence of powerful selection pressures associated with the harsh
nutritional circumstances in China over the years, including, possibly, low
levels of calcium.
pregnancy and lactation. With a low average intake of calcium such as

exists in Hong Kong, the danger thus exists that a harmful calcium
deficiency may be experienced during these especially sensitive periods
in the female life cycle. However, it has become a part of southern
Chinese folklore to administer powdered deer antler to pregnant and
nursing women. Deer antlers can be seen on display in the show-cases
of all the small Chinese drug stores which are so numerous in Hong
Kong. Since deer antlers contain 40 per cent calcium, this supply, if
evenly distributed among pregnant and nursing women, could easily
satisfy their additional needs for calcium. However, deer antlers are
very costly, and an equitable supply of them is therefore not likely.
As the result of an enormous amount of painstaking and dedicated
work in laboratories and clinics, nutritional science is slowly but surely
coming to the conclusion that the most healthful diet for humankind is
that to which the species is genetically adapted as a consequence of the
processes of evolution through natural selection—namely, the varied
diet of fresh and natural foodstuffs of typical hunter-gatherers. It is
becoming increasingly apparent that evodeviations, in the form of
excessive simplification of the diet, of adding things to it, or of
changing its consistency through technological processes should,
unless clearly proven otherwise, be under suspicion as potential causes
of phylogenetic maladjustment. As we shall see, the diet of the people
of Hong Kong is relatively natural, deviating much less than that of
many other urban dwellers from the evolutionary diet of the human
species. Nevertheless, as the result of a variety of influences associated
with modern Western society, insidious changes are taking place in the
diet of the average Hong Kong citizen. These will be discussed in
Chapter 11. Here we are concerned with the overall input and
distribution of foodstuffs.
Nutrient input
The particular categories of nutrients which have been selected for our
description of nutrient flow in Hong Kong are the following: animal
and plant protein; fats; carbohydrates; calcium; iron; thiamine;
ascorbic acid and phosphorus.
The data on the inputs of nutrients into Hong Kong for 1971 are
given in Table 8.1 and the overall patterns of flow of nutrients
illustrated in Figure 8.1. As we have noted, the greater part of the
nutrient input comes from outside the system, but the proportion
imported varies considerably from one nutrient to another.
A second cause for concern arises from the relationship between

protein intake and calcium excretion by metabolic processes. It has
been reported that high protein intake over a prolonged period can
result in substantial losses of calcium from metabolism and it has also
been noted that communities which are apparently thriving in spite of
a low calcium intake often also have a relatively low intake of protein.
Evidence is also accumulating that a high protein and low calcium
intake may be conducive to the development of senile osteoporosis,
which is a degenerative disease of the bones in old people. The
population of Hong Kong may therefore be at special risk in this
respect.
Apparent consumption as compared with data

on household intake
While the apparent consumption data for various nutrients provide us
with an apparent average daily intake for each member of the
population, for a proper description of the nutritional state of the
population we need to know something about the differential
distribution of available foods within the population. For this purpose
we have transcribed data from the Hong Kong Consumer Price Index
(CPI), to provide information on the nutrient intake for a sample of
1400 households.* Unfortunately for our purposes, the government’s
intention in the preparation of the CPI was to select a sample
representing 80 per cent of the population by income, and to exclude
‘very high’ and ‘very low’ income groups—although some ‘very low’
income families were, in fact, included.
The extent of agreement between the data based on apparent
consumption and those originating from the CPI information at the
*The CPI information is in terms of the amount of money spent on different

items of food. Transcription of expenditure on food items to weight and
consumption of foodstuffs involved tabulation o f the price for each food item
per month from the economic records of the Census and Statistics
Department. ‘Adult equivalents’ in this description are male adult equivalents,
taking an 18-35 year old male performing light work as standard. Age
distribution data from the 1971 Census, and proportionate dietary allowances
for different age and sex groupings, were used to calculate the total number of
adult equivalents in the Hong Kong population in 1971. In carrying out these
estimations, it was assumed that the nutritional requirements of other age and
sex groups, compared to young adult male requirements, is the same for
Chinese as for European populations.
TABLE 8.6 Apparent consumption per adult equivalent fo r all o f

Hong Kong and fo r sampled middle and lower
socioeconomic households* in 1971 and 1973
Somatic Protein
energy animal plant Fats
KJ g g g
Hong Kong 15,000 83.2 46.0 78.4
Sampled
households
1971 11,200 54.3 43.5 101.7
Sampled
households
1973 10,300 50.4 41.7 96.7
Carbo Phos Thia Ascorbic

hydrates Calcium phorus Iron mine acid
g mg mg mg mg mg
533.4 668 1470 25.9 1.5 113
399.0 652 1378 18.2 1.9 235
371.8 693 1358 16.6 1.7 228
*Analysis of data from 1430 households in the 1971 and 1973 Consumer Price
Index, Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong.
household level for middle and low socioeconomic groups is shown in

Table 8.6. Since the CPI data excludes the nutrient intake of upper
socioeconomic groups and tourists, since there may be a tendency for
people to understate slightly their expenditure on food, and since the
apparent consumption estimates are probably slightly high due to
likely underestimation of wastes, the CPI figures might be expected to
indicate slightly lower levels of consumption for most food con
stituents than are suggested by the apparent consumptions
calculations. This has been found to be the case for total protein
(especially animal protein), carbohydrates, iron and energy intake;
but there is little difference in calcium, phosphorus and thiamine
intake. The estimated consumption of fat and ascorbic acid is
markedly higher in the sampled households than in the apparent

consumption estimates.
A partial explanation of these apparent anomalies lies in the fact
that the diet of the Chinese in the lower economic groups consists
largely of rice, pork and leafy green vegetables. Beef, which is much
more expensive in Hong Kong than pork, is consumed less by lower
and middle socioeconomic groups than by the higher socioeconomic
groups. Pork contains much more fat than other locally available
meats and the cheaper cuts of pork have the highest fat content.The
emphasis in the diet of lower socioeconomic groups on leafy greens,
such as Chinese kale and cabbages, accounts for their high ascorbic
acid intake. Another factor contributing to the discrepancy between
the apparent consumption estimates and the CPI data may be the fact
that higher socioeconomic groups are likely to be more wasteful of
food, although it would seem odd that this factor should show up with
respect to some nutrients and not to others.
The household figures presented in Table 8.6 are averages for the
middle and lower socioeconomic groups together, but they tell us
nothing of the variability in nutritional intake within these groups.
Using the CPI data, we have therefore also examined, for 1971 and
1973, the relationship between a number of socioeconomic variables
and the intake of animal protein, somatic energy and calcium (the
latter being selected out for attention because it appears to be in short
supply in the Hong Kong diet). The socioeconomic variables which
will be considered here are per capita family income and per capita
family expenditure. The results of these analyses are shown in Figures
8.2 and 8.3. As would be expected, in all cases the trend is for the lower
socioeconomic groupings to have a lower nutrient intake.
According to the data for 1973, it would appear that at least 56 per
cent (i.e. 70 per cent of the 80 per cent sample) of the population of
Hong Kong has an energy intake less than the recommended level, and
12 per cent a calcium intake less than the recommended level.
However, as already mentioned, these levels are for a reference male
weighing 65 kg, while the average weight of the southern Chinese is
certainly less. If we assume that the average adult male in Hong Kong
weighs 50 kg, the energy requirement for the adult male equivalent
would, on this basis, be about 8900 KJ per day. According to this
standard, only 24 per cent of the population could be regarded as
having an inadequate intake of food energy.
Great caution is necessary, however, before accepting even this
N utrients and Water Supply in Hong Kong 187
IMPORTS RE-EXPORTS
pro te,m a n im a l 1 1 gm
p la n t 7.2 gm
fat 4 9 gm
p r o t e i n nni m al 43 4 gm
plan t 54 6 gm cho s 63 4 gm
fat 72 2 gm gy 12757 KJ
64 6 mg
cho s 610 3 gm
energy 15293.5 KJ 141.8 mg
2 7 mg
Ca 520 7 me
thi am in e 0 08 mg
P 13801 mg
a s c o r b ic ac id 12 9 mg
Fe 23 0 mg
th ia m in e 1.7 me
a s c o r b ic a cid 7 5 0 me
EXPORTS
p ro te in 09 9m
p lan t 1.6 gm
fat 0 8 gm
cho s 9 9 gm
LOCAL energy 382 2 KJ
Ca 871 mg
PRODUCTION P 63 6 mg
Fe 0 5 mg
p ro te in a " ' mal 29 9 9m t h i am in e 0 0 3 mg
plant 3 9 gm a s c o r b ic a c id 12 mg
ta t 10.8 gm
cho S 18 9 gm
energy 1306 4 KJ
K N O W N L OS SE S
Ca 278.3 mg
P 330.2 mg p ro te in a n im al 4.9 gm
Fe 5 I mg p lan t 8.7 gm
th ia m in e 0 2 mg fat 10 6 gm
a s c o rb ic a cid 86 8 mg cho s 87 7 gm
energy 2055.7 KJ
Ca 103.4mg
P 246 6 mg
Fe 3.4 mg
thi am in e 0.5 mg
TOTAL ascorbic acid 62.6 mg
APPARENT
NUTRIENT
INPUT C ON SU MP T ION
TOTAL NUTRIENT
OUTPUT
p ro te in a " im° ' ^ gm a n im a l 6 9 gm p r o t e i n anim al
plant 58.5 gm pro te in
pl an t 17 5 gm plan t 41.0 gm
fa t 83 0 gm
16 3 gm fat 66.7 gm
cho s 629.2 gm
cho s U)1 0 gm ch o 's 468 2 gm
energy 16599 9 KJ
e n e rg y 3713 3 KJ e n e rg y 1 2 8 8 6 6 KJ
Ca 799 0 mg
Ca 2551 mg Ca 543 ° mg
P 1710.3 mg
P 452 0 mg p 1258.3 mg
Fe 2 8 ' mg
Fe 66 mg Fe 21 5 mg
thia m in e ' 9 mg
t h i a m in e 0 6 mg th ia m in e 1 3 mg
a s c o rb ic a c id 1618 mg ascorbic acid 76 7 mg a s c o rb ic a c id 851 mg
Figure 8.1 Flow chart o f nutrients indicating apparent daily consumption per
capita, Hong Kong, 1971
FAMILY INCOME PER CAPITA IHKJI
Figure 8.2 Socioeconomic variation in daily household intake of somatic

energy, animal protein and calcium per capita by family income
per capita per month in Hong Kong. Note: US $1 =
HK$5
conclusion, in view of the increasing doubts about the validity oi

official recommendations for the levels of intake of various nutrients
made by nutritional arthorities throughout the world. Indeed, it has
recently been pointed out by some nutritionists that people in many
areas of the world appear to be active and healthy on levels of energy
intake well below the currently recommended standards. Certainly,
according to the Pediatrics Department at St Mary’s Hospital, there is
no evidence of widespread undernutrition in Hong Kong.
Recycling: practice and potential

Before concluding this section on nutrient flows and nutrition, some
comment is necessary on the question of the recycling of nutrients.
At present at least 350 tonnes of food wastes from restaurants and
food processing plants are transported daily to the New Territories to
feed a pig population of about 400,000. These wastes are in the form
of swill and are therefore unsuitable for disposal by incineration or as
landfill (the method used for most domestic and trade refuse in Hong
Kong). There is at present minimal recycling of domestic food wastes,
which amount to about 400 tonnes per day. However, the government
has plans to put composting plants in operation to process about 15
FAM ILY EXPENDITURE PER C A PIT A (HK$)
Figure 8.3 Socioeconomic variation in daily household intake of somatic

energy, animal protein and calcium per capita by family expendi
ture per capita per month in Hong Kong
per cent of refuse in Hong Kong. Some nutrients in food waste will
thus be recycled as fertiliser.
While the large pig population in the New Territories provides a
very satisfactory means of dealing with about half the food wastes
produced in Hong Kong, it also gives rise to further pollution
problems. In 1971, the sewage generated by the pigs amounted to
about 1200 tonnes per day. In fact, the government hired consultant
engineers to examine the problem of animal wastes in water catchment
zones, and they recommended either pumping pig sewage out to sea
or, preferably, eliminating the pigs altogether. The first suggestion
amounts essentially to a very expensive process of disposing of a
highly valuable resource. The second suggestion would mean
eliminating a source of high quality human food produced from food
waste, at the same time as creating the need to find an alternative
means of dealing with the 350 tonnes of city food waste which is at
present consumed each day by the pigs.
The poultry manure, of which about 600 tonnes are produced each
day, is in some respects an even more valuable resource than pig
manure. It is a high grade fertiliser for crop land and fish ponds, is
easier to handle and can be fed to pigs as a protein foodstuff. In 1971
only about 10 per cent of the poultry manure was used to fertilise
vegetable crops and fishponds. By 1975, however, most available
poultry manure was being collected by fresh-water fish farmers, due
to the increasing costs of the usual artificial fertiliser. This use of
poultry manure is really an extension of an older tradition whereby
ducks were kept in association with fish farming, their droppings
directly fertilising the ponds. Ducks at present constitute about one-
fifth of the Hong Kong poultry population, and an association
between duck and fish farming is still common.
If appropriately handled, pig sewage and poultry manure could
together generate at most about 5 billion M J of extrasomatic energy in
the form of methane each day, as well as more than 200,000 tonnes
per year of valuable fertiliser. This energy would be equivalent to 4 per
cent of Hong Kong’s total energy use in 1971. If all the residue from
bioconversion of pig and poultry manure produced in the territory of
Hong Kong were applied to cropland at the same rate as it was 15-20
years ago, it might satisfy half the total demand for fertiliser.
However, by far the most significant of nutrient flows currently
regarded as waste is human sewage. In 1971, for example, it was
estimated that 6300 tonnes of organic solids in sewage was produced
by the population of Hong Kong daily, and 90 per cent of this was
discharged untreated into harbour areas. It is, of course, com
monplace for engineers, urban planners and policy-makers in the
Western world to regard human sewage as no more than an
unfortunate and objectionable waste which creates a disposal problem
of the first magnitude. This attitude is relatively new to Hong Kong,
however, and quite alien to the Chinese. During the late 1950s, human
sewage was applied to agricultural land in the territory at the rate of up
to 77 tonnes per hectare. By 1971, however, virtually no human
sewage was applied to Hong Kong cropland, in contrast to the
People’s Republic of China where all available sewage, human and
animal, is recycled into agricultural production. In fact, since 1976,
about 280 tonnes of human sewage per week has been exported from
Hong Kong to China.
Phosphorus
It is well appreciated that modern urban settlements have a substantial
influence on the patterns of flow of many important components of
natural biogeochemical cycles. It was beyond the capacity of our
research program in Hong Kong to attempt an analysis and
Food Stocks
Exported Animal Feed

Imported Animol Feed
Discarded Wastes
& Pollutants
LEGEND
Actual Flow Potential Flow
Figure 8.4 A schematic representation of phosphorus flow in the Hong

Kong food system, 1971 (units are kg/day)
description of the flows of all substances of importance to natural

ecosystems, human organisms or human society. We have, however,
selected phosphorus for more detailed treatment, because it is an
essential component of natural biogeochemical cycles and because it
illustrates well how urban systems can interfere with these cycles.
The pattern of flow of phosphorus in the Hong Kong food system is
depicted in Fig. 8.4. The total input into the system is about 12.8
tonnes per day, 42 per cent being in imported human food, 25 per cent
in imported animal feed, 10 per cent in imported fertilisers, 10 per cent
in locally produced human food and 13 per cent from recycling. Of
this phosphorus, 35 per cent finds its way into human sewage, 24 per
cent into animal sewage, 14 per cent enters soil and water reserves, and
10 per cent is exported as human and animal food. Only 13 per cent of
the total phosphorus input is recycled, 10 per cent as fertiliser from
waste food and sewage, and 3 per cent in waste human food fed to
animals. The remaining 4 per cent is discarded in waste food or goes
into human bone reserves. In effect, about 4600 tonnes of phosphorus
are immobilised in, or discarded from the Hong Kong ecosystem each
year, contributing to the eutrophication of fresh water and marine
ecosystems.
In addition to the food system phosphorus, we estimate that a
further 1600 tonnes, contained in detergents, textile chemicals and
other industrial agents (not included in Fig. 8.4) are discarded into the
Hong Kong marine environment annually.
The recyling of phosphorus which does occur follows a pattern
similar to that which we have described for nutrients in general.
However, there have been a number of recent developments in Hong
Kong which specifically affect the recycling of phosphorus. As
mentioned above, there has been a return to the practice of fertilising
fish ponds with poultry manure, and in 1974 725 kg phosphorus per
day were recycled in this way. A large proportion of the phosphorus
recycled from food wastes is in bonemeal, 4000 tonnes of which are
produced annually in fertiliser factories.
In the long run, the prospects for phosphorus recycling could be
substantially improved by the development in Hong Kong of the
capacity to prepare compost from urban waste and to use sewage
sludge for fertiliser. However, as already discussed, there are no
serious proposals to recycle the bulk of human sewage, which contains
slightly more than half of the phosphorus lost from the Hong Kong
food system. The potential for applying human sewage at the primary
stage of treatment to agricultural land is not great, but the possibility
exists of reducing its volume by converting it either to ash or to
compost, together with urban refuse. The hidden costs of either
cleaning up or disregarding pollution caused by human and animal
sewage is not included when calculating agricultural productivity. If
they were, proposals for deliberate incentives to use organic waste,
involving taxation or subsidies, might appear more attractive to the
government.
Water
The regional and local supply of fresh potable water represents a
limiting factor to the growth of urban-industrial settlements in many
CHINA
2 High Island Reservoir
VTr r
NEW TERRITORIES
Single purpos
Shing Mun
Group
Aberdeen
Figure 8.5 Map o f Hong Kong showing major catchment areas and storage
reservoirs
parts of the world. According to M.I. Lvovitch, the volume of water
in the hydrosphere is 1,454,000 km3, with a turnover rate of 2800
years. Present annual precipitation 110,300 km3 and total river run
off 38,800 km3. Present water withdrawal for human uses is 600 km3,
of which 140 km3 is consumed and 460 km3 becomes waste water
which pollutes 5600 km3 of river waters. While it is well within the
capacity of the hydrosphere to supply these volumes of usage by
human beings, Lvovitch describes a scenario for the year 2000, based
on present patterns of water consumption, in which withdrawal by
mankind is 7170 km3 (i.e. consumption 1080 km3 and waste waters
6090 km3). The volume of water polluted by the waste waters in this
scenario would be the same as the total river run-off. Of course, with
appropriate management of water resources involving, in particular,
recycling and conservation, this crisis may never occur.
Hong Kong has a long history of water shortages and of unique
water engineering projects to augment supplies. There were acute
water shortages in 1902, 1929 and 1963, when water had to be brought
by boat from the mainland. Difficult submarine fresh-water links
PRECIPITATION
2000
Land Area 1 0 4 6 km2
EVAPO- STORAGE
TRANSPIRATION
EVAPORATION RUNOFF
i INTERCEPTION 594
\ LOSSES
CHINA
LEAKAGE GROUND
WATER
/ | WELLS
AGRICULTURE
COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY
DOMESTIC AND POWER AND
MUNICIPAL GAS GENERATION
10 4 0 SSS^SFA S—
130 2 S £
Figure 8.6 Water balance of Hong Kong, 1971
have been made between island catchments and centres of demand,

and more recently walls have been built between islands and the
mainland to create large reservoirs in the drained seabeds.
Nevertheless, Hong Kong still depends on water piped from China for
almost a quarter of its mains supply.
About 285 km2 of the total land area of 1046 km2of the territory of
Hong Kong are designated water catchment areas (Figure 8.5). By
1973, there were seventeen storage reservoirs, with a total storage
capacity of 309 million m3 (not including a reservoir supplying water
^ 100
19 2 0 19 3 0 1940 195 0 196 0 1980
YEAR
Figure 8.7 Annual fresh-water consumption in Hong Kong since 1926
for irrigation purposes in the Yuen Long and Tai Po agricultural

districts).
A comprehensive water balance of Hong Kong has been drawn up
by Alan Aston, for our reference year, 1971. It is depicted in the flow
chart in Figure 8.6. In that year, the total rainfall over the land area
was about 2000 million m3.* The yield from the reservoirs amounted
to 225 million m3, or 11 per cent of the total precipitation. By far the
greatest single loss to the system as a whole was that of
evapotranspiration (59 per cent of the rainfall). It is estimated that
about 100 million m3 was used in irrigation and some of this water
would have recharged ground water and wells.
In Hong Kong Island and Kowloon there were 237 wells of potable
water, serving about 27,700 people (less than 1 per cent of the
population), and a further 496 wells in the rural New Territories,
serving 34,400 people. There are apparently a large number of
additional wells inside buildings in the built-up areas, but the water is
*1 m3 water = 1 tonne.
used only for flushing water closets or for cooling machinery. The
number of such wells is not known. Ground water wells (and streams)
were estimated to contribute 13 million m3to the overall water supply.
The mains water supply is augmented by water piped from the

People’s Republic of China. This amounted to 68 million m3 in 1971,
which was 23 per cent of the mains supply. The total supply of potable
fresh water was thus in the order of 306 million m3.
In addition, there is a separate network of sea water distribution
mains, pumping stations and service reservoirs, providing salt water
which is used mainly for flushing and for cooling in industrial
installations (e.g. power stations). This sea water reticulation system is
an important part of the territory’s water works, and it provided
around 1300 million m3 in 1971.
Water consumption
Figure 8.7 shows the pattern of annual fresh-water consumption since
1926. In the ten years ending 1974, water use increased at the rate of
9-10 per cent per annum. Contributing to this pattern was a 7 per cent
annual increase in per capita water consumption from 0.102 m3 per
day in 1961 to 0.203 m3 per day in 1971. Increases of this magnitude
are typical of rapidly developing countries.
In 1971, the domestic sector used fresh water amounting to 43 per
cent of the total consumption and sea water amounting to 4.8 per cent
of the total consumption (Figure 8.6). The rate of usage of domestic
water varied according to housing type and reflected differences in
water-connected facilities. Per capita use per day ranged from 0.058
m3 in the older resettlement blocks in which reticulated water and
toilets were available on each floor and were used communally, to 0.17
m3 in houses of one or two storeys which had all facilities.
The industrial and commercial sectors in Hong Kong used a total of
about 88 million m3 of fresh water, which was divided approximately
equally between the two sectors. In the industrial sector, 55 per cent of
the total was used by the textile industry. Municipal water use was
about 18 million m3. This included free supplies for medical and
health establishments, government utilities services, recreation areas
and public stand pipes. The industrial sector also used 1040 million m3
of sea water (80 per cent of the total input).
Total agricultural uses were estimated to be around 155 million m3,
mainly from streams and ground water wells. Of this, 90 per cent was
N utrients and W ater Supply in H ong Kong 197
used for irrigation (including fishponds), and the rem ainder for
livestock (90 per cent o f this within the pig industry). A gricultural
practices which result in the pollution o f m any fresh-w ater courses
with anim al m anure effectively reduce the available potable water to
an am ount equivalent to about 16 per cent o f the present total supply.
Future supply and demand

It has been estim ated that the potential average annual fresh-w ater
supply to H ong Kong is around 569 million m 3. This figure is m ade up
o f 408 million m 3 from reservoirs (including the High Island Scheme
when com pleted) 66 million m 3 from the desalter near Tuen M un when
it reaches full capacity,* and 95 million m 3 im ported from China.
A simple com puter rhodel, based on the d ata collected in the H ong
Kong H um an Ecology Program m e, was constructed to predict future
w ater dem ands in the territory. Various com binations o f rates of
change and o f industrial and population grow th were examined in
term s o f w ater dem and, and the results were com pared with the
anticipated w ater supply at the time.
Figure 8.8 shows the results o f such a sim ulation exercise which
examined the effects o f two different industrial grow th rates (12.3 per
cent and 0 per cent) and three different population projections (2.24
per cent, 1.88 per cent and 1.5 per cent). It can be seen th at, in contrast
to industrial grow th, the rate o f population increase has little effect.
A ccording to the predictions o f the m odel, unless further large
w ater supplies can be obtained from C hina, or unless there occur
im portant changes in the rate or kind o f industrial and economic
grow th, H ong Kong is likely to face a serious crisis in water supplies in
the near future. Clearly, the approach o f the governm ent to this issue,
as to so m any others, m ust be thoroughly integrative and com
prehensive, rather th an com partm entalised. The approach m ust take
account o f all possibilities for water conservation, especially in
*In the late 1960s, hopes were pinned on the development of desalination
plants in Hong Kong to solve water supply problems. At the time it was
expected that the cost of desalinated water would be less than HKS10 per
thousand gallons. However, by 1974 when the desalination plant began to
operate, the fuel oil needed to operate the plant had trebled in price, so that the
cost of the water approximates HKS25.30. It has been suggested that the
integration of electricity production and desalination, utilising otherwise
wasted heat, could reduce the costs to HKS5-6 per thousand gallons.
POPULATION
z GR OW TH RATE
o 2500 •— • 0224
° — o 0 15 6
t » 0188
o *«
CO 2000
z
o
o
Industrial
Lu >. 1 50 0 g r o w t h rate
I— «
< E = 12 3% pa
2b
100 0
500 Ind us tri al

g r o w t h rate
= zero
0 ____________ I____________ i____________ l-------------------- 1---------------------1--------------------- 1--------------------- 1
1 95 6 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991
YEAR
Figure 8.8 The simulated effect of industrial growth rate and population
increase on water consumption
industry, and also o f the desirability o f different kinds o f industrial

development in terms o f water use.
9
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
AND TRANSPORTATION
According to official figures, the main urban areas on Hong Kong

Island, in Kowloon, New Kowloon and the new town of Tsuen Wan
cover about 139 km2, that is, about 13 per cent of the total land area of
the territory. In 1971 this urban area accommodated 85 per cent of the
4,045,300 residents of the Colony, giving an overall population
density of 247 persons per hectare. These figures for population
density, however, are misleadingly low, because the area defined by
the government as ‘urban’ or ‘urbanised’ includes the whole of Hong
Kong Island, most of which is open countryside. For our purposes,
therefore, we will use the term built-up area, which excludes from the
‘urban area’ three large Secondary Planning Units (SPUs) on Hong
Kong Island,* which are included in the ‘urban area’, as defined by the
government. The built-up area, according to this definition, covers
about 87 km2, and in 1971 had a population of 3,303,423 living at a
density of about 380 persons per hectare (see Figure 9.1).
The land in the built-up area is utilised as follows:

ground area
(ha) <Vo
buildings, vacant land & car parks 2432 28.0
roads (+ railways) 876 10.1
public open space 196 2.3
private open space 80 0.9
*The SPUs which we exclude are mainly scrubland, and are known as the Peak
(SPU 1.8), Aberdeen (1.7), and South (1.9). Although Aberdeen does have a
localised concentration of people, this is very small compared with the rest of
the built-up area. The total population of these three SPUs in 1971 was
135,923. Our ‘built-up area'' can therefore be defined as including the
foUowing SPUs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 (Hong Kong Island); 2.1,2.2, 2.3,
2.4 (Kowloon); 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9 (New Kowloon) and 3.2 (Tsuen Wan).
airport 116 1.3

unused land (including
planned development land) 3171 36.4
other (including squatters,
agricultural land and
special uses eg. cemeteries,
waterworks) 1827 21.0
Total 8698 100.0
The uses to which the buildings are put may be broadly classified as
residential, commercial, industrial, governmental (administrative)
and institutional. Table 9.1 gives figures for each of these uses in terms
both of ground area covered and of floor space.
The figures for floor area are somewhat more meaningful than
those for ground area as an indicator of the proportion of the built
environment given up to different uses, because in Hong Kong many
buildings, especially those classified as ‘residential’, are multi
purpose. Much of the floor space on ground level in the residential
blocks in the older areas is given up to commercial activities.
It has been a feature of new government building programs in Hong
Kong that shops shall not exist in the same buildings as residential
units. This is a policy in city planning in many parts of the world, but it
is difficult to understand the rationale behind it, at least in terms of the
quality of human experience. There can be few cities more different
from Hong Kong than Canberra, the planned capital of Australia and
the present home of the authors of this book, where this same policy
has existed from the outset. The shopping and business areas in
Canberra are separate from the main residential areas and it is decreed
that no one shall live in them. Consequently, the streets in these
shopping centres are almost completely deserted in the evenings and at
weekends, when the shops are closed. The occasional theatre-patron
or restaurant-goer finds them dreary, unwelcoming and unin
teresting, and their emptiness offers no discouragement for criminal
and antisocial activities.
Another characteristic feature of Hong Kong has long been the
large number of small industrial or manufacturing units, often run as
family concerns, which are active in tenement buildings widely
dispersed throughout the older districts, such as Kennedy Town,
Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei. Although this pattern is still very
much in evidence, it is gradually changing, with increasing
modernisation of industry, the establishment of larger factories and
The Built Environment and Transportation 201
NEW, T E R R I T^ O R I E S
TSUEN- WAN
NEW K )0 W\ L 0 0 N
L 0 0,
HONG KONG I SLAND
Figure 9.1 Secondary Planning Units of the ‘built up’ area of Hong Kong
1.1 West 2.4 Hung Horn, Tok Kwa Wan

1.2 Central 2.5 Cheung Sha Wan, Ha Kwai Chung
1.3 Wan Chai 2.6 Sham Shui Po, Shek Kip Mei
1.4 Causeway Bay, 2.7 Kowloon Tong
Tai Hang to Mid Levels 2.8 Part of Kowloon City, San Po Kong,
1.5 North Point Wong Tai Sin, Kai Tak
1.6 Shau Kei Wan 2.9 Ngau Tau Kok, Kwun Tong,
2.1 Tsim Sha Tsui Shau Mau Ping, Lam Tin,
2.2 Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei Yau Tong
2.3 Part of Yau Ma Tei and of 3.2 Tsuen Wan
Kowloon City, Ho Man Tin
TABLE 9.1 Ground area and floor area o f buildings usedfo r various
purposes in built-up area o f Hong Kong, 1971
Buildings Ground area % Floor area °7o

in buildings
ha ha
Residential 856 35.2 2581 57.5
Commercial
(a) + Residential 7 0.3 53 1.2
(b) Business offices 56 2.3 519 11.6
Industrial and
warehouses 393 16.2 815 18.2
Governmental and
institutional 367 15.0 445 9.9
Vacant land* and
car parks 753 31.0 18 0.4
Special — — 54 1.2
Total 2432 100.0 4485 100.0
* Land designated for above purposes
the influence of governmental planning in housing developments. In

terms of the ‘efficiency’ of the system as a whole, and possibly from
the strictly economic point of view, the shift from very small family-
owned industries to larger factories may make sense. It can also be
argued, however, that the change involves costs of another kind,
relating to the quality of life of the workers and to such psycho-social
variables as sense of personal involvement, sense of purpose, and
degree of enjoyable interactive small group behaviour (see Chapter
12). In these terms, this aspect of modernisation may well be seen as
undesirable.
The greatest concentration of commercial development exists in the
Central District of Hong Kong Island and in Tsim Sha Tsui in
Kowloon. About 41 per cent of the commercial floor space on Hong
Kong Island is in Central District, where there are many large office
blocks, banks, tourist hotels and department stores. In Tsim Sha Tsui,
the main commercial uses are tourist hotels, speciality shops,
department stores and night clubs.
The new towns of Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan have both been
developed over the past twenty years following government planning
and in 1974 they housed, respectively, 265,000 and 435,000 people.
Other planned new towns are being developed at Shatin and at Tuen
Mun in the Castle Peak area.
Housing in Hong Kong

The remainder of this discussion on the buildings in Hong Kong will
concentrate on those which are used for human habitation.
As has already been made clear, the changes in population in Hong
Kong since its inception as an urban settlement have been such that
over-crowding has been an almost constant feature of most of its
residential areas. This is certainly the case today, despite the massive
construction programs initiated both by government and by private
enterprise over the past twenty-five years. Of the permanent domestic
accommodation units in existence in Hong Kong in 1972, only 4.2 per
cent (26,100 units) were built before 1945; and it was envisaged that,
by 1980, these will all have been replaced by new constructions.
One of the characteristic features of Hong Kong, as in the case of
most other modern cities, is the constant demolition of old buildings.
About 0.6 per cent of the total floor area in Hong Kong is demolished
every year. This figure is, of course, relatively small as compared with
the annual 5 per cent increase in total floor space due to construction
work.
From the ecological point of view, it is noteworthy that by 1971 the
amount of material that was incorporated into the built environment
in Hong Kong amounted to 21 tonnes per head of the population.
About 70 per cent of this was used for domestic dwellings, the
remainder being used for commercial and industrial buildings and
transport networks.
A description of the residential buildings in Hong Kong requires
that we recognise the existence of several distinct categories of
accommodation. We shall refer to these as follows: squatter
structures, government resettlement estates, government low cost
housing estates, private tenements, private apartments, resettlement
cottages and boats. The number of people living in these different
types of dwelling in 1974 are shown in Table 9.2.
TABLE 9.2 Estimated population by type o f housing, Hong Kong

1974 (to nearest 100)
Type of housing Population Per cent of

total population
Private apartments 970,200 22.8

Tenements 1,185,800 27.9
Resettlement estates 1,020,900 24.0
Low cost housing estates 640,300 15.1
Resettlement cottages 44,800 1.1
Squatter structures 240,700 5.7
Boats 65,000 1.5
Other (e.g. government quarters) 81,000 1.9
Total 4,248,700 100.0
Squatter structures
The squatter structures are the only dwellings in Hong Kong which are
designed and built by the people who live in them. In this sense they are
the most ‘personal’ and, in many ways, the most interesting form of
housing.
It is generally taken for granted that squatter areas are a bad thing
and it has been government policy eventually to rehouse all the
squatters in flats. The squatter population reached a peak around
1964 at an estimated 603,200, but the Resettlement Programme had
reduced the squatter population to about 241,000 by 1974, and the
government’s ambitious Ten Year Housing Programme aimed to
eliminate all squatter structures by the early 1980s.*
Squatters in Hong Kong can be classified as ‘ground squatters’ and
♦Latest figures show that, as a result of further migration, the number of

squatters rose to about 500,000 in 1979.
‘roof-top squatters’. The dwellings range from relatively temporary

structures made of wood, iron, zinc plates and asbestos sheets to more
permanent buildings of stone or brick. About 65 per cent of them are
of the temporary kind. About 8 per cent of the squatter dwellings lack
a kitchen, toilet and bathroom, 77 per cent have a kitchen only and 10
per cent have both a kitchen and a toilet. About 85 per cent have no
toilet facilities. Communal latrines and bathing facilities, in the form
of movable shacks, are provided and maintained by the government,
which also provides water stand pipes in or near squatter areas at the
rate of one per 500 people. Squatter areas have very inadequate
drainage and sewage systems, and only two areas have an approved
electricity supply, although countless squatter dwellings are connected
to the supply illegally.
The squatters themselves do not have any particular distinguishing
characteristics. They tend to belong to the lower socioeconomic
groups, although one survey some years ago found them to be neither
very rich nor very poor. They are, of course, in a favourable position
to save money, since they do not pay any rent. Contrary to what one
might expect, the squatters in 1971 were not composed mainly of
recent immigrants: 58 per cent of them had been born in Hong Kong,
as compared with 56 per cent for the territory as a whole.
The question is often asked: Why do people become squatters.

Alternatively, it may as well be asked: Given the opportunity of
building one’s own home almost without cost and of living in it rent-
free, what advantage is to be gained from paying rent for
accommodation in the form of a concrete box in a high-rise apartment
block? Of course, there are some disadvantages to living in squatter
areas, the most important being the risk of epidemics due to
inadequate sanitation and the risk of fire. From the standpoint of the
society as a whole, another disadvantage is the amount of ground
space taken up by a limited number of people. Ground population
density in squatter areas averages about 830 persons per hectare,
compared with, for example, an authorised population density of
5500 persons per hectare in the Oi Man Housing Authority Estate.
However, since most of the squatters at present occupy hillsides which
would not be used for residential blocks, food production or any other
purpose, this consideration may not be very important.
It is true that the superficial visual impression of squatter areas in
Hong Kong may be one of ramshackle untidiness and even squalor;
but on closer inspection the visitor is often struck by the very neat and
attractive interiors of many of the dwellings, and by the apparent

sense of pride of the inhabitants. Small children emerge from their
homes spotlessly clean and immaculately dressed. Unlike the
apartments in the government’s housing projects, each structure is
unique, and, compared with the average flat dweller, the residents
must surely experience a greater sense of belonging and of personal
responsibility with respect both to their home and to their immediate
neighbourhood.
The Hong Kong government’s attack on the squatter problem dates

back to 1951, when it established ‘approved’ areas where squatters
could build cottages of fire-resistant materials. ‘Tolerated’ areas were
also created where squatters could build wooden huts. In 1952 the
Hong Kong Settler’s Housing Corporation was set up—supported
partly by government and partly by public subscription, and it built
1500 cottages for squatters, which later became the property of the
residents (See ‘resettlement cottages’ below).
In 1953, a serious fire in the squatter area of Shep Kip Mei rendered
53,000 people homeless, although amazingly it caused no loss of life.
This event provided further impetus to the government’s participation
in the provision of housing, and led to the establishment of the
Resettlement Housing Programme, which will be discussed below.
The official government policy to resettle all squatters is regarded

by some authors as no more than a pious hope. D.J. Dwyer,* for
example, has written:
Again, while the housing of over one million squatters, many of
them in Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong, is a magnificent achievement,
it is possible to suggest some lessons from other parts of the
developing world.... What has been long apparent in many other
areas seems now to be becoming officially recognised in Hong
Kong: that squatters are a permanent feature of the urban scene
and no amount of resettlement will ever clear them completely.
This suggests that approaches to new town development should not
be too antiseptic and that it would perhaps be worth incorporating
designated squatter areas provided with basic facilities into the
plans.
The question, however, as we have indicated, is not only whether it

*Dwyer, D.J. (1971). ‘Victoria and Kowloon as cities o f the developing world’
in The Changing Face o f Hong Kong (ed. D.J. Dwyer). Hong Kong Branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society, p.86.
is a practical proposition for the government to attempt to eliminate

squatter areas. Indeed, its program in this respect has been so
impressive that it may well be possible. Just as important is the
question whether, in terms of the quality of the life experience of the
squatters themselves, resettlement is really in their best interests.
With these considerations in mind, it is interesting to note that very
recently there have been signs of a general upgrading of some squatter
areas where the land is not needed for some other purpose. In these
areas new drainage systems and communal toilets have been provided
by government authorities, street lighting has been installed and a
‘legal’ electricity supply has been connected. And, as evidence that
squatterism is by no means dying out, 472 new huts were built in
licensed squatter areas in a single fortnight in July 1976.
Resettlement housing*
The Resettlement Housing Programme was initially established to
provide homes for squatters affected by the Shep Kip Mei fire of 1953.
Since then the Programme has catered also for families cleared by the
government from land to be used for various developments, or from
dangerous buildings which have to be demolished.
The first resettlement blocks (Mark I) to be constructed were simple
and spartan in the extreme. They were six or seven storeys high and
each family had only a single room of about 120 sq ft (11 m2), with a
doorway opening onto a corridor which ran around the outside of the
building. The official space allocation was 24 sq ft (2.2 m2) of floor
space per adult (children under the age of ten being counted as
equivalent to half an adult). Communal lavatories and washing
facilities were provided and cooking was carried out in the open
corridors outside the rooms. From the occupants’ point of view , the
main advantage of these resettlement blocks was the fact that they
were typhoon-proof and fire-proof. There has subsequently been a
gradual improvement in certain of the facilities provided in
resettlement housing, and in the latest version (Mark VI), each
dwelling unit has its own lavatory and a private balcony with a
*The government has recently reclassified government housing as Type A and

Type B housing. Type A housing includes the original Low Cost Housing
Programme housing and the Housing Authority housing. Housing Society
housing is hot included in this classification. However, for our purposes, we
are grouping all these three types of housing under the single heading—Low
Cost Housing. The government’s new Group B housing includes all
resettlement estate types.
cooking bench and a water tap. The official space allocation is now 35
sq ft (3.2 m2) per adult. In 1974, over a million people living in
resettlement estates had less than 3.2 m2 per person and of these,
529,000 experienced an average floor space per person of less than 2.2
m2. In that year, the population of the government’s resettlement
housing was 1,181,000, representing about 30 per cent of the total
population of the urban area.
A program of renovation and improvement of the old Mark I and
Mark II resettlement blocks has been in progress for some years.
Government low cost housing

In the early 1960s the government set up a Low Cost Housing
Programme, which, like the Resettlement Programme, was financed
directly by government revenue, so that any increase in costs of
construction, maintenance and management is absorbed without the
necessity of increasing the rent. This Programme was designed for
those families who for various reasons do not qualify for resettlement
and whose assessed income falls below a stipulated level.
In 1974 there were 29 estates completed or partially completed, and

others were under construction. One of the largest estates is Kwai
Fong, at Kwai Chung in the New Territories, designed to house 41,684
people, with fourty-four shops, a post office, an elderly people’s
hostel, two restaurants, four schools, seventy-one market stalls and
three kindergartens. The blocks are of 7-20 storeys with gross
densities of up to 4800 persons per hectare.
Like most government low cost housing, the buildings in this estate
are of the central corridor type. Cooking is carried out on a private
balcony, which is usually about 4 m2in area, and in most estates there
is a separate toilet for each dwelling unit.
Two other programs were also established under the Housing
Authority and the Housing Society. In these cases the programs were
initially financed by a Government Development Loan Fund and
subsequently from rental returns, and any increase in costs results in
an increase in rent. This housing was intended for middle income
families, and it achieved relatively high standards from the outset,
with self-contained units, each with a kitchen, bathroom and private
balcony, and with a space allocation of 35 sq ft (3.2 m2) per person.
In 1974, the number of authorised residents of government low cost
housing and of Government Housing Authority and Housing Society
estates was just over 695,000. A recent development has been the
introduction of legislation which allows residents of government

housing to buy their homes.
Private housing
About half the population of Hong Kong lives in buildings which are
privately owned. These include, according to the classification which
we are employing, two categories—tenements (or ‘tenement floors’)
and private apartments.
Tenements. Over 67 per cent of domestic units in private hoysing in
1972 were classified as tenement floors, which are defined as
independent premises comprising a single undivided room with
separate kitchen and water closet or privy,* and in some cases also a
bathroom. About half of these are defined as ‘small tenement floors’
with an effective floor areat of not more than about 300 sq ft (28 m2)
and the rest are ‘large tenement floors’ with an effective floor area
greater than this figure.
There still exist in Hong Kong a few of the old pre-1945 private
tenement buildings, which follow closely the design of the traditional
village houses of South China. China fir poles, which have a
maximum usable length of 4.3 m, were used as floor and roof beams,
and this restricted the width, but not the depth of the tenement floors,
which were therefore deep and narrow. The rooms were subdivided
into small cubicles, and many had horizontal divisions just above head
height to form cocklofts or sleeping spaces. Three- or four-storey
structures were built side by side and often back to back. Lighting and
ventilation were through the front, and sometimes the rear, of the
building only. Most of the floors had a bucket latrine and no
bathroom and there was usually, on each floor, one kitchen which
was used for cooking, washing and bathing.
Some of the post - 1945 tenements take the form of apartments with
communal kitchen and toilet facilities. Again, open rooms are
subdivided and sub-let, and there are often 30 to 40 people living in a
room of about 55 m2 with one small kitchen and two WC’s. These
modern tenements provide little improvement in living conditions
over the older buildings.
*Night soil is collected from those tenement floors which are not connected to
the sewage system, and contributes to the 280 tonnes of sewage shipped every
week to China (Chapter 8).
fEffective floor area is the internal floor area o f premises, excluding kitchens,
bathrooms, toilets and open balconies.
Private apartments. Of the domestic units in private housing, 31 per

cent are classified as flats, which are defined as independent premises
partitioned into living rooms and bedrooms with separate kitchens
and bathrooms; 72 per cent of these have an effective area of not more
than 60 m2; 18 per cent an area of between 60 and 93 m2; and the
remaining 10 per cent have an effective area greater than 93 m2.
There is also a very small number of private houses in Hong Kong.
They are so few that we classify them, for our purposes, together with
private flats under the heading ‘private apartments’.
Resettlement cottages
The dwellings which we refer to as resettlement cottages are simple
buildings made of stone and are clustered together in defined localities
throughout the urban region. Built mainly in the early 1950s under the
auspices of the Hong Kong Settlers’ Housing Corporation, many of
them are now owned by their inhabitants, and have been occupied by
the same people for a relatively long time. They are thus distinct from
the squatters’ structures, although we will sometimes group them
together with the latter in the description of results from the Biosocial
Survey, since these two kinds of housing are similar in many ways.
Boats
Hong Kong has a floating population, and in 1974 about 65,000
people lived on boats around its shores. About half of these boat-
people are fishermen, the rest being engaged in trading and in various
kinds of transportation; thus, unlike the floating populations in other
large cities, most of these people actually use their boats as boats, and
not solely as dwellings. They belong to a distinct cultural group, who
follow certain customs of their own, and it is said that they generally
feel themselves to be somewhat despised by landsmen. Because of
their way of life, they are also a relatively illiterate group. In recent
years many of the boat-people have been resettled on land, and live in
multi-storey estates, for example in the fishing town of Aberdeen.
Transportation
We have already referred to the extrasomatic energy consumed in the
transport system of Hong Kong. Here we will comment briefly on a
few other ecologically significant aspects of this system. There are
about 1040 km of roads in Hong Kong territory (336 km on the Island
of Hong Kong, 308 km in Kowloon and 396 km in the New
Territories). On Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon this amounts to
about 0.16 m per person and about 3 m per registered motor vehicle.
Needless to say, the 193,439 registered vehicles (1974) in Hong Kong
are never all on the roads at the same time, otherwise progress would
hardly be possible. As it is, the average speed of motor travel is only
about 23 km per hour.
It is noteworthy that, perhaps unlike any other industrialising city
with an increasing GNP, the number of registered private motor cars
actually decreased between 1973 and 1975 from 129,309 to 114,260.
There has, in the same period been a slight increase in registered buses,
although the total for all kinds of registered motor vehicles fell from
202,775 to 188,018. It seems a reasonable assumption that this trend
reflects the fact that Hong Kong, with its very congested roads, has
really reached saturation point with respect to motor vehicles.
Although two-thirds of the registered vehicles are private motor
cars, the great majority of people travel by public transport. The roads
of Hong Kong in 1974 carried about 1500 double decker buses and 482
single decker buses. There were also some 4300 ‘public light buses’ or
‘mini-buses’, about 6000 taxis and public hire cars and, on Hong
Kong Island, 162 double decker trams with 22 single decker trailers
(running on about 22 km of rail). The numbers of passenger journeys
on each of these forms of transport was approximately as follows:
buses—2,000,000 per day; public light buses—1,200,000 per day; taxis
and hire cars—700,000 per day; and trams 401,000 per day. This
amounts to about 4,300,000 journeys per day on public transport, the
average distance of each journey being about 5 km. It is estimated that
about half of the journeys involve people going to and from work or
school, and the other half involve such activities as shopping
expeditions and visits to relatives.
In addition to road transport, about 400,000 journeys per day are
made by individuals crossing the harbour in ferries and an average of
about 38,000 ferry journeys are taken every day to or from places in
the New Territories and the islands.
Returning for a moment to the energy aspect of transportation in
Hong Kong, it can be calculated that 70 per cent of the total energy
used in transportation (other than that used by the fishing fleet) is used
for moving people, rather than goods, from one place to another.
That is to say, the transportation of human beings in various kinds of
vehicles within Hong Kong uses about 10.8 billion MJ per year—that
is, 14 per cent of the total energy used within the territory. The data
given above indicate that the present organisation of Hong Kong
society makes necessary an average daily journey of about 5 km for
users of public transport. As we shall discuss in the final chapter of

this book, if society were organised in such a way that travel for
occupational, recreational or household purposes beyond easy
walking or cycling distance from home was rarely necessary, a great
deal of extrasomatic energy could be saved, and levels of noise and air
pollution would be greatly reduced. Let us note, however, that the
average daily journey per worker in Hong Kong is very much less than
in many other large cities. In Sydney, for example, the average worker
uses about nine times as much extrasomatic energy to get to work,
compared to his Hong Kong counterpart.
10
THE POPULATION
In the last five chapters we have been concerned with the non-human
aspects of Hong Kong. We now turn our attention to the human
component of the ecosystem. In this chapter we will discuss the overall
characteristics of the human population as an aspect of the system as a
whole—on the level, that is, of the total environment in the
conceptual model.* In the following four chapters our emphasis will
shift to the human experience dimension, that is to the quality of life of
the people of Hong Kong. We will consider the human situation on the
level of the total environment under two headings: demographic
aspects, and health and disease.
Demographic aspects
The total number of people resident in Hong Kong was estimated as
4,345,200 at the end of 1974, 58 per cent of whom had been born
there.
On the basis of language, 98.5 per cent of these people may be
described as Chinese, the great majority of whom are immigrants
from nearby Kwangtung Province, or are from families which
originated there. The remaining 1.5 per cent of the resident population
in 1974 was, according to official statements, made up of 16,686
Britons (excluding armed forces), 6799 Indians, 6761 Americans,
4,508 Malaysians, 3,677 Australians, 3,315 Portuguese, 3,179
Pakistanis, 3038 Japanese, 2828 Filippinos, 2278 Singaporeans,
1462 Indonesians, 1882 Canadians, 1150 Germans, 791 Koreans, 660
Dutch, 665 French, and 4153 from various other countries.
The human population of Hong Kong at any one time also includes
a considerable number of visitors, mainly tourists, more than half of
*In this section the data presented will sometimes refer to 1971, the year of the
last full-scale Census. Where available, however, data will be presented for
1974, the year in which the Biosocial Survey was carried out.
L egend:
p e rs o n s p e r h e c ta re
urn < '0
(•till
[1111 10 — 1 0 0
■ 100— 560
m 5 6 0 — 1500
■ > 1500
Figure 10.1 Population density in Hong Kong, 1971
whom come from Japan and the United States. In 1974, 1,295,642
tourists visited Hong Kong, for an average stay of 3.5 days. Thus, on
any single day there were likely to have been about 12,400 tourists in
Hong Kong, representing about 0.29 per cent of the total population.
By far the largest part of the population lives in the built-up areas
on both sides of the harbour, that is, on the northern side of Hong
Kong Island and on the Kowloon peninsula, (see Figure 10.1). The
average population density in 1971 in the built-up area* was 380
persons per hectare. This figure, however, gives little idea of the
extremes of population density that exist in the city. For example, the
census tract of Wanchai on Hong Kong Island has a density of 2288
persons per hectare, and that of Mong Kok in Kowloon a density of
1547 persons per hectare. When smaller units than census tracts are
considered, even higher densities are found. In a massive multi-storey
housing estate in Kowloon, the Man complex, the net population
*See page 199 of chapter 9.

The Population 215
TABLE 10.1 Gross population density in urban regions: some

examples
Region Population density

(persons per hectare)
City of Ur, 2000 B.C. 43.8

L on d o n ,1831 353.9
Area of maximum density
in London, 1840 938.0
Manhattan, NY, 1965 347.0
West Berlin, 1967 45.2
Tokyo City, 1969 157.5
Area of maximum density, Tokyo, 1970 215.0
Area of maximum density, Paris, 1970 139.6
Greater London, 1973 46.1
Sydney, 1971 10.6
Canberra, 1978 3.5
Hong Kong built-up area, 1971 380.0

Census tract of maximum density
in Hong Kong
(Wanchai district), 1971 2288.0
N.B. These figures, which have been taken from a variety o f sources, may not
be strictly comparable, since the estimates apply to areas of different size.
density is estimated at 12,200 persons per hectare. For comparison,
the gross population densities in some other cities are given in Table
10. 1.
Population structure
In the population as a whole the sex ratio was 1037 males for every
1000 females in 1971. However, as in most other societies, females
outnumbered males in the older age-groups. In the forty-five and over
age-group the male to female ratio was 875:1000, while in the forty-
four and below group it was 1080:1000.
The age distribution of the population in 1971 is shown graphically
in Figure 10.2. The striking indentation involving the age groups from
about 15 to 35 years has been referred to as the ‘World War II
AGE
MALE FEMALE
POPUL AT I ON (THOUSANDS)
Figure 10.2 Age distribution o f the population o f Hong Kong, 1971
indentation’. In fact, the war accounts only partially for the shape of
the pyramid. The bulge which is maximum at about the age of 40 is
due mainly to the large number of youthful immigrants who came to
Hong Kong in 1950 and 1951 following the political events in China.
The lower bulge, which is maximum at about 10 years, includes the
children of this group of immigrants.
Hong Kong’s population is thus a relatively young one, with 33 per
cent under the age of 15 years in 1974. The corresponding proportions
for the same year in the United Kingdom, Australia and India were 24
per cent, 28 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.
Of the total population of 4,248,700 people resident in Hong Kong
in 1974, about 1,223,000 were at school (up to and including
The Population 217
TABLE 10.2 Participation in education and workforce by age and

sex, Hong Kong, 1971
<7o attending school*

Age male female
0- 4 18.2 16.7
5- 9 93.0 91.6
10-14 92.5 86.5
15-19 49.2 39.7
20-24 9.2 6.7
25 and over 0.2 0.5
Overall 32.4 29.8
% in workforce!
10-14 4.7 9.1
15-19 50.4 56.4
20-24 90.2 69.5
25-34 98.4 39.6
35-44 98.6 38.7
45-54 96.6 38.9
55-64 84.2 33.9
65 and over 39.8 12.6
Overall 70.9 37.1
■"Comprising kindergarten, private tutors, primary, secondary and tertiary

educational institutions.
tEconomically active population (excluding job seekers aged 10 years and

over).
secondary school); about 16,000 were enrolled as full-time students in

post-secondary institutions, including 7000 at the two universities;
and 1,654,907 people were economically active, of which 1,096,900
were males and 558,007 females. The participation rates at school and
in the workforce varied, of course, with age, and they are summarised
in Table 10.2.
The maximum rate for participation in the workforce is 98.6 per
cent in the 35-44 age-group for males, and for females it is 69.5 per
cent in the 20-24 age-group.
infa nt m orta lity
TOTAL DEATH RATE / 1,000 POPULATION

total births
total deaths
Figure 10.3 Crude birth rates, infant mortality rates and total death
rates, Hong Kong, 1960-1975
Fertility *
There is no more significant aspect of the ecology of a human
settlement, or indeed of ecology of the biosphere as a whole, than the
changes which are taking place in the size of the human population.
These changes are a function of the fertility and mortality patterns of
the population, as well as migratory movements in the case of a
settlement or region.
In 1975, the annual birth rate in Hong Kong was 18.3 per thousand
population, which is similar to that of Japan, Britain and Australia.
This figure represents a marked decline over the previous fifteen
years, from 36.0 per thousand in 1960. The birth rates since that year
are illustrated in Figure 10.3.
It has been estimated that about 75 per cent of the decline in the
*The word ‘fertility’ is used here in the demographer’s, rather than the
physiologist’s, sense. That is to say, it refers to the actual number o f children
born rather than to the capacity to bear children.
The Population 219
1971
AUSTRALIA 1971
i— - ' ^
15—19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49
AG E O F WOMEN
Figure 10.4 Age-specific fertility rates in Hong Kong, 1961, 1965, 1971 and
Australia, 1971
crude birth rate in the period 1960-65 was due to the change in the age
structure of the population (associated with the World War II
indentation) and about 16 per cent to postponement of marriage,
leaving about 10 per cent attributable to changes in the age-specific
fertility rate of married women. Between 1965 and 1971, the age
structure contributed 10 per cent to the decline change in marriage
pattern, and a fall in the fertility of married women 70 per cent (see
Figure 10.4).The difference between these two sets of percentages
illustrates the increasing role of family planning and birth control
practices over recent years. This change is probably due largely to the
efforts of the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong, which
came into existence in 1950, and provides the population with
information on methods of contraception. In 1971, for example, the
Family Planning Clinics of the Association were visited by over
100,000 people (about 1 per cent of whom were males). Oral pills were
the main method prescribed.
The results of the 1971 Census show that there exists an important
relationship between the educational status of mothers and the
number of children born to them. The percentage of women who had
given birth to two children or less was 39.4 per cent in the lowest
educational group and 64.6 per cent in the group with the highest
educational experience (post-secondary and higher). The percentage

of women giving birth to 6 or more children decreased with rising
educational status, from 20.9 per cent in the lowest educational group
to 4.7 per cent in the highest.
Mortality
The death rate in Hong Kong was 6.1 per 1000 in 1961 and 5.1 in 1971
(see Figure 10.3). By international standards these figures are
unusually low (see Table 10.3), a fact which is in part attributable to
the very high proportion of young people in the population of Hong
Kong. But the age-specific mortality is also low, and the pattern is
now very similar to that of most Western countries.
The outstanding characteristic of recent changes in the mortality
pattern in Hong Kong has been the decline in the infant mortality rate,
from 41.5 per 1000 in 1960 to 17.4 in 1974 (Figure 10.3). This change,
which is characteristic of the transition of society into ecological Phase
4, reflects the introduction of new standards of hygiene, programs of
vaccination and the use of effective chemotherapeutic and antibiotic
agents.
Associated with the trend in death rates, expectancy of life at birth
in Hong Kong increased by about 6 per cent in the ten years up to 1975,
when it was about 68 years for males and 76 for females. This
compares with life expectancies at birth of 67 years for males and 74
years for females in the USA (1970), and 48 years for both sexes
together in India (1973).
Although the population of Hong Kong is at present a young one,
the trend in death rates is resulting in a steady increase in the number,
and thus in the proportion, of older people in the society. While there
are, relative to some modern cities, few social services in Hong Kong
concerned with the care of the aged, one hears far less discussion
about the ‘old age problem’ there than in many Western societies. This
is in part explained by the fact that, in accordance with Chinese
tradition, people tend to show great respect for elderly members of
their family, and they take their obligations to them very seriously.
The three-generation family provides old people with a natural and
positive function and, no matter what their age, individuals feel they
have a place in the family group—they feel they belong.
The situation thus differs from that in many modern Western
societies, where the greater emphasis on the nuclear family and
increasing geographic mobility lead to a sudden falling away of family
roles for parents when their children grow up and leave home. This
The Population 221
TABLE 10.3 Demographic statistics fo r Hong Kong and various

other countries
Crude Crude Infant Expecta

birth death mortality tion
rate/ rate/ ra te /1000 of life
1000 1000 live at birth
Country Year popula popula births years
tion tion
M. F.
Hong Kong 1974 19.7 5.1 17.4 67.4 75.0
(1971)
USA 1974 15.0 9.1 16.5 67.4 75.2
(1972)
UK 1974 13.0 12.0 16.5 68.9 75.2
(1972)
Philippines 1970-75 41.0 11.4 62.0 52.2 55.4
India 1961-70 41.1 18.9 139.0 47.1 45.6

(for
1951-61)
Australia 1974 18.4 8.7 17.5 67.8 74.5
(1970-72)
social isolation of people in the older age groups has given rise to the
need for special programs designed to relieve the problems of the
aged. Indeed, it is not uncommon in the West to find whole housing
developments designed especially for the elderly. The inhabitants find
themselves surrounded by other old people, away from the stresses
and strains of family life, but often starved of any sense of
responsibility, sense of purpose or sense of belonging.
Health and disease

For a complete description of the ecology of a human settlement, it
would be necessary to provide information on the general biological
characteristics of the population, including data on anthropometric
and physiological variables, such as height, weight, blood pressure
and physical Fitness, and on the distribution of genetic markers.
Unfortunately, comprehensive data of this kind about the population
of Hong Kong are not available, and it was beyond the resources of
the Human Ecology Programme to mount an investigation to provide

the necessary information.
However, some information does exist on one important aspect of
the biopsychic state of the population—namely its pattern of health
and disease. Unfortunately, this is very far from complete.
Information about the causes of ill health and, by implication, the
health of a population may be derived from a variety of sources. The
simplest and perhaps most obvious of these sources are the official
statistics concerning the causes of death.
Causes o f death
Despite the well-known difficulties relating to the diagnosis and
classification of the causes of death, mortality statistics are very useful
as indirect indicators of the quality of important aspects of the urban
environment. We have already observed in Chapter 3 how in the past
certain changes in the conditions of life in Hong Kong have been
associated with striking changes in the pattern of cause of death, and
this is illustrated in Figures 10.5 and 10.6. The present pattern is much
1912 1930 1974
IN F E C T I O U S D IS E A S E S
P N E U M O N IA
T U B E R C U L O S IS 1
BERI BERI
□ HI
B R O N C H IT IS . E M P H Y S E M A . A S T H M A *
■ .1
H E A R T D ISE A SE
= 3
C E R E B R O V A S C U L A R D ISE A SE •*i <x *
CANCER *
A C C ID E N T S & SU IC ID E
1 *
I ' 1 ' i ' i ' I 1 I ' I ' r~

200 400 600 800 200 400
DEATH RATE / 100,000 PO PU LA TIO N
★ Not listed in offiool figures

■{l The mortol'ty stotistics for 1912 include o cotegory described os porolysis ond convulsions, which
occounted for 119 deoths per 100.000 It is not cleor who! is meont by this term For this reoson,
the cotegory is not included m this chart However, it is likely thot cerebrovosculor diseose contributed
to the deoths included under this heading
Figure 10.5 Death rates from main causes of death, Hong Kong, 1912, 1930
and 1974
The Population 223
more like that of the developed Western countries than it is like that of
ecological Phase 3 societies or most Third World countries, in many of
which the epidemiological transition to Phase 4 is incomplete. In
Hong Kong today, in marked contrast to the situation even fifty years
ago, the main causes of death are non-infectious disorders. All people
eventually die from some cause, and there must always be a major
cause or major causes of death in a population. But this fact does not
mean that the specific ailments which have replaced contagious
diseases as the main causes of death are necessarily inevitable. In fact,
as will be discussed later, there is good reason to suspect that the most
important forms of ill-health and causes of death in modern society
are unnecessary, being the consequence of certain evodeviant life
conditions. This statement almost certainly applies to the two leading
single causes of death ih Hong Kong today, since it is generally
accepted among medical scientists today that most cases of cancer and
of cardiovascular disease are due to environmental and life style
influences which are especially characteristic of contemporary
Western society.
Table 10.4 presents the death rates per 100,000 population for the
ten leading causes of death in Hong Kong in 1974, in comparison with
the Philippines, UK and USA. The table shows that the pattern of
causes of death in Hong Kong is similar to that of the USA and UK,
and that it differs markedly from that in the Philippines, where the
main causes of death are more typical of ecological Phase 3.
Let us briefly consider the five main causes of death in Hong Kong
separately.
Malignant neoplasms. Cancer is the most important single cause of

death in Hong Kong today: it caused 4683 deaths in 1974, representing
21.2 per cent of all deaths in that year, and a death rate of 110 per
100,000 population. This is four times the mortality rate from cancer
twenty-five years ago. The most common malignancy in Hong Kong
today is cancer of the lungs, which is much more common in males
than in females, but the ratio of female: male deaths from lung cancer
is relatively high compared with other countries.
Other common forms of cancer in Hong Kong are cancer of the

nasopharynx, of the stomach and of the liver and, among women,
cancer of the breast and of the cervix and uterus. A comparison of the
death rate per 100,000 from cancer in various countries is shown in
Table 10.5.
TABLE 10.4 Leading causes o f death in Hong Kong and various

other countries
Hong Kong 1974 USA 1973

Causes of Death rate Causes of Death rate
death per death per
100,000 100,000
population popu
lation
Malignant neoplasms 110 Heart diseases, 361
including hyperten
Heart diseases 77 sive disease
including
hypertensive disease Malignant neoplasms 167
Pneumonia, all forms 60 Cerebrovascular 102
Cerebrovascular 49 disease
disease Accidents 55
All accidents 26 Pneumonia 27
Tuberculosis 22 Diabetes mellitus 18
Bronchitis, Cirrhosis of liver 16
emphysema
and asthma 22
Certain causes of 13 Arteriosclerosis 15
peri-natal mortality Certain diseases of 14
early infancy
Suicide and self- 11
inflicted injuries Bronchitis, 14
emphysema
Congenital 9
abnormalities Suicide 12
Cirrhosis of liver 9 Homicide 10
Nephritis & nephrosis 6 Congenital anomalies 7
Diabetes mellitus 4 Nephritis & nephrosis 4
Peptic ulcer 4 Peptic ulcer 4
The Population 225
Philippines 1971 UK 1973
Causes of Death rate Causes of Death rate

death per death per 100,000
population popu-
lation
Pneumonia 107 Heart diseases, 341
including
Tuberculosis 69 hypertensive
disease
Heart diseases 40
111-defined illnesses 39 Malignant 172
of early infancy neoplasms
Cerebrovascular 165
Accidents 38 disease
Gastroenteritis 32 Pneumonia 91
and colitis (except new-born)
Diseases of the 30 Bronchitis 54
vascular system
Avitaminosis & other 27 Accidents 37
deficiency states Diabetes 10
Malignant neoplasms 25 Congenital 8
Bronchitis 22 malformations
Suicides 8
Ulcer (stomach & 7
duodenum)
Nephritis & 5
nephrosis
jE 120-
Neoplastic
Respirotory system
r(mcludmg pneumonia!
-„ ^ In fe c tio u s ond porositic

^ ’(including tuberculosis)
1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 I960 1962 1964 1966 1968 f 1970 1972 1974
’re—classified to include
cerebrovascular diseose
Figure 10.6 Death rates from selected causes, Hong Kong, 1946-1974
Heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Heart disease, including

hypertensive disease, accounted for 14.8 per cent of all deaths in Hong
Kong in 1974. These diseases, along with cancer, are characteristically
the major killers in Phase 4 societies.
Although heart disease has now become the second most important
cause of death in Hong Kong, it only accounts for one-sixth as many
deaths per 100,000 population as in the United States. Some figures
for different countries are given in Table 10.6, illustrating the degree
of the differences which exist. With respect specifically to coronary
heart disease (i.e. ischaemic heart disease), the death rate in Hong
The Population 227
TABLE 10.5 Mortality from lung cancer in Hong Kong, Australia

and UK
Death ra te /100,000 population

Male Female
Hong Kong (1974)
(Malignant neoplasm of 40 19
trachea, bronchus and
lung)
Australia (1974) 49 9
UK (1973) 107 25
Kong is only about one-tenth of the United States rate. A small part of
this difference can be accounted for by the different age structures of
the two populations, but there are clearly some other very important
influences at work. It is noteworthy that the death rate in Japan from
coronary heart disease is also very low.
We naturally ask whether these differences in the prevalence of
heart disease are reflections of differences in life conditions, or of
genetic differences between the populations. The former possibility
receives strong support from the fact that the death rate from
coronary heart disease in people of Japanese descent who live in the
United States is similar to that in Americans of Caucasoid stock.
Other countries in which the death rate from heart disease is high are
Canada, Finland, New Zealand and Scotland. It is relatively low in
Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Taiwan.
In Hong Kong there is very little difference between the sexes with
respect to mortality from heart diseases including hypertensive
disease; the death rates for males and females are 74.3 and 79.9 per
100.000 respectively. However, deaths from cerebrovascular disease
are definitely more common among females in Hong Kong than
among males, the rates being 44.3 per 100,000 for males and 55.1 per
100.000 for females (see Table 10.7).
The vast majority of deaths from cancer and the various heart
diseases in Hong Kong occur in the over-45 age group.
Pneumonia. Although the death rate from pneumonia is now only

about 40 per cent of what it was twenty years ago, this condition is still
listed as the third leading cause of death in Hong Kong. Some of the
TABLE 10.6 Morbidity from cardiovascular disease in Hong Kong

and various other countries
Death ra te /100,000 population

Ail heart Ischaemic Cerebro-
disease (coronary) vascular
Country disease
M F M F M F
Hong Kong (1974) 74 80 30 30 44 55
USA (1973) 415 309 326 102
Australia* (1974) 359 210 315 184 102 122
UK (1973) 285 258 104 102 102 94
Philippines (1971) 40 n.a. n.a.
Japan (1970) n.a. 37 173
■^Standardised for age.
decrease is undoubtedly due to the introduction of antibiotics and a

general improvement in diagnostic precision. Most of the deaths from
pneumonia occur in individuals under the age of one year or over the
age of 45.
Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis has been one of the slowest of the

contagious diseases in Hong Kong to respond to the cultural adaptive
processes of Phase 4 society. However, there has been a substantial
decline over the past twenty years in both the death rate from
tuberculosis and in the number of cases of the disease notified (see
Chapter 3).
Bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. Bronchitis, emphysema and

asthma are grouped together as the seventh leading cause of death in
Hong Kong. If we add the deaths from these conditions to those from
pneumonia, tuberculosis and cancer of the lungs and bronchi, we see
that the death rate due to these disorders of the respiratory system is
about 180 per 100,000, or 34.6 per cent of all deaths.
The death rate from bronchitis in Hong Kong was 13.8 per 100,000
population in 1974. Although similar rates occurred in the early 1950s
and considerably higher rates were recorded in the 1940s, the present
figure represents a threefold increase since the early 1960s. The hospital
The Population 229
TABLE 10.7 Deaths from heart disease and cerebrovascular disease,

Hong Kong, 1974
Rate per 100,000

Male Female
Chronic rheumatic heart disease 4.0 7.5
Hypertensive disease 16.0 16.9
Ischaemic heart disease 29.5 30.1
Other forms of heart disease 24.8 25.4
Cerebrovascular disease 44.3 55.1
treatment rate of bronchitis has also increased dramatically over the
past ten years, to exceed the high rate in the late 1940s (Figure 10.7). In
1974, 3746 cases of bronchitis were discharged from the major
hospitals in Hong Kong, which is a rate of 88.2 per 100,000
population.
Emphysema and asthma have been classified separately from other
respiratory disorders in the international statistical classification of
diseases since 1969, at which time the death rate from these disorders
in Hong Kong was 7.6 per 100,000 population. The rate doubled to
14.1 per 100,000 in 1972, but by 1974 it was relatively low again, at 8.4
per 100,000. Hospital cases, however, have steadily increased since
1969, and are now more common than bronchitis, at 105.7 per
100,000 population. Ninety-five per cent of the deaths from
bronchitis, emphysema and asthma occur in people over the age of
forty-five.
There is a strong likelihood that the recent relatively high rates of
bronchitis, emphysema and asthma are the consequence of
environmental factors associated with a Phase 4 society, including
such evodeviations as increased air pollution and the widespread
consumption of tobacco.
Accidents and suicides. Accidents were the fifth leading cause of death
in Hong Kong in 1974. The most common kind of fatal accident was
that involving motor vehicles, accounting for 38.5 per cent of the
deaths from accidents. However, the most common kinds of accident
treated in the hospitals were accidental falls and industrial accidents,
of which there were about 20,000 in 1974. This represents hospital
treatment rates for these accident cases of 262.7 and 228.8 per 100,000
population respectively, as compared with 129.6 per 100,000 for
accidents due to motor vehicles. Each kind of accident is much more

common in males than in females. It is interesting to note they have all
increased dramatically in incidence over the past thirty years (Figure
10. 8) .
Industrial accidents have been distinguished in the international
classification only since 1969 but accident ‘due to machines’ (no
longer classified as such) increased tenfold in incidence between 1950
and 1968. This striking trend is no doubt a reflection of the changes
during this time with respect to the pattern of use of extrasomatic
energy and the associated use of potentially dangerous machines, both
in industry and in the home.
Presumably also the risk of injury through falling is seriously
increased when the environment becomes more ‘high-rise’, and
certainly the average height of buildings in Hong Kong has increased
to a remarkable extent during the past twenty-five years. Accidental
falls treated in hospitals are now six times as numerous as they were in
1950.
Another cause of death which is becoming a serious concern in
many Western communities is accidental poisoning, which accounted
for 5.5 per cent of all accidents in Hong Kong in 1974. According to
hospital treatment figures, the incidence of serious poisoning has
increased from 8.4 per 100,000 population in 1950 to 51.5 in 1974.
Figure 10.7 Death rates and hospital treatment rates for bronchitis, emphysema
and asthma, Hong Kong, 1949-74
The Population 231
This trend is associated with the introduction into the environment of

potent pharmaceutical products and a wide range of noxious chemical
compounds, such as biocides and cleansing agents.
The death rate from suicide and self-inflicted injury has not,
according to government statistics, increased over the past twenty
years. In 1974, 481 suicides were recorded, of whom slightly over half
were males, and one was a child under the age of 14.
With respect to the life conditions associated with suicide, very little
research has been done in this area. A distinguished Hong Kong
psychiatrist, Dr P.M. Yap, studied the rates of suicide and attempted
suicide in the territory in the 1950s. He found that rates were neither
very low nor very high as compared to those in other countries,
although significantly high rates were found in the urban areas of
Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, compared to the rural New
Territories.
The Samaritan Association of Hong Kong has claimed that of the
cases of suicide and attempted suicide which came to its attention in
1971,63 per cent were due to ‘failure of examination’. This is likely to
be a reflection of the extreme pressure on young people in the territory
to ‘succeed’ in the formal education system (see Chapter 12).
Diabetes mellitus. It is worth drawing attention to one other rather
280 -
3 180 is caused by mochmesw
CAS ES
DEATHS
YEAR
^ rG o 'e 'o l class-1'C0i>0'' chongc oho >968 ’occ-do'is mo-nly ol -nduslnol type’
i
Figure 10.8 Death rates and hospital treatment rates for accidents, Hong
Hong, 1946-1974
dramatic change in the mortality pattern that has been taking place
over recent years (Figure 10.9). Although not yet one of the major
killing diseases in Hong Kong, the death rate from diabetes mellitus in
1974 was 4.3 per 100,000, about four times what it was in 1949. The
number of reported cases per 100,000 population also increased to
about the same extent, the rate in 1974 being 48 per 100,000.
The possible connection between these changes and trends
occurring in the eating habits of the people in Hong Kong will be
discussed in Chapter 11.
Morbidity
Data on the causes of death are of obvious relevance to any attempt to
describe the health and disease patterns of a population, but it must
always be remembered that they provide a very incomplete picture.
They inform us only about what people are likely to die of, but tell us
almost nothing about the health of the people who are alive at any
given time. The common cold, for instance, does not even appear in
the mortality statistics of Hong Kong, although it is perhaps the
commonest of all forms of ill-health in that city. Similarly, figures on
years of life expectancy at birth tell us little about the actual state of
health of the living members of a population. The life expectancy of
individuals at birth in the primeval Phase 1 of human existence was
deaths
!\ i
30 -
1950 1958 1962 1966 1970 19 7 4
Figure 10.9 Death rates and hospital treatment rates for diabetes, Hong
Kong, 1949-1974
The Population 233
certainly relatively short, but there are good reasons for suspecting
that most hunter-gatherers were, most of the time, very healthy.
There are several approaches to the problem of collecting
information on the state of health of people in a population. For
example, hospital records may be available for examination. One of
their disadvantages, however, is that they do not provide any
information about the prevalence of milder forms of ill-health which
do not necessitate hospitalisation, but which may, nevertheless, be
significant as factors impairing the enjoyment of life. Another
difficulty is that some hospital records are extremely difficult to
interpret.
A statistic often quoted in descriptions of human settlements is the
number of persons in the population per hospital bed. In Hong Kong
in 1962 the Figure was 333, and by 1974 was 244, as compared with
1620 in India (1969) and 83 in Australia (1971). In international
comparisons the false assumption is frequently made that, the greater
the number of hospital beds, the better off the population must be.
Certainly, this statistic tells us something about the health services of
the community, but it is not necessarily a valid indicator of the level of
health in the population. In fact, a really healthy population does not
require as many hospital beds as an unhealthy one. Moreover, in some
communities, the social structure and the prevailing values and
attitudes are such that families are prepared and willing to care for
their sick relatives at home.
The fact that some easily recognisable diseases must by law be
reported to government authorities provides some additional in
formation. However, this information obviously relates only to those
diseases to which the law applies. In Hong Kong the notifiable diseases
are: cholera, amoebic dysentery, bacillary dysentery, cerebrospinal
meningitis, chickenpox, diphtheria, enteric fever (typhoid and
paratyphoid), leprosy, malaria, measles, ophthalmia neonatorum,
poliomyelitis, puerperal fever, rabies, scarlet fever, tuberculosis,
typhus, whooping cough, plague, relapsing fever and yellow fever. All
are infectious diseases.
Another approach which had been used in some countries is to elicit
the co-operation of a sample of medical practitioners, who provide
information on the number of patients examined, on the nature of
their complaints and on the diagnoses made. But some people go more
readily to doctors than others, and while broken limbs are easy to
diagnose, many chronic organic and psychosomatic disorders are not.
In any case, no morbidity studies of this kind have been carried out in
H ong Kong, where, indeed, considerable difficulties would be

encountered, due to the existence o f two sets of physicians in the
c o m m u n ity — th e ‘tr a d itio n a l’ d o c to rs an d th e ‘W e s te rn ’
d o cto rs— who have rather different interpretations o f the causes o f ill
health.
Yet another approach to assessing m orbidity in populations
involves conducting large-scale surveys, in which questionnaires are
adm inistered to samples o f populations, aimed at providing
inform ation on each individual ’s state o f h ealth . These questionnaires
often include standard health scales, which are used to com pare the
levels o f general health in different sub-populations within a society,
or between different geographic areas. In the U nited States an
ongoing nation-w ide program o f continuing health surveys is
conducted by the governm ent’s Public H ealth Service, involving m ore
than 100,000 persons per year. M ost surveys o f this kind do not m ake
any attem pt to identify specific diseases, but are concerned rather with
signs and sym ptom s o f general ill health. Relying heavily as they do on
individuals’ reports o f their subjective experience, such surveys are at
best only approxim ate indicators o f state o f health. C ultural factors
and personality differences are well know n to influence w hether a
person feels sick, or is prepared to com plain o f ill-health or fatigue.
Nevertheless, for all their shortcom ings, these scales, if properly
adm inistered and analysed, are useful for revealing differences in the
level o f general health in different sections o f populations. As far as
the individual is concerned, o f course, w hat really m atters is how he or
she actually feels.
The only large-scale survey employing health scales which has been
carried out in H ong Kong is our own Biosocial Survey,* which was
adm inistered to 4000 people in 1974. Before considering some o f the
results o f this survey, some further com m ent is called for on a few
specific form s o f m aladjustm ent not discussed above as causes of
death. Let us begin with viral infections.
M ost viral disorders in H ong Kong today are relatively mild,
involving merely a few days o f respiratory or gastro-intestinal
m aladjustm ent, but som e o f them , such as measles and viral hepatitis,
are potential killers. Inform ation on the m ore serious viral disorders is
provided by the reports o f the D irector o f Medical and H ealth
Services.
The m ost com m on relatively serious virus disease in H ong Kong is
*See Appendix 3.
The Population 235
measles. This disease is notifiable and in 1974, 1575 cases were

reported. However, it is certain that a very large number of cases of
the disease were not officially notified. There were 53 deaths from
measles in that year, representing a death rate of 1.25 per 100,000
population. The first city-wide vaccination campaign against measles
was introduced in 1967, after which the incidence of the disease
decreased, but it has apparently increased again during the past two or
three years. A survey carried out in 1974 showed that only 41 per cent
of children under five had been vaccinated.
It has been suggested that this relative lack of success in combating
measles is largely due to superstition on the part of the parents. Nearly
everyone knows about measles vaccine, but there is a reluctance to
accept it. A traditional belief exists among the Chinese people that
measles is an inevitable transition from a relatively sickly to a more
healthy state, and that it is dangerous for a child not to experience it.
This belief is said to have hindered the elimination of measles from
Hong Kong. However, the medical authorities have taken tradition
into account in promoting the vaccination program, by making it clear
to the community that the result of the inoculation is, in fact,
equivalent to a measles episode. Thus, parents can respond to the
situation in the traditional manner (see Chapter 2), just as if the
vaccination were a natural case of measles.
Viral hepatitis became notifiable in March 1974, but, like measles, it
is grossly under-notified. In 1974, 1096 cases of hepatitis were treated
in hospitals and there were 47 deaths and in 1975 there were 1761 cases
and 43 deaths. A seasonal peak is evident in late spring and early
summer. Unlike measles, which is predominantly a disease of
children, viral hepatitis is most common among adolescents and
young adults. Little in the way of cultural adaptation has yet been
attempted in Hong Kong in relation to hepatitis. Probably the main
effort will be put into preventive measures directed at the maintenance
of personal hygiene and cleanliness in the preparation of food. There
is some concern whether the consumption of shellfish from the
extremely polluted waters around Hong Kong may be contributing to
the prevalence of this disease.
Influenza is endemic in Hong Kong. Its contribution to mortality is
relatively small, and only the more severe cases of influenza come to
light. In 1974, 384 cases were treated in the major hospitals.
As in all large urban communities, the common cold, which may be
due to one of many different virus strains, and other similar relatively
mild virus infections, is extremely prevalent in Hong Kong.
Mental health
Turning to the mental health of people in Hong Kong, we find that
very little information is available. Only those severe or acute cases of
psychiatric disorder which require hospital treatment are recorded,
and then only in broad diagnostic categories. There were, in 1974,
4284 cases of ‘psychotic disorders’ and 5093 cases of ‘neurotic
disorders’ discharged from government and government-assisted
hospitals. Most of the psychotic cases were diagnosed as
schizophrenics. For a more meaningful picture of mental health in the
city, it is necessary to consider also the non-hospitalised population.
The only full-scale attempt to do this has been the Biosocial Survey,
some of the results of which we shall now discuss.
Results from the Biosocial Survey

The Biosocial Survey, which was carried out in 1974 as part of the
Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme, contained a series of
questions aimed at providing information about the general physical
and mental health of the people of Hong Kong. The Survey included a
number of questions relating specifically to indicators of physical
health, such as the individual’s experience of coughs, pains and other
symptoms of physical disorder. It also included Langner’s ‘twenty-
two point scale’ for assessing general psycho-physiological malad
justment, and a single question on the degree of life enjoyment.*
A summary of responses to the items relating to physical health is
given in Table 10.8. Aches and pains apparently experienced
frequently by a significant proportion of the Biosocial Survey
respondents; almost 40 per cent of the males and almost 60 per cent of
the females reported at least one bad pain in the month previous to the
interview. About 20 per cent of the whole sample said that the pain
was severe enough to interfere seriously with their daily activities.
Coughing is the only sign of maladjustment which was more
frequently reported by males than by females in the Biosocial Survey
sample. Of the males, 21 per cent and 16 per cent of the females had
had a cough during the month previous to the interview. Coughing
may be a symptom of a mild viral infection of the respiratory tract
such as the common cold or influenza, or a reflection of more serious
disorder such as bronchitis, tuberculosis or lung cancer. It may also be
♦Also included were N.M. Bradbum’s scales for measuring well-being. The
results obtained from the administration o f these scales will be in the report of
the Biosocial Survey to be published separately (see Appendix 3).
The Population 237
TABLE 10.8 Biosocial Survey: general physical health: individual

items by sex
Percentage of
whole sample
Item Male Female
One or more bad pains during 36.6 57.6

past month
Daily activities seriously affected
by pain at some time during past month 13.5 24.2
Coughs during the past month 21.1 16.2
High fever during the past month 5.6 6.1
Colds and flu: once or more than
once during the past month 23.3 23.5
Self-report of poor health during
the past month 13.0 23.5
N 1675 2250
Note: Levels of statistical significance are not shown in tables setting out
Biosocial Survey data. A detailed analysis of the results of this Survey has been
published separately (see Appendix 3).
caused by the smoking of tobacco.*

The sexes did not differ with respect to the incidence of mild
respiratory disorders in our sample. About 23 per cent of both the
male and female populations had experienced at least one attack of the
common cold or influenza during the month previous to the interview .
This percentage, if extended to the whole adult population of Hong
Kong, would represent at least 400,000 people aged between 20 and 59
with a summer respiratory infection during this one-month period.
The experience of nausea or high fever was less commonly reported
than coughs and colds, and there was little difference in frequency
T obacco smoking relates positively to the frequency of coughing in the
Biosocial Survey sample, particularly among males. The frequency of colds
and influenza does not relate to tobacco smoking, however, which suggests
that the reports of coughing are not simply a reflection of these miid viral
infections.
between the sexes.

According to the respondents’ own reports, 13 per cent of the males
and 23 per cent of the females had been in poor or very poor health
during the previous month.
We will now consider the results obtained with the Langner scale. In
the words of Langner, this scale provides ‘a rough indication of where
people lie on a continuum of impairment in life functioning due to
very common types of psychiatric symptoms’. More recent reports
have suggested that the scale measures the degree of ‘personal distress’
which is being experienced at the time and that it is sensitive to a wide
variety of life events. For comparative purposes, data are available
from studies in various parts of the world, including parts of North
America and Australia. Its use in the Biosocial Survey was, as far as
we know, its First application to an Asian community and its first
translation into Chinese.
The twenty-two items about which the respondent is questioned
indicate specific symptoms of physiological disorder (e.g. headaches,
acid stomach, shortness of breath), as well as such signs of psychic
disturbance as feelings of depression and remoteness from other
people. An individual’s score is calculated by a simple addition of the
number of pathognomonic responses, so that the possible scores range
from zero to twenty-two. Higher scores therefore imply a greater
degree of personal distress. The scale was validated in Hong Kong by
administering it to over one hundred out-patients attending
government psyclyatric clinics, who had been professionally
diagnosed as suffering from ‘mental disorder’. Most of the psychiatric
out-patients scored high as compared with the urban sample as a
whole: 61.3 per cent of the patients scored seven or more on the scale,
whereas only 11.9 per cent of the urban sample scored as high as this.
The distribution of scores on the Langner scale among the
respondents in the Biosocial Survey is shown in Table 10.9 and in
Figure 10.10. Most of the respondents reported less than three
symptoms, but a wide range of scores was found, with some
individuals scoring as many as seventeen symptoms of distress. The
pattern of scores within the sample illustrates an important concept
which is sometimes forgotten in the assessment of biopsychic
disorder, namely, the concept of health as a continuous variable. In
other words, different degrees of health are expressed throughout a
population and there is no sharp dividing line between ‘healthiness’
and ‘illness’.
A notable sex differentiation was apparent with respect to the
The Population 239
TABLE 10.9 Biosocial Survey: psycho-physiological maladjustment

as indicated by the Langner scale, by sex
Maladjustment
Sex Per cent Per cent N
‘non-disturbed’ ‘disturbed’
score = 0-3 score = 4 +
Male 74.9 25.1 1675
Female 63.2 36.8 2250
Total 68.2 31.8 3925
Langner scores in our sample, and significantly fewer females in Hong

Kong than males scored zero or one on the scale, and fewer males than
females reported a relatively large number of symptoms.
An interesting feature of these results is the fact that the overall
distribution of scores is remarkably similar to that found in many, but
not all, Western communities where the Langner scale has been
applied. One can think of few cities more different from Hong Kong
than the Federal Capital of Australia, Canberra. The latter is
essentially an affluent modern suburbia, with a population of about
200,000 people and an average density of 3.5 per hectare. The
majority of residents live in self-contained one-storey houses
surrounded by a small garden. The Langner scale was administered to
a random sample of the Canberra population in 1971, and 26 per cent
of the population recorded a score of 4 or more, as compared with
31.8 per cent of the Hong Kong sample. Langner, in the Manhattan
study in 1962, found 31 per cent scored 4 or more, the level which he
considered to be the threshold of impairment. The proportion scoring
4 or more in other places range from 16.6 per cent in a rural area in
Illinois, to 43.5 per cent in three small communities in Nebraska. Too
little is known about the meaning of the Langner scale to allow us to
draw any conclusions concerning the explanation of these differences.
However, if we presume that most of the ‘four plus’ score is due to
adverse environmental influences, it is tempting to speculate that,
although the underlying causes of psychic maladjustment in, for
instance, Canberra are likely to be different from those in Hong Kong,
their overall accumulative effect is much the same. The similarity of
the Canberra and Hong Kong results does not support the view that
the environment or lifestyle in either of these cities is more stressful

than in the other.
According to the self-report of life enjoyment, about 10 per cent of
respondents said they did not enjoy life, and over a quarter were
uncommitted as to whether or not their lives were generally enjoyable.
Of the males, 15.3 per cent, and 11.8 per cent of the females say that
they enjoyed life very much (Table 10.10). The variation with respect
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
LANGNER SCORE
Figure 10.10 Biosocial Survey: distribution o f scores on the Langner Scale,

by sex
The Population 241
TABLE 10.10 Biosocial Survey: life enjoyment
Life
enjoyment Male Female N
Unenjoyable 10.6 9.4 389

Medium 25.9 28.8 1083
Quite enjoyable 47.7 49.4 1910
Very enjoyable 15.3 11.8 522
Missing data: 21
N 1675 2250 N = 3925
to age is small. Among the males, the under-forties were slightly more
likely than older people to report enjoyment of life, but among the
females even this small difference is not apparent. It seems that in
Hong Kong, a person’s age is not closely related to his self-report of
general enjoyment of life, despite the fact that physical health appears
to be poorer among the older age-groups.
We interpret these results as indicating that the people of Hong Kong
are, on the whole, moderately healthy, although we are also left with
the impression that there is a good deal of sub-clinical maladjustment
which interferes with full life enjoyment for a substantial proportion
of the population. We will discuss variability in health within the
population in later chapters.
11
MATERIAL ASPECTS OF
HUMAN EXPERIENCE
In our consideration of the ecology of Hong Kong in the 1970s, the

emphasis has so far been on the characteristics of the settlement at the
level of the total environment. We have recognised that, unlike the
situation in a natural ecosystem, such characteristics as the patterns of
flow of energy, of nutrients and of water are mainly determined by the
human component of the system, and indeed are the expressions or
consequences of human behaviour. We have also discussed the human
component itself, but mainly in terms of the population as a whole, and
in so doing we have commented on some important demographic,
societal and epidemiological variables. In this chapter and the three
which follow it we focus our attention more sharply on people, but
this time on people as individuals, rather than in the collective sense.
We shall discuss the actual personal experience of the people who
make up the population of Hong Kong. In terms of our conceptual
model, we shall be considering the personal environment, the
behaviour pattern and the biopsychic state of individuals, and some of
the interrelationships between these three aspects of life experience.
We have already described how, in attempting a comprehensive
approach to the study of a human situation, we are faced with the
problem of organisation of the relevant material. Once again, we will
make use of the conceptual framework discussed in Chapter 4 to
provide some structure for this discussion, and to aid us in the
selection of material for mention. It is useful at this point to recall the
Hippocratic postulate, which assumes that the state of health of
individuals is to a large extent determined by the quality of their
personal environments and their lifestyles. Indeed, our interest in the
societal conditions in human settlements stems largely from our
concern about the ways in which they influence the life conditions of
the inhabitants, and hence their health and well-being.
The principle of evodeviation provides us with a biologically valid
standard of reference when we set out to compare the environmental

conditions and lifestyles of different populations and sub
populations (see Chapter 4). That standard of reference is primeval or
ecological Phase 1 society. We appreciate that some readers will not be
sympathetic to this evolutionary approach to the study of human
beings, although they may not argue with its relevance to the
understanding of the health needs of other species. As human
ecologists, we acknowledge the unique role of human culture in
human adaptation; but we are firmly of the view that it is useful to
take note of the differences between the conditions of life of people
today and those of the many tens of thousands of generations of our
ancestors who lived before the domestic transition. Apart from the
postulated relevance of these differences to the understanding of
problems of health and well-being, the comparison helps, we believe,
to encourage a sense of perspective in the study of human affairs.
In keeping with this approach, reference will frequently be made in
the following few chapters to aspects of the life conditions of hunter-
gatherers. These statements are based partly on common sense (e.g.
primeval people did not eat refined carbohydrates) and partly on an
extensive coverage of the anthropological literature on recent hunter-
gatherers. Knowledge of their life conditions has provided us with a
basis for the selection of variables for consideration in the analysis and
description of the situation in Hong Kong. This knowledge, seen in the
light of the principle of evodeviation, is also a fruitful source of
hypotheses concerning the possible relevance of changes in life
conditions for biopsychic state. It will be recalled that one of our
general hypotheses arising from this principle is that not only
evodeviations of a material nature, but also social, psychosocial and
behavioural deviation from the primeval lifestyle may contribute to
the various maladjustments experienced by the individuals in a
population.
It is important in human ecological studies to appreciate the
difference between two quite distinct ways of analysing and describing
the life conditions of people. On the one hand, their personal
environments and behaviour patterns can be described in terms of
elemental, or common denominators, which are applicable to any
society, irrespective of the level and kind of cultural or technological
development. These range from such physico-chemical items as
whether or not the air inhaled by the individual contains lead, to such
socio-behavioural items as whether or not he experiences an effective
Material Aspects of Human Experience 245
emotional support network. On the other hand, life conditions can be

described in terms of the specific form which the elemental life
conditions take in a given cultural situation. We suggest that, from the
standpoint of health and well-being, it is the elemental life conditions
which are of greatest interest, whereas the culturally determined life
conditions have major implications for the ecological characteristics
of the total environment (and hence, indirectly, for human health).
For example, the continual and frequent generation and fulfilment of
goals is an elemental life condition which is more characteristic of
some societies than of others; and we suspect that when satisfied it
contributes to a sense of well-being. In this context the specific nature
of the goals may well be relatively unimportant. However, from the
standpoint of the total environment, it is of considerable relevance
whether these goals involve growing vegetables, painting pictures,
climbing mountains, singing songs, carving furniture, setting fire to
forests, robbing banks, or purchaisng energy-expensive goods like
motor cars. Similarly, from the point of view of the individual’s well
being it may be relatively unimportant whether his participation in co
operative small-group interaction involves co-operation in hunting,
running a small business enterprise or planning to blow up a nuclear
power station; but each has quite different implications for the total
environment.
As a methodological aid to our studies, we have constructed a
‘check list’ of elemental life conditions. This list is used simply as a
basis for the selection of variables for analysis and description in our
work. It ranges from easily quantifiable and ‘hard’ items, such as
quality of diet and quality of air inhaled, to less tangible, less easily
measurable, less easily definable, but not therefore less important,
aspects of life conditions such as personal creative behaviour and the
experience or fear of aggression. These social and behavioural items
on the list are derived from available information on the life
conditions of our standard or reference society, that of the primeval
phase of human existence. For example, in a typical hunter-gatherer
society, individuals experience a good deal of ‘co-operative small
group interaction’ and ‘practice of learned manual skills’. However,
their lifestyle is also characterised by considerable ‘variety in daily
experience’, and no one single kind of activity is likely to persist for
more than an hour or two. There also appears to be considerable
‘spontaneity in behaviour’.
We should emphasise that we do not consider the life conditions
check list to be absolute in any sense. It is simply a tool, which is

flexible and is constantly being modified as a result of further thought
and experience.
A full life conditions check list is presented in Appendix 1 where, in
keeping with the conceptual diagrams (Figures 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4),
the items are listed under the two main headings: personal
environment and behaviour pattern. However, as is so often the case
with biocultural matters, this categorisation cannot be considered a
rigid one and some items seem to lie in both categories. In the case of
co-operative small-group interaction, for instance, the behaviour of
other people interacting co-operatively with oneself is an aspect of the
personal environment, whereas one’s own active participation in
small-group interaction is an aspect of one’s own behaviour.
Appendix 1 also includes a check list of aspects of the biopsychic
state. This list also begins with relatively easily definable and
measurable items including anthropometric and physiological
variables, and ends with such intangible items as ‘sense of personal
involvement’ and ‘sense of belonging’. These ‘sense of’ items are
included because, however hard they may be to describe or quantify,
we believe that they are important aspects of well-being. It is also
apparent that they are much influenced by some of the less tangible
aspects of the life conditions: for example, creative behaviour will
usually lead to a sense of personal involvement.
Several points must be made about the check lists before we proceed
with our description. First, some readers might question whether such
items as ‘sense of personal involvement’, ‘sense of meaning’ and ‘co
operative small-group interaction’ properly belong in a treatise on
human ecology. We would argue strongly that they do. We consider
that they are extremely important aspects of human experience,
relevant to health and well-being, much influenced by the societal
conditions in the total environment and related in important ways to
such traditional ecological issues as the patterns of flow of energy and
material resources.
Second, a difficulty clearly lies in the fact that it is not possible to
obtain meaningful quantitative data on the intangible variables on the
check list. In such cases, when an item is judged important and where
only anecdotal or impressionistic information is available, it is
necessary to discuss it on the basis of this kind of information.
We are well aware that many of the social, psychosocial and
behavioural aspects of life experience are, unlike chemical substances
or living organisms, not discrete entities, each separate from the other
and each easily recognisable by all people. Indeed, by attempting to
draw up a list at all we might be judged by some readers to be absurdly
reductionist. However, this would show that we had failed to
communicate properly what we are aiming to do. Let us emphasise
that we regard the list as a tool, its purpose being to provide us with a
means of considering the life conditions of a population in a relatively
orderly manner and in elemental terms so that we can compare
different populations and sub-populations in terms of the same basic
variables. It also ensures that we do not omit from consideration any
aspects of human experience which, in terms of our conceptual
approach, might be important.
The discussion in this chapter and the two which follow it will be
organised according to a simplified version of the complete check lists.
In the simpler version (Table 11.1) we include only those items which
seem to us to be especially relevant to the Hong Kong scene.
Moreover, some of the items in the short version are composite, in that
we shall consider some related aspects of the personal environment,
the behaviour pattern and the biopsychic state under a single heading.
Thus, in the case of ‘experience of aggression’, we include considera
tion of the likelihood that individuals might be victims of violent
aggression, the tendency for individuals to behave aggressively, and
the fear that individuals experience of being attacked. The last item on
the list, ‘variety in daily experience’, will not be considered separately,
but will be referred to from time to time in the context of other items.
The following discussion on life conditions in Hong Kong will have
a straight descriptive aspect which, bearing in mind our interest in the
principle of evodeviation, will include comment on the extent to which
(in elemental terms) the life conditions are similar to, or deviate from
those prevailing in primeval Phase 1 of human existence. There will
also be some discussion on the possible implications of the conditions
of life described in relation to the biopsychic state of individuals.
Quality of air
It is well known that the quality of the air in most modern urban
settlements deviates significantly from that of the air inhaled by
humankind in the primeval environment, and it is also well
substantiated that this evodeviation is the cause of various forms of
maladjustment in human beings.
TABLE 11.1 Simplified version o f the life condition check list*
C hapter
Quality o f air 11
Noise levels 11
Diet 11
N atural food com ponents
Additives and contam inants
Energy (‘food calorie’) consum ption
C ontact with parasitic and pathogenic organism s 11
C ontact with anim als and plants; contact with n ature 11
Dwellings 11
Social interactions and relationships 12
Personal involvement 12
Enjoym ent and spontaneity in behaviour
Sense o f m eaning and purpose
C o-operative sm all-group interaction
The practice o f learned skills and creative behaviour
Sense o f belonging (to neighbourhood and com m unity)
Learning experience 12
Resting, sleeping and physical w ork 13
Experience o f aggression 13
The consum ption o f drugs 13
A spirations and goal fulfilm ent 13
Variety in daily experience 12 &14
*Full lists in Appendix 1.
The m ain sources o f air pollution in H ong Kong are the power
stations and m otor vehicles, and the concentration o f pollutants varies
throughout the settlem ent according to proxim ity to these sources.
U nfortunately, there is little satisfactory inform ation on levels o f air
pollution in H ong Kong based on actual m easurem ents o f air quality.
However, some indication o f the likely levels o f pollutants in different
areas is provided by the pollution sim ulation m odel m entioned in
C hapter 6, which is based on d ata available on the uses o f different
fossil fuels, the location o f their use, and wind velocities and
directions. As already m entioned, the m odel does not take account o f
all possible aspects of the situation, and consequently its predictions

must be treated with some caution. Nevertheless, until reliable data
are available from monitoring stations, it is reasonable to discuss the
problem in terms of the predictions derived from the model.
Sulphur compounds in fossil fuels are released as sulphur dioxide
(S02), and to a lesser extent, as sulphur trioxide (SO,), and are later
transformed in the atmosphere to acid-sulphate aerosols. These
aerosols have a long atmospheric half-life and , when they penetrate
the respiratory tract, they have a corrosive effect on the tissues. It has
been suggested that the sulphur oxides and more particularly the acid-
sulphate aerosols aggravate asthma and pre-existing heart disease,
and evidence has been reported that prolonged exposure over several
years will result in increased lower respiratory tract disease in both
adults and children. Studies in the United States and Britain suggest
that mean concentrations of sulphur oxides in excess of 500 ^g/m 3are
associated with comparatively high mortality rates.
It has not been possible to obtain data in Hong Kong on the spatial
distribution of cases of the various forms of maladjustment, such as
emphysema, chronic bronchitis and cancer of the lungs, which are
suspected to result from the constant inhalation of atmospheric
impurities. Nevertheless, the fact that increasing rates of mortality
and hospital admissions due to these chronic respiratory ailments in
Hong Kong as a whole (see Chapter 10) parallel the increasing use of
fossil fuels is consistent with the hypothesis that a causal relationship
exists.
The toxicity of carbon monoxide is due to the fact that it has a very
much greater affinity than oxygen for haemoglobin in the blood
stream, and consequently it interferes with the transportation of
oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. It is therefore
especially harmful to individuals who are likely to be sensitive to a
decreased oxygen supply, such as those with anaemia, chronic lung
diseases and cardiovascular disease. Recent mortality data provided
by the National Air Pollution Control Administration of the United
States Department of Health, Education and Welfare suggest that
exposure to average levels of 9 -16 m g/m 3is associated with increased
mortality from coronary heart disease. It is also suggested that the
probability of motor accidents may be higher with greater carbon
monoxide exposure.
According to the simulation model, the ground level concentrations
of carbon monoxide in Hong Kong are likely sometimes to reach
about 9 m g/m 3 and some measurements taken in ten locations in

Kowloon and five on Hong Kong Island in 1975 gave readings ranging
from 7 to 13 m g/m 3.
It may reasonably be concluded that, as in other large modern cities,
carbon monoxide concentrations in Hong Kong are such that there is
an increased risk for people with certain diseases, and also for
developing foetuses. This risk is likely to be greater for smokers in the
urban population, because they already have comparatively high
carbon monoxide levels in their blood.
The theme of air pollution provides a suitable opportunity for us to
introduce an important biosocial concept which we refer to as the
boiling frog principle. It is said that if a frog is placed in a beaker of
hot water it will make frantic efforts to clamber out. If, however, it is
placed in cold water, which is slowly heated, the frog can eventually be
brought to the boil without it having made any attempt to escape. The
frog undergoes various degrees of maladjustment which, because of
their gradual onset, do not elicit any adaptive behavioural reponses.
We suggest that the boiling frog principle is of importance in our
attempts to understand the interrelationships between environmental
quality and human health and well-being, and that it poses a serious
problem for society. The affected individual himself, like the boiling
frog, may be unaware that he is considerably less healthy than he
might otherwise be. Or he may, indeed, be aware that he is in a
suboptimal state, but perhaps explain his feelings as being due to his
increasing age or to the unsatisfactory personalities of the members of
his family (who in any case may be similarly affected by the same
environmental influences). Thus, the first requirement for successful
cultural adaptation to environmental threat would not be satisfied (see
Chapter 4), and consequently no attempt would be made on the level
either of the individual or of society to eliminate this maladjustment.
The potential societal significance of the boiling frog principle may
be illustrated by reference to lead, which has long been known to be a
cumulative poison for human beings. According to the British
Medical Journal,* the mild symptoms and signs of lead poisoning
include: tiredness; lassitude; constipation; slight abdominal
discomfort or pain; anorexia; altered sleep; irritability; anaemia;
pallor and, less frequently, diarrhoea and nausea. The problem lies in
the fact that if the concentrations of lead in the environment are such
*British Medical Journal, 1968, 4, p.501.

as to produce only ‘sub-clinical’ symptoms, the real possibility exists

that affected individuals might come to take them for granted,
oblivious to the fact that they could in fact feel very much fitter and
consequently enjoy life much more.
The pertinence of these comments is clear when we appreciate that,
while overt symptoms of lead poisoning are associated with
concentrations in the blood of 60-80 \ig/ 100ml, levels of 10-15
Hg/ 100ml are quite common among modern city dwellers. Higher
levels than this are common in people who are frequently exposed to
the exhaust fumes of motor vehicles.
Although it is known that the lead concentration in the air falls off
rapidly with increasing distance from highways, this fact is of little
comfort to the people of Hong Kong, a high proportion of whom live
very close to the traffic-congested roads. Unfortunately, no figures
were available to us relating to actual measurements of the
concentration of lead either in human blood or in the atmosphere in
Hong Kong, although there is every reason to suspect that they are as
high as in other modern cities (see Chapter 6).
As we have indicated, sub-clinical lead poisoning is likely to
promote lassitude, general malaise and irritable behaviour, and
consequently to interfere with the general enjoyment of life. However,
there is also some evidence accumulating to the effect that sub-clinical
levels of lead in the blood are associated with more serious forms of
abnormal behaviour, and that it may even impair mental development
in young people. Indeed, it has even been suggested that sub-clinical
lead poisoning may contribute to delinquent behaviour.
These considerations remind us that we cannot rule out the
possibility that chemical agents in the environment, arising from the
various technological activities of Phase 4 society, may sometimes
have subtle and undesirable effects on the behaviour of people, with
consequent adverse influences on their health and well-being and on
societal harmony.
Noise levels
As in many other modern cities, the levels of noise to which the
average citizen is exposed in Hong Kong are often much above those
which must have been typical of the evolutionary environment. Some
figures, in terms of decibels dB (A)* for various typical locations in the
modern world are as follows:
*The decibel (dB) scale is logarithmic. The ‘A ’ scale relates only to the level of
sounds at the frequency reponse of the human ear.
just audible: 10; leaves rustling in breeze: 20; soft whisper: 30; quiet
restaurant: 50; freeway traffic (within 50 m): 70; busy city street: 90;
heavy traffic in city street: 100; jet aircraft low overhead: 100;
discotheque: 120; jet aircraft taking off (within 50 m): 120.
Appreciating that the decibel scale is a logarithmic scale, it is clear

that there is considerable variation in the levels of noise to which
people are likely to be exposed in different parts of cities, including
Hong Kong. The situation in Hong Kong is aggravated by the unusual
fact that the airport is situated within the city area, on the southern tip
of the Kowloon Peninsula. Many hundreds of thousands of residents
are repeatedly exposed to intermittent loud noise as numerous aircraft
land or take off throughout the day. Indeed, the aircraft come so close
to buildings in Hong Kong as they land that it is possible for the
passengers to look into the homes of the residents of high-rise
apartment blocks situated alongside the flight path.
Information on the possible effects on biopsychic state resulting
from high levels of environmental noise is somewhat unsatisfactory.
There is clear evidence that short exposure to noise intensities of 90 dB
and over produce temporary impairment of hearing and that chronic
exposure to such levels produces permanent damage. While the view is
often expressed that high levels of environmental noise are likely to be
psychologically harmful, there is little definitive information on the
subject.
It has been claimed, on the basis of the results of a recent survey of
residents along the flight path of Kai Tak Airport, carried out by Dr
N. Ko, that aircraft noise interferes with the conversations of about
300,000 people; interferes with the use of radio and television by
about 200,000 people; regularly interrupts the sleep of 100,000
people; causes tension in 50,000 people, and headaches in 60,000
people, and causes 10,000 people to take sleeping pills. While great
caution is required in the interpretation of the results of this kind of
study, these statements seem likely to be reasonably indicative of the
situation.
In our Biosocial Survey, which involved a random sample of the
whole population of urban Hong Kong, about 45 per cent of the
respondents said that their environment was noisy and about 25 per
cent claimed that noise interfered with sleep. It is interesting that 35
per cent of the respondents complained most about noise from other
people, while about 18 per cent complained about traffic noise, 8 per
cent about aircraft noise and 5 per cent about noise from road works.
As might be expected, the proportion of people complaining about
noise varied according to location, housing type and several other
variables. For example, about 15 per cent of respondents living in
private apartments and houses, as compared with about 30 per cent of
inhabitants of resettlement estates, reported that noise interfered with
sleep. There was also evidence of a slight but interesting age
difference: 31 per cent of males and 27 per cent of females between
20-34 years of age complained of interference with sleep, as compared
with only 24 per cent of males and 23 per cent of females between
35-59 years.
With respect to the problem of the effects of noise on health, the
Biosocial Survey allowed an examination of relationships between
complaints about environmental noise and the various measures of
biopsychic state included in the Survey. It was found, for example,
that among male respondents who claimed that noise interfered with
sleep, about 12 per cent had scores of 7 or more on the Langner scale
(suggesting a considerable degree of ‘personal distress’—see Chapter
10), as compared with only 6 per cent of those who said their sleep was
not so affected. The proportions for females were 22 per cent and 13
per cent respectively. A similar trend was found with respect to the
other measures of ‘well-being’ used in the Survey. These results do not
allow us to discriminate between the following four possibilities: (1)
that noise leads to both lack of sleep and psycho-physiological
disturbance; (2) that lack of sleep due to noise creates disturbed
people; (3) that disturbed people are more sensitive to noise; or (4) that
disturbed people are sleepless for other reasons and therefore more
likely to notice noises.
Thus, while these findings are interesting from the descriptive point
of view, they do not contribute usefully to our understanding of the
true nature of the causal relationship between noise levels and health.
It is important to appreciate that an individual’s biopsychic
response to noise will depend to some extent on whether or not he
perceives it as undesirable or threatening; and this, in turn, is likely to
be influenced by his socialisation experience. Certainly, people can
readily become ‘adapted’ to high levels of environmental noise. This
fact does not, however, rule out the possibility that some kinds of
noise at certain levels may be generally harmful for the psyche of
most, if not all, human beings who are not deaf. Furthermore, we
must also bear in mind that the effect of noise may sometimes be less
as a direct stressor and more as a factor interfering with potential
sources of enjoyment (e.g. conversation). These possibilities will be
discussed in Chapter 14.
Diet
The overall food supply to Hong Kong has already been discussed in
some detail (Chapter 8). Although the total environment now offers a
very wide range of foodstuffs to suit the palate of people from many
different cultures, the vast majority of people still consume mainly
traditional Chinese foodstuffs. In many important respects their diet
is less evodeviant than that of the inhabitants of many modern
Western urban settlements. It usually includes a wide range of fresh
vegetables and fruits, as well as a substantial content of fish and meat,
including the occasional snake, civet cat, owl or dog. Its content of
saturated fats and refined carbohydrates is markedly lower than that
of the diet of say, the average citizen of Australia or the United States,
and it contains a relatively much higher proportion of fibre.
Moreover, improved understanding of the nutritional needs of the
human species as well as the reduced occurrence of abject poverty has
led to the virtual disappearance of beri-beri, the specific nutritional
deficiency disease which was common in Hong Kong and other
Eastern societies in the early part of this century and which was
associated with a diet consisting almost exclusively of polished rice.
Western culture and economic forces, however, are beginning to
have influences on the diet of the average citizen of Hong Kong. These
will be briefly discussed below under three headings, and in each
instance some comment will be made on the implications of these
trends for the biopsychic state.
Natural fo o d components
Perhaps the most important dietary change taking place in Hong
Kong is the growing use of refined carbohydrates in the form of white
wheaten flour and white sugar, although these still constitute a much
smaller component of the average diet in Hong Kong than in most
modern Western communities.*
*White rice, the traditional staple food of the Southern Chinese, is also, of
course, a ‘refined carbohydrate’. In present day Hong Kong, however, it is
usually consumed together with a range of fibre-containing vegetables,
whereas products containing flour and sugar are often consumed alone.
Evidence is now accumulating from other countries to show that

large amounts of refined carbohydrates in the diet are responsible for
a number of forms of maladjustment. It has long been recognised that
dental caries is largely the consequence of the consumption of refined
carbohydrates, especially white sugar.
In nature, digestible carbohydrates are normally associated with
non-digestible dietary fibre, which consists mainly of the remnants of
plant cell walls and which are not broken down by the enzymes of the
human alimentary canal. The removal of this fibre in the
carbohydrate-refining process clearly produces a change in the
consistency of the diet, and hence also in the consistency of the
contents of the intestines. This change results in a much slower
passage of material through the alimentary canal and consequently
tends to cause constipation. This abnormality is considered, in turn,
to be conducive to the development of a series of forms of
maladjustment, including varicose veins, haemorrhoids, appendicitis,
diverticular disease of the colon and cancer of the colon. All these
conditions are as yet relatively uncommon in Hong Kong, as
compared with Britain and the United States.
The use of refined carbohydrates in the diet in Western countries
probably also contributes to problems of overnutrition and obesity.
One reason for this lies in the fact that, in the case of carbohydrate
foodstuffs from which the fibre has been removed, considerably more
digestible calories have to be consumed to produce a given degree of
stomach distension and a feeling of repletion. Another problem lies in
the fact that there appears to be an almost universal taste among
human beings for sweetness. Perhaps this trait was of survival value in
the primeval environment, where the main sweet-tasting food
available would have been ripe fruit, a rich source of ascorbic acid.
But the situation has now changed, in that enormous quantities of
sugar are readily accessible, separated from the other components of
the plants from which they have been extracted. In this changed
environment there is a strong tendency for people to consume much
more sugar than would have been possible in the primeval setting.
Refined carbohydrates have also been blamed for diabetes mellitus,

a disease which does not occur in communities before they adopt a
‘Western’ diet. There is also good evidence that certain genotypes are
much more sensitive than others to this particular dietary change. The
death rate from diabetes in Hong Kong in 1974 was 4.3 per 100,000,
representing a fourfold increase since 1949 and a threefold increase

since 1961 (see Chapter 10), and the hospitalisation rate has increased
tenfold over the past twenty years. The data strongly suggest that the
increase is real, and not due to the changing age structure of the
population. Two aspects of diabetes in Hong Kong warrant special
mention. First, obesity is less of a problem among Chinese diabetic pa
tients than among diabetic subjects in the West. However, both the
frequency and degree of obesity in diabetic patients in Hong Kong is
increasing. Second, heart disease, in the form of coronary heart
disease and angina pectoris, occurs in 5 per cent of patients, and is
much less frequent than among diabetics in the West; but it is five
times more frequent in Hong Kong among diabetics than among non-
diabetic hospital patients of a comparable age group.
Turning from carbohydrates to fats, there is a body of opinion in
medical science that animal fat in the diet is a major contributor to car
diovascular disease in the West. At first sight, this view does not seem
to make much sense in terms of the principle of evodeviation, since
animal fat was certainly a component of the diet of people in the
primeval phase of human existence. However, it has been shown that,
compared to wild bovids, domestic cattle have as much as ten times
more fat in their muscles. Furthermore, the proportion of polyun
saturated to mono-unsaturated and saturated acids is much higher in
the wild forms. In the case of buffalo living in natural woodland en
vironments, 30 per cent of the fatty acids have been found to be
polyunsaturated, as compared with 10 per cent in buffalo in grassland
and 2 per cent in domestic cattle in Britain. It therefore seems likely
that hunter-gatherers in typical primeval environments consumed
considerably less fat, especially saturated fat, than do their modern
meat-eating descendants.
As was discussed in Chapter 8, although the average consumption
of animal protein is high in Hong Kong, the consumption of animal
fat is relatively low, compared with affluent Western societies. Pro
ponents of the theory that heart disease is mainly the result of the con
sumption of saturated fats will find in this fact a satisfactory explana
tion for the relatively very low death rates in Hong Kong from cor
onary heart disease, especially among males (see Chapter 10).
Other changes in the quality of the diet in Hong Kong include an in
creasing tendency towards pappiness, associated with the growing
consumption of the processed products of the food industry. So far,
this trend is trivial as compared with the situation in many Western
communities, where there is mounting evidence that it contributes to

maldevelopment of the jaws.
Another important dietary evodeviation is the introduction of
bottle-feeding of infants. This replacement of human breast milk by
cow’s milk or its processed products has been a feature of modern
Western society. It is highly improbable, of course, that any artificial
product could be more suitable as a food for human babies than that
which evolved through natural selection. The question is whether the
alternative product, differing as it does chemically from human breast
milk, is a completely satisfactory substitute for the latter. By and
large, the evidence is that it is not. Apart from the question of the
quality of the milk, the natural suckling experience is believed to play
an important role in the development of the mother-infant bond and
in the child’s psychic development. Thus, it would seem that there are
good reasons for society to discourage artificial feeding of infants, ex
cept in cases where it is unavoidable.
There has been a marked decline in breast-feeding in Hong Kong in
recent years, and the stage has now been reached where 99 per cent of
infants are bottle-fed from birth. This remarkable situation is said to
be due to a number of factors:
(1) Mothers must work; nowadays this usually involves working away
from home, and facilities for nursing mothers are not available in or
near factories (unlike in China).
(2) Mothers are subjected to strong pressures in favour of bottle
feeding by the advertising campaigns of baby milk manufacturers.
(3) Mothers now perceive breast-feeding as being too troublesome,
compared to the convenience of bottle-feeding.
(4) It is claimed that most doctors and nurses do little or nothing to en
courage natural feeding. Bottle-feeding is now the socially accepted
way; the newborn baby is automatically given a bottle of milk in the
first hours after birth, except in the small number of cases where the
mother insists on breast-feeding her child.
It is interesting to note the contrasting situation in Papua New
Guinea, where the sale of feeding bottles and teats is limited by law to
medically prescribed cases, under the Baby Feed Supplies (Control)
Act, 1977. The possibility of a massive change to bottle-feeding has
thus been precluded, and strong social and official emphasis is being
placed on the value of breast-feeding.
In Hong Kong, mothers are usually given pills containing the
hormone stilboestrol, to stop their milk production. These pills can be
obtained free of charge at all government Maternal and Child Health

Centres. Although most of the women given such pills for the purpose
are unlikely to be pregnant, it is relevant to mention that recent studies
in the United States have shown that the administration of stilboestrol
to pregnant women is associated with an increased likelihood of
cancer occurring in later years in their female children who were in the
uterus when the hormone was taken.
Additives and contaminants

Another consequence of the growing consumption of processed and
packaged foods is an increased intake of chemical additives used as
preservatives, emulsifiers, and artificial colouring and flavouring
agents. Many of these substances are novel products of ecological
Phase 4, and in the United States, for instance, there are said to be
some 2500 such substances used in the processed foods consumed by
the population. In the case of every one of these biologically new
substances, the question should be asked whether it might be a cause
of phylogenetic maladjustment.
It is true that in most Western countries there are moderately strict
regulations concerning the use of chemical additives. There has been
much concern about the cancer-producing properties of some food
additives, and all compounds must now pass certain tests for safety
which are carried out on experimental animals. However, these tests
suffer from a number of weaknesses, including the facts that (1) not all
species respond in the same way to given chemical compounds, (2) the
tests are such that they would be unlikely to detect slight or insidious
behavioural changes and, (3) the different substances are not tested in
the various combinations in which they are likely to occur in human
diets, for possible synergistic or additive effects.
The problem is illustrated by controversial claims made in the
United States of a relationship, especially in children, between the
intake of artificial colouring and flavouring agents in foods and
behavioural maladjustment, in the form of hyperactivity, agg
ressiveness, general unmanageability and scholastic retardation. In
the past, children suffering from such disorders have usually been
treated with tranquillisers or sedatives (which frequently also contain
artificial colouring and flavouring agents). It has been claimed that a
high percentage of these children can be cured by ensuring that they
consume only natural foodstuffs devoid of artificial additives, and
that they also avoid certain natural foods which are said to contain
similarly active components.
Some physicians have publicly expressed the view that most people
have little cause for concern about the problem, because only a
minority of children are affected in this way (although, in a
population the size of Hong Kong, the figure might well run into many
thousands). An alternative attitude would be to regard the children
who are clinically recognisable cases of maladjustment as representing
simply the tip of the iceberg—the most sensitive members of a
population, all the other members of which are also likely to be
susceptible, in varying but lesser degree, to this particular influence.
The affected children could thus be regarded as sensitive indicators of
an undesirable environmental development, and society would do well
to treat the matter seriously. The point is an important one and the
principle inherent in this particular example has general application. It
has been referred to as the canary principle (canaries, being more
sensitive to certain noxious gases than human beings, have been used
as indicators of rising levels of gas in underground mines). With
respect to any potential environmental cause of maladjustment, some
members of the population are likely to be more sensitive or easily
affected than others. Although such people are in fact valuable
indicators of undesirable trends in life conditions, they are too often
dismissed by medical authorities merely as exceptional, idiosyncratic
or just ‘neurotic’.
We are not aware of any data concerning the effects of chemical
additives in processed foodstuffs on the population of Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, reference to this matter is pertinent to the situation,
since there is a trend, only just beginning, towards an increased
consumption of processed foods and canned soft drinks, and hence of
artificial colouring and flavouring agents. Extraneous chemical
components in foodstuffs, whether in the form of accidental
contaminants or deliberate additives to food or drinks, must be
considered not only as potential carcinogens, but also as potential
modifiers of human behaviour.
One cannot leave the subject of additives in the diet of the
population of Hong Kong without reference to one particular
substance which is added to food during its preparation in homes,
restaurants and food processing factories, in order to improve its
flavour. This substance is monosodium glutamate, otherwise known
as ‘gourmet powder’. About 2700 tonnes of this commodity were
imported to Hong Kong and retained in 1974, and it is estimated that

at least 1500 tonnes are locally produced, amounting to a total of
about 4200 tonnes, less than 1 per cent of which is re-exported in
canned foods. Divided among the whole population this amounts to
nearly 3 gm per capita each day. The question arises whether the
addition of this compound to the diet has any detrimental effect on
health. Clearly, if there is a harmful effect, it is not a dramatic one,
since this particular additive has been widely used in the Chinese
cuisine for a long time. Nevertheless, laboratory experiments in recent
years have shown that monosodium glutamate in dosages of 1 mg/gm
body weight, given orally or subcutaneously, induces severe brain
damage in infant mice and other animals. Similar amounts of sodium
chloride do not have this effect. As a consequence, manufacturers of
processed baby foods in the United States and Britain no longer add
monosodium glutamate to their products. The equivalent for a grown
adult in Hong Kong of the dose of 1 mg/gm body weight, which
causes severe brain damage in rats, would be about 50 gm. Bearing this
in mind, and also the fact that the 3 gm per day per capita
consumption in Hong Kong is an average figure so that many adults
and children are likely to be consuming much more than this, it is clear
that the matter should be considered as one for concern.
Incidental contaminants in food, as distinct from additives, may
also be potential health risks. Basically there are two classes of
important contaminants—biotic contaminants in the form of
pathogenic micro-organisms, and chemical compounds, such as the
residues of pesticides used on vegetable crops. The effects of the
former are usually acute and relatively easy to detect, and public
health authorities are constantly on the look-out for trouble of this
kind. The record in Hong Kong over recent years has been good,
although occasional outbreaks of ‘food-poisoning’ occur, due es
pecially to the Salmonella group of bacteria. The possible conse
quences of small doses of potentially harmful chemical compounds
presents a much more difficult problem, because the effects on people
are likely to be chronic, insidious and ‘sub-threshold’, in the sense that
the symptoms of ill-health are not sufficiently obvious to alert
individuals or health authorities to the problem. In most Western
countries nowadays there are programs for monitoring foodstuffs for
the more important of such chemicals, although there is a great deal of
variation in the efficiency and thoroughness with which this is carried
out. So far as we are aware, no such regular monitoring program is in
existence in Hong Kong, and no data are available to us on the content

of chemical contaminants in foodstuffs.
Calorie consumption
Undernutrition, as distinct from malnutrition, is less a feature of the
Hong Kong situation today than in the past. The great majority of the
population appear to be adequately fed, in terms of the consumption
of protein and of energy (see Chapter 8). In many Western countries,
environmental and lifestyle changes have now produced a situation in
which the biopsychic consequences of the consumption of calories in
excess of metabolic requirements is the most common nutritional
maladjustment. At the present time, however, overnutrition is not
common in Hong Kong, although it undoubtedly exists, especially in
the more affluent section of society, and it is probably on the increase.
One of the factors contributing to this trend deserves special
mention, because it draws attention to a general dilemma faced by
modern Western communities. Great efforts are made by the food
industry to render its products maximally palatable and attractive to
the consumers. This involves, among other things, the addition of a
range of colouring and flavouring agents. Representatives of the food
industry argue that the industry is merely catering to what people want
and, in so doing, fulfilling its aim to serve the community in the best
way possible. However, regardless of whether this really is the
fundamental motive behind the industry’s actions, it is questionable
whether this policy is, in fact, in the best interests of the people it
serves. Of course, the more palatable the food, the greater the pleasure
associated with eating it; but one of the important behavioural effects
of increasing the palatability of food is to increase the amount eaten—
thereby increasing the likelihood that individuals will consume
calories in excess of their metabolic requirements, with undesirable
consequences for their health.
One final point needs to be made before leaving the dietary aspect
of life conditions. The advances of nutritional science, by providing
knowledge of the specific nutritional requirements of mankind, have
played an immense role during the present century in reducing the
incidence of various forms of malnutrition in many parts of the world,
including Hong Kong. Let us take note, however, of the fact that, had
human society been properly aware of the simple biological principle
of evodeviation, and had it possessed even an elementary knowledge
of the nature of the diet of human beings in the primeval environment,

all diseases of malnutrition could have been avoided in the absence of
any knowledge of the specific nutritional needs of the species. That is
to say, if society had made sure that the diets of its members contained
a diverse range of natural plant foods, and, say, about 20 per cent by
weight of lean meat, the devastating effects of rickets, scurvy, beri
beri, pellagra, night blindness and kwashiorkor would have been
completely avoided.
Contact with parasitic and pathogenic organisms

The changing situation in Hong Kong with respect to contagious
disease has already been discussed in Chapters 3 and 10. The situation
may be summarised here by saying that the probability today of
anyone contracting one of the serious contagious diseases of the past,
such as typhoid, cholera, smallpox, diphtheria and malaria, is now
negligible. However, the individual is likely to suffer fairly frequently
from infection with one or other of the numerous pathogenic viruses
which now circulate in human populations, producing relatively mild
disorders. No information is available on whether or not repeated
infections of this kind over many decades have any accumulative
damaging effect on the body.
Contact with animals and plants: contact with ‘nature’

It is self-evident that one of the consequences of urban living has been
the removal of wild animals and plants from the daily life experience
of human beings. While this change is clearly an evodeviation, the
question whether it has implications for the biopsychic state is not one
that is easily answered. Certainly, there is a body of opinion to the
effect that some ‘contact with nature’ is a ‘human need’ and as such
can have a positive effect on human health and well-being. Or it may
be seen simply as a source of sheer enjoyment, for aesthetic or other
reasons. And some people take the view that experience of the natural
environment helps to produce an appreciation of man’s place in
nature and an understanding of the human situation in perspective.
Whether or not there is any basis for these assertions, and whether
or not separation from other forms of life should rightly be regarded
as a deprivation, it is interesting to note the almost universal tendency
of city dwellers, once their survival needs are properly satisfied, to
introduce into their homes some non-human forms of life. These
range from the ubiquitous potted plants, dogs and cats to exotic
tropical fish, hamsters, tortoises and even the occasional black

panther.
Hong Kong is no exception in this regard. Indeed, for all the
overcrowding, the proportion of homes with fish tanks and caged
birds may well be higher in Hong Kong than anywhere in the world. It
is a common sight to see men, young and old, carrying delicate
wooden cages containing small birds, sometimes meeting in groups in
the parks, or even in restaurants, to talk about their shared interest.
There is a small Botanical Gardens on Hong Kong Island, with a
number of enclosures containing exotic birds, a few monkeys, gibbons
and mountain lions. Each Sunday afternoon this little zoo attracts
around 5000 visitors. It is a colourful scene, with peacocks displaying
their extraordinary beauty before admiring clusters of human beings;
and with families and groups of teenagers posing for snap shots, in
true Hong Kong style, before hundreds of clicking cameras.
It is not possible, of course, to say to what extent visits to the
Botanical Gardens or the keeping of tropical fish and song-birds
represent a human response to a ‘need for contact with nature’, but we
venture to suggest that these pursuits do play some role in helping a
proportion of the population to tolerate the stressful aspects of life in
this crowded city.
Public parkland is not a major feature of Hong Kong. Only 1.9 per
cent of the built-up area is ‘public open space’, amounting to about
0.5 m2 per member of the population. This compares with 10 per cent
of the built up area in London devoted to parkland, and around 5 per
cent in many American cities of more than 250,000 people. But those
areas of open space in Hong Kong which do exist are very well
patronised. Thousands of people stream up to the top of Victoria
Peak on Hong Kong Island at the weekend by cablecar, bus and taxi,
and promenade along the mile or so of paved walks on the ridge,
surveying the lush vegetation of the hillsides and the spectacular views
of the city and coastline.
According to responses to the questions about recreational
activities in our Biosocial Survey, the most popular places for visiting
in the summer of 1974 were the beaches; 25 per cent of the respondents
had been to a beach during the month previous to the interview.
About 20 per cent had recently been to the ‘countryside’ and 15 per
cent had visited a public park. Some interesting facts emerge when we
look at the actual locations of these visits. The great majority of
people went to the south coast of Hong Kong Island, but many people
said they had recently been to Kai Tak, presumably to the airport, and
to the Chinese University at Sha Tin. Other popular places, according

to the Survey results, are the Botanical Gardens and two beach areas in
the New Territories, Sai Kung Peninsula and Clearwater Bay.
The popularity of visits to non-urban areas and of outdoor
activities in general seems to be definitely on the increase in Hong
Kong. A recent development is the growing number of people who go
further afield, to walk in the hills of the New Territories, or take ferries
to some of the outlying islands. This is reflected in the increase in the
numbers of visitors to the major forestry-recreation areas in the
Colony over the past ten years. For example, in the 1975-76 season,
the most popular forest, Shing Mun near Tsuen Wan, received
438,000 visitors, in contrast to the figure of 138,000 for 1966-67.
Dwellings
The dwellings in which people live, and which provide them with
shelter, constitute an important aspect of their material life
conditions. But it makes little sense to attempt an account of the mere
physical aspects of dwellings-without reference to other components
of life experience which are intimately associated with dwellings, such
as the number and concentration of people living in them and the
extent to which essential amenities, like toilets and water supply, are
available and shared. Under the heading ‘dwellings’, therefore, we
find ourselves coming to consider some of the more social and
psychosocial aspects of the life conditions of the people of Hong
Kong.
In Hong Kong, as in many other urban settlements, there is a great
variability in the conditions prevailing in human dwellings, ranging
from very spacious houses and flats with only one or two residents, to
one-room flats of about 9 m2 providing a home for as many as ten
people.
Although this range exists, the vast majority of persons in Hong
Kong live under conditions which would be considered intolerably
crowded by European or American standards. According to our
Biosocial Survey, about 49 per cent live in homes in which there is less
than 3.7 m2 (35 sq ft) of effective floor space per person. Since, on the
average, 45 per cent of the floor space is taken up by furniture (as
estimated by the interviewers) this means that for about half the
population, there is only about 1.7 m2 of actual free floor space per
person. Forty-three per cent live in areas in which the population
density is greater than 1000 people per hectare, and only 14 per cent
live in areas with a density of less than 250 people per hectare.
Most of the residents of Hong Kong thus experience conditions of

extremely high population density from which there is virtually no
escape, since the density outside the home, on the streets and in public
places is also very high. The situation on the streets differs, of course,
from that in the home, in that the other people are strangers; indeed,
the nearest thing to solitude that many urban residents experience is
anonymity in a crowd. In the Biosocial Survey, 48 per cent of the
respondents said that they never spent any time alone.
The almost constant experience of high density both in the home
and outside clearly represents an evodeviation. This is not to imply
the people in primeval society never experienced high density
situations. In fact, evidence from recent hunter-gatherer groups
indicates that the members of bands often cluster very close together
in their camps.
The almost constant experience of high density both in the home
and outside clearly represents an evodeviation. This is not to imply
that people in primeval society never experienced high density
situations. In fact, evidence from recent hunter-gatherer groups
indicates that the members of bands often cluster very close together
in their camps.
However, the hunter-gatherer’s experience of high density is
neither constant nor unavoidable and, as such, is perhaps less
stressful. High density was only a part of their total experience. Much
of the time, as they went about their daily activities, they were
distributed individually or in small groups over the land, and there was
always the opportunity for solitude if and when it was desired.
The situation in Hong Kong, as in many other large cities, is thus
different from primeval society in three essential ways. In the first
place, in the city the high density experience persists indefinitely, and
there is no escape from it. Second, the sheer number of people in the
individual’s personal environment is vastly greater in the urban
situation; and third, a very high proportion of the people encountered
by an individual each day are complete strangers.
We have already noted, in discussing ecological Phase 3 of human
existence and the situation in Hong Kong in the last century, that one
of the consequences in the past of high concentrations of population
was a change in the host-parasite balance, so that contagious disease
became a very important cause of ill-health in human populations.
These disorders, with the exception of numerous relatively mild virus
diseases, have now been greatly reduced through effective cultural
adaptation.
It is often assumed that high density living has other adverse effects
on the human biopsychic state. Certainly, many studies on animals,
both in the laboratory and in the field, show that abnormally high
concentrations of population tend to give rise to aberrant phy
siological and behavioural reactions, most of which, if they occurred
in human beings, would be regarded as detrimental either to the
individual or to society. The investigations on animal populations
have tended to lend support to the idea that crowding is ‘bad’ for
people, and they have added impetus both to speculation and to
research on the responses of human beings to high density situations.
On the whole, however, results of the work carried out on human
beings are somewhat inconclusive, and there is no clear and definitive
evidence for an inevitable influence of high density living perse on, for
example, criminal or violent behaviour, fertility rates or mental
health.
This statement should not be taken to imply, however, that high
population density does not have undesirable consequences for
human beings. The problem is clearly a very complex one, and some
of its ramifications will be discussed in Chapter 14, in which the
question of responses to high physical density in Hong Kong will be
taken as a case study to illustrate some important points relating to
environmental influences on human well-being. It is perhaps
appropriate to recall here, however, that on the basis of scores on the
Langner scale (Chapter 10) the level of mental disturbance in Hong
Kong is very similar to that in the population of Canberra in Australia,
where the overall population density is only about 3.5 persons per
hectare, and where the great majority of households occupy a private
suburban house and garden.
When we consider the population as a whole, certain factors stand
out as generally characteristic of residential conditions in Hong Kong.
As already emphasised, the density is very high; 30 per cent of the
Biosocial Survey households lived in a single room or cubicle, and 36
per cent expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of space in their
home. However, it is noteworthy that, in spite of their conditions, 13
per cent of the respondents said that they were ‘very satisfied’ with
their living space, even though more than half of these very satisfied
people were living at a density of less than 6.5 m2 of floor space per
person. By no means all the units are self-contained; 16 per cent of
households in the Biosocial Survey shared their dwelling space with
other households, almost a third of these doing so within a single
room. Thirty-nine per cent shared a toilet with others and 20 per cent
shared a kitchen, and about 15 per cent did not have their own piped
water supply. Forty-eight per cent of the sampled households lived on
the fifth floor or higher of a multi-storey building, and 9 per cent lived
on or above the thirteenth floor.
We have already described in Chapter 9 the major kinds of housing
which are found in Hong Kong. As would be expected, these different
types of housing tend to be associated with broad differences in the life
experience of their inhabitants. The variation is partly the
consequence of differences in the design of the buildings and partly
due to socio-economic differences between the occupants. The results
from the Biosocial Survey illustrate some of the differences between
these housing types with respect to various life conditions (Table
11. 2).
The median floor space per person varies very considerably, from 2
m2 in squatter structures and resettlement estates, to about 8 m2 in
private apartments. Associated with this, the mean number of people
per room ranges from 4.2 in the self-contained resettlement estates to
1.4 in the private apartments. The full extent of variation is, of course,
much more extreme than this.
It appears that the resettlement estates are especially ‘bad’ places to
live, from several points of view. For example, the older resettlement
estates provide by far the worst conditions with respect to the sharing
of bathroom and toilet facilities, and are second only to tenement
buildings in the percentage of families who must share kitchen
facilities with others. They are also characterised by extreme
congestion within the living units; each unit consists of only a single
room, and according to our Survey, 82 per cent have less than 3.7 m2
of effective floor space per person. Furthermore, more than twice as
many respondents from the older resettlement estates than from any
other kind of housing said that their surroundings were noisy and that
they were especially disturbed by noise from other people. This is
understandable when we appreciate the very high population density
in these high-rise estates; the average ground density of resettlement
estates is 4466 persons per hectare and the buildings are situated very
close to one another. The residents of resettlement estates are also
more likely than those of any other type of housing to say that their
neighbourhood is unsafe.
The opposite extreme in some respects is found in the ‘resettlement
cottages’. These dwellings, which represent only a small part of
housing in Hong Kong, are usually single-storeyed and they are rather
older than most of the high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. They are
found clustered together in little pockets in the urban area and have
often been occupied by the same people for a relatively long period. In
some of these cottage areas there is almost a ‘village’ atmosphere and
so it is perhaps not surprising that, according to the Survey, their
inhabitants are relatively unlikely to fear crime in their surroundings.
They also experience by far the greatest degree of neighbourly
interaction (see Table 11.2).
With respect to the sharing of living space, the tenement dwellers
were in the worst position, since 53 per cent of these respondents
shared their accommodation with another household, as compared
with 0.3 per cent in the case of low-cost housing and 5 per cent in
resettlement estates. About half the households in both tenement and
resettlement estates shared a bathroom and toilet with others.
The pattern with respect to economic status is much as would be
expected, the largest percentage of ‘low’ economic status (30 per cent)
being found in squatter structures and resettlement estates, and the
smallest percentage (8 per cent) in private apartments.
It was not surprising to find in the Biosocial Survey that the sub-
populations in the different housing types differ with respect to
several measures of mental and physical health. In fact, all the indices
of biopsychic state show a similar pattern of maladjustment with
respect to housing type. These results are given in Table 11.3, and the
results of the Langner test are depicted graphically in Figure 11.1.
With regard to the index of general physical health,* scores indicate
that while females appear to be in generally poorer health than males
whatever the type of housing in which they live, health in females is
poorest among those who live in resettlement estates, resettlement
cottages or squatter settlements. In males there also appears to be a
greater likelihood of poor general health among those living in
resettlement estates than among those who live in private or low-cost
housing (numbers of males in cottages and squatter settlements are
too small to compare).
The results with the Langner scale also suggest that people living in
resettlement estates and females in squatter settlements (again the
numbers of males in this category are too small to compare) are
especially likely to experience a state of maladjustment. However,
people in resettlement cottages are relatively well-off according to the
*The index of general physical health is based upon the single items o f physical
health which were discussed in Chapter 10. The construction of this index is
described in Appendix 3.
10 20 30 40 50
_J________I________ I________1________ 1
PRIVATE A P A R T M E N T S
TENEMENTS
RESETTLEMENT ESTATES
LOW COST HOUSING
SQUATTERS & COTTAGES
I I I I I
10 20 30 40 50
% DISTURBED
Figure 11.1 Biosocial Survey: maladjustment as measured by the Langner
Scale, by type of housing
Langner scale and, indeed, when male and female scores are
combined, they score better than people in any other type of housing.
The proportion of people who said they enjoyed life was higher
among those who lived in private apartments, low cost housing and
resettlement cottages and tenements, and lower in those who lived in
squatter areas and resettlement estates.
TABLE 11.2 Biosocial Survey: life conditions by type o f housing
Type of Housing
Resettlement
Life conditions Private Tenements Non self-
apartments contained
(N) (761) (897) (761)
Physical density: 13.3 30.6 82.4
% of households with less
than 3.7 m2 of floor space
per person
Number of persons per 1.4 1.8 3.7
room: mean value
% sharing WC: 19.2 45.2 93.2
% sharing bathroom: 18.9 45.0 88.8
% sharing kitchen: 18.4 44.6 23.8
Noise perception: 38.9 47.8 60.5
% perceiving surroundings to
be ‘noisy’ or ‘very noisy’
Noise from other people: 16.0 23.1 60.3
% saying noise from other
people is disturbing
Noise interfering with 25.0 27.3 34.0
sleep: %
Neighbourliness: 5.8 10.3 24.1
% who had visited their
neighbours 7 or more
times in the previous
month
Fear of crime: 22.5 29.8 48.0
% expressing concern for
safety in going out in
local environment
(day and night)
Economic status: 8.1 17.7 26.9
% ‘low’ or ‘very low’
Resettle
ment
Self- Low-cost Squatters Resettlement Total
contained housing cottages
(622) (696) (114) (74) (3925)
80.6 45.3 70.2 51.4 49.3
4.2 3.8 3.7 2.8 3.0
3.9 10.1 87.7 83.8 38.6

14.5 11.1 41.2 25.7 37.1
2.9 1.7 6.1 14.9 19.6
46.3 38.4 28.1 23.0 45.6
50.2 32.5 29.0 24.3 35.1
24.6 18.1 21.9 10.8 25.6
17.7 19.7 27.2 37.9 16.0
55.0 26.1 21.9 (5.4)* 34.6
30.7 21.1 30.7 14.4 20.8

TABLE 11.3 Biosocial Survey: Health and well-being by type o f

housing
Index of health Private Tenements

and well-being apartments
(n = 761) (n = 897)
Langner scale:
Vo scoring 4 +
Males 20.4 25.8
Females 29,3 33.2
Males + Females 25.8 29.9
General physical health:
Vo ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ health
Males 8.9 8.3
Females 15.9 16.5.
Males + females 13.0 12.9
Enjoyment of life:
Vo ‘enjoy’ or ‘very much enjoy’ life
Males 70.7 62.0
Females 70.5 64.0
Males + females 70.6 63.1
* Figures in parentheses ( ) are based on less than ten cases.
It would not make sense, in view of the complexity of the situation,

to attempt to read too much into the differences which, according to
these scales, exist between the sub-populations living in the different
types of housing. However, a few outstanding points are worthy of
mention. In the first place, we note that the resettlement estates are
associated with the highest scores for physical maladjustment and
mental ‘disturbance’, and with the lowest scores for life enjoyment. It
is certainly tempting to speculate that, in keeping with the Hippocratic
postulate, this might be a direct reflection of the facts relating to living
conditions given in Table 11.2, which show that resettlement estates
provide the least satisfactory conditions with respect to all the
variables listed.
There are, however, a number of other interpretations of these
results. For example, a positive relationship has often been found in
Resettlement estates Low-cost Squatters Resettlement

Non self- Self- housing cottages
contained contained (n = 696) (n = 114) (n = 74)
(n = 761) (n = 622)
28.3 33.2 20.3 (16.4)* (14.3)*

45.5 43.9 34.1 44.0 (28.2)*
37.7 39.4 28.7 30.7 21.6
21.3 13.3 10.7 (12.7)* (11.5)*

29.5 30.6 17.8 25.4 38.5
25.7 23.3 15.0 19.3 25.7
59.8 54.2 70.5 47.2 68.6

54.5 53.6 62.6 50.8 61.5
56.9 53.8 65.7 49.1 63.9
studies in other countries between ill-health and low economic status,

and the residents of resettlement estates and those of the squatter areas
in Hong Kong are of low economic status. Unfortunately, it is not
possible to ‘control’ for economic status in this instance, because there
are essentially no people of high economic status in the resettlement
estates and only a very small number of people of low economic
status among the residents in private apartments, which is the most
well-off group with respect to the health indices. However, the
difference in health between the ‘high’ and ‘low’ economic status
groups in the Survey is considerably less striking than it is between the
sub-populations living in different types of housing. Of course, the
demonstration of a relationship between economic status and health
does not tell us what particular aspect of life conditions, influenced by
economic status, is responsible for the difference. It seems likely that
the kind of housing that the individual can afford is among these
influences.
The residents of resettlement cottages are an interesting group, and
in retrospect we very much regret that our stratified sample contained
so few of these people. From the facts presented in Table 11.2, they
may well be judged to be better off with respect to most of the
variables considered. And yet, according to the physical health scale,
the females in the cottages suffer as much ill-health as do those in
resettlement housing. However, this may be attributed to the
relatively older age of the cottage residents. With respect to mental
health, the people living in cottages appear to be better off than the
residents of any other kind of housing. They also do well on the ‘enjoy
life’ question.
In summary, we have noted that the different kinds of housing in
Hong Kong are associated with different kinds of living conditions,
and that the resettlement estates may, on the whole, be judged the least
satisfactory from this point of view. The results of measures from the
Biosocial Survey are consistent with the view that these differences in
living conditions contribute to differences in the health and well-being
of the residents of the different housing types.
12
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND
SOME IMPORTANT INTANGIBLES
The nature of the bonds which keep human groups together has been
discussed at great length by social scientists. Here we will simply note
that the primary determinant of close personal relationships in Hong
Kong, as in nearly all other societies, is the reproductive unit, the
family. This was also the case in the primeval setting, where human
behavioural tendencies associated with reproduction, including the
formation of bonds between sexual partners, between parents and
children and between siblings, provided the main basis for the composi
tion of primary groups. In other words, the structure of such groups was
based largely on kinship. However, this fact does not mean that the
continued cohesiveness of hunter-gatherer groups, or for that matter,
of any other human groups, is explainable purely in terms of urges
associated with the reproductive process. Comradeship was almost
certainly of great survival value in the evolutionary history of the
species, and there is every reason to regard it as an innate human
characteristic, and one which plays an important role in the functioning
of human communities, past and present.
It is also worth noting in this context what appears to be a fairly
consistent pattern in primeval society with respect to sexual relation
ships, at least so far as we can gather from information about recent
hunter-gatherers. Whereas spontaneity and freedom in sexual relation
ships appears to be the ‘premarital’ rule, once a child is born most
couples tend to stay together for life. Among hunter-gatherers, as in
all other societies, some of these male-female unions turn out to be
unsatisfactory and break up; but at most times and in most places,
most of them endure until the death of one of the partners.
From the starting point of the enduring male-female partnership,
the extended family is a natural outcome. There is, certainly, some
exchange between bands, especially with respect to marriage partners.
But it is the extended family which provided the fundamental basis
for primary group structure and for economic activity in the primeval
setting. Although civilisation has seen many variations on this theme,
most people in most rural and urban communities throughout human
history have found themselves to be members of extended families,
retaining throughout their lives close relationships with parents,
siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
While the extended family has been typical of human society for a
long time, one of the outstanding biosocial changes occurring in
Phase 4 society is the disintegration of this social unit, with the much
smaller nuclear family becoming the unit of close primary group
interaction, and with the ties between generations and between aunts,
uncles, cousins and adult siblings becoming markedly weakened.
This development, which is associated with a whole series of societal
changes, such as increased geographical mobility, has a number of
important effects on the life experience of individuals, one of which
is the sharper division of the life cycle into different phases, as follows:
1) the child, living with siblings and parents; 2) the young adult living
with a spouse; 3) the parent, living with a spouse and children; 4) the
middle aged or elderly adult, living with a spouse or eventually alone.
Two other phases could be added in the context of modern urban
society; that of the teenager or young adult, living either with parents
or with a group of peers; and the elderly living with a group of
unrelated old people in an old people’s home or housing estate.
As has been pointed out by many authors, one of the consequences
of these changes has been the shrinking of the size of the family-based
support network available to the individual in times of trouble or, for
example, when personality tensions develop within the nuclear family
itself. Theoretically, of course, the extended family can be replaced as
a support network by a non-kin-based primary group, and has been
the case, for example, in the experimental communes set up in recent
years in Western countries. In one sense, this arrangement might be
considered as likely to be more satisfactory, in that the individual has
the opportunity to select the other members of his ‘family’. On the
other hand, in the true extended family, he does not have to blame
himself for having made a bad choice when things go wrong.
Even when, as in Hong Kong, the nuclear family maintains fairly
strong ties with relatives, much of the spontaneity has gone from
interactions between relatives beyond the nuclear unit. It is no longer
simply a question of moving over to the other side of the camp, as in
primeval times, or across the yard or street, as in medieval or early
Social Relationships and Some Important Intangibles 277
industrial cities. Visits to relatives often involve travel by car, bus,

train or plane and they have to be arranged beforehand; and con
sequently they become not only less frequent, but also less relaxed,
and probably less useful as stress-reducing experiences. They also
become more energy-expensive, and thus contribute to the growing
energy budget of the society (see Chapters 6 and 9).
Much has been written about the Chinese family in Hong Kong
and about the various factors which have influenced its structure and
interactions.
A high proportion of the population over the age of forty are immi
grants to the city, and most of these people did not bring members of
their extended family with them. According to the study carried out
by R.E. Mitchell in 1969, only 33 per cent of married people had a
parent living in Hong Kong and 53 per cent had a sibling; 37 per cent
did not have a single aunt, uncle, sister or brother living in Hong
Kong; 32 per cent had only one or two such relatives and only 12 per
cent had more than six.
Discussion in this area is sometimes confused, due to failure to
distinguish between the following variables: (1) the extended family as
a residential unit; (2) the extended family as an effective economic
unit; and (3) the extended family as a cohesive social unit (and offering
emotional support). With respect to the first of these variables, the
housing situation in Hong Kong is not conducive to the residential
extended family. When newly married people seek accommodation,
they have to take what they can get, and this will not necessarily be
near the home of either set of parents.
According to Mitchell’s study, only 22 per cent of households
contained three-generation families. Fifteen per cent of married
couples had the husband's mother living with them, 7 per cent the
wife’s mother, 5 per cent the husband’s father and 2 per cent the wife’s
father. Twenty-seven per cent of married couples had other relatives
living with them. In 1974, 73 per cent of the households of respondents
in the Biosocial Survey were nuclear families and only 24 per cent
contained three or more generations.
According to another survey carried out in 1972, 50 per cent of
sampled university students in Hong Kong agreed that newly married
couples should not live with the parents of either partner. The propor
tion taking this view in Taiwan was 59 per cent whereas in the United
States it was 99 per cent.
The small family business, which is very characteristic o f some
Chinese sub-populations in urban societies in different parts of the

world, is still much in evidence in Hong Kong today, although it is
declining in importance. Nevertheless, the sense of economic unity
and economic responsibility among members of the family is still very
significant. Mitchell reported that 65 per cent of married sons and 44
per cent of married daughters gave money to their parents, and he
noted that this pattern was much the same as in other South-east Asian
communities. He commented also that many of these younger adults
were really depriving themselves financially in order to help their
parents in this way.
It is often assumed that the extended family has an important role
in providing a network of emotional support in times of personal
anxiety. Western observers in Hong Kong are certainly impressed by
what appears to be evidence of a great deal of family interaction across
generations. We see teenagers walking arm-in-arm with their grand
parents; many an old woman shopping with a baby strapped onto her
back; and older children looking after their younger brothers and
sisters. The very young and the very old can be seen participating in
family gatherings around the circular tables in restaurants, and three-
generational groups on the ferries and in the streets are commonplace.
While we must appreciate that in restaurants and other public places
we are viewing a selected section of the population, such observations,
as well as many conversations with local residents, lead us to the firm
impression that family interactions of this kind are much more
frequent in Hong Kong than, for example, in British, Australian and
American society.
These impressions are supported by results from the Biosocial
Survey. Nineteen per cent of respondents said they had ‘got together
with a lot of relatives’ (i.e. an extended family gathering) during the
previous week, and 36 per cent had done so within the previous
month. About half the sample had talked either directly or by phone
with relatives (other than those living with them) in the preceding
week, and about 52 per cent said that on their most recent recreational
outing they had gone with their family. These findings must be
assessed in the light of the fact that many adults have no relatives in
Hong Kong, or only very few, and that even when there are relatives,
they often live a considerable distance apart.
A comment is appropriate here on the role of women in the family.
In early feudal times Chinese women had a certain degree of freedom,
but during the Confucian period the position of women constantly
deteriorated until male supremacy became absolute in both society and

family. Confucian doctrine demanded that a woman should obey her
father and elder brother before marriage, her husband after marriage,
and her son when her husband had died, and the ‘virtuous woman’
was always timid, reticent, untalented and uneducated. She had
practically no legal rights, and was often confined to the home,
unable to move freely, owing to the custom of footbinding. Many
men, when they could afford it, took several wives, who became
members of their husband’s family and were subordinate to their
parents-in-law in every way.
The situation in China today, of course, is quite different with
respect to the position of women in society. And in Hong Kong there
has been a rapid trend towards greater freedom for women. They are
achieving legal rights in society and greater authority in the family,
and in 1975, 55 per cent of the adult female population in Hong Kong
was in paid employment.
Family members are not the only people from whom an individual
may expect support or to whom he may give support. In Hong Kong
there is a strong tradition of close friendship, and every person, male
or female, may hope to have at least one hou pang yau, or ‘very good
friend’. These friendships are often permanent, and are characterised
by all the trust, loyalty and support that would also traditionally be
expected from members of the family.
We have noted that a feature of urbanisation, and especially of
Phase 4 society, has been an increase in the number of in-groups in
which the individual is offered membership. Thus, apart from the
family and the work-group, there are various other groups of varying
degrees of formality, ranging from the relatively spontaneous mah
jong foursomes and teenage groups, to photographic clubs and
‘secret’ organisations, such as the notorious triad societies. The fact
that these alternative in-groups may espouse different values from
those of the primary family group has behavioural implications of
considerable significance for society.
Sense of Personal Involvement

Under this heading we will include discussion of a number of rather
diverse aspects of life conditions which share in common the fact that
each of them is likely to be associated with a sense of personal involve
ment. This means that we will be moving yet further away from the
concrete, discrete, easily describable and quantifiable components of
environmental experience to aspects which are relatively intangible,

amorphous, difficult to define and to measure; they are not, however,
any less real or less important.
The sense of ‘personal involvement’ is an affective state and it is one
that is difficult to describe without pointing to individuals who seem
to be personally involved in what they are doing, and to others who
are not. If an individual is personally involved in what he is doing, he
is not bored or apathetic; he is doing it with some enthusiasm, and his
concentration is spontaneous and not an act of self-discipline. Although
personal involvement is often associated with interaction with other
people, this is not an essential aspect. The concept thus differs from
that conveyed by the term ‘involvement’ as sometimes used in the
sociological literature, since that term relates specifically to social
involvement.
The anthropological literature on recent hunter-gatherers gives the
clear impression that a sense of personal involvement is an outstanding
and constant feature of life experience in typical primeval society.
Whether the individual is hunting, gathering plant foods, collecting
honey, making and tending fires, cooking, shaping implements or
ornaments, story-telling, playing with children, making music or
dancing, he or she appears to be thoroughly absorbed in the activity
and rarely shows signs of boredom or apathy. Indeed, from all
accounts the individual usually seems to be enjoying doing these
things, and none of them is perceived as drudgery.*
The various aspects of life experience which we will consider here
under this heading are composite, in the sense that they incorporate
variables of the personal environment, behaviour pattern and biopsy
chic state of people. This does not mean that the trichotomous division
of life experience does not apply in this area. On the contrary, it is not
only valid but also useful, because in our efforts to understand signi
ficant interrelationships in human situations, it is especially relevant to
consider the extent to which the personal environment offers the
opportunity and incentives for a behaviour pattern of a kind which
is conducive to a sense of personal involvement.
*This statement applies to hunter-gatherers in relatively normal or typical

environments. It does not apply to the Ik, a hunter-gatherer group in
eastern Africa which had been forcibly moved from its original habitat to
an area where food sources were extremely inadequate. According to Colin
Turnbull, these people considered almost all activities, even including sexual
intercourse, to be drudgery.
The first topic which we shall discuss as relevant to a sense of

personal involvement is enjoyment and spontaneity in behaviour, a
theme which will be given increasing importance in the remaining
pages of this book. This will be followed by comments on sense o f
meaning and purpose, co-operative small-group interaction, the
practise o f learned skills and creative behaviour and a sense o f
belonging.
Enjoyment and spontaneity in behaviour

Since a feeling of personal involvement is often, but not always,
associated with a sense of enjoyment, this is an appropriate place to
refer to a principle of considerable biocultural significance. Basically,
it is that in animal populations in nature, most individual animals
enjoy what they are doing most of the time.* Carnivores enjoy
hunting, herbivores enjoy foraging, female mammals enjoy suckling
their young, apes enjoy grooming one another, young animals enjoy
playing, adult animals enjoy copulating, and all animals enjoy resting
and eating.
This principle has its basis in the processes of evolution through
natural selection. If genetic variation exists within a population
with respect to the capacity to enjoy activities of survival value to
the species, those genotypes with a greater tendency to enjoy and,
therefore, to perform these activities, are likely to contribute more
genes to subsequent generations than are those individuals which,
through lack of enjoyment, are less likely to do the things which
are to their survival advantage. In other words, natural selection
selects for a tendency to enjoy activities which are conducive to
survival and reproduction, and most of the activities of animals in
their natural environment are of this kind. Needless to say, the
enjoyment value of a given activity is not constant. Animals enjoy
feeding, but after a while they tire of it and find resting more
enjoyable; and so they stop eating and lie down to rest.
There is no reason why this principle should not apply to human
kind as much as to any other species. Of course, under extreme
circumstances in the natural or primeval environment— when
individuals became lost and separated from the band, or were
*No apologies are offered for implying that the concept of enjoyment can
be used in relation to the experience of animals. We assume that the higher
animals, at least, are capable of experiencing an affective state very akin to
that which we choose to call enjoyment in our own experience.
injured, or when food was scarce — they may have experienced a

great sense of personal involvement in coping with the situation,
but no sense of enjoyment. The man running away from a sabre
tooth tiger certainly had a sense of involvement, but was unlikely to
have been enjoying himself. However, since degree of enjoyment is
a continuum, we can say that he was certainly enjoying himself
more than he would have been, had he not run away from the tiger.
We suggest, then, that the evolutionary approach can help us to
identify phylogenetic sources of enjoyment in human beings. It is
reasonable to suspect, for example, that the following activities,
which were all characteristic of primeval society and likely to have
been of survival value in that setting, are potentially enjoyable:
sleeping; eating; mating; hunting and gathering; co-operative
small-group interaction; the seeking of ‘excitement’ (often associated
with an element of moderate danger—especially evident in younger
males); the making of weapons, implements and ornaments with the
hands; and the doing of anything (so long as it is not painful or
tedious in its own right) that elicits the approval of members of the
in-group.
We will further discuss the importance of enjoyable experiences, as
determinants of human well-being, in Chapter 14. Briefly, we take
the view that enjoyable experiences, apart from their intrinsic experien
tial desirability in their own right, can contribute to an individual’s
capacity to resist the pathological effects of detrimental environmental
influences. That is to say, their effect on the biopsychic state is the
opposite to that of stressors.
Another very relevant point is that it is reasonable to assume that,
even taking into account cultural controls over certain aspects of
social behaviour, most of the time most human beings in primeval
society, like other animals in nature, did what they felt like doing. In
other words, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was characterised by con
siderable spontaneity in behaviour. There was also considerable
variety in daily experience.
Our conceptual approach prompts us, in the study of Hong Kong
or of any other human situation, to inquire whether there have
occurred any evodeviations with respect to enjoyment, spontaneity
and variety in daily experience. Do the personal environments of
people in modern urban settlements still result in situations in which
most of the people, most of the time, are enjoying what they are
doing? And do their personal environments offer the opportunity for
Social Relationships and Some Im portant Intangibles 283
spontaneity in behaviour? And is their lifestyle characterised by

considerable variety in daily experience?
We appreciate that many of the questions we wish to ask in this
context are difficult to answer in a way which the empirical scientist
would find satisfactory. However, we suggest that the extent to which
the environment is conducive to personal involvement, enjoyment and
spontaneity in behaviour is among the most important factors to bear
in mind when we compare the life conditions of people in different
societies or make judgments about the advantages and disadvantages
of different cultural, political and economic systems.
Sense o f meaning and sense o f purpose

Again we must begin our brief discussion on this topic by explaining
that we are well aware of its inherent semantic, conceptual and
methodological difficulties. In fact, we are not even going to attempt
to define the terms ‘sense X3f meaning’ and ‘sense of purpose’ or
discuss the difference between them, beyond stating that, on the
whole, the former has a broader and rather more long-term connotation
than the latter. However, because they are so similar in meaning we
will, in the comments which follow, refer simply to sense of purpose,
except where there is a special reason for distinguishing between the two.
Sense of purpose is an aspect of human experience, the level of
which seems to vary considerably from one society to another and
from one individual to another. The very nature of the economy and
lifestyle of Phase 1 society justifies the assumption that most hunter-
gatherers were, most of the time, imbued with a sense of purpose.
Certainly, the descriptions of primeval societies in the anthropological
literature suggest that they were not characterised by apathy or
boredom. A sense of purpose was built into the primeval way of life.
This being the case, a societal environment which does not inspire
people with a sense of purpose is evodeviant and, following our
general hypothesis, we ask whether this change may be undesirable in
terms of health and well-being.
The question of sense of purpose epitomises the dilemma which
faces us when we attempt to describe life conditions in Hong Kong or
any other human settlement. Here is an aspect of life experience which
we postulate to be very important as an influence on biopsychic state.
However, there is no way of assessing quantitatively the level of sense
of purpose experienced by individuals, through a survey or any other
means. We must, however, take the problem seriously, and since we
cannot make any useful quantitative assessment of sense of purpose

in different people, we will have to rely on subjective observations
and impressions. With respect to Hong Kong, our impressions on this
issue may be summarised in a very few words. Our personal observa
tions, taken together with the comments of many colleagues and
friends, lead us to the opinion that, compared with other populations
with which we are acquainted, most people in Hong Kong are imbued
with a relatively strong sense of purpose. This sense of purpose usually
centres on the desire to promote the prosperity of the family—often
still the extended family. Thus the making of money, especially when
acquired on a day-to-day basis, may be regarded as contributing to
the well-being of individuals by providing a tangible and meaningful
goal of purposeful activity. As we discuss elsewhere, the quest for
money also has other consquences, not all of which in the long run are
in the best interests of individuals or of the environment.
Co-operative small-group interaction

One of the things which strikes the visitor from the West—in Hong
Kong, as well as in other cities in South-East Asia—is the common
sight of small clusters of people doing things together. The members
of these groups are engaged in common projects, making things,
running a cooked food stall, or merely sharing a meal, engaging in
lively conversation or playing mah-jong. Indeed, the rattle and clatter
of mah-jong tiles is one of the most distinctive sounds to be heard in
the streets of Hong Kong. One is left with a strong impression that
small-group interaction is a characteristic and inherent aspect of the
lifestyle of Chinese people in the city.
When respondents in the Biosocial Survey were asked how long
they spent each day ‘doing things together with a small group of
people’—i.e., with two to seven others—in their leisure time, their
replies showed that 26 per cent spent more than an hour each day
and 24 per cent up to one hour a day in small group leisure activities,
while 46 per cent did not spend any time at all in this way. It is note
worthy that only about 29 per cent of the respondents in the rural
sample gave this last reply.
Much of the small-group interaction observed by the visitor to
Hong Kong is in small businesses of various kinds. In the Biosocial
Survey, 56 per cent of the working people (36 per cent of the respon
dents) said they worked in businesses or organisations with 30 or less
employees; and 38 per cent of the working people (24 per cent of the
respondents) said that their actual work-group consisted of six people

or less.
As mentioned in Chapter 6, the topic of co-operative small-group
interaction at work relates to the changing patterns of energy flow
in society. It has been well established that the increasing use of energy
in industry in Western countries has been associated with a series of
changes in the organisation of labour, and hence in the work experi
ence of individuals. For example, because of the large capital outlay
required, the trend to machine-intensive industry has been associated
with a steady increase in the size of the average manufacturing estab
lishment. It is generally agreed that this change has resulted in a
diminution in personal contact, co-operative interaction and sense of
responsibility experienced by workers. In discussing the implications
for workers of changes in the industrial energy pattern, F.E. Emery*
has written: ‘The self-reliant craftsmen and the multi-skilled semi-
autonomous group that were the source of efficiency in small scale
industry (and agriculture, mining and fishing) were the bane of large
scale enterprises’.
We would argue that, at least as important as the efficiency aspect,
is the likelihood that the self-reliant craftsmen and the members of
multi-skilled semi-autonomous groups experienced at work a con
siderable sense of personal involvement and satisfaction. It is note
worthy that some large industrial companies in Europe and the United
States have recently reintroduced a system which provides small
groups of men with responsibility for relatively complex manufacturing
tasks, each group working as a semi-autonomous team. It is said that
this experiment has been successful, in that the quality of the product
is improved. Furthermore, absenteeism is reduced, suggesting that
either the work becomes more attractive or the individual workers
experience less sickness, or both.
Although Hong Kong has become a manufacturing city, its use of
extrasomatic energy in industry and the size of manufacturing estab
lishments lag behind those of many other industrial societies. This is
partly because of the nature of the main industries of Hong Kong—
textiles and electronics. Neither of these is as energy-intensive as the
major industries of the Western world. According to government
statistics, the actual proportions of people working in different sizes
*Emery, F. (1973), Industrialised Society, Australia, in Energy and H ow we

Live, Canberra, Australian Unesco Committee for Man and the Bisophere, p. 71.
of manufacturing establishments hardly changed between the years

1960-73, during which time the extrasomatic energy used in industry
in Hong Kong more than doubled. Among the respondents in the
Biosocial Survey, only 20 per cent of the working people said there
were more than one hundred people in the organisation for which they
worked. Thus, in spite of the increasing flow of extrasomatic energy,
it is our clear impression that much more co-operative small group
interaction is experienced in Hong Kong than in most modern
industrial communities.
The practise o f learned skills and creative behaviour

The practise of skills and creative behaviour are not one and the same
thing. Skills can certainly be practised expertly with little evidence of
actual creativity, and some forms of creative behaviour may involve
little use of skill. Nevertheless, these two aspects of human experience
are so often linked that we will consider them together under the
same heading.
The opportunities and incentives that a given environment offers
for the exercise of learned manual skills appears on our check list of
elemental life conditions because all evidence suggests that this kind of
behaviour, like co-operative small-group interaction, was a distinct
feature of the daily life of all individual hunter-gatherers.
It is also apparent that today there is considerable variation with
respect to this aspect of human experience from one society to
another, and also within the populations of human settlements, and
that some people in some places spend very little time, or no time,
exercising learned manual skills, while others labour for twelve or
more hours a day practising their particular craft. Each of these
extremes is very different from the primeval situation.
Historically, it appears that most people in ecological Phases 2
and 3, the subsistence farming and the early urban phases, learned
some manual skills and practised them, although some tasks
required somewhat less precision, and others somewhat more
precision, than those of primeval society. The transition to the
modern urban phase has been characterised by the introduction of
machines, driven by extrasomatic energy, which have taken over
many of the skilled activities previously carried out by human
beings, and hence there has been a decline in craftsmanship and
in the proportion of people who daily exercise manual skills.
Machines have also taken over another behavioural feature of
TABLE 12.1 Biosocial Survey: hours spent each day making things
by hand
Males Females
per cent per cent
None 8.0 2.2
Up to 2 hours 13.9 7.2
2-5 hours 14.3 28.8
5-9 hours 37.3 33.1
More than 9 hours 25.0 26.7
Missing data 1.6 2.1
Phases 2 and 3, namely, hard manual labour; but this is a different

matter and it will be discussed later.
In discussing this component of the life conditions of the Hong
Kong people, it is necessary once again to speak mostly in terms of
generalisations and impressionistic observations. Neither data nor
analytic methods are available to allow us to describe this aspect of
human experience in a precise and quantitative way.
To a visitor from a typical modern Western city, there appears
to be going on in Hong Kong, as compared with his own society, a
great deal of practise of crafts, such as carving, tailoring, carpentry
and metal work. This impression is supported by the findings of the
Biosocial Survey. Respondents were asked how many hours they
spent each day making things with their hands (including such activities
as cooking). The answers are given in Table 12.1 They show, for
instance, that 76 per cent of males and 88 per cent of females said that
they spent more than two hours a day making things by hand.
We are not aware of any definitive data relating to the practise of
manual skills in Western cities, but we feel certain that the proportion
of the population engaged in this kind of activity is much smaller.
In economic terms Hong Kong is in the process of being trans
formed from a labour-intensive small business society to a machine
and energy-intensive industrial society. We have noted in Chapter 6
that the amount of extrasomatic energy flowing through Hong Kong
has doubled in the last ten years, and that much of the additional
energy is being used in the manufacturing industry, which employs

nearly half of the total labour force. This trend almost certainly
implies a gradual decline in craftsmanship—a decline, in other words,
in the degree to which individuals practise learned manual skills.
Whether the decline in the learning and use of manual skills should
be regarded with concern is open to discussion. Should this societally-
imposed change in the daily experience of individuals be seen as a
deprivation, contributing perhaps to a generally diminished sense of
personal involvement in the activities of the day? Even if the depriva
tion does not directly induce maladjustment, the satisfaction associated
with the practise of a craft may heip to neutralise the undesirable
effects of various environmental stressors. Needless to say, the
practise of the same craft for very long hours each day might well
counteract any such beneficial effect, since it would be likely to inter
fere with other postulated health needs such as a degree of spontaneity
in behaviour and of variety in daily experience.
One further point is worth making about the change in the level of
manual arts and crafts. It can be argued that, while the practice of
manual skills is on the decline, the practice of mental skills is on the
increase. Again, it would be difficult to document this statement
quantitatively, but on the whole it seems a reasonable assumption. A
pertinent question is whether the exercise of a mental skill, such as
programming a computer, produces the same kind of biopsychic
effect, in terms for instance of sense of personal involvement and of
satisfaction, as does the exercise of a manual skill. While we will not
hazard an answer to this question, it does in general seem reasonable
to suggest that, on the level of the individual, the practice of a mental
skill may well compensate for the loss of a manual skill. On the other
hand, it is important to appreciate that, whereas the practice of
manual skills in earlier human situations applied to nearly every
adult in the society, this is not the case for mental skills today. The
number of jobs available which involve even a relatively high degree
of mental skill is small, and the competition for them is strong. The
majority of the population is left, at least as far as occupation is
concerned, without the incentive or opportunity to perform either
manual or mental skills.
The extent to which individuals in adult life might be able to
compensate for this deprivation by practising a manual skill in their
leisure time will be affected to a considerable degree by whether or
not their society offers the encouragement and means for learning
arts and crafts in childhood. In Hong Kong, as in most other countries,

the great emphasis in schooling is on the learning of mental skills such
as reading, writing and mathematics, and the rote learning of rather
narrowly selected facts of history and science. Little incentive or
opportunity is offered to young people to learn and develop any
skills except for purely vocational purposes.
The introduction into this discussion of the term ‘creative behaviour’
raises the usual problems of definition and assessment. We use the
term broadly, to mean essentially ‘the act of making something’,
whether or not one has made it in exactly the same way a thousand
times before. We recognise, however, the distinction between this
kind of behaviour and innovative creative behaviour.
It is easy to appreciate the selective advantage of innovative creative
behaviour in the evolution of the human species. Innovative ideas,
whether relating to techniques of hunting, to the manufacturing of
implements or to other aspects of the economy, must have played an
important part in individual and group survival. However, there was
also apparently some selective advantage in conservatism; a well-tried
technique should not be abandoned at the drop of a head-dress to be
replaced by some untried, new-fangled idea. Although all cultural
evolution has been the consequence of creativity in human beings, it
is important to maintain a sense of perspective when contemplating
this problem. During the late paleolithic era, many generations passed
without any noticeable change in the type and design of implements
and ornaments. The period of the first cities in Mesopotamia is
often described as one of great human creativity, the development of
writing being given as an example. But the period of evolution from the
purely pictographic script to a fully phonetic alphabet probably lasted
about one hundred generations. From one generation to the next, there
fore, the degree of change must have been almost imperceptible.
It would seem that the acts of innovative creation which have been
important as determinants of cultural evolution have been made by a
very small proportion of the population. Even in Western society
today, in which the notion that innovation per se is good has become
an integral part of the value system and in which innovations of one
sort or another are being introduced at an ever-accelerating rate, only
a tiny fraction of the population is actively participating in the process.
One factor contributing to our difficulties in discussing creativity is
the fact that extraordinarily little attention has been paid in the
behavioural sciences to the subject of creative behaviour in ordinary
people. There are, of course, various psychological tests for creative

thinking, and some individuals are found to perform better than
others at these tests. And it is true that a good deal has been written
on the mental processes and mechanisms that might be involved in
creative behaviour, but authors in this area tend to concentrate their
attention on exceptional individuals such as world-famous artists,
authors, and scientists.
However, when we include creative behaviour in our check list of
life conditions, we are not thinking of the Leonardos, Einsteins,
Shakespeares, Beethovens and Marconis. We are interested rather
in the extent to which the environment encourages ordinary people
to create for themselves new and aesthetically pleasing patterns in
terms of their own life experience and within the norms of the society
in which they live. The areas in which creativity can find expression
range from home decorating, nurturing aquaria, gardening and
cooking to general conversation and story-telling. As far as we are
aware, no efforts have been made to develop methods for assessing
the amount of creative behaviour in individuals, sub-populations and
populations and there is very little written, even of an impressionistic
kind, comparing and contrasting this aspect of human experience in
different societies.
Does creative experience contribute positively to the individual’s
state of health and well-being? It is often assumed by occupational
therapists that it does, and the sick are often encouraged to take
up an art or craft as an aid to their recovery. But little thought or
effort has been devoted to this matter on a societal level.
Also relevant is the question whether there exists in human beings a
‘natural tendency’ to behave creatively, and whether the ultimate
expression of this behavioural tendency is especially sensitive to
positive or negative pressures during socialisation. Does conventional
schooling, for example, tend to stifle the development of the creative
tendency?
Once again, to some readers we may appear to be drifting away
from our ecological theme, and they may feel that in so doing we are
being inexcusably speculative and superficial. Our answer to this
criticism is simply that, in our judgment, the extent to which societal
conditions permit or encourage creative behaviour in the average
individual is a very important aspect of the ecology of a human
settlement. The fact that knowledge in this area is deficient should not
deter us from drawing attention to the problem, even if we are unable
to present any firm facts or conclusions.

Hong Kong society is often said to be relatively conservative,
perhaps of necessity and possibly to the advantage of most of its
members, in the given circumstances. Craftsmen and artists produce
beautiful works, but these tend to be stereotyped in design. Neverthe
less, shaping a dragon out of a piece of wood, even if not innovative,
is surely an act of creation. However, the transition to Phase 4 society
involves a progressive reduction in the number of people engaged in
this type of craft.
With respect to mental processes, many people have remarked on
the relative lack of evidence of innovative creative thinking among
students reaching university in Hong Kong. It is suggested that
socialisation in the home and the system of schooling in Hong Kong,
which involves a relentless series of examinations, tend to discourage
the expression of individuality and to suppress any potential for
creative thinking.
Sense o f belonging
A sense of belonging is, we suggest, an important aspect of life
experience which contributes to a general sense of personal involve
ment, and hence to well-being. It can be experienced in relation to an
in-group (e.g. the family) or in relation to the physical environment.
The former has already been discussed when we were considering
social relationships, although we did not actually use the expression
‘sense of belonging’, which here we have reserved for use in relation
to the physical environment or neighbourhood.
A definition of ‘sense of belonging’ will not be attempted here and
we hope that its general meaning is obvious to most readers. However,
we can say that a sense of belonging is likely to be associated both
with the exercise of some responsibility with respect to what goes on in
and around the place where one lives, and with a degree of participa
tion with other residents in various activities associated with the
quality of the local environment. It is thus likely to be associated also
with neighbourly interaction and a sense of community. Although
hardly a measurable aspect of life experience, it is clearly much more
in evidence in some places than in others.
A sense of belonging in relation to the neighbourhood is not on
the whole a characteristic of most of the residential areas of Hong
Kong. However, it appears to be stronger in the older parts and in
the squatter areas—an impression which is supported by the results
from the Biosocial Survey relating to interaction with neighbours

and fear of crime (Chapters 11 and 13).
A recent development, namely the setting up of Mutual Aid
Committees, initially to combat crime, has perhaps increased the
sense of belonging in some of the newer housing estates (see Chapter 13).
Learning experience
Discussions about learning usually centre on childhood and youth,
and the comments which follow are no exception. But learning is, of
course, a life-long process, and learning during adulthood is especi
ally important in situations, like that which exists in Hong Kong,
which are characterised by rapid changes in the total environment.
Most of what is learned by adults, and much of what is learned by
children in modern societies, occurs through the mass media. Indeed,
many authors have professed concern about the tremendous influence,
both actual and potential, of the mass media, and especially of tele
vision, on the attitudes and behaviour of an ever-increasing number
of people.
The average adult in Hong Kong probably spends nearly one
thousand hours a year watching television, and it is likely that most
of what these people know about the global human situation has been
learned in this way. However, whether the programs shown on the
two commercial television stations give a fair and balanced picture of
what goes on in other places is questionable. In Hong Kong as in other
capitalist societies, an important factor influencing behaviour, values,
attitudes and aspirations is the deliberate, organised persuasion by
powerful commercial corporations through advertising.
The discussion here will concentrate on the formal education of
children, although learning as a part of socialisation outside the
educational institutions receives some attention in other parts of this
book. We must make it clear that in attempting to discuss what is
learned at school, we are well aware that a large number of experts
have contributed to a vast literature on this extremely complex subject,
and our comments on schooling in Hong Kong will be restricted only
to those aspects of the problem which relate to the ecological theme
of our study.
In accordance with our biocultural approach, let us begin by
commenting briefly on the situation as it was in the first and longest
ecological phase of human existence. Evidence from recent hunter-
gatherers shows that, with the exception of the traditional initiation
periods in a minority of groups, formal education did not exist, and

learning in childhood, and its continuation into adulthood, was
essentially a spontaneous process. Children learned behaviour patterns
and techniques through their natural tendency to mimic others, and
their knowledge of the world came through listening, observing,
exploring and experimenting. A great deal of what a child learned was
picked up from older children. The motivation for learning was
presumably sheer interest and the desire to emulate successful and
respected members of the band. Learning was thus not only spon
taneous and enjoyable, but also largely incidental. It was something
which just happened.
When the earliest schools came into existence in Mesopotamia, the
motives for spontaneous learning—curiosity, interest and imitation—
were, for the first time, replaced by fear and competition. Throughout
ecological Phase 3, only a small proportion of children were subjected
to this particular evodeviation, but in the modern urban phase,
schooling has become part of the life conditions of nearly all young
people. By drawing attention to these fundamental changes in the
nature of learning experience we are not intending to imply that
formal organised educational programs should be eliminated; but
we do take the view that an evolutionary perspective could lead to
important improvements in the educational process.
Too often, in assessing ‘progress’ in education in different countries,
all the emphasis is put on the numbers of young people who attend
institutions of learning, and the number of years they spend there. At
least as important, and hardly ever mentioned, are two other aspects
of formal education. The first is referred to as the learning environ
ment, which includes both material and psychosocial components.
Second, there is the all-important factor— What the students actually
learn: better no formal education at all than one which gives the
student an unbalanced view of themselves and of the world they live in.
We have already described in Chapter 10 the state of affairs in
Hong Kong with respect to the numbers and proportions of students
who receive primary, secondary and tertiary education. Let us now
consider, therefore, the learning environment. There exist in Hong
Kong essentially four classes of schools, which differ with respect to
cultural emphasis. First, there are the Anglo-Chinese schools, which
offer an English type of education, but blend this to some extent with
the Chinese tradition. They are said to represent a deliberate effort to
fit the school pattern to the real needs of Hong Kong. This is the
largest group of schools. Second, there are the Chinese Middle

Schools, in which the emphasis is on Chinese culture, and many of
them seek to maintain the academic traditions of pre-1949 China. The
number of schools with this emphasis is declining. Third, there are
some Communist Chinese schools which cater for a small percentage
of the population. Fourth, there are the National Schools, mainly for
the children of British, American, German, Japanese and Indian
people living in Hong Kong. The teachers in these schools are usually
from the corresponding countries.
From the point of view of organisation and finance, there are three
categories of schools, namely the government schools, the aided
schools, which are run by religious or philanthropic bodies to which
the government gives grants or subsidies, and private schools, some of
which are run as businesses on a profit-making basis.
All kinds of schools are subject to control by the Hong Kong
Government Education Department. The department is directly
responsible for the public examination which determines whether
students may proceed from primary to secondary school. The Hong
Kong Certificate of Education, which comes at the end of the fifth
year of secondary schooling, is controlled by a board, which includes
representatives from the Education Department, the participating
schools and the two universities.
All children are expected to attend primary school, and the Director
of Education has powers to enforce school attendance if parents
appear to be unnecessarily withholding their children from primary
school. These powers are only exercised after a careful investigation of
the family’s circumstances and the needs of the child. In 1978, 98 per
cent of primary school leavers entered secondary form 1, and it is
the present policy of the government to provide three years of free
secondary education for all children by 1983.
One of the characteristic features of the school situation in Hong
Kong is the fact that in nearly all primary schools and in some
secondary schools, the number of pupils necessitates a system of
double sessions, in which two different schools use the same building
—one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This means that a
child spends as much as 60 per cent of the day out of school. Although
this fact is usually deplored in Hong Kong, in some respects it may be
regarded as the saving grace of the school system. Five hours per day
of exposure to the regimentation in behaviour and thinking of the
Hong Kong school system is surely enough for any child, especially
since most students spend several hours in private study at home.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of the double-session arrangement
lies in the fact that it does not allow the pupil to linger on at school,
for such purposes as participating in spontaneous group activities or
making use of the library.
The most outstanding feature of the learning environment in Hong
Kong is the pressure put on the student, both by parents and by
teachers, to study for examinations. Even in primary school, frequent
examinations dominate the child’s learning experience and the idea of
competitive learning, in contrast to group learning, is thrust on the
child from the very beginning. This situation is further exacerbated in
secondary school. Part of the pressure comes, of course, from the fact
that the number of places in secondary and, especially, tertiary
institutions is very severely restricted, and competition is accordingly
very great.
Higher education is seen by most parents and children alike as the
only means to a very important end—a well-paid job. This view of
education simply as a prerequisite for material wealth is not, of course,
peculiar to Hong Kong, but it is certainly particularly strong in that
city, in keeping with the all-pervading emphasis on money.
The advantages and disadvantages of an examination-dominated
educational system have been discussed a great deal in the literature
over recent years, and here we will make only two points which are
of ecological relevance. First, this experience in childhood would seem
to reinforce, perhaps to an almost pathological degree, the common
behavioural tendency to compete with peers, and this fact may well
be of considerable ecological significance in terms of the intensifica
tion of energy use and the impact of society on the environment (see
Chapters 6 and 15).
Second, it is clear that the system selects for influential positions in
society only those kinds of people who are extremely good at rote
learning and at regurgitating the facts they have absorbed in their
hours of concentrated study. Furthermore, it does nothing to en
courage, and may well actively suppress, any creative tendencies that
the pupil may happen to have. Thus society becomes dominated by a
relatively narrow range of personality types, and there may well be a
serious under-representation of imaginative and creative thinkers
among decision-makers and policy-makers.
Before leaving this topic, there are two positive aspects of the
learning environment in Hong Kong which deserve mention. We
have been told that school does provide a source of real enjoyment, in
that the sense of comradeship among the students in a class is very
strong, and that many life-long friendships are established among
them. Also, despite all the very notable disadvantages of the examina
tion system, it does provide a sense of purpose, at least for those
students who have some chance of succeeding.
From the environment in which learning takes place we move to
the question of what the students learn about. In the context of the
present study, we are interested in particular in the extent to which
they are informed of the human situation in broad biological, his
torical and cultural perspective, the extent to which they are en
couraged to take a comprehensive interrelational view of human
situations, and the extent to which they are made aware of human
kind’s place in nature and of the great ecological events of recent times.
Our comments here will be based mainly on the handbook for the
1978 Examination, prepared by the Hong Kong Certificate of
Education Board. This examination is intended primarily to be a test
of general education for students who have completed a recognised
secondary school course of five years’ duration. Most of the examina
tions may be taken in Chinese or in English, and no candidate may
take more than nine subjects in any one examination. The syllabuses
for the examinations largely determine the subject matter communicated
to pupils in secondary schools.
Not unexpectedly, the subjects available take the familiar frag
mented form—expressed as neat categories, as if the things learned
under one heading had no relationship to the things learned under
others. The subjects listed are as follows: English language, French,
English literature, shorthand, Chinese language, Chinese literature',
Chinese history, geography, mathematics, chemistry, biology, Biblical
knowledge, Buddhist studies, history, economic and public affairs,
physics, domestic subjects (cooking), pottery, domestic metalwork,
practical electricity, technical drawing, principles of accounts.
Secondary education is therefore not characterised by any core
subjects aimed at presenting an integrated account of the human
situation, or of the range of problems facing humankind today
globally, regionally and locally. One of the most outstanding and
highly significant features of our modern era is the fact that, for the
first time in the 3000 million years of life on earth, a single species
has developed the capacity to destroy within a few days most, if not
all, of its own kind, and perhaps most other forms of life as well.
One wonders where in the syllabus discussion takes place on this

simple fact of stupendous human and ecological significance, on the
events leading up to it and on its implications for the future. Possibly
it is covered in ‘history’ which, for the purposes of the Certificate of
Education, is the period from 1860 to 1963. However, there is no
mention, for example, of Hiroshima, Nagasaki or the H-bomb in the
detailed items listed in the history syllabus.
With respect to the question of the extent to which students might
be expected to learn about the human situation in broad biological and
historical perspective, it is noteworthy that the history syllabus
includes three parts, as follows: (A) East Asia 1860-1952 (it stops
short of consideration of events in China after 1949); (B) Europe,
1870-1960; (C) The United States of America, 1860-1963. Not unex
pectedly, the more detailed list of topics under these headings makes
no reference to the interplay between natural and cultural processes.
No one would deny the importance of the period covered in this
syllabus, and it is commendable in the sense that it is concerned with
more than one culture. But it deals with only 1 per cent of the time
that has passed since the introduction of farming, and less than 0.1 per
cent of the time that Homo sapiens has been on earth. There appears
to be no intention to encourage a sense of perspective based on
biocultural criteria.
The handbook includes a comprehensive and, in some ways, very
well-balanced biology syllabus. It is noteworthy that, while this
syllabus includes reference to the ecology of natural ecosystems and
energy in natural ecosystems, there is no reference at all to the use of
energy by human society, to the impact of humankind on natural
environments, or the concern of some ecologists that the whole
biosphere, on which we depend for our existence, is in danger of
permanent and irreversible damage through the influences of modern
civilisation. The causes and results of pollution of the air and of the
oceans are not mentioned, nor is the whole subject of chemicalisation
of the environment and its biotic effects. Oddly, there is no reference
to evolution, the concepts of which are, in our opinion, of the greatest
relevance to the problems of civilisation.
Perhaps the nearest thing to an integrative syllabus is human
geography (which is Section B of geography). It concerns East and
South-east Asia and Australasia, and it includes, for example ‘rural
settlements and land use’ and ‘factors which may affect the farmer’s
choice of corps, livestock and methods’. It also includes the urban study
of Hong Kong and other cities in the region, which are ‘chosen to
illustrate the principles behind the growth of urban centres in relation
to their functions’. And there is a section on ‘problems’, including
‘overpopulation’, ‘irrigation and flood control’, ‘industrialisation and
urban growth’. While it appears improbable that the biological aspects
of these topics are given the attention they warrant, this small part of
the geography syllabus is encouraging. Nevertheless, there is no
reference even here, or in any other lists, to factors affecting human
health and well-being, except for a small section on nutrition in the
biology syllabus. Moreover, it will be noted that not all students take
geography, which is only one subject among the twenty-eight listed.
And for those who do take it, it is likely to contribute only one-ninth
of their total learning experience in secondary school.
Before concluding this section on learning, some results from the
Biosocial Survey are worth mentioning. Our analysis included consi
deration of the relationships between education level and a number of
other variables. One of the most striking relationships found was with
‘enjoyment of life’. Only 44 per cent of males with negligible education
said they enjoyed life, as compared with 83 per cent of males with a
tertiary education. For females, the percentages were 55 per cent and
84 per cent respectively. On the other hand, of women who had
negligible education, 72 per cent said they enjoyed housework, as
compared with 43 per cent of women with tertiary education.
Obviously the interpretation of these relationships is something
which must be approached very cautiously. Certainly, it would be
unwise to take it to imply that schooling per se is good for people. It is
more likely that those whose constitution is such that they survive in
the system through to the tertiary level achieve a social and economic
status conducive to the avoidance of environmental stressors and to
the experience of various forms of enjoyment not available to the
mass of the population. It is unlikely that, in the hypothetical situation
of an entire population being given education to the tertiary level, the
proportion of people ‘enjoying life’ would be any higher, unless the
existing disparities in social status and economic wealth in the popula
tion were removed. The discrepancy that exists today between
‘enjoyment of life’ in the highly educated and little educated groups
must be regarded as a serious indictment of the prevailing organisation
of society.
13
BEHAVIOURAL ASPECTS OF
HUMAN EXPERIENCE
Resting, sleeping and physical work
Unfortunately, it was not possible in the Biosocial Survey to carry out

a full study of the ‘biological time budgets’ of people in Hong Kong.
This would have required a separate in-depth study in which individuals
would have been asked to record their various activities during at
least one 24-hour period. However, we were able to collect some
information on sleeping and eating patterns, and the data on occupa
tional and recreational activities allow us to say something about
patterns of physical activity. Before we summarise these results, some
comments are called for on these aspects of life conditions in our
standard reference society—that of ecological Phase 1.
Observations on recent hunter-gatherer groups indicate that, while
most sleep occurs during the hours of darkness, the sleeping pattern
tends to be polyphasic, rather than monophasic. For example, a short
period of sleeping around the middle of the day seems to be very
common, and a good deal of intermittent wakefulness occurs during
the night. Certainly, recalling our earlier comments on spontaneity,
hunter-gatherers tend to go to sleep when they feel like it.
With respect to the levels and nature of physical work, it is clear
that the hunting and gathering life-style must have involved a consi
derable amount of physical activity, as long distances were often
covered in the food quest, and hunting in particular involved a certain
amount of sporadic and very vigorous exercise. Other forms of
physical activity included collecting firewood, building shelters,
dancing, and playing games. However, it is important to stress that
the evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers also spent a great deal of
time just pottering around, or sitting and talking or resting. In fact,
the average time spent by each adult in gathering or hunting was
probably, under typical conditions, little more than two hours a day.
One of the common characteristic features of urban society is that
different sub-populations experience different kinds of personal
environments and exhibit rather different patterns of behaviour. Our

findings concerning sleeping patterns in Hong Kong, however, show
considerable uniformity. Two-thirds of the respondents in the Survey
said that they slept between seven and nine hours a night, while only
21 per cent said they slept less than seven hours and 12 per cent more
than 9 hours. Most people said that they fell asleep between 10.30 pm
and midnight and woke up between 6.30 am and 8.00 am, and most
frequent sleeping hours for adults were between 10.30 pm and 6.30 am.
Over 81 per cent of males and 65 per cent of females said they did not
take a nap during the day time.
In other words, the sleeping pattern of people in Hong Kong is
essentially monophasic, and in this respect it is similar to that of most
modern Western societies, in which societal conditions interfere with
the individual’s opportunity to go to sleep when he or she feels like it.
Turning now to physical work, we note that there are several ways
in which the pattern might deviate from that of primeval society.
First, there is the question of the overall level of physical work—
whether there is much more or much less than in the primeval setting.
In many ecological Phase 2 type societies, peasants performed very
much more physical work each day than their hunter-gatherer
ancestors. This also is true for some occupational groups in Phase 3
societies, and for a smaller number of people in Phase 4 societies.
The second variable in physical exercise is the frequency of fairly
vigorous activity, as distinct from the overall amount of physical work
performed. The hunter-gatherer life-style is likely to have involved
fairly frequent bouts of vigorous physical work, and the question
arises whether the evodeviation, represented by a lack of vigorous
physical activity, may lead to maladjustment. The findings of some
epidemiological studies are consistent with the hypothesis that this is
the case. In a study in Britain it was reported that for men who take
regular vigorous exercise, the risk of developing coronary heart
disease is only about one-third as high as that for men who do not.
In reporting their work, the authors put forward the view that vigorous
exercise promotes cardiovascular health. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy
that the death rate from coronary heart disease in Hong Kong is low,
compared with many Western communities, and yet, as we shall see,
the proportion of the population taking vigorous physical exercise also
appears to be very small.
A third aspect of physical exercise relates to the relationship between
the output of energy spent on physical activity and the input of energy
consumed in the diet. Thus, quite apart from the effects of exercise
Behavioural Aspects of Human Experience 301
on the tone of the heart muscle perse, there is increasing evidence that,
if grossly more food energy is consumed than is required for metabolic
activities and physical work, signs of maladjustment are likely to
occur. Thus, if the level of muscular work performed is low, then the
intake of food should be reduced accordingly.
The situation in Hong Kong with respect to physical activity appears
to be not unlike that in many Phase 4 societies. In the Biosocial Survey,
only 6 per cent of males and 4 per cent of females in the sample
worked in occupations which are classifiable on a four-grade scale
as being in the highest category (i.e. ‘hard physical work’), while 57
per cent fell into the two lowest categories. As far as recreational
exercise is concerned, 73 per cent of the sample said they did not take
any regular vigorous exercise, compared to only 27 per cent who said
they took exercise of one or more kinds. Thus, of the whole sample,
19 per cent went swimming, 2 per cent went running, 4 per cent
performed gymnastics, 3 per cent cycled, 2 per cent went dancing,
3 per cent played badminton, 3 per cent played table tennis and 2 per
cent practised martial arts. However, only 14 per cent of the sample
spent more than two hours each week in such activities. Thus, about
half of those who said they took exercise actually did very little.
Twenty per cent of the sample said they occasionally walked in the
country, while on a daily basis 55 per cent spent less than 15 minutes
walking to and from work. Apart from walking to work, 47 per cent
said they did not walk at all, and a further 27 per cent walked for less
than 30 minutes each day.
At almost any time of day, but especially in the early morning, in
every patch of parkland or public open space in Hong Kong large
numbers of individuals may be seen, singly or in groups, performing
exercises for the sake of their health. Most of this activity falls into one
of two categories. First, there is the traditional Tai Chi style of Chinese
boxing (shadow boxing). While related to the martial arts, it is seen
rather as a form of exercise to improve the body and mind. The
movements are slow and conform to certain Tai Chi patterns and
style, and despite the slow speed, much strength is needed to perform
many of the movements. Tai Chi is mostly performed in the early
mornings, when the air is relatively fresh and clean. This kind of
exercise is especially popular among older men and women—while
younger Chinese tend to be more keen on other forms of traditional
and modern martial arts.
The second category is known as Lut San Cho, and is a relatively
modern form of exercise. It originated from mainland China and
became popular in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. The main move
ment, performed in the standing position, involves the swinging of the
hand in a pendulum motion forwards and backwards. It is supposed
to be beneficial for the circulatory system and to reduce high blood
pressure. Lut San Cho has certain advantages over Tai Chi, in that no
formal training is required, and it is said to be less tiring because
there is no need to complete set sequences of continuous movements.
As far as we know, no data are available concerning the effective
ness of these exercises. On the basis of the principle of evodeviation
and also from some of the literature on cardiovascular diseases, it
might be supposed that occasional bursts of more vigorous activity
might be more useful. Nevertheless, presumably the people who engage
in these pursuits feel that they are better for it, and it is relevant that,
despite all the pressures of urban life and the so-called increasing
‘pace of life’, many tens of thousands of individuals are willing to
devote time each day to these behaviours for the sake of their health
and well-being.
Experience of aggression*
In the present context we are interested in the extent to which, and the
ways in which the environment in a human settlement might affect
aggressive behaviour in the population. In terms of our conceptual
model, there are two related but quite different relevant variables.
The most important one is the extent to which the personal environ
ments of individuals render them likely to be the victims of violent
aggression. This is directly reflected in the fear of aggression, an
aspect of the biopsychic state which greatly influences the quality of
life. The other relevant variable is the extent to which individuals, in
their personal behaviour patterns, may act aggressively. In other
words, we recognise in essence the existence of two sub-populations—
the one comprising the aggressors and the other, usually much larger
group, the potential victims. Theoretically, of course, any given
individual might belong to both groups.
*The term ‘aggression’ covers hostile acts of many kinds, and includes forms
of physical, verbal, economic and military behaviour. In the present context,
we are restricting the discussion to physical violence likely to cause bodily
harm, involving two individuals or small groups of individuals, and the
emphasis will be mainly on ‘impersonal aggression’, that is, aggressive acts
against people who are not members of the aggressor’s circle of family or
close acquaintances.
Let us begin by introducing an historical perspective, by comment

ing on violent aggression in primeval people. The common conception
of humankind in the Old Stone Age embodies a picture of almost
continual violence and brutality. This view is partly the consequence
of the almost universal Western ethnocentric fallacy that our culture
is superior to any other, past and present, and that we have arrived at
this state through a long process of cultural evolution, which has
involved a continual progression towards something better. It stands
to reason, according to this fallacy, that our hunter-gatherer ancestors
were inferior to us in all respects, and that violent aggression was
common among them, along with all manner of other barbaric and
uncouth behaviours. In fact, a marked tendency to cause grievous
bodily harm to other members of the same species and hence to
become involved with them in violent combat would have been a
severe selective disadvantage.
The situation in the primeval phase of human history can be used
to illustrate the important distinction between three kinds of violence.
First there is violent interaction with individuals of other species such
as deer, bison, snakes, mammoths and tigers. This kind of violence
has essentially disappeared from the life experience of most urban
dwellers of the modern world.
The second form of violence involves aggressive behaviour towards
members of other human groups—to members of out-groups, as
distinct from members of one’s own band or in-group. Information
from recent hunter-gatherers suggests that this kind of aggression was
not very common in primeval society. Although there seems to be a
universal tendency among hunter-gatherers to regard out-groups with
suspicion, violent hostility is by no means the rule. In any case, in
the typical primeval setting encounters with strangers were probably
rather unusual events. The impression one gains, however, is that
humankind is not endowed with an innate sense of concern, tender
feelings and compassion for out-groups, and that hunter-gatherers,
if they found it necessary, would not have been averse to hitting out at
troublesome neighbours.
The third kind of violence is that which takes place within the
in-group itself. In the hunter-gatherer situation this is a very different
matter from out-group violence, because it threatens the cohesiveness
of the group and engenders reactions of sharp disapproval among the
members of the group. Frequent offenders may eventually be ostra
cised and these spontaneous responses of the in-group are an extremely
effective means of social control. There is nothing a hunter-gatherer
fears more than prolonged isolation and loneliness, and nothing he

values more than companionship. In the primeval environment,
there is for each person in essence only one in-group—the band itself.
Consequently, it is likely that these social pressures, based on dis
approval of disruption within the in-group, associated no doubt with
the exercise of a considerable measure of self-discipline, play an
important part in the maintenance of good relationships within
the band.
As discussed in Chapter 1, the in-group/out-group situation of
human society changed drastically with the advent of cities, and
individuals found themselves surrounded by many different human
out-groups. Because of the apparent lack of any powerful natural
mechanisms tending to regulate or control violence and aggression
between out-groups, human societies were forced to devise, for the
protection of their members, new means of discouraging instraspecific
violence. Codes of behaviour were spelled out, laws were brought
into effect and offenders were punished by the law-keeping forces
of the society. This cultural adaptive response did not, by and large,
extend so far as to include the protection of out-groups such as the
members of other cities or of other states.
Religion, too, played an important part in the cultural adaptation
to this evodeviant situation. People were exhorted to love their neigh
bours and violence per se was deemed wrong. Punishment took the
form of hell-fire and everlasting damnation, or reincarnation into a
lower caste. One of the characteristics of many modern societies is
that, although laws are still there, religion is losing its importance as
an influence on human behaviour.
Traditional Chinese philosophy provided people with a definite
code of interpersonal behaviour and social conduct. Confucian
doctrine placed great emphasis on the moral virtue of ‘human
heartedness’ or jen, and in the Analects it is written: ‘Do not do to
others what you do not wish yourself . . .’. Furthermore, direct
aggressive encounter between people was strongly disapproved of in
society. In modern Hong Kong the Chinese cultural heritage may still
have some influence on the behaviour of individuals. Certainly,
violent crime is not as great a problem in the territory as it is in many
modern Western cities.
The figures for certain kinds of violent crime in Hong Kong and
various other places are shown in Table 13.1. The frequency of serious
assault is, according to these figures, very much less in Hong Kong
than it is in the United States, although it is higher than the rate in
TABLE 13.1 Violent crime against the person in Hong Kong and
various other countries
Cases known to police per 100,000 population
Murders & Serious assault &

Place Year manslaughter attempted murder Rape
Hong Kong 1974 2.4 86.4 2.4

USA 1974 9.7 214.0 55.2
New York
City 1973 21.4 486.0 47.6
Scotland 1974 1.5 49.8 n.a.
India 1963 1.9 n.a. n.a.
Scotland. The figures also indicate that rape is relatively infrequent

in Hong Kong, although concern at its rising incidence has been
reported more recently. Official crime statistics are, of course,
notoriously difficult to interpret, partly because of problems of
classification and partly because of differences in the proportion of
criminal acts which are reported to the authorities.
The reported incidence of murder and manslaughter can, however,
be assumed to be moderately accurate. According to the figures,
these crimes are relatively uncommon in Hong Kong; in 1974 the
rate was one-tenth as high as in New York City.
It is interesting to note that rates of serious crime vary markedly
from one part of Hong Kong to another: rates of both murder and
serious assault are significantly higher in the urban area than in the
New Territories, and in recent years at least, rates have been much
higher in Kowloon than on Hong Kong Island.
In spite of the fact that criminal violence is not nearly as prevalent
in Hong Kong as it is in the United States, crime is currently a cause of
serious concern among the population. This concern is due in part to
the marked increase in the number of reported cases of violence in
recent years (see Figure 13.1). It is obvious from these figures, what
ever their deficiencies with respect to accuracy, that societies the
world over are experiencing very significant changes in rates of
criminal behaviour.
The rate of violent assault in Hong Kong reported to the police in
1974 (86.4 per 100,000 population) represents a fivefold increase since

1960 (17.5 per 100,000). Part o f the increase is probably due to a
higher proportion o f cases being reported than in earlier years; but
this factor is unlikely to account fo r more than a fraction o f the
increase, a conclusion supported by the fact that the numbers o f
murders and o f victims requiring hospitalisation has also increased
substantially. I f we assume that each incident involving violence is the
work o f a different individual, then on the basis o f reported cases
only, another way o f expressing the change is to say that, while in
1960 the proportion o f the population not com m itting crimes o f
violence was 99.98 per cent, in 1974 the proportion was 99.91 per cent.
In the Biosocial Survey, 20 per cent o f the respondents reported
that an acquaintance o f theirs had been robbed or beaten up in the
preceding month and about 5 per cent said that this person was a
member o f their own fam ily. The respondents were also asked whether
they thought it was safe to go outside in their area in the daytime and
at night. A n index constructed on the basis o f both answers shows
that the proportion o f people who considered their area unsafe varied
220
200
O z 180
~9
2 H-
< 160
o -I n
>
140
£ 2
- £
120 z o
O™
$ ”
100 z 50
2
80
ui Z
< ^
60
40
20 O
z
YEAR
Figure 13.1 Violent crime against the person: Hong Kong and the United
States o f Am erica, 1953-1974
TABLE 13.2 Biosocial Survey: fear o f local crime by housing type

Housing type Percent reporting Total number
lack of safety in in each
locality housing type
Resettlement cottages 5 74
Squatters 19 114
Private apartments 22 761
Low cost housing 26 696
Tenements 29 897
Resettlement estates
(non-self-contained) 48 761
Resettlement estates
(self-contained) 55 622
Total 3925
enormously from place to place. The biggest variation was according

to housing type. Table 13.2 shows the numbers and percentages of
people living in the different housing types who reported a fear of
local crime.
These results are especially interesting in view of the unexpectedly
big difference between the two extremes, and also because the dif
ferences bear no relationship to the economic status of the people
living in the different types of housing. The greatest difference in fear
of crime is that between squatters and cottages on the one hand and
resettlement estates on the other, and these are the two most similar
groups with respect to income. If we assume that fear of crime, as
expressed in this way, is a reasonable indicator of the incidence of
violent assault in the different areas, then it would appear that the
immediate environment has a very considerable influence on this
form of criminal activity.
The dramatically increasing rate of violent crime in most Western
cities has given rise to an enormous literature on the possible causes of
this kind of behaviour. Crowding, broken homes and violence on
television are among the causes which have been proposed. The
increasing rate of crimes of violence is a cause for concern in Hong
Kong society today, and presumably this increase is the result of
certain changes in the personal environments of those who are

responsible. Let us list some of the changes in societal conditions and
life conditions in Hong Kong which have accompanied the increasing
incidence of violent aggression, one or more of which may have had
some influence, direct or indirect, on the crime rate.
First, the following societal changes have been concomitant with
the increase in crime:
1. Increasing industrialisation, associated with a twofold increase in
ten years in the per capita consumption of extrasomatic energy
(Chapter 6).
2. Increasing prosperity, in terms of income and material wealth in
the community as a whole, with a smaller proportion of the
population ‘below the poverty line’ and with a substantial increase
in the mean income in terms of its purchasing power (Chapter 2).
3. Increasing ‘Westernisation’, involving a weakening of traditional
Chinese values and attitudes and behavioural norms, and a
greater degree of acceptance of the dominant values of modern
Western society, including the Western Idea of Progress
(Chapter 2).
4. An increasing proportion of the population being moved from
older residences and squatter areas into new housing estates
(Chapter 9).
The following changes can be recognised in the human experience
dimension. Several of them are, of course, related to the changes
listed above in the total environment:
1. It is generally agreed that there has been some weakening of
family ties (Chapter 12). Many youths, in particular, may feel
less concerned about ‘letting down’ the family if they behave in
ways likely to incur the strong disapproval of close relatives.
Moreover, there are increasing opportunities for membership of
alternative in-groups, ranging from respectable clubs and relatively
harmless street gangs to such organisations as the Triad Societies
and the Laantsai gangs, in which antisocial behaviour forms the
basis for in-group approval and praise.
2. As discussed in the last chapter, there is reason to suspect that, for
the average individual, the personal environment may be becoming
progressively less conducive to a sense of personal involvement,
purpose and challenge in the normal activities of the day. This
change is associated with a decline in the opportunities for co
operative small-group interaction and for the exercise of learned
manual skills and personal creative behaviour.
3. We suggest that for many people the gap between aspirations and
their fulfilment is increasing. As will be discussed more fully later
in this chapter, this situation may produce in some people a state
of chronic frustration which, in turn, may lead to a variety of
possible responses, one of them being violent behaviour.
4. In the Biosocial Survey, the residential environment which
people rated the most ‘unsafe’, in terms of the likelihood of
criminal assault, was that of the resettlement estates, especially
the newer, ‘self-contained’ estates. The Survey also showed that
the degree of neighbourly interaction in the resettlement estates
was lower than in other housing types. The proportion of the
population living in this kind of environment increased consi
derably (from about 18 per cent in 1964 to 25 per cent in 1974)
during a period when the rate of violent crime also increased.
5. Finally, as discussed in Chapter 11, the possibility cannot be
discounted that certain chemical changes which impinge directly
on the individual, such as the increasing lead content of the
atmosphere, or the additives in processed foods, might play a role
in promoting antisocial behaviour.
It must be emphasised that, while the state of societal disharmony
reflected in a high incidence of violent crimes is undesirable in terms
of the interests of the community as a whole, the violent acts them
selves should not necessarily be regarded as examples of maladjustment
in the indviduals who perform them. Indeed, violent aggressive
behaviour may be seen as an adaptive response to such deprivations as
a lack of a sense of personal involvement or a failure to fulfil aspira
tions. By behaving aggressively, the aggressor may well reduce his
level of frustration, thereby avoiding psychosomatic illness or the
desire to resort to the use of addictive drugs.
Hong Kong has responded to the societal disharmony associated
with acts of physical violence and other antisocial behaviour in a
fairly conventional way. The cultural adaptive response, which is
mainly antidotal, includes a police force of about 14,500 men and
women, seven prisons which accommodate about 7000 inmates, and
the provision of metal bars on the doorways to flats in new resettle
ment blocks for the protection of residents. The underlying causes of
the increasing crime rates, whatever they may be, appear to remain
untouched.
There is, however, one interesting new development worthy of
mention. In 1974, the government of Hong Kong initiated the setting
up in residential areas of groups of local residents, known as Mutual
Aid Committees, to assume some responsibility for the protection of

people and property in their locality. These Committees establish
their own guards to patrol the staircases and corridors of the buildings,
and the results are said to have been spectacular in apartment blocks
which have adopted this system. It seems probable, however, that
the effects on crime in these areas are as much due to some of the
incidental side-effects of the establishment of the Mutual Aid
Committees as they are to the guards. Although the primary task of
the Committees relates to the maintenance of law and order, many of
them have spontaneously taken on other activities aimed at contri
buting to the welfare of the residents of their area. These activities
include, for example, the organisation of social gatherings and of
outings to the countryside, the care of the incapacitated and the
organisation of sports clubs. Consequently, one of the most important
effects of the Mutual Aid Committees is the fact that residents of the
massive apartment blocks are coming to know each other, to share
a sense of responsibility for what goes on around them, and to parti
cipate to some extent in the affairs of their three-dimensional neigh
bourhood. It is likely that this fact, as much as the presence of patrols
of guards, is responsible for the reported decline in antisocial behaviour
in these localities.
There were about 2600 Mutual Aid Committees in 1976—just
three years after the first were formed. These committees were con
cerned with about 2200 of the 5000 residential buildings which it is
hoped will eventually be covered. However, a few of the Mutual Aid
Committees have recently ceased to co-operate with government
authorities because of disagreements.
One further point relevant to law and order relates to the existence
of ‘secret societies’ in Hong Kong—in particular, to the Triad Societies.
These societies are said to date back to the early years of the Ching
Dynasty in the seventeenth century, when a group of Buddhist monks,
who were committed to the defeat of the Manchus who had invaded
China from the north, set up an underground organisation known as
the Hung Mun. This was based on a feeling of brotherhood, and its
aim was to protect the welfare of the group. Members were united in
defence against hostile external forces in the form of the official
administration, and against social evils, particularly those afflicting
the lower classes. Over the years the organisation split into numeorus
Triad Societies, among which the one common bond was adherence
to the rites and rituals of the original Hung Mun. Triad Societies
became firmly established in Hong Kong, retaining both their secret
character and their concern for the welfare of the social classes which
they largely represented. The organisation had fairly strict codes of
behaviour and involved a certain amount of ritual. While the societies
organised various illegal activities such as prostitution and gambling,
violent crime was not a feature of their repertoire. In fact, they offered
‘protection’, albeit often for a fee, for the hawkers and residents of the
neighbourhoods in which they operated. In this way they showed
some, but not all, of the characteristics of the recent Mutual Aid
Committees. There are a number of distinct ‘families’ of traditional
Triad Societies in Hong Kong today, differing with respect to political
and ethnic affiliations.
More recently, groups have come into existence in Hong Kong
which have been called ‘quasi-triads’, and it is these groups which
make a major contribution to societal disharmony today. They are
more loosely-knit than the old Triads and do not have the same
concern for the welfare of lower socioeconomic groups. A few years
ago they began to infiltrate the schools and offer the potential drop
out some opportunities for ‘self-fulfilment’ in various kinds of group
activities, some of which may involve physical violence, intimidation
for reward, drug-running and so on. These new groups may well be
responsible for most of the criminal violence in Hong Kong at the
present time. In contrast it is said that in the past about 70 per cent of
the detection of serious crime in Hong Kong was due to the assistance
given to the police by local Triad Societies of the old type. With the
decline in the influence of the old Triad Soceties and the rise of the
quasi-triads, this is no longer the case.
The use of drugs for pleasure

The deliberate use of chemical substances—originally of natural
origin, but more recently synthetic—to produce an altered and
pleasurable state of mind has long been one of the characteristics of
domesticated human societies. It is said that half the grain produced
in the early Mesopotamian civilisation went into the production of
beer, and wines made from grapes were stored in royal cellars five
thousand years ago.
Alcohol is still by far the most widely consumed mood-altering
substance. It is taken by mouth and absorbed into the blood-stream
through the alimentary canal. Another route by which mood-altering
substances enter the blood stream is through inhalation, as in the
smoking of tobacco, marihuana, opium and heroin. Some substances,
such as heroin and LSD, may be introduced directly into the blood
stream with the aid of a hypodermic syringe. The most important

drugs in use in Hong Kong are opium and its derivatives. Before
discussing these, however, we will comment briefly on the use of
alcohol and tobacco.
Alcohol
There are no restrictions in Hong Kong on the sale of alcoholic
beverages. Beers, spirits and wines from all parts of the world are
readily available in stores at all times and at prices which, because
Hong Kong is a free port, are frequently much less than in their
country of origin. Some local Chinese rice wines are produced
illegally, and many are imported from mainland China. These are
usually distilled, and are often very potent.
For all its accessibility, however, alcohol does not present a major
problem in Hong Kong. It is possible to walk the streets of the city
for very many hours without setting eyes on a drunken man or
woman, except for the occasional foreign sailor. In 1974 in Hong
Kong, with its population of four million, only 466 people were
prosecuted for ‘drunkenness and disorderly conduct’. Alcoholism, as
a serious chronic form of biopsychic maladjustment, is uncommon
among the Chinese population of Hong Kong, although 2.6 per cent
(90) of the patients discharged from the main psychiatric hospital in
1975 were diagnosed as cases of alcoholic psychosis. In Australia, it is
estimated that about 10 per cent of the adult males are alcoholics.
In the Biosocial Survey, 51 per cent of the males and 22 per cent of
the females interviewed said that they drank alcoholic beverages,
although only 6 per cent of men and less than 1 per cent of women
reported taking several drinks per day. An interesting relationship
was found between educational status and drinking behaviour. In
general, the higher the level of education, the less alcohol an individual
was likely to drink. For instance, 23 per cent of males with negligible
education reported having several drinks a day, as compared with
about 2 per cent of males with secondary and tertiary education.
Nevertheless, a considerable amount of alcohol is consumed in
Hong Kong. It has been estimated that, for the period 1963-69, the
equivalent of about 3.8 litres of absolute alcohol was consumed per
adult per year, in comparison, for example, with about 6 litres in the
United States. Although drinking is traditionally regarded as immoral,
there are no really strong feelings about it, and in certain circumstances
alcohol is believed to be beneficial and to improve health. Moderate
drinking is sanctioned on certain social occasions, such as banquets,
as a facilitator of conversation and conviviality; but alcohol is never

consumed without food. Intoxication rarely leads to physical violence,
and public drunkenness is strongly condemned. Most of the alcohol
consumed in Hong Kong is in the form of potent Chinese wines, such
as ‘snake wine’ and ‘tiger-bone wine’ (averaging about 50 per cent
alcoholic content by volume); but the more palatable Western
beverages are becoming increasingly popular, especially brandy.
Tobacco
According to the answers of respondents in the Biosocial Survey,
about 55 per cent of adult males and 10 per cent of adult females have
the habit of smoking tobacco, mainly in the form of cigarettes. About
15 per cent of the men said they smoked 1-10 cigarettes (or the equiva
lent in cigars) each day; 32 per cent said they smoked 11-20 per day;
and 8 per cent said they smoked more than 20 per day. Among the
women, the rates of consumption were lower: only 0.5 per cent of
them admitted to smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day. It has been
suggested that there is a certain cultural disapproval of women
smoking in Hong Kong, and that for this and other reasons, there
may be a tendency for people to understate their consumption of
tobacco. This is to some extent supported by the fact that calculations
tor Hong Kong as a whole, based on the Biosocial Survey figures, are
about 10 per cent below the official import figures of 7500 million
cigarettes for the year. However, the discrepancy is not large.
Opium and its derivatives

The accessibility of opium and some of its derivatives, especially
heroin, is one of the most important human ecological characteristics
of Hong Kong. It is not known how many addicts there are in the
city, but the most common estimate is that about 10 per cent of the
adult male population are involved. About one-third of them are
addicted to the use of opium and two-thirds to the use of heroin and
it is said that there is only one female addict for every twenty-six male
addicts.
Let us first briefly consider the processes in the total environment
which contribute to this state of affairs, before discussing the factors
in the human experience dimension which tend to promote the use of
these narcotic drugs.
The opium poppy is not grown in Hong Kong, nor in nearby main
land China. The origin of most of the opium drugs reaching Hong
Kong is the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’, which incorproates the
border areas of Thailand, Burma and Laos, where the cultivation of

the poppy is known to occur on a large scale. Parts of Vietnam and
Malaysia are also said to contribute to the supply. Not all the cultiva
tion in the Golden Triangle is illicit, and perhaps as much opium is
produced under official control for the production of alkaloid
preparations for medicinal use as goes into the illegal trade. It has been
estimated that the illegal production of opium amounts to about 1500
tonnes per year.
Opium itself is the first crude product of the poppy. It is extracted
from the seed pod of the plant, usually around February each year,
about one month after the plant has blossomed.
The three main pharmacologically active derivatives of opium are
morphine, heroin and codeine. Morphine’s analgesic properties and
its potential to produce addiction are well known, and its main im
portance in the present context lies in the fact that it is the substance
from which heroin (diacetyl-morphine hydrochloride) is prepared by
a process of acetylation. This procedure is relatively simple, and in
Hong Kong it is carried out in illicit make-shift ‘laboratories’, usually
in bathrooms and kitchens. The number of these illegal heroin labora
tories is not known, but it has been suggested that at least twenty are
operated intermittently in the territory. Heroin does not ‘travel’ well,
and most of that which is used in Hong Kong is prepared locally from
morphine made from imported raw opium.
The illicit importation and distribution of opium in Hong Kong is
well organised and is under the control of a number of syndicates
with close connections overseas, especially in Thailand. Govern
mental authorities find it very difficult to penetrate these unlawful
activities, which operate under tight security and are associated
with substantial legitimate trading. Once the opium has reached
Hong Kong, it is marketed to brokers who sell it to divans (‘dens’), or
to groups of divans which prepare it for smoking (by a boiling process)
or arrange for its conversion to heroin. According to one estimate,
about 35 tonnes of raw opium and 7-10 tonnes of morphine products
are smuggled into Hong Kong every year.
There are a number of factors in the total environment which
contribute to the special susceptibility of the population of Hong
Kong to addiction to opium and its products. Most obvious of these
is the location of this great multitude of people, living within a
relatively short distance of an area of cultivation of the opium poppy.
Second, although the borders of the territory are well defined,
theoretically facilitating the detection of illicit imports, the sheer
volume of goods shipped into Hong Kong makes complete inspection

impossible, and the modern trend towards container shipping is said
to be welcomed by the opium traffickers. Third, and perhaps most
important, the economic prosperity of Hong Kong is seen by many to
be dependent on the fact that it is a free port. Consequently the
government has aimed to exercise a minimum of control over the
movement of goods in and out of the territory.
Turning to the human experience dimension, several studies have
shown that most addicts start taking narcotics when they are about
19 years old. It must be abundantly clear to all young people in Hong
Kong that, although the use of narcotic drugs by individuals for non
medical reasons is illegal, these substances are nevertheless readily
available in the environment. They also know that one or two doses
for experimenting are not very costly, and that the chances of being
apprehended by the authorities are small. The reasons given by
the addicts themselves for the first use of opium or heroin are, more
or less in order of frequency of mention, as follows:
(1) curiosity
(2) sociability and social pressure (in some occupations, such as
coolie labour, the vast majority of individuals are addicts)
(3) fatigue, associated with long arduous hours of work (e.g. in
tailoring)
(4) pain relief (it will be recalled that 20 per cent of the Biosocial
Survey sample said that, during the previous month, they had
experienced at least one bout of pain which had been severe
enough to interfere with their activities).
(5) insomnia (26 per cent of the Biosocial Survey respondents said
that environmental noise interfered with sleep).
Only a few of the addicts say that they originally took to drugs for
their euphoric effect, or for the purpose of prolonging sexual
intercourse.
There are, of course, environmental factors which operate in the
opposite direction, tending to dissuade the individual from experi
menting with drugs. Most young people are certainly aware, through
the educational efforts of authorities and through straight observation
that, if they start taking drugs, they might well be unable to stop.
In-group disapproval of drug use is sometimes also an important
influence, particularly disapproval by the family primary group. This
appears to be much more important in females than in males, and is
thought by some to be the main factor accounting for the big difference
in drug use between the sexes. Almost half of the female addicts
are prostitutes.
It is perhaps unfortunate that, as far as we know, there have been
no studies aimed at finding out the reasons why individuals do not try
drugs. The results of such a study could be at least as useful in pro
viding a comprehensive understanding of the problem as the results of
research aimed at finding out why individuals do take to drugs. Of
course, by the time patients come for care and examination, they are
usually already addicted, and the great majority of them say that their
reason for continuing to take drugs is to avoid the symptoms of with
drawal. For these people, the procuring of the drug becomes the
central motive of their lives.
A few words about the techniques of addicts will help to complete
the picture. Opium is usually smoked with the aid of a special opium
pipe, and the inhalation of the smoke is preceded by a ritual heating
process to prepare the opium for smoking. A small proportion of
addicts swallow opium instead of smoking it. Heroin is also usually
taken by inhalation in Hong Kong. There are two main procedures.
In one of these, known as ‘ack ack’ or ‘firing the anti-aircraft gun’,
the lighted end of a tobacco cigarette is dipped into a preparation of
heroin, in the form of a powder or small granules. The fumes are
inhaled with the cigarette held in an almost vertical position. Some
times heroin is mixed with tobacco, and some addicts claim that they
were first unknowingly introduced to heroin in this way. A somewhat
more sophisticated technique is known as ‘chasing the dragon’.
Several granules of heroin, generally dyed red and mixed with several
parts of barbital, are placed on a piece of tin foil which is folded
longitudinally. The mixture is melted by gently heating it and tilting it
to make it run slowly up and down the tin foil, and the addict inhales
the fumes which are given off, usually through a straw, a bamboo
tube or a roll of paper. The fumes are said to resemble the undulating
tail of a dragon. Another method, known as ‘playing the mouth
organ’ involves inhaling the fumes through a matchbox cover.
The effects of opium and heroin on the biopsychic state of indivi
duals can broadly be considered under two headings. First, there are
the short-term effects on the individual’s mood or state of mind.
These include a sense of euphoria, a heightened imagination and a
general dulling of undesirable feelings, such as those associated with
pain or fatigue, and a general increase in tolerance of environmental
stressors. Thus, the use of opium and heroin can, like the consumption
of alcohol and tranquillisers, be regarded as an individual antidotal
cultural adaptive response to adverse life conditions.
Second, there are the long-term effects. After repeated use of the
drug, the individual becomes dependent on it in order to remain in a
functional state, both psychologically and physiologically. Basically,
this is due to the fact that certain metabolic processes in the body have
responded to, or become ‘adapted’ to the almost constant presence of
the drug in such a way that they can function fairly ‘normally’ in its
presence—the drug, so to speak, taking its place among the various
chemical components of the living tissues. These metabolic changes
are such that, when the drug is suddenly withdrawn, a state of
metabolic imbalance results, giving rise to considerable physiological
and psychological distress. Unfortunately, the reversal of the metabolic
adaptation to the presence of the drug is a very slow and psycho
logically painful process.
The addictive or dependent state may have various behavioural
consequences. One of the most important of these, from the societal
standpoint, relates to the fact that the craving for the drug is so great
that a normally law-abiding individual may be driven to serious crime
in order to obtain funds for the purchase of the drug. If he has a
family, it is more than likely that its members will be financially
deprived. The addict himself often eats very little and consequently
becomes malnourished, and there is also often a general impairment
of intellectual and physical performance.
We have already referred to the fact that the use of opium and
heroin can be regarded in part as an antidotal cultural adaptive
response by the individual to adverse conditions. Nevertheless, it
has so many undesirable consequences in the long-run (although not
necessarily more than in the case of alcohol), both for the affected
individual and for society, that its disadvantages are seen to outweigh
its advantages. The situation in Hong Kong has therefore engendered
a series of cultural adaptive responses on the part of society, aimed at
overcoming these undesirable consequences. Governmental authorities,
as well as a number of community organisations (with or without
financial assistance from the government), have mounted programs
with the object of improving the situation, including antidotal
measures aimed at treating or curing addicts. The scale of the problem
can be gauged from the fact that in 1969, for example, over 90 per
cent of the 14,437 convicted males were found to be addicted to drugs.
A number of centres have been established for the treatment and
rehabilitation of addicts. The Prisons Department has facilities for
treating about 1600 male prisoners a year and a much smaller number
of women, at the Tai Lam Centre and at Ma Po Ping on Lantau
Island. This program claims a success rate of 40 per cent, which is

outstandingly high by world standards. There are also a number of
centres, run by the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug
Addicts, which treat people who voluntarily offer themselves for
treatment. The success rate is said to be about 25 per cent. Another
program, on a much smaller scale, is operated by the Discharged
Prisoners Aid Society, claiming a success rate of about 10 per cent.
A major thrust of the government’s action is aimed at removing
opium and heroin from the total environment. The Hong Kong
Government Preventive Service employs about one thousand officers,
whose full-time job is directed at the detection of the illegal importa
tion of drugs into the territory and the local manufacture and distribu
tion of heroin. In 1975 about half a tonne of opium was detected, but
this program is obviously only marginally successful, insofar as the
needs of about 100,000 addicts are still apparently satisfied.
Educational programs are aimed, mainly through the schools, at
alerting the young to the dangers of addiction; but it is doubtful
whether these are very effective, since most of the individuals who
first experiment with opium or heroin are likely to be fully aware of
the risks involved, without any special education. Certainly, these
programs do nothing to create alternative drug-free in-groups with
which the potential experimenters might identify.
We have constructed a diagram, in terms of the standard conceptual
diagram, to illustrate what appear to be the important environmental
determinants of opiate addiction in Hong Kong (Figure 13.2).* The
striking feature of the situation, as revealed in this interrelational
analysis, is that no part of the massive cultural adaptive response of
society to the drug problem is directed at the fundamental socio-
environmental causes of drug addiction. Indeed, except for the treat
ment of addicts and the educational programs in schools, the societal
response is aimed only at eliminating opium and heroin from the
environment. So far, the measures taken to counter the problem in
this way have been remarkably unsuccessful.
As already pointed out, drug use in Hong Kong may be regarded
partly as an antidotal adaptive repsonse on the part of individuals to
conditions of extreme experiential deprivation. It is a symptom of an
unsatisfactory environment and life-style for a section of the popula-
*The human experience level o f this diagram (the three columns on the right
hand side) refers to the situation for adult males who are at special risk, and
not to all adult males in the population.
the problem of o p iu m and its derivatives
gT! HUMAN EXPERIENCE
Dwledge of effects of opiotes
long hours of
Figure 13.2 Opium addiction: a conceptual model
tion. In our view, neither educational programs on the dangers of

drug use, nor increasing penalties for pedlars, is likely to have much
effect. The problem will remain, so long as a substantial section of
the population experiences excessive boredom or fatigue, is frustrated
with respect to goal fulfilment, or is deprived of a sense of personal
involvement and purpose.
Aspirations and goal fulfilment*
The aspirations and goals of the members of the population of a
human settlement are an extremely significant aspect of its ecology.
Their importance lies in two areas. In the first place, the nature of an
individual’s goals and the extent to which they are fulfilled, both of
which are to a large extent determined by societal conditions, are
likely to influence his health and well-being. Second, the goals of the
members of a population can exert a powerful influence on the
*Aspirations are an aspect of the biopsychic state of an individual. Goals are

the actual objects of aspirations—and these may be material or experiential.
In the present discussion the distinction between the two words is not impor
tant, and they will tend to be used synonymously.
ecological characteristics of the system as a whole, affecting the

pattern of energy use, and consequently other properties of the total
environment. In retrospect we feel that, in view of their ecological
significance, we paid too little attention to aspirations and goals in
the Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme; and consequently we
will not be able to treat this theme as fully as it warrants.
It is necessary at the outset to recognise two levels of aspirations
and goals. The first, or elemental level, includes such goals as the
approval of peers and the achievement of comfort. These elemental
goals are shared by most people, and the tendencies to seek them are
among what we have called the common behavioural tendencies of
humankind (Chapter 4). However, the actual criteria for peer
approval are likely to vary from one culture to another, and comfort
may be provided in different ways in different places. Consequently,
we have a second, or ‘circumstantial’ level of goals—that is, goals
which are determined by the local or cultural circumstances. Theore
tically, we can recognise the existence of further levels of circumstantial
goals. For example, an individual’s elemental goal may be prestige;
his second level goal, as a means to achieving this, may be an expensive
sports car; his third level goal may be money with which to purchase
the car. Indeed, fourth and fifth level goals can often be recognised.
The three components of human experience in our conceptual
diagram are applicable to the subject of goal fulfilment. The aspirations
of any particular individual are an aspect of his biopsychic state and
the result of the impact of his personal environment, past and present,
on his genotype. And it is mainly the qualities of his personal environ
ment— influenced in turn by the qualities of the societal conditions
in the total environment and the economic and cultural properties of
the interface which separates him from them — which determine
whether his aspirations will be fulfilled. The individual’s efforts
towards the fulfilment of his goals are an aspect of his behaviour
pattern. In some cases the goal itself may be behavioural (e.g. an
individual may aspire to win a race or to paint a beautiful picture);
or it may be an aspect of the personal environment (e.g. a material
possession, like a motor car); or the goal may be health or happiness,
which are biopsychic variables.
It is relevant to comment briefly on the likely goals and aspirations
of individuals in primeval societies. Presumably men aspired to
success in hunting not only because it provided food for themselves
and their families, but also because it was a source of in-group
approval and of prestige and status (all of which are elemental goals).
Women are likely to have had comparable goals concerned with

food gathering and they may have aspired in the more long-term, to
having beautiful children. Goal-oriented behaviour in males included
the making of weapons and implements. However, beyond those that
could be easily carried around, material possessions were not among
the goals of primeval people. The available evidence strongly suggests
that hunter-gatherers valued companionship very highly, and much of
their behaviour was directed towards the cultivation o f this aspect of
their experience.
From these facts, we can recognise two fundamental characteristics
of aspirations and goals in the primeval setting which are pertinent to
the following discussion. They are: (1) that most goals were o f a kind
likely to be attainable; (2) that most goals were likely to be fulfilled
within a relatively short time—if not today, then probably tomorrow
or the next day. In other words, the situation was characterised by a
fairly rapid cycling of goal setting and goal fulfilling.
Civilisation has produced a number of ecologically significant
changes in the goal and aspiration experience of the average man and
woman. First, there have been major changes in the actual nature of
goals. Although men may still aspire to being ‘successful’ in the eyes
of their peers or members o f their subculture, the circumstantial
goals by which that success is measured are very different from those
of hunter-gatherers. The cash economy is one of the factors which
contribute to these differences, for prowess in hunting has been
displaced by prowess in making money. Certainly, money, like
hunting or food-gathering in the primeval situation, provides sus
tenance for the survival of the individual and his family. But it is also
used for the acquisition o f other material goods, the possession of
which is also a goal in itself. Another extremely relevant aspect of
material wealth is that some people have much more of it than
others, and this societal evodeviation is of major ecological impor
tance. So long as there are differentials in material wealth and so
long as the opportunity exists, theoretically at least, for any single
individual to achieve the level of material wealth of the wealthiest
members of society, then rampant consumerism, with all its conse
quences for industrial growth and energy use, is likely to persist. In
addition, the consequent striving for energy-expensive possessions
receives constant boosting by the advertising campaigns of the
manufacturing corporations.
One of the unsatisfactory aspects of the modern situation, from the
standpoint of human well-being, is the fact that in many societies a
substantial proportion of the population aspire to goals which they

never attain. The chronic frustration which follows may lead indivi
duals to seek alternative goals, such as those offered by antisocial
groupings in society, goals with a promise of relatively rapid fulfil
ment. Others may turn to drugs for relief. Both these responses may
be adaptive for the individual, although contributing to the overall
level of societal disharmony. Alternatively, the individual may resist
these temptations, and the continuing frustration may then lead to
stress and maladjustment in the form of neurosis or psychosomatic
disease.
This is an appropriate place to make a few further comments
about money in the context of the quality of human experience, and
to consider briefly what lies behind the money quest. Why do people
strive so relentlessly to obtain it? There are some obvious answers to
this question, but there are also some less obvious ones, which relate
especially to affluent societies. In the first place, in a cash economy
people require money in order to survive; they use it to obtain food,
clothing and shelter. But having achieved this satisfaction of their
survival needs, most of them continue to direct a great deal of effort
towards improving their personal financial situations. It has often
been asked whether this behaviour is a reflection of an insatiable
innate drive among human beings to increase their material standard
of living ad infinitum, or whether it is largely culturally determined. In
general, the consensus of opinion seems to be that the latter is the
case, and in view of the ecological truth that industrial growth cannot
go on forever, it is to be hoped that this consensus is right. However,
the question is not a simple one, and a number of different motives
for money-gathering behaviour, once subsistence needs are satisfied,
can be suggested. It is likely that their relative importance differs
from one society to another and also according to socioeconomic
class, personality differences and other factors. Some of the more
outstanding of these motives are as follows:
1. Money may be accumulated to provide a sense Of security in an
uncertain and rather unfriendly individualistic world—a protection
against ‘rainy days’ in the future when it may be needed to satisfy
survival needs.
2. Money itself is a symbol of success in life and of status. Thus, the
primary motive in money gathering may sometimes be the desire
for status or the desire to feel successful.
3. In a cash economy, and especially in a free enterprise society,
money is a source o f power and influence. Thus, in some instances
the primary motive may be for power over other human beings.
4. Money may be used to purchase goods and services of one sort
or another. These material goods in turn may be desired for a
series of reasons. They may be seen, for example:
(i) as a measure of social status;
(ii) as a source of additional comfort in life. (It is a common
behavioural tendency for people to seek extra comfort, even
when, in fact, they are already very comfortable);
(iii) to achieve additional protection against environmental
stressors of different kinds, such as high levels of noise
and crowding;
(iv) as a source of pleasurable experience of one sort or another
(motor cars and, television sets are examples).
5. Money may be used also to make possible certain kinds of
behaviour which may have advantages for the individual in
terms of status or, for example, by enabling him to escape from
the environmental stressors of urban situations by travelling to a
quiet place in the country. It may also be used to buy some variety
in daily experience.
6. The acquisition of more, or increasing amounts of money may
become a purpose in its own right. In an otherwise dull and
uninspiring societal environment, the quest for money may be
one of the only sources of challenge and purpose left to the
individual. Thus, the money quest becomes, in essence, a sort of
game which is adaptive, in that it replaces other kinds of chal
lenges that presented themselves to individuals in earlier societies.
As we have already mentioned, the money-gathering quest provides
a large number of individuals in Hong Kong, especially the hawkers
and small shop owners, with a built-in sense of purpose in their lives,
and one which involves short-term goals which tend to be satisfied on
a day-to-day basis. In this way, money can be said to have an adaptive
role, replacing the daily sense of purpose associated with hunting and
gathering in the primeval environment. For those few individuals in
the financially inequitable societies of the Western world who succeed
in amassing large sums of money, the money game also seems to have
many advantages. They achieve a high social status; most of their
aspirations are satisfied (although, being human, they set themselves
new goals and continue to seek further wealth); they have a more
varied life than other citizens; they can buy enjoyable experiences of
different kinds, including excitement in the form of driving fast
motor cars and speed boats; and they can retire to isolated places in
the country to commune with nature. By taking up big-game hunting

or deep sea fishing they may even be able to continue to build a daily
sense of purpose and exictement into their lives. Indeed, members of
this privileged society, in many ways, are spending their money to
acquire a lifestyle which, in its elemental characteristics, is akin to
that of their primeval ancestors.
However, in these financially differential societies there is usually
another important group of individuals who, day after day, year after
year, fail to achieve their pecuniary goals. For these people, the money
quest is a constant source of frustration, anxiety and distress.
14
ENVIRONMENT, LIFESTYLE
AND HEALTH: PROBLEMS
AND PRINCIPLES
In the last three chapters we have examined some aspects of the life
conditions of people in Hong Kong and have commented on their
possible implications for health and well-being. Much of the discus
sion, especially that dealing with relatively intangible aspects of life
conditions, has been speculative and of necessity somewhat incon
clusive, mainly because of the difficulties inherent in establishing or
demonstrating causal connections between environmental and lifestyle
variables on the one hand and biopsychic variables on the other. In
this chapter, after considering briefly the reasons for these difficulties,
we will be concerned with some principles which we regard as impor
tant in our efforts to improve understanding of these interrelationships.
We will also describe some further results from the Biosocial Survey
which illustrate these principles.
There are several reasons why the scientific approach has so far
failed to be very helpful in this area. The first of these has already been
commented upon several times, and there is no need to dwell on it
further here. It is simply that many of the relevant variables are very
hard to measure quantitatively and even, in some cases, to define
precisely. This applies both to environmental and lifestyle variables,
such as opportunity for spontaneity in behaviour and variety in daily
experience, and to some important biopsychic variables, such as
degree of neurosis, enjoyment or distress.
Second, there is the problem of multi-causality. This is well illus
trated by the situation that exists in the case of cardiovascular disease.
Field studies in different parts of the world have apparently shown
that relationships exist between coronary heart disease and a whole
range of different environmental, lifestyle and biopsychic factors. It
has been clearly shown, for example, that individuals with high
cholesterol levels or high blood pressure are at a considerably greater
risk than individuals with low cholesterol levels or low blood pressure.
Hard-driving, impatient men are said to be much more at risk than

more easy-going types. Among the life conditions which, on the basis
of statistical analysis or on the basis of theory, have been implicated as
risk factors, we can mention tobacco smoking, coffee drinking, low
calcium levels in local water supply, high sugar intake, lack of vigorous
exercise, over-consumption of calories, high consumption of animal
(saturated) fat and persistant emotional stress. There is a good deal of
controversy over the respective contributions of these various factors,
although the most ‘popular’ risk factors at present are high cholesterol
levels, high blood pressure, high intake of saturated animal fats and
tobacco smoking. Nevertheless, some authorities strongly suspect
that there exists a further very important ‘primary’ factor which has
so far eluded identificaton in field studies, and that some of the items
listed above may be viewed simply as predisposing factors. One can
speculate whether this unidentified factor might turn out to be
connected with lack of ‘peace of mind’, or with the increasing
frequency of mild febrile infections like the common cold. In either
case, proof of the relationship would be very difficult. Thus we see
that, even with a biopsychic condition as distinct as coronary heart
disease, the broad range of environmental and lifestyle factors which
various workers claim can be positively related to the prevalence of the
disease, produces a somewhat bewildering picture, especially for those
Western physicians who are trained to think in terms of a single cause
and a single cure.
Partly because of the failure of fieldwork to unravel satisfactorily
the complex interrelationships in the case of heart disease, there is at
present a reaction in some sections of the medical profession against
this kind of work. Sceptics question whether large studies on big
populations in the search for statistical correlations between life
condition variables and coronary disease, the so-called ‘multiple-
risk trials’, are worth the large amount of money spent on them.
Nevertheless, the epidemiological approach has definitely improved
understanding of the situation, even if much uncertainty and confusion
still exist, and there is no reason to believe that further work along
similar lines will not further add to our knowledge. We strongly
suspect, however, that the professional advice which will eventually
follow all this research effort will, as in the case of nutritional science
(Chapter 11), in essence advocate the correction of certain evodevia-
tions and a return to a more natural lifestyle.
A third reason why the scientific approach has not so far been very
successful in pin-pointing the interrelationships between environment,
Environment, Life Style and Health 327
lifestyle and health is, in a sense, the converse of multi-causality. We

can call it ‘multi-effectuality’. The problem arises because a single
detrimental experience may elicit different specific manifestations of
maladjustment in different individuals. Several investigations have
shown, for example, that people who have recently experienced
bereavement are more likely than the rest of the population to become
unwell, although the specific nature of their illnesses will vary from
individual to individual, being presumably determined by other
aspects of their life conditions, previous experience or genotypes.
In the light of all these difficulties, it is easy to appreciate why
knowledge about the interrelationships between life conditions and
human health and well-being progresses so slowly.
Despite these problems, one of the purposes of the Biosocial Survey
in Hong Kong was to provide information relevant to the influences of
environment and lifestyle on biopsychic state. In this respect it was
successful insofar as the results have revealed some interesting
differences, in terms of the Survey’s measures of ‘health and well-
being’, between sections of the population experiencing different life
conditions. We have already discussed in Chapter 11 the differences
between sub-populations living in different kinds of housing. We will
now comment on the relationships between our indices of health and
well-being and economic status.
The results summarised in Table 14.1 indicate that there is a negative
relationship between economic status on the one hand and both the
index of general physical maladjustment (see Appendix 3) and psycho-
physiological maladjustment as measured by the Langner scale and a
positive relationship between economic status and life enjoyment.
These results are consistent with data from other studies of community
health, which indicate that people of lower social status generally
experience a relatively poor state of health and well-being.
The finding does not, of course, tell us what specific aspect or
aspects of life conditions, determined by or associated with level of
income, are responsible for the observed differences. Indeed, the
possibility cannot be completely ruled out, although it seems most
unlikely, that the relationship is due to a common factor, possibly in
the genotype, which influences both economic status and biopsychic
state. A more likely explanation is that money is used to buy protec
tion from environmental stressors as well as to buy ‘meliors’ (discussed
later in this chapter). People of higher economic status are also likely
to be in a better position with respect to goal-fulfilment.
We will now consider another variable in life conditions in relation
TABLE 14.1 Biosocial Survey: economic status and health and

well-being
Health and Well-being

Economic Physical health: Langner scale: Life enjoyment: N
status % with ‘poor’ % ‘disturbed’ % who enjoy life
health
Male
Low 18.6 27.5 52.6 306
Medium 12.1 25.4 62.0 863
High 9.5 22.1 73.9 440
Missing
data 66
Total 12.5 25.0 63.0 1675
Female
Low 29.0 46.0 51.0 511
Medium 21.1 34.8 59.3 1134
High 16.0 32.3 75.2 501
Missing
data 104
Total 21.9 36.8 61.2 2250
to biopsychic state—namely, physical density.* We have selected this

topic for special consideration, partly because of its intrinsic interest
and relevance, and partly because it illustrates a number of important
principles of general application to environment-health interrelation
ships in urban settlements.
*Physical density is defined here in terms o f the number o f persons per unit
o f physical space or area.
Physical density in Hong Kong
Introduction
As an ever-growing proportion of the world’s population becomes
crowded into urban areas, the question of the implications for the
human psyche of high density living grows increasingly important.
We have already found occasion to refer a number of times to the
uniquely high population densities in Hong Kong, and people often
ask whether this city may represent a prototype of the home of most
of humankind in the future.
Taken as a whole, the literature on the subject reflects the general
view that abnormally high levels of population density are likely to
have a deleterious influence in both animal and human populations,
although it is clear that responses to crowding vary considerably from
one species to another. There is also clear evidence that in rats,
among other species, abnormally high population densities lead to
physiological and behavioural responses which, whether or not they
are ‘adaptive’, are of a kind which, if they occurred in human beings,
would be considered undesirable. On the other hand, we know that
in many human settlements today, and Hong Kong is an extreme
example, people live at population densities vastly greater than any
thing experienced in the long primeval phase of human existence; and
we see that in that evodeviant environment they appear to be in a
moderately good state of health, they multiply profusely and many
live to a ripe old age. But the absence of dramatic and obvious effects
does not mean that high population density is entirely without
undesirable consequences. High density living may adversely affect
life experience in ways which are not reflected in fertility rates and
mortality rates. There may be insidious ‘sub-threshold’ effects,
tending for instance to produce states of chronic neurosis, or to
interfere with sources of enjoyment. Surviving to old age and tolerating
crowding is one thing; a rich enjoyable life may be another.
Although high population density has, not surprisingly, been
blamed for many of Hong Kong’s problems, including disease, crime,
juvenile delinquency, suicide and the dissolution of the traditional
Chinese extended family, there is little actual evidence for most of
these postulated detrimental effects. Some authors have compared
Hong Kong’s statistics for crime, mortality and notifiable diseases
with those from other high density cities. R.C. Schmitt,* for example,
*Schmitt, R.C. (1966), ‘Density, health and social disorganisation,’ Journal o f
the American Institute o f Planners, 32, p. 38.
comparing the figures from Hong Kong with those from the United
States of America, wrote in 1966 that:
the experience of Hong Kong proves that an urban population can

survive and even flourish under conditions of density and over
crowding that today seem unthinkable to many Americans. High
morbidity, mortality and social disorganisation rates have not
proved to be an inevitable corollary of these conditions.
It is well established that crowding can, in the absence of such

cultural adaptive measures as public sanitation and vaccination, result
in an increased prevalence of contagious disease. With respect to non-
contagious diseases, however, no evidence is available that any
relationship exists in Hong Kong between high density living and such
degenerative disorders as cancer, cardiovascular disease or such
stress-associated conditions as peptic ulcers or essential hypertension.
While the available information in the literature does not provide a
clear picture of the way high density living today may affect the
biopsychic state of individuals in Hong Kong, the following points
are worth making. First, the general impression of the visitor to the
territory is that people appear, at least on the surface, to be no less
healthy, mentally and physically, than the residents of other far less
crowded towns and cities, and this impression is supported by the
results of the Biosocial Survey (see Chapter 10). With respect to
violent crime, it is true that there has been a substantial increase over
the past decade; but there has not been an increase in population
density during this period. In fact, most authors agree that the people
of Hong Kong cope with their living conditions remarkably well.
Conceptual approach
Because of the general importance of the topic, and because of its
special interest in the Hong Kong situation, we paid considerable
attention in our study to the question of the responses of people to
high density conditions. A number of questions aimed at providing
information on the relationships between physical density and biopsy
chic state were included in the Biosocial Survey.
Before discussing some of the results from the Biosocial Survey,
it is necessary to comment on the conceptual framework which we
had in mind when we began field work. The discussion will be in terms
of the standard conceptual diagram (Figure 14.1). The degree of physical
density likely to be experienced in the home or outside on the streets
by any random individual in a population depends to some extent on
pe r s o n a 1 biops ychic
en v iro n m e n t state
1
physical r affective \
density i ► (
vriv
perception
of d e n sit y 1
frustration j
T
[ stress J
T
^i^^d justmer^
Figure 14.1 High physical density and maladjustment: suggested sequence of

responses which lead to maladjustment in individuals who
perceive their environment as crowded
certain characteristics of the total environment, such as the total

number of people living in the settlement, the area it covers, and the
design and arrangement of the built environment. The variability in
density experience within a population is a function of the pattern of
differential filters which operate at the interface between the human
experience dimension and the total environment, and which result in
different individuals or sub-populations experiencing different degrees
of crowding. These filters are largely a function of economic status,
but not entirely so. In Hong Kong, individuals with very high incomes
are occasionally found living in crowded conditions in tenement
buildings and squatter huts.
On the basis of the simple observation that, on first impressions
at least, most of the people in Hong Kong seem to be fairly healthy,
mentally and physically, and since most of them live at very high
densities, we advanced the simple, if rather unexciting hypothesis that,
while a positive relationship would be found in the Survey between

physical density and maladjustment, this relationship would be a weak
one. We suspected that a much more important factor is whether or
not individuals feel that there are too many people around them, and
that a feeling of being crowded is likely to have adverse consequences
for health. That is to say, maladjustment is more likely to be associated
with what we have termed ‘affectivte density’ than with actual physical
density.
Thus, it is the individual’s perception of the situation which is
important. The extent to which he perceives a given situation as
‘crowded’ is a function of a variety of influences. These range from
current factors, such as what he wishes to do in that environment,
whether or not he is tired and whether the other people around him
interfere with his access to certain facilities or amenities, to factors in
his previous experience such as the degree of physical density to which
he became accustomed in his childhood and local cultural attitudes to
crowding. It is not impossible that his genetic characteristics may also
affect his perception of the situation. This emphasis on perception is
not intended to infer, of course, that physical density per se is unim
portant, since clearly the higher the population density the more likely
any given individual is to feel ‘crowded’, that is, to experience affective
density, whatever other influences may be at work.
We are not suggesting that a state of affective density necessarily
and under all circumstances gives rise to a state of maladjustment in
the individual. In fact, we postulate the existence of a series of possible
intervening states between the affective density experience and any
consequent maladjustment. In certain circumstances, as for instance
in the natural or primeval environment, a feeling of being crowded
may lead to a simple behavioural response which will immediately
resolve the problem: it may prompt the individual to move away from
other people, thereby bringing to an end the state of affective density,
which will then have served its behavioural purpose, and will have led
to no harm. If, however, the inclination to move to a lower physical
density situation is thwarted, as must usually be the case in Hong
Kong, then the high affective density state persists and a state of
frustration develops. If no effective form of coping behaviour comes
into play, and the state of frustration persists, it is likely to act as a
stressor. That is to say, it tends to promote a state of stress in the
individual. This sequence is depicted in Fig. 14.1. .
Stress itself can be described as an aspect of the biopsychic state
which lies at the extreme end of a continuum, the other end of which
represents the state of homeostatic equilibrium. Stress develops when

certain physiological and psychological processes, which are normally
in a state of flux, exceed their usual range of variation. Extreme
fluctuations in these processes are usually dampened by a series of
biopsychic adjustment mechanisms, but in severe conditions these
mechanisms may be neither adequate nor appropriate. When the
equilibrium is sufficiently disturbed, a state of stress ensues, and if this
persists, it is likely to lead to maladjustment.
The best known description of the physiological aspects of stress is
embodied in the ‘general adaptation syndrome’ as proposed by Hans
Selye in 1956. The syndrome is said to involve the sum of all non
specific systemic reactions in the body, and it is considered to be
activated in response to most stress-promoting situations. The concept
of a generalised physiological stress-reaction has been extended and
modified since the original work of Selye; it is currently seen as
involving the responses of a great variety of biotic systems, including
the central nervous system, the sympathetic and para-sympathetic
nervous systems, the thyroid gland and the pituitary-adrenocortical
axis. Furthermore, it seems that there is, after all, a certain degree of
variability in the stress response, according to the nature of the
conditions which promote the reaction. The details of this specificity,
however, are not fully understood.
The phenomenon of ‘psychological stress’ is usually considered to
be different from, and yet complementary to, the physiological stress
reaction. It involves subjective feelings such as distress or anxiety
which are extremely variable between individuals and are much less
easily assessed than are the physiological changes which accompany
them.
It needs to be emphasised that the initial stress reactions, whether
physiological or psychological, are likely to have had an adaptive
function in the natural environment. However, when life experience
deviates from that which was characteristic of this environment, the
stress response may lose its adaptive role and may even become
pathogenic.
The importance of the concept of stress in the context of the present
discussion lies in the suggestion that chronic frustration resulting from
environmental conditions perceived by human beings to be unsatis
factory, is likely to give rise to stress which, if persistent, will lead to
maladjustment.
The sequence which we have just proposed can be summarised as
follows. High physical density, as an aspect of the personal environ-
ment, if perceived by the individual as ‘crowding’, will result in a state

of affective density. If the individual is prevented from following his
natural inclination in these circumstances to move to a situation
of lower physical density, then a state of frustration results. If
this frustration is not relieved by one of various forms of adaptive or
coping behaviour, it is likely to promote a state of stress which, if it
persists, is likely to give rise to physiological or psychological mal
adjustment, or both.
There is one other very important aspect of this density model. We
propose that there are fundamentally two kinds of influence upon the
experiences, known as ‘stressors’, which tend to promote a state of
stress, and experiences which have the opposite effect and which we
have named ‘meliors’. In any given situation, an individual’s position
on the stress continuum is a function of the balance between meliors
and stressors in his experience.
Thus, while we see high physical density or, more particularly,
affective density as a potential stressor, its influence upon an indivi
dual’s biopsychic state is only one among many others. Other aspects
of life conditions which are also stressors may exacerbate the stressful
effect of high density, whereas meliors are likely to counteract this
effect.
We shall return to the melior concept later in this chapter.
The Biosocial Survey and responses to high density

The Biosocial Survey included a number of questions aimed at
providing information on the population density in and around the
homes of the respondents. Since it also contained questions aimed at
assessing the general mental and physical health of the respondents, an
opportunity was provided to examine relationships between population
density and biopsychic state.
The respondents were classed as living under conditions of ‘high’,
‘medium’ or ‘low physical density’—physical density being a composite
index based on both density within the dwelling and density in the
surrounding area (see Appendix 3). It will be noted that all these
categories, including the ‘low physical density’ group, represent
densities far in excess of those which most of humankind has experi
enced throughout human history, and all are very high compared
with the density experience of the average citizen of most modern
Western communities. Health and maladjustment were assessed in
the Survey by a number of different sets of questions, but only the
results obtained with the Langner scale will be discussed here.
In the first place, the hypothesis that there would be a weak rela
tionship between physical density and maladjustment was supported
by the results of the Survey. For both males and females in the sample
there is a positive relationship between the experience of physical
density and ‘disturbance’ (Table 14.2). Among females, about 29 per
cent at low density were ‘disturbed’* as compared with 40 per cent at
high density. For males, the figures were 24 per cent and 27 per cent
respectively. The relationship was reduced but was still present after
controlling for economic and educational status.
Affective or ‘feeling’ states are notoriously difficult to assess or
measure through questionnaires. Although some attempt was made in
the construction of the questions in the Biosocial Survey to assess
directly the degree of affective density experienced by individuals, we
have to admit in retrospect that we were unsuccessful in this regard.
However, from among the various questions relating to density in
the Survey, two were found to be particularly interesting in this
context. These two questions were: (1) ‘When you are surrounded by a
lot of people most of the time, do you enjoy this experience?’ (2)
‘When there are too many people in your surroundings, what kind of
feeling do you have?’. Responses to each of these questions are coded
in five categories. For the former question, the range of answers
extends from ‘very much enjoying this experience’ to ‘not enjoying it
at all’. Responses to the second question range from a neutral feeling
of ‘not having any particular concern’ when surrounded by too many
people, to a feeling of ‘extreme uneasiness and annoyance’. By com
bining the responses to these two questions, we have been able to
obtain a wide scatter of ‘scores’, ranging from very positive to very
negative feelings about the experience of being surrounded by many
other people. That is to say, we constructed an ‘index of density
tolerance’ (see Appendix 3). According to their replies, respondents
were classified into three groups: very tolerant, moderately tolerant
and intolerant. The very tolerant people were those who said that they
found situations of high density to be enjoyable and who were not
upset by them; the ‘moderately tolerant’ people were those who had
♦All people scoring four or more on the Langner scale are classified as
‘disturbed’. We must emphasise that, while this scale is meaningful for
comparing levels of general psycho-physiological disturbance between
populations or sub-populations, the score of any single individual cannot
be taken as a precise measure of his general state of mental health; it is
rather an indication of his level of distress at one specific time.
TABLE 14.2 Biosocial Survey: relationship between physical density

and maladjustment as measured by the Langner scale
Per cent ‘disturbed’
Physical density Male N Female N
‘low’ density 23.8 235 28.6 346

‘medium’ density 21.7 471 35.9 577
‘high’ density 27.4 898 39.9 1242
Total 25.1 1604 36.8 2165
Missing data 71 Missing data 85

N 1675 N 2250
neutral feelings or had a combination of both uneasiness and enjoy

ment when surrounded by a lot of other people; and the ‘intolerant’
people were those who were seriously upset by such a situation and
who did not enjoy it at all. In other words, ‘intolerant’ people are
those who would be likely to develop an affective density state when
there are many other people in their surroundings, and the index
appears to be a measure of the degree to which the individual is likely
to perceive a given high density situation as ‘crowded’.
Just less than a third of the sample is defined by this index as intol
erant and over 20 per cent is very tolerant of density. Males and
females differ only slightly in degree of tolerance, and there are fewer
intolerant people of both sexes among the older age groups (see Fig.
14.2).
The next finding of interest was that there exists a strong relationship
between scores on the tolerance index and those on measures of mal
adjustment. For example, among female, 48 per cent of the ‘intolerant’
were disturbed, as compared with only 31 per cent of the ‘very tolerant’.
In the case of males, the proportions were 31 per cent and 22 per cent
respectively (Fig. 14.3).
This finding is clearly open to a number of possible interpretations.
We note, however, that it is at least consistent with the hypothetical
conceptual model (Figure 14.1) and with our hypothesis that it is an
individual’s affective density state which determines his biopsychic
response to the high physical density conditions which are experienced
% VERY TOLERANT
/
INTOLERANT
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40 44 45-49 50-54 55-59
AGE
Figure 14.2 Biosocial Survey: the relationship between density tolerance and age
% DISTURBED
Figure 14.3 Biosocial Survey: the relationship between density tolerance and
maladjustment as measured by the Langner Scale
by almost everyone in Hong Kong.

Other interpretations include the obvious possibility that disturbed
people are more likely to be intolerant of high physical density than
are non-disturbed people. In other words, the question is whether
intolerance of high density in Hong Kong produces maladjustment, or
vice versa. Indeed, both processes may be operating. The final resolu
tion of this problem of the direction of this relationship cannot be
achieved on the basis of the data from the Biosocial Survey; a longi
tudinal study would be necessary for this purpose. However, some of
the other findings of the Survey are, in our opinion, more consistent
with the interpreation that the direction of the effect is intolerance/
maladjustment. It was found, for example, that scores on the tolerance
index are related to a number of variables pertaining to previous life
experience. Thus, more highly educated individuals are more likely to
be intolerant than people with little education, although high levels of
education per se are associated with low levels of maladjustment.
Place of origin was also found to be related independently to scores on

the tolerance index; people born in Kwangtung Province are more
likely to be tolerant than those born in Hong Kong, Macao or Shanghai.
Thus the degree of tolerance of high physical density appears to be
much influenced by cultural background, a fact which would be hard
to reconcile with the view that the relationship between intolerance
and maladjustment is due to the latter causing the former.
In summary, while the matter cannot be taken as closed without
further work, the results at present appear to us to be more consistent
with the idea that the perception of high physical density situations as
‘crowded’, i.e. intolerance, tends to lead to a state of affective density
and ultimately to a state of biopsychic maladjustment.
Adaptive processes
As we have seen, the results of this analysis are consistent with the
density model shown in Figure 14.1 and developed more fully in
Figure 14.4. An important feature of this model is the fact that, at
each stage in the postulated pathway or sequence from high physical
density to biopsychic maladjustment, the opportunity exists for the
intervention of an adaptive process.
On the societal level, these cultural adaptive responses include the
government’s promotion of new towns, the construction of multi
storey housing estates, and efforts to control immigration and to
promote family planning. All of these adaptive measures are correc
tive, in the sense that they aim to reduce the density experience of the
people living in the city. Clearly, however, the possibilities for effective
change through these adaptive processes in Hong Kong are very limited.
Some of the adaptive responses available to the individual are also
corrective. A resident may, for example, use his economic resources to
escape on a boat at weekends, to purchase a house on the Peak, or
even to emigrate to Australia. Other adaptive responses on the level
of the individual include the seeking of melioric experiences which
tend to counter the potential stress-producing effects of high physical
density. Indeed, we strongly suspect that the sense of enjoyment and
satisfaction derived from the exercise of learned manual skills, co
operative small-group interaction (e.g. in the course of running small
businesses or playing mah-jong) and other behaviours involving a
sense of personal involvement are important in helping people in
Hong Kong to withstand the detrimental influences of crowding.
Other possible forms of individual adaptation to frustration associated
E N V I R O N M E N T H U MA N E X P E R I E N C E
E x p e r ie n c e d e n v iro n m e n t B e h av io u r p a tte r n
B io p s y c h ic s t a t e
p r e v io u s d e n s ity p h y lo g e n e t
c u ltu ra l e x p e r ie n c e '
v a lu e s ,
a s p ira tio n s
> u la tio n _ p h y s ic a l
a ffe c tiv e d e n s ity
m o v in g
d ru g ta l c i n g o r
m a l a d j u s tm e n t
Figure 14.4 Conceptual model for the relationship between high population
density and biopsychic state
with crowding may be the use of opiates, and the seeking of member
ship of youth clubs or Triad Societies.
There have been frequent allusions in the literature to the general
adaptability and endurance of Hong Kong’s Chinese population. For
instance, the suggestion that the Hong Kong people’s remarkable
ability to cope with their high density environment with equanimity
and with little apparent deleterious consequence, may have some basis
in the simple fact that they are Chinese, was made in the nineteenth
century by an author of a work on ‘Chinese Characteristics’. He wrote:
We hear much of Chinese over-crowding, but over-crowding is
the normal condition of the Chinese, and they do not appear to be
inconvenienced by it at all, or in so trifling a degree, that it scarcely
deserves mention. If they had an outfit of Anglo-Saxon nerves,
they would be as wretched as we frequently suppose them to be.
The possibility cannot be ruled out that genetic factors might con
tribute to this apparent tolerance of high density situations. The
exposure of the population of China for thousands of years to severe
environmental conditions might have exerted significant selective
pressures, resulting in a genetically-determined characteristic for
tolerance. Indeed, some suggestive evidence of at least one relevant
genetic predisposition is provided in the literature. It has been reported
in America that newborn babies of Cantonese parents are more

passive in their behaviour, calmer and less perturbable than newborn
babies of Caucasian parentage.
However, there is much to be said for the view that cultural factors
play a very important role in tolerance of high density. The cultural
background of the Chinese would seem to be an important factor in
the adaptability of the population under conditions of high density
living, and may well reinforce any genetic predisposition towards
tolerance. Confucian tradition puts great emphasis on family cohesion
and solidarity, advises the avoidance of aggressive encounters,
prescribes a certain ritualisation of behaviour within the household
and generally discourages the assertion of individuality and inde
pendence. These cultural influences on lifestyle could be regarded as
‘preadaptive’ for the Hong Kong situation, in that they would tend to
have a moderating influence on any stressful effects of high physical
density within the home. Other aspects of socialisation are also likely
to be important. Children become accustomed to spatial restriction in
their congested homes, and to the almost constant presence of other
household members around them. Chinese children have always been
encouraged in the virtues of obedience, diligence and family respon
sibility. It seems likely that such socialisation experience will be
conducive to a relatively passive acceptance in later life of the
contingencies associated with high density living.
The results of our study are consistent with the suggestion that the
Chinese traditional way of life is conducive to the development of
tolerance of high density conditions.* As already mentioned, we
found that people who had spent all their lives in Hong Kong were
less likely to be ‘tolerant’ of high physical density than those whose
childhood was spent in the largely rural adjoining province of Kwang
tung. Highly educated people were also found to be less tolerant. These
findings suggest a sociocultural, rather than a genetic, influence on the
development of tolerance among the Chinese people, at least as
measured in the Biosocial Survey. There is a strong positive relation
ship between density tolerance and age and this is also consistent with
the idea that the main explanation of differences in degree of tolerance
lies in socialisation and learning experience, and that people who have
been most exposed to traditional Chinese culture are more likely to
*The relevance of the traditional Chinese philosophy to a general tolerance of

environmental conditions is discussed more fully in Chapter 2.
possess a capacity for tolerance in the face of a high density living

environment.
Thus, if the view is correct that a major determinant of an indivi
dual’s reaction to high density is his perception of the situation, and if
this perception is to a large extent a function of his socialisation experi
ence, then these facts provide further possibilities for deliberate
cultural adaptation to high density living. Socialisation patterns can be
designed with the aim of rendering individuals tolerant of high
density. This possibility, however, raises some difficult problems.
Clearly, from the point of view of the individual living in Hong
Kong, the kind of socialisation which leads to an attitude of tolerance
will be beneficial, allowing him to endure the persistent conditions of
high population density with a minimal degree of stress. In addition,
such tolerance may be beneficial to society as a whole, by virtue of its
tendency to allay the development of discontent which might foster
antisocial and criminal behaviour.
On the other hand, the capacity to tolerate conditions of extra
ordinarily high population density can be seen as an example of the
kind of adpatation which we refer to as ‘habituation’, and which Rene
Dubos* had in mind when he wrote: ‘The frightful threat posed by
[human] adaptability . . . is that it implies so often a passive acceptance
of conditions which really ar enot desirable for mankind’. Thus, the
fact that people are, through habituation, tolerating the situation in
Hong Kong with remarkable equanimity does not mean that they
would not enjoy life a great deal more if they had more room.
Finally, there is one other important form of adaptation which
comes into play if all others fail. Medicines may be used to counter the
effects of environmentally induced stress. It is not, of course, possible
to be precise about the role of this kind of adaptive response in
assisting the population of Hong Kong to tolerate the physical density
conditions. In the Biosocial Survey 20 per cent of the respondents
reported that they regularly took medicine, and estimates to be dis
cussed in this chapter suggest that the rate of consumption of such
psychotropic drugs as tranquillisers, antidepressants and sedatives is
increasing. Needless to say, this coping procedure has all the dis
advantages of antidotal adaptation. These include the fact that when a
population uses drugs to offset the undesirable effects of unsatisfactory
conditions, this tends to block any societal moves to improve the
Dubos, R. (1965). Man adapting, Yale University Press, New Haven, p. 279.
conditions, which are thus allowed to persist, or even to deteriorate

further.
Meliors
During the course of our fieldwork in Hong Kong we became in
creasingly interested in experiences of a kind which have the opposite
effect to stressors on the individual’s biopsychic state, and which we
have called ‘meliors’. We define meliors as experiences which tend to
promote a state of well-being and to protect the individual from the
effects of environmental stressors.
There is nothing new, of course, in the idea that enjoyable experi
ences are worthwhile.* Nevertheless, we feel that the current concern
in academic circles and in the popular press about the problems of
urban living, with its emphasis on possible stress-inducing factors,
such as high noise levels, increasing pace of life and crowding, detracts
attention from the equally important positive aspects of experience.
Variations in the levels, diversity and nature of meliors in different
societies may well be as significant for human health and well-being
as are variations in the levels, diversity and nature of stressors. We
should, therefore, be as concerned about changes which result in an
insidious erosion of sources of sheer enjoyment as we are about trends
in urban living which increase the level of stressors.
Although the melior-stressor concept is especially relevant to
psychosomatic and neurotic disorders, it may also be important in
relation to forms of physiological maladjustment in which neuro-
hormonal mechanisms play a decisive role, as they do, for example,
in the mechanisms of resistance to certain contagious diseases. Meliors
are unlikely, however, to be useful in the case of maladjustment
which is due to an environmental agent which has a very specific
physiological effect: no amount of enjoyable melioric experience will
protect one against a lethal dose of mercury.
Meliors are often difficult to measure, and even to describe. Indeed,
sometimes one man’s melior may be another man’s stressor. Moreover,
a given experience may have both melioric and stressful effects. For
example, when an individual is enjoying small group interaction with
*The importance of the contribution of positive experiences to human well

being was appreciated by N.M. Bradburn in the construction of his index of
well-being, which contains two sets of five questions, one relating to ‘positive’
experiences and one to ‘negative’ experiences.
an in-group of which his family disapproves the conflict of loyalties

may cause anxiety, and thus act as a stressor. It is also likely that,
while a certain amount of a given kind of experience, such as the
exercise of a learned manual skill, may be melioric, too much of the
same experience, say for ten hours every day, might well be stressful.
For one thing, it would interfere with another postulated human
health need—variety in daily experience.
Returning to Hong Kong, we have said that we strongly suspect
that, were it not for important melioric experiences associated with
the traditional Chinese lifestyle, the toll of maladjustment from the
potential stressors of the urban environment would be considerably
greater than it is. In this context, it is worth reporting briefly on some
results from the Biosocial Survey. From the various questions, three
indices were constructed, as follows:*
(1) Family support index
(2) Small-group interaction index
(3) Job enjoyment index.
The whole Biosocial Survey sample was divided into two categories
for each of these indices—‘high’ and ‘low’—being as near to the 50
per cent division as the distribution within each index would allow.
The ‘high’ and ‘low’ groups in each case were compared with respect
to their health and well-being characteristics as indicated by the
Langner scale, the index of general physical health and the self-report
of life enjoyment, and the results are shown in Table 14.3. It can be
seen that, with the exception of the family support index in relation to
the Langner scale and general physical health, there is a trend in every
case for the ‘deprived’ people to be worse off and for the ‘fulfilled’
people to be at an advantage. Moreover, when we examine the health
and well-being of those individuals who are either ‘deprived’ or
‘fulfilled’ with respect to all three indices, the results are striking.
While these results are open to a number of possible interpretations,
they are mentioned here because they are at least completely consistent
with the melior-stressor concept.
It should be noted that certain aspects of the personal environment
of individuals may have a detrimental influence on the individual not
by acting directly as stressors, but rather by interfering with meliors.
Much of the work carried out on the implications for human health
of high levels of environmental noise has been based on the notion
that noise has a directly harmful psychological effect. On the whole,
*For a description of the construction of these indices, see Appendix 3.

TABLE 14.3 Biosocial Survey: The relationship o f some psychosocial

variables to health and well-being
General
physical Life
Langner health enjoyment
% disturbed ®7o unhealthy % do enjoy
male female male female male female
Family support
High 26.0 38.0 13.0 21.0 67.0 64.0
Low 24.0 36.0 12.0 22.0 60.0 59.0
Small-group leisure
interaction
High 21.0 33.0 11.0 20.0 69.0 70.0
Low 29.0 38.0 14.0 24.0 56.0 53.0
Job enjoyment
High 20.0 34.0 10.0 21.0 79.0 72.0
Low 29.0 41.0 14.0 22.0 42.0 44.0
All three*
High 17.0 33.0 10.0 19.0 85.0 82.0
Low 33.0 47.0 15.0 27.0 37.0 34.0
Total population
25.0 37.0 13.0 22.0 63.0 61.0
*The numbers in these 2 extreme groups are: male female

High 254 347
Low 246 286
this work has produced remarkably little evidence for such an effect.
The other possibility—namely, that the undesirability of noise lies in
its capacity to seriously interfere with certain kinds of melioric
experience, such as the aesthetic appreciation of a beautiful garden, or
the enjoyment of a quiet conversation—has not received much atten
tion. In Chapter 11 we noted the claim that aircraft noise interferes
with the conversations of 300,000 people in Hong Kong. The main
deleterious effect of noise may therefore be a subtle one, acting only
in certain circumstances, and having its impact through the blocking
of potential meliors.
Not all kinds of melioric experience will be affected in the same way
by potential interfering factors in the environment. Thus, while high
levels of noise may interfere with those kinds of enjoyment which can
be described as aesthetic, or which involve quiet verbal communication
between friends, it is less likely to interfere with enjoyment associated
with vigorous physical activity, such as football or motor-bike
racing. Indeed, in discotheques, for example, very high levels of sound
per se seem to have become a source of enjoyment for some sections
of the population.
We have already implied in Chapters 7 and 12 that some of the
changes in life conditions associated with the increasing ratio of
extrasomatic to somatic energy use in society are resulting in a decline
in certain forms of elemental melioric experience. There is less incentive
and opportunity for the learning and use of manual skills; for personal
creative activity; for active, as opposed to passive, entertainment;
and for co-operative small-group interaction. It seems also that, as
more and more power becomes vested in bigger and bigger corpora
tions, there is an overall reduction in the average individual’s sense
of personal involvement in his everyday activities. The almost daily
sense of achievement experienced by primeval people, and probably
by most people in Phase 2 and 3 societies, is becoming less and less a
characteristic of the modern urban situation.
There is also another important connection between the melior-
stressor concept and changing societal conditions. Many meliors are
becoming increasingly energy-expensive. Family interaction, an
important source of melioric experience, now often involves the use
of relatively enormous amounts of extrasomatic energy to transport
indviduals over long distances. The esteem of one’s peers, an ancient
and universal kind of melior, may now demand the acquisition of
glossy energy-costly possessions, or an air-trip around the world.
There may be little fundamental difference in the nature of the
enjoyment experienced in cantering on a horse across the countryside
and in riding a motor-bike at high speed on a motorway, but only
the latter is available to most of the young men of Phase 4 society.
Similarly, the avoidance of stressors is becoming increasingly costly
in terms both of energy and of dollars.
We conclude our discussion on meliors by restating the view that
many of the changes taking place in modern urban society, associated
with the use of ever-increasing amounts of extrasomatic energy,
involve an insidious erosion of sources of fundamental melioric
experience. It is our general hypothesis that this trend is likely to have
a deleterious effect on the biopsychic state of members of modern

urban populations. We would advocate, therefore, that in the
analysis and comparison of human situations attention should be
paid to the sources and forms of sheer enjoyment and supportive
experience as well as to directly detrimental environmental influences.
Societies will differ, one from the other, in the extent to which they
provide meliors in the personal environments of members of the
population as a whole, or to particular sub-populations, and such
differences may well be responsible for differences in health and well
being. Similarly, in planning strategies for the future, in designing new
cities, or in changing old ones, every effort should be made to ensure
that people are given the maximum opportunity for rich and varied
melioric experience.
With respect to the situation in Hong Kong, we would like to record
our firm view that certain intangible aspects of life conditions in that
city play a very important part in maintaining the general level of
health in the community and in protecting people form environmental
stressors. For example, despite the beginning of trends to the contrary,
a high proportion of the labour force work in relatively small-scale
industrial and commercial enterprises, involving considerable co
operative small-group interaction: and the nature of the manufacturing
industries is such that many individual workers exercise learned
manual skills. Various traditional customs, such as the ubiquitous
game of mah-jong, are also associated with small-group interaction,
and networks of psychological support are still very strong, despite
the increasing emphasis on the nuclear family. We suggest that, for
many people in Hong Kong, these aspects of life conditions help to
promote such feelings as sense of personal involvement, sense of
purpose, sense of belonging, sense of interest and sense of enjoyment;
and thus make a significant contribution to general well-being. We
contend that it is extremely important that the government and the
community should consider the implications of economic and societal
policies for the future in terms of their possible consequences for
these aspects of human experience, as well as in terms of the conventional
economic indicators of the state of society.
Cultural adaptation
Among the major determinants of the biopsychic state of the members
of modern communities are the processes of cultural adaptation, which
are brought into play to counter individual maladjustments and
societal disharmonies.
The fact that the human population has increased almost a thousand
fold since the domestic transition is largely due to the removal from
human experience of most of the hazards of the primeval environ
ment. This change itself could perhaps be seen as cultural adaptation,
although it was more an incidental accompaniment to the domestic
transition than a deliberate response to the threats to human survival
in the primeval setting. However, the rapid increase in population that
is characteristic of the ecological Phase 4 of human existence is mainly
the consequence of true cultural adaptation, involving the deliberate
reaction of human society to the environmental threats to health and
well-being associated with Phases 2 and 3. As we noted in earlier
chapters, the transition to Phase 4 society involved important cultural
adaptive responses which resulted in a dramatic decline in mortality
from contagious diseases and from various forms of malnutrition.
The importance of the processes of cultural adaptation at the present
time and for the future lies in the fact that a smooth transition to a
satisfactory Phase 5 will also depend on cultural adaptive processes
which, to be successful, will almost certainly have to be more subtle
and sophisticated than those of the past.
In view of the importance of cultural adaptation as a means of
overcoming or avoiding the various kinds of threats to individuals
and to society inherent in a changing environment, it is surprising and
unfortunate that the subject has attracted so little attention from
scholars. There is a need for a much better understanding of the
alternative forms of cultural adaptation, of their relative advantages
and disadvantages, and of the various factors to be taken into account
in selecting a cultural adaptive response.
We can distinguish a series of different categories of cultural
adaptation, most of which take the form of dichotomies. Thus,
cultural adaptation may be post-hoc or ante-hoc; therapeutic or
prophylactic; short-term or long-term; piecemeal or comprehensive;
antidotal or corrective; individual (e.g. the individual taking a pill) or
societal (e.g. the training of doctors). And it may be directed against
individual maladjustment (e.g. contagious disease) or against societal
disharmony (e.g. high rates of crime). As discussed in Chapter 4, one
of the most significant of these dichotomies is the distinction between
corrective and antidotal cultural adaptation. In the former, the effect is
to correct the factor in the environment or lifestyle which is the under
lying cause of maladjustment, while the latter is directed at an inter
mediate cause or at the signs and symptoms of maladjustment. While
the distinction between corrective and antidotal approaches is an impor-
tant one for the proper understanding of the processes of cultural

adaptation, the division between the two categories is not always sharp.
The sanitary measures brought in as part of the public health movement
are a case in point. The maladjustment which gave rise to the movement
—contagious disease—was fundamentally due to the fact that very
large numbers of people were living in very small areas, affecting the
interrelationships between human populations and various potentially
pathogenic micro-organisms. The cultural adaptive response of the
public health movement involved no real attempt to reduce population
density, but instead introduced new standards of public hygiene which
reduced the likelihood that individuals would come into contact with
the pathogenic micro-organisms emanating from other persons. The
end-result of the change was thus similar to that which would have
been achieved, without the introduction of any new sanitary measures,
if the population density had been drastically reduced. This adaptive
response is thus not truly corrective; but it is certainly more corrective,
and less antidotal, than is the treatment of affected individuals with
medicines.
The processes, manifestations and consequences of cultural adapta
tion to environmentally-induced individual maladjustments and
societal disharmonies in present-day Hong Kong are so numerous and
complex that no attempt will be made to list and describe them here.
Instead, we will discuss a few selected examples chosen because they
illustrate some important principles and because they highlight some
of the biocultural problems facing Phase 4 society.
The first point to be made is that there appears to be a strong tradi
tional interest among the Chinese in Hong Kong in maintaining
mental and physical health. The body is important and must be well
cared for; and, especially for the Cantonese, there is no aspect of life
conditions where this concern is more evident than in the choice of
diet. The Chinese have an interesting, rather complicated, classification
of foodstuffs, although basically they are divided into two types,
namely ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. For example, spicy or oily foods, rich meats,
brandy and red tea are considered as ‘hot’, whereas bananas, most
vegetables, whisky and green tea are considered to be ‘cold’. People’s
constitutions may also be more or less ‘hot’ or ‘cold’, and individuals
should regularly eat that kind of food which compensates for their
particular tendency in this regard. A surfeit of ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ may lead
to illness, and the immediate response is often to take some food or
drink which will restore the balance—such as the ‘cooling teas’ sold in
the tea shops in Hong Kong. The overall aim is to promote health
through the taking of foods which are properly balanced in terms of

these characteristics. Whatever the basis of these beliefs, and whatever
the rationale of the classification, one thing is certain, and that is that
for those who practise these customs, the result is a varied diet of
good quality.
There is also evidence in Hong Kong of a general, and perhaps
growing, appreciation that the health and well-being of people in
sedentary occupations may be enhanced by some physical exercise.
The common sight in open places in Hong Kong, especially early in
the mornings, of individuals, singly or in groups, engaged in their
daily ‘exercises’ is a good example of individual cultural adaptation
that is corrective, in that it is aimed essentially at reintroducing into
their life conditions a health-promoting factor of which they have
been deprived in the modern urban environment.
Although many people put a great deal of emphasis on the main
tenance of health through dietary practices and morning exercises,
there is also plenty of evidence of maladjustment. Although 73 per
cent of the respondents in the Biosocial Survey said that they ‘felt
healthy’ in the previous month, 20 per cent reported that they regularly
took medicine, and 27 per cent reported having visited a physician
during the previous month. This latter aspect of cultural adaptation is
complicated in Hong Kong by the fact that there exist in the society
two quite different sets of medical practitioners, each offering different
explanations of, and cures for ill-health—the Western-trained doctors
and the practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine.
Doctors trained in English-speaking medical institutions tend, in
the true tradition of Western medicine, to think in terms of specific
diseases, caused by distinct pathogenic agents, and cured by magic
bullets in the form of chemotherapeutics or antibiotics. In many
cases, of course, this approach is extraordinarily effective and indeed
it would be unthinkable to withhold an antibiotic from a child with
scarlet fever. However, the magic bullet approach has its disadvantages,
and it diverts attention from the importance of healthy living.
The approach of the traditional Chinese doctor is founded, not on
the results of modern science, but on many centuries of experience,
trial and error and of human thought. In essence, Chinese medicine is
based on the view that illness is the consequence of a certain ‘lack of
harmony’ among the life conditions of the patient, and treatment is
theoretically aimed at restoring this harmony. Nevertheless, the
approach also involves the lavish use of medicines, which are mainly
concoctions of extracts of various herbs, insects and animals. These
are inevitably looked upon as potential ‘cures’ by the patient, and so

the ultimate emphasis is essentially antidotal, as in the case of Western
medicine. Of course, medicines may also be taken with the aim of
maintaining health, rather than curing maladjustment.
We will not comment here, partly because of lack of pertinent
information, on the efficacy or otherwise of the herbal remedies of
Chinese traditional medicine. However, it seems unlikely, at least in
the cases of specific bacterial infection and of hormonal disturbances,
that they are as effective as the sophisticated battery of products of
the Western pharmaceutical industry.
Returning to the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine, it is
superior to that most characteristic of the West, insofar as it seldom
attributes maladjustments to a single agent, but rather to an interlock
ing series of aspects of lifestyle and environment. It is, in this sense,
more ‘ecological’. There is also less emphasis on individual organs of
the body, and more emphasis on bodily functions as a whole.
There is much to be said for the view that an amalgamation of the
Western and Chinese approaches to medicine would be beneficial, by
effectively combining the Chinese emphasis on interacting environ
mental and lifestyle influences with some of the facts and principles
derived from the more reductionist approach of Western science. We
must take note, however, of the fact that, while Chinese medicine,
perhaps more than that of the West, is based on respect for nature,
neither of the approaches takes full account of the implications for
health of the Darwinian theory of natural selection and of the fact that
the human species evolved under conditions which were very different
in so many ways from those prevailing in Hong Kong today.
There is one aspect of cultural adaptation in Hong Kong which
deserves special mention, because it illustrates one of the important
societal predicaments of Phase 4 society.
It has already been made clear that the pharmaceutical industry
plays an extremely important part in the cure, amelioration and
prevention of ill-health in modern societies. A major contribution of
the industry lies in its production and distribution of the so-called
psychotropic or mood drugs, which are very widely prescribed by the
medical profession in modern Western societies. As a result, in urban
communities very large numbers of individuals are able to feel relatively
relaxed and are able to go about their business without exhibiting signs
of mental disturbance. In Hong Kong, from figures available to us on
the wholesale distribution of antidepressants, tranquillisers and
sleeping pills in 1974, it can be roughly estimated that at any one time,
about 2 per cent of the adult population are receiving this form of
protection from the stressors in their environment. This proportion
is much lower than that for many Western societies where rates of
from 10 per cent to 50 per cent have been reported in different studies.
It will be recalled that in Hong Kong up to about 100,000 people
may be achieving similar protection through the use of opium or heroin.
Thus, it seems that in modern cities the psychotropic drugs con
tribute considerably to the ability of populations to cope with the
prevailing environmental conditions. The unsatisfactory aspect of this
situation lies in the fact that this antidotal adaptive response does not
involve any attempt to improve the underlying defects in the life
conditions which are responsible for the maladjustment that the drugs
are Used to cure. Consequently, these defects are allowed to persist,
and indeed to worsen, so that eventually it may be necessary to increase
the dosages of the psychotropic agents, or to find more potent ones,
in order to maintain the same degree of equanimity.
We will conclude this chapter with some general comments on the
role of cultural adaptation in the future. For all the knowledge
gathered over the years, for all the scientific investigation, for all the
advances in technology and for all the sophisticated machines that
have been invented and made, most observers agree that modern
society is in serious trouble. The lunatic nuclear arms race continues,
most Western countries are experiencing increasing rates of criminal
violence, and the gap between rich and poor populations is ever
widening. Indeed, we can deduce from simple ecological principles
that, because of the nature of the changes which are taking place in
the total environment, our fourth ecological phase of human existence
cannot go on forever. Without doubt, there lies ahead a Phase 5.
There is also cause for concern about the quality of life. In spite of
great increases in the average material standard of living in Western
countries, more and more people are asking whether, in terms of the
overall quality of their life experience, they are really much ‘better
off’ than some of their pre-industrial ancestors. Perhaps some of
them are worse off, especially with respect to some of those intangible
aspects of life experience which are associated, for instance, with a
sense of personal involvement, sense of purpose, sense of belonging
and sense of comradeship.
Whether the transition to a fifth ecological phase will be smooth,
and whether the fifth phase itself will be satisfactory for human
beings, will depend on the quality and nature of the cultural adaptive
responses of human society to its ecological problems.
In Chapter 4, we listed four prerequisities for successful cultural

adaptation in general. They were:
(i) There must be an awareness that an unsatisfactory situation
(with respect to individual maladjustment or societal dishar
mony) exists or is expected;
(ii) There must exist some knowledge either o f the causes o f the
unsatisfactory situation, or at least, knowledge o f some means
o f countering it;
(iii) There must exist sufficient resources (e.g. human or financial)
for putting into effect an adaptive response;
(iv) There must be sufficient motivation in the influential groupings
o f society to put the adaptive response into effect.
We suggest that the nature o f the ecological predicament facing
modem society is such as to demand two further attributes o f cultural
adaptation, if it is to steer us successfully into a humanly acceptable
fifth phase. These are:
(v) The process must be comprehensive rather than piecemeal;
(vi) The process must be based on knowledge and understanding of
cultural adaptive processes.
Cultural adaptation must be holistic and integrative in that it must

be based on knowledge and understanding of the interactive nature
of human situations, and must give attention both to the impact of
societal conditions on the biosphere and to the full spectrum o f aspects
of human experience, both tangible and intangible, which relate to
health and well-being. It must be concerned not only with environ
mental stressors, but also with meliors. It must pay full and proper
attention to such almost abstract aspects o f human experience as
variety in daily experience, opportunity for behavioural spontaneity
and opportunity for sense o f spiritual fulfilment. The holistic and
integrative approach is difficult. But it is also very necessary.
Knowledge o f the successes and failures o f cultural adaptation in
the past is very relevant to the present challenge. For example, it is
important that communities and their leaders should appreciate the
distinction between corrective and antidotal cultural adaptation, and
the implications of this distinction. They should also appreciate that
whenever people have stood up and sounded warnings about trends
in society which they consider undesirable or dangerous, others (often
representing vested interests) have responded by setting out to ridicule
them, dismissing their warnings as alarmist nonsense.
There are many other useful lessons to be learned from the study of
the cultural adaptive responses of society in the past. Here we will

mention only one other, which we have already encountered in Chapter
3 when we described how in the nineteenth century, the Governor of
Hong Kong, Henry Blake, personally intervened in the efforts to
counter the plague epidemic. The lesson to be learned from this
episode is simply that people respond to, and participate in cultural
adaptive responses much more effectively if they are encouraged to be
involved at all stages of the process, from the initial consideration of
the problem through to the measures taken to deal with it. Indeed, we
take the view that successful cultural adaptation in the future will
require creative and effective interaction between governments,
institutions of learning, community groups and individuals.
There is one final point which we will make here about cultural
adaptation in the future. The process is unlikely to be successful so
long as the current prevailing attitude persists in our society that the
various changes which are taking place in the total environment or in
the quality of life, whether desirable or not, are inevitable. The
‘inevitability of progress’ syndrome is, ecologically and humanly,
very dangerous. For one thing, it seems to assume that there is only
one kind of ‘progress’ possible—that is, further progress in the
direction in which Western society has already been moving. Accepting
that perpetual progress in this direction is inevitable is tantamount to
accepting the premature ecological collapse of civilisation. Cultural
adaptation in the future can only be really successful if alternative
directions for progress are considered; and one of its most important
features must be the elimination of the ‘inevitability of progress’
syndrome—insofar, at least, as it applies to the Western Idea of
Progress.
PART C
THE FUTURE — HUMAN
ECOLOGICAL IMPERATIVES
15
THE FUTURE OF
URBAN SETTLEMENTS
The outstanding human ecological characteristics
o f Hong Kong and other modern urban
settlements A summing up
—
Considerable concern about certain ecological trends in Hong Kong,

relating both to the total environment and to human experience, has
been implicit in the foregoing pages. In the first part of this chapter we
will briefly summarise some of the more outstanding causes for this
concern. Later we will present some of our own thoughts on their
general relevance to the future of large urban communities.
The total environment

Energy, resources and machines. The outstanding feature of the
pattern of extrasomatic energy use in Hong Kong today, reflecting as
it does the use of machines by society, is the accelerating rate of
consumption, which now runs at about 9 per cent per annum. This
growth rate exceeds the rate of increase in the world as a whole, and
represents a doubling time of less than ten years. The overall world
rate of use of energy by human society is increasing about twice as
fast as the world population, which itself is doubling every 35-40 years.
The per capita consumption of energy in Hong Kong today is about
85 MJ per day,* which is about four times that of twenty years ago.
The change in the energy pattern in Hong Kong is, of course, associated
with a change in the ratio of use of extrasomatic to somatic energy.
This ratio is at present 8:1, compared with 94:1 in the United States
and 2:1 in China. Concomitant with its increase in energy use, Hong
Kong society, like many other societies the world over, is becoming
more and more ‘hooked’ on extrasomatic energy, ever-increasing
quantities of which are becoming necessary for the satisfaction of even
This Figure does not include energy used in: (1) the manufacture outside
Hong Kong of imported goods, (2) the production outside the territory of 95
per cent of Hong Kong’s food supply, (3) the transportation to and from
Hong Kong of imports and exports.
the simple survival needs of the human population. Coupled with

this phenomenon of technoaddiction is the ecologically significant
fact that the dominant groupings in Hong Kong society, including
the government, do not appear to question the assumption that it is
both necessary and desirable to further increase the consumption of
energy in the future. One authority has suggested that the usage in
Hong Kong will have increased fivefold by the year 2000. No one has
suggested a ceiling—the policy seems to be ‘growth ad infinitum’.
This dependence on energy-expensive technology in Hong Kong,
as in other places, has resulted in a situation in which authorities have
been giving serious consideration to proposals for the introduction of
a source of energy which is known to be associated with very serious
short-term and long-term risks for humankind, namely, nuclear
power. Such is the extent of the addiction. Meanwhile, the population
of Hong Kong will come to depend increasingly on petroleum
products, the total global supplies of which are unlikely to last for
more than three or four decades. It is dependent for its survival not
only on the existence of these fuels, but also on their steady and uninter
rupted flow across the oceans into the territory; and it is dependent on
the shipping fleet which brings its various requirements—in the form
of food, manufactured goods and the raw materials for its industry—
and which transports the products of that industry to overseas
markets. The population is dependent, therefore, not only on fuel
supply as such, but also on the political stability of faraway countries.
As far as we are aware, no alternative strategy has been worked out
to deal with the situation, should the supplies of energy suddenly cease.
It is self-evident that not all the local consequences of the present
levels of use of machines and other devices driven by extrasomatic
energy are desirable, but presumably the benefits are considered to
outweigh the disadvantages. Undesirable outcomes include air pollu
tion, with serious consequences for health and well-being, and
extraordinarily high levels of environmental noise from energy-
intensive machinery. Also, while energy provides such conveniences
as lighting and airconditioning for buildings, it is also associated with
some undesirable changes in many aspects of human life experience.
For instance, for many people the growth of energy-intensive industry
associated with larger manufacturing establishments* seems to be
*Because of the nature of the light industries in Hong Kong, a rather higher
proportion of the industrial workforce are still employed in relatively small
establishments than is the case in countries with more heavy industry.
The Future of Urban Settlements 359
linked with a decreased sense of personal involvement in daily activities,

a reduced incentive to practise learned manual skills, and less co
operative small-group interaction. It also means that many people
have to travel longer distances to work than was previously the case.
Changes such as these, inextricably associated as they are with the
increasing use of extrasomatic energy, call to question the blanket
assumption that the more energy a society uses, the better off everyone
will be. More pertinent, however, is the simple ecological truth that the
exponential growth in energy use by human populations cannot
possibly continue indefinitely. Eventually, if the process is. not stopped
by deliberate societal action, it will come to a halt as a consequence of
one or several of a number of ecological constraints, involving, for
example, overheating or pollution of the biosphere, or the mere
exhaustion of energy supplies or other resources. Opinions differ with
respect to which of these will be the limiting factor, and also to how
much longer we can continue to expand our energy utilisation before
one or the other of them comes into play. But this question of time,
critical as it is, is nevertheless of secondary importance. The essential
fact is that if human society does not bring the exponential growth
spirals under control, some external forces will do so; in which case
the consequences for human beings may well be very unpleasant.
It is, therefore, very relevant to ask whether ever increasing energy
consumption is really necessary' for human well-being, and whether
there may not be an alternative economic pattern which would ensure
the long-term survival and well-being of human populations. The
policy-making bodies in the modern world are paying extraordinarily
little attention to these important and timely questions.
With respect to Hong Kong itself, our analysis leads us to certain
conclusions related to these questions, as follows:
1. Some savings in energy use would be possible within the frame
work of the present societal organisation; but such savings,
together with the use of solar energy and some bioconversion
techniques, could at most account for 50 per cent of the total
amount of extrasomatic energy used in 1971. This would, of
course have no effect on the dependence of Hong Kong on the
extrasomatic energy used for the manufacture overseas of
imports and for their transportation to the territory, and for the
transportation of exports to their destinations overseas.
2. Unless forced on the society by external forces, major reductions
in energy use in the future will not be possible without far-
reaching changes in societal organisation, in the economic system
and in the value system of the society and its government. If

major reductions were forced upon the society, in the absence of
such societal changes, there would be widespread human suffering.
3. With the present organisation and dominant value system of
Hong Kong society, continued spiralling growth in energy use
seems to be inevitable for as long as supplies of energy and
resources are available.
Nutrients and somatic energy. Because of Hong Kong’s unusual

situation as a city state, 95 per cent of its food supply, in terms of
somatic energy, comes from outside the national territory. A large
proportion (mainly rice, with some fruit and vegetables and meat)
comes from the adjoining countryside in Kwangtung Province of
China, whence it is brought by rail and by motorised junks. Other
major sources, especially of rice, are Thailand and the Philippines,
and a small but increasing quantity of fresh grains and fruit is brought
by air from California.
Perhaps the most outstanding ecological feature of Hong Kong’s
food system is the fact that more than 6000 tonnes of human and
industrial sewage solids are discharged into the harbour each day.
While in this regard Hong Kong, as a modern urban coastal settlement,
is by no means exceptional, the pattern is nevertheless ecologically
absurd. It means, for example, that 75 per cent of the critical element
phosphorus which enters the territory is lost to the ocean, instead of
being returned to the soil.
Although primary production within the territory of Hong Kong is
relatively unimportant in terms of its contribution to the total food
supply, our analysis of its energetic efficiency is relevant because it
illustrates a world-wide trend. The ratio of energy input:yield at the
farm gate is about 1:1 and by the time the food reaches the consumer
it is about 1:0.5. This compares with ratios of 1:0.18 for the United
States and 1:0.4 for Australia in the 1970s, and 1:24 for China in the
1930s. If present policies are continued, the ratio in Hong Kong could
be 1:0.2 within a decade or so.
If we assume that the production of the food supplied to Hong
Kong involves the use of extrasomatic energy at the same rate as that
which is produced locally, then the energy cost of this food can be said
to add 5500 MJ to the annual per capita use of extrasomatic energy
of 31,000 MJ. The perpetuation of unnecessarily energy-costly
agricultural policies and food technologies at a time when the future
supplies of energy are in doubt would seem to be ecologically question-
able, whatever the short-term economic advantages.
Population, societal organisation and culture. In 1974 the population

of the territory of Hong Kong was 4,248,700. Just over three million
of these people lived in the built-up area of about 87 km2, the overall
population density being 380 persons per hectare. In the Census tract
of Wan Chai it reached 2238 per hectare and the net density in the
Man Complex housing estate was over 12,000 per hectare. As far as
we know, these figures are higher than for any other urban settlement.
In 1975, the population was increasing at the rate of about 1.9 per cent
per year, that is, an increase of over 80,000 individuals. A most
important aspect of the population situation is a drop in the annual
birthrate from 36 per thousand in 1960 to 18 per thousand in 1975.
Although this drop is in part due to the particular age structure of the
population, 70 per cent of the recent drop in the birthrate has been
due to a decline in fertility in all age groups, reflecting the recent
interest in family planning.
From the ecological point of view, this trend is encouraging, even
if zero population growth is still a long way off. The death rate, when
controlled for age, is now similar to that in most modern Western
communities and, as far as we know, similar to that in mainland
China, and the life expectancy at birth in 1974 was slightly higher than
that of the United States. The pattern of the main causes of death is
also coming to resemble that of typical Western communities, with
cancer and heart disease heading the list (although the death rate from
the latter is very much lower in Hong Kong than in Western countries).
It is likely that there has been a real increase in death from cancer,
presumably resulting from an intensification of certain detrimental
environmental influences.
With respect to causes of ill health, as distinct from causes of death,
physicians in Hong Kong commonly express the view that the incidence
of neurosis is increasing. Unfortunately, it is impossible on the basis of
existing data to determine whether or not this is the case.
Another factor, common to all urban conglomerations, and with
unknown long-term influences on the human organism, is the high
rate of infection with viruses causing mild complaints like the common
cold.
With regard to societal organisation, the most unusual aspect of
Hong Kong, in the present era, is the fact that the society is under the
control of an alien government, which is itself answerable to another
government 18,000 kilometres away. The ecological significance of
this fact is impossible to assess, since we do not know what kind of

government Hong Kong would have if it were not a British Colony,
and what kind of policies it would then pursue.
Clearly, the fact that Hong Kong is a free port with a deliberate
laissez-faire economic policy is an important determinant of the
ecology of the settlement. This fact, and the encouragement to
overseas investment, is considered by economists to be responsible for
the rapid rate of ‘modernisation’ of the society and for the rapid
increase in use of energy, with all its consequences, both good and bad.
The government o f Hong Kong has taken an initiative with respect
to some important environmental problems. The massive government
housing program, which has provided homes for about 3 million
people in the last twenty years, is an example. It has also initiated some
important legislation relating to air pollution and has instituted
various measures for controlling certain other environmental hazards.
Like most governments, however, its approach is, on the whole, a
piecemeal one, and evidence of a comprehensive, long-term and
ecologically sound policy is lacking.
The education system in Hong Kong has some characteristics
which give cause for concern from an ecological standpoint. In the
first place, the syllabuses in schools are structured in a very conven
tional, and hence fragmented way, reflecting the traditional disciplines
of the academic world. There appears to be little effort to assist the
students to view the human situation, and the situation in Hong Kong
itself, in broad ecological and historical perspective. Second, the
system reinforces to an extraordinary degree the natural compet
itiveness o f human beings, a factor which is very pertinent to the
ecological problems facing humankind at the present time. Another
unsatisfactory aspect of the education system is that it tends to select a
certain type of personality for the influential positions in society,
namely those individuals who are especially good at memorising
numerous facts and regurgitating them in examinations. There is no
corresponding selection for such attributes as creative thinking,
comprehensive understanding and compassion.
Human experience
We turn now to consider briefly the trends in the actual life experience
of the people in Hong Kong associated with the changes in the total
environment. Again, we shall emphasise aspects o f those changes
which we consider to be causes for concern. In doing so, we are
certainly not oblivious to the great improvements which have occurred
with respect, for example, to infant mortality, severe contagious

disease and nutrition. However, the success of cultural adaptive
processes directed against these forms of maladjustment, together with
the significant increase in life expectancy, should not blind us to the
need for further improvement or to the importance of ensuring that
other aspects of human experience do not deteriorate. Length of life
is not the only criterion of human health and well-being.
It is necessary to draw attention again to the fact that in Hong
Kong, as in most human communities, there is considerable variation
in the population with respect to life conditions. The comments which
follow refer to the general trends which affect most people.
Physico-chemical aspects o f life conditions. We have noted that the

air which most people in Hong Kong are forced to breathe is heavily
contaminated with the potentially harmful products of the combustion
of fossil fuels. Most people are also exposed for considerable periods
every day to the high levels of environmental noise emanating from
energy-intensive machinery, including motor vehicles.
While the diet of the average resident of Hong Kong is good and
includes a wide variety of different vegetables and a relatively high
animal protein content, a trend has begun towards the use of the
processed, pappy and chemically adulterated food preparations
associated with the impact of the modern food industry.
Social, psychosocial and behavioural aspects o f life experience. Most

residents in Hong Kong have to contend with a very high population
density in their homes and on the streets. At least half of the population
live in dwellings which provide 3.7 m2 or less of floor space per
person and 48 per cent of the Biosocial Survey respondents said that
they never spend any time alone. Although the people of Hong Kong
exhibit a remarkable ability to adapt to, and to tolerate these condi
tions, it is nevertheless our view that the lack of opportunity for
solitude, the noise from other members of the household and from
neighbours and other concomitants of the high population density
are, in the long run, detrimental to the quality of life. Even if adaptive
mechanisms, cultural or biological, protect individuals from the direct
stressful effects of such high population density, it is highly likely that
these conditions interfere with potential sources of melioric experience.
The housing situation in Hong Kong, as well as the influence of
Western values, is resulting in a general weakening of the role of the
extended family, and consequently in a shrinking of the psychological
support network that it can provide. Although this trend is offset to

some extent by the unbiquitous telephone, spontaneous face-to-face
interactions with relatives are becoming less frequent. Associated with
this change, young people in particular are finding that they have the
opportunity for membership of a range of other in-groups, and
sometimes these hold values which conflict with those of the family.
On the whole, with the exception of the squatter and resettlement
cottage areas, there is little social interaction between neighbours,
little evidence of a ‘sense of belonging’ to the residential neighbour
hood, and little sense of responsibility for what happens in the
community. The beginning of a trend for small local foodstores and
hawkers to be replaced by larger and much more impersonal super
markets threatens to aggravate this situation. This applies especially
to the new towns.
Under the general heading ‘sense of personal involvement’, we have
commented on a series of trends which we consider to be causes for
concern. They include a decrease in the incentives and opportunity for
co-operative small-group interaction, for the exercise of manual skills
and for personal creative behaviour. We suggest that, with the
increasing automation of the processes of production and the existence
of large industrial and commercial establishments, there is occurring a
decline in the sense of purpose on a day-to-day basis. Nevertheless,
for reasons discussed in Chapter 12, it is likely that the average citizen
of Hong Kong is still better off with respect to these aspects of life
conditions than his counterpart in many Western countries. In fact,
we have suggested that some of these aspects of life conditions in
Hong Kong are extremely important experiential assets, tending to
protect individuals from the undesirable consequences of environ
mental stressors and generally contributing to the quality of life. One
of the challenges in determining policies for the future is to ensure
that there is no further erosion of these very positive, but intangible
aspects of life experience.
The education system and the mass media tend to increase the long
term material aspirations of people, and consequently, for most
individuals the gap is widening between personal aspirations and the
likelihood of their fulfilment. This fact has implications not only for
consumer behaviour and energy use, but also for health. It may well
be that the increasing gap between aspirations and their fulfilment
may, through the frustrations it produces, contribute to neurosis,
criminal behaviour and opium addiction.
As in most modern urban communities, eocnomic and societal
pressures in Hong Kong interfere severely with spontaneity in behaviour

and variety in daily experience. The average individual spends little
time doing what he or she most feels like doing. The pattern of life of
hunter-gatherers involved a good deal of change during the day from
one kind of activity to another. Long hours of working at a single
task, whatever its nature, may therefore be regarded as an evodevia-
tion, and we suspect that such monotony is detrimental to health and
well-being. However, let it be noted that, as compared at least with
the situation in the suburbs of many modern communities, the
interest value of the environment in Hong Kong is relatively high.
That is to say, there is always something of human interest going on.
We have already referred in this chapter to some general aspects of
the educational system. Here let us note that, with respect to the
actual learning experience of most young people, formal education is
a harrowing and, in some ways, narrowing experience, involving a
strong incentive for individual competitiveness. The main learning
experience of adults, apart from that which comes through social
contacts, is through the mass media, especially commercial television,
and television programs strongly reflect the values of the modern
Western world.
In the population as a whole there appears to be a marked increase
in the fear of violent aggression. This fear is the result of a recent
rapid increase in the frequency of aggressive acts, a change which may
well be a ‘natural’ response to several factors, including a diminishing
sense of personal involvement, purpose, and meaning, the decline in
the cohesive influence of the extended family, and the relative absence
of local community spirit. The fact that an estimated 10 per cent of
adult males are opium or heroin addicts may be a reflection of some of
the same experiential deficiencies.
It is relevant to draw attention to the fact that the expression of
certain common human behavioural tendencies, such as the tendency
to seek status and esteem from others, is becoming increasingly
energy-expensive.The ownership of the big motor cars and of motorised
yachts are obvious examples.
Implications for the future

Early in this book, we observed that the present fourth ecological
phase of human existence on earth is characterised by trends which
cannot persist indefinitely. There lies ahead a period of transition
leading to a fifth phase which, unlike the present one, will not be
characterised by the accelerating growth of population and of energy
and resource utilisation.

Many ecologists are today expressing deep concern about the
present situation, and are sounding warnings about the effects that
the rampant processes of industrialisation, modernisation and
urbanisation are having on one or other aspect of the biosphere. Some
take the view that, if current trends continue unabated, global
catastrophe or catastrophes will occur within a few decades.
These gloomy utterances are contradicted by others, who confidently
assert that the future happiness of people depends on continuing
industrial growth and that ‘human adaptability’, technological
advances or such trusted institutions as ‘the market’ will ensure that
no real ecological harm comes to humankind or the biosphere. The
protagonists of this counter-view include many economists as well as
representatives of vested interests which stand to lose materially
through any slowing of the growth processes. They are backed up by
the authority of the all-powerful Western Idea of Progress. They often
refer scornfully to the ecologists as ‘prophets of doom’ or as
‘Cassandras’ or ‘Jeremiahs’—forgetting, perhaps, that both Cassandra
and Jeremiah turned out in the end to be right.
Much of this pattern is predictable. Whenever in the past individuals
have sounded the alarm, have warned of impending disaster, or have
drawn attention to the serious maltreatment of people or abuse of the
environment, others in society have invariably been roused to ridicule
them, to label them fanatics and to describe their claims as grossly
exaggerated. What history does not do is to provide any clues as to
which group is right. Sometimes the warnings have been justified, and
sometimes they have not.
In the modern world, it is mainly biologists and ecologists who are
suggesting that it is time to slow down. Predictably enough, specialists
tend to push their own barrows. Economists tend to put their faith in
the market as a means of averting natural disaster. Nuclear physicists
often argue strongly in favour of nuclear power, pointing to the
various safety measures designed to prevent disaster—and their words
are heeded by governments and by communities, for they are, after
all, the experts. However, it will be human behaviour and biological
constraints rather than the principles of physics, which will determine
whether the introduction of nuclear power will result in catastrophe,
and nuclear physicists have no special competence in this area.
Of course, some nuclear physicists speak against the use of nuclear
power, and some economists do not accept the growth gospel, just as
there are some ecologists who feel the concern of their colleagues is
exaggerated. But such professional deviants are in a minority.

We do not intend here to hazard an opinion as to how much longer
the biosphere can withstand the intrusions and insults imposed on it
by modern industrialising human society, before irreversible damage
is done to the intricate life systems on which we depend for survival.
What we do wish to emphasise is the undeniable truth that, through
out the world, there are many learned men and women who express
the opinion that nuclear power is much too dangeorus a toy to play
with, or who are telling us that the present processes of growth present
a serious ecological threat to civilisation. These people are contradicted
by others who say that industrial growth ad infinitum is the only path
to long-term human well-being, that the ecologists’ warnings about
effects on the biosphere are unfounded and extremist, that nuclear
power will provide enormous benefits and that its risks can be easily
overcome.
This, then, is the situation. What are communities and governments
to do? In view of the magnitude of the stakes, there is surely only one
responsible path; that is, until the debate is resolved, to act as if the
warnings are justified. This does not mean that it is at all clear what
action should be taken at this stage, but it does mean that the matter
should be treated very seriously indeed, and that no government or
community should behave as if the prevailing faith in technological
progress and industrial growth were beyond question.
The predicament is exemplified by the report of a commission
presided over by Mr Justice R.W. Fox, which was appointed by the
Australian government to inquire into the question of whether uranium
should be mined in and exported from Australia. The first report of
the commission, which was dated October 1976, noted the objections
to the export of uranium, among them the fact that, in making
uranium available for the production of nuclear power, Australia will
be helping to create an extremely dangerous situation for humankind.
In fact, reference was made in the report to the impossibility of ensuring
that the uranium is used only for peaceful purposes. Mention was also
made of the great risks of long-term environmental pollution with
plutonium, the by-product of the production of electricity in nuclear
power plants. The report noted that some people take the view that
Australia should take a stand on moral grounds and not mine or
export uranium, and thereby set an example which might influence
decisions by other governments in other places. It stated that ‘to some
extent the argument rests simply on ethical values’.
The report also referred to the views of the protagonists for uranium
export—mainly representatives of the mining industry and nuclear

physicists. These groups stated that the hazards were greatly exaggerated
by opponents of nuclear power, that the problem of high-level wastes
had been ‘virtually overcome’ by the proposal for vitrification and
geological disposal, that the danger of terrorist activities was recognised
and guarded against. According to some witnesses, the profits at
present to be made were very good and there was a risk that, if
permission to mine were not given soon, the market might shrink and
prices drop because of the introduction of fast breeder reactors. It was
submitted that, if Australia did not supply uranium, others would,
and Australia’s abstention would make no difference in kind or degree
to the presence of such hazards, difficulties and problems as there were.
The final recommendation of the report was ‘that no decision be
taken in relation to the foregoing matters until a reasonable time has
elapsed and there has been an opportunity for the usual democratic
processes to function, including, in this respect, parliamentary debate’.
However, the government accepted the views of the protagonists, and
on 25 August 1977 announced its decision that Australia would go
ahead with the mining and export of uranium.
This story epitomises the dilemma of modern society. We seem to
be locked into a set of economic processes which dictate our behaviour
and force us to make decisions which we deem to be unwise. The arms
race itself is a prime example of what is in essence a similar pheno
menon, although in this case factors other than economic ones also
play a role. As a result of this process, there is already stored, in the
thermo-nuclear arsenals of the world, a quantity of explosives equi
valent in destructive power to several tonnes of TNT for every human
being on earth. We all acknowledge that this is worse than madness,
but we all permit it to continue. Are we, after all, victims of a set of
dreadful, ultimately totally destructive processes which we have set
in motion but cannot possibly control!
Hong Kong itself is very much in the grips of these relentless
economic processes. It would presumably be unthinkable for the
present government to introduce measures aimed at halting industrial
growth and the use of energy, unless all its competitors slowed down
at the same time. If it did so Hong Kong’s trade would suffer badly,
the real incomes of people would drop, the government would be
unable to continue with its programs of housing and improving social
services, and there might indeed be a great deal of human suffering.
The economic competition between corporations and between nations
inevitably results in a perpetuation of the inexorable growth spirals.
And yet, these processes are certainly going to stop, and if we do not
stop them deliberately ourselves, the consequences for human society
may be disastrous.
In spite of these difficulties, our own work leads us to a certain
cautious optimism. This optimism is due in part to our appreciation
of the fact that the steps that appear to be necessary on the level of
the total environment to protect the biosphere, far from being incom
patible with those necessary to maintain and improve the quality of
human life experience, correspond with them to a most encouraging
degree. For example, the ecological need to reduce dependence on
extrasomatic energy is totally compatible with the desirability of
providing opportunities and incentives for individuals to learn and
practise manual skills. This assessment of the situation is, of course,
at variance with the ‘more-energy-the-better’ assumption.
We hold the view that, with wise, selective use of technology and
some selective rejection of certain aspects of Phase 4 society, it may
be possible for us to extricate ourselves from the escalating processes.
But a successful transition to an acceptable Phase 5 will depend on
the extent to which responsible and influential institutions in society,
especially those concerned with government and education, are
prepared to take the problem seriously and treat it as a matter of
urgency.
We have already noted that patterns of energy use in developed
countries are such that major savings in energy use would not be
possible without wide-ranging changes in the organisaion of society.
It follows, therefore, that any consideration of the ways and means
of bringing about an ecologically stable fifth phase of human existence,
compatible with the long-term survival of civilisation, must be
concerned with, among other things, societal organisation. We will
now summarise some of our own thoughts on this matter.
This summary will take the following form. First we will present a
list of Ecological and experiential characteristics o f Phase 5 . The first
part of this list consists of items relating to the properties of the total
environment, and the last part includes items relating to human
experience. Some of the factors listed are essential for the survival of
the biosphere, and thus of human beings and their civilisation. Others
are simply seen to be very desirable, on the basis of the biocultural
conceptual approach adopted in our work.
The list will be followed by a list of Societal conditions associated
with the transition to Phase 5. That is to say, the items on the second
list represent our views on the nature of the societal changes or
conditions which are most likely to make possible the realisation of

the ecological and experiential characteristics given in the first list.
Both lists are long, and many readers may feel that it is naive
to imagine that societies could possibly achieve all of them, however
desirable they may be. We will comment again later on this reaction,
but let us here simply point out that many of the items within each
list are interrelated, and that an appropriate societal change with
respect to one item would often necessarily be associated with a
similarly appropriate change with respect to others.
Ecological and experiential characteristics of Phase 5
— A state of ecological equilibrium between human society and the

biosphere, with respect to the use of extrasomatic energy and
natural resources.
— The avoidance of potentially dangerous man-induced climatic
change, associated with overheating or cooling of the biosphere or
with changes in the stratospheric shield which protects life from the
ultraviolet irradiation from the sun.
— The avoidance of excessive dependence of human populations for
survival on energy-intensive technologies or on continually in
creasing supplies of energy and resources.
— Minimum interference with the essential biogeochemical cycles of
nature (e.g. phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon).
— Minimum release of potentially harmful chemical compounds or
particulate matter into the air, rivers, lakes, oceans or soil which
could adversely influence the health and survival of human beings,,
animals, plants and micro-organisms.
— The avoidance of the introduction into the biosphere of sources of
nuclear irradiation (e.g. plutonium), potentially dangerous for
human beings, animals, plants and micro-organisms.
— The maintenance and improvement of soil quality with respect both
to essential minerals and to physical consistency.
— A stable human population size.
— A diverse supply, for all sections of all human populations of
natural and, as far as possible, fresh foodstuffs, containing the
full range of nutritional requirements and free from potentially
harmful chemicals.
— Conditions which minimise the incidence of contagious disease in
human populations.
— The absence, in areas of human habitation, of excessive and
disturbing levels of environmental noise.

— Adequate protection from extremes of climate.
— Adequate psychological support networks for individuals in times
of anxiety.
— Opportunities for individuals to move spontaneously from one
small group to another, or to and from a state of solitude when
desired.
— A sense of personal involvement for individuals in their daily
activities, associated with a sense of purpose and a sense of meaning.
— Maximum opportunity for spontaneity in human behaviour.
— Opportunities and incentives for individuals to learn and practise
manual and/or mental skills, and to experience personal creative
behaviour.
— Variety in the daily experience of individuals.
— A sense in individuals of belonging to and responsibility towards
their neighbourhood.
— Absence in individuals of frustration due to the inability to fulfil
aspirations or to achieve goals.
— Absence in individuals of fear of violent aggression, with an
associated low level or absence of criminal behaviour.
— An environment and lifestyle which permits individuals to rest or
sleep in response to the urge to do so.
— Opportunities and incentives for levels and forms of physical
exercise conducive to healthy living.
— Opportunities for individuals to have contact with the natural
environment—with trees and other plants and animals.
— An environment with aesthetic characteristics which are conducive
to human well-being.
— Societal organisation and a built environment such that its institu
tional and physical components are on a human scale.
Societal conditions associated with the transition to Phase 5
— Major reductions in the use of energy-intensive machinery.

— A general shift back, within appropriate limits, from machine
intensive industry to labour-intensive industry.
— A societal organisation such that the efforts of most individuals to
do their jobs well do not inevitably lead to increasing societal use
of energy and natural resources.
— Improved techniques for preventing the discharge of undesirable
by-products of fuel consumption and of industrial processes in
general.
— The non-introduction of nuclear power.
— The elimination of weapons of mass destruction (including chemical
and biological agents).
— Major reductions in the size of transport systems, with less move
ment of people and goods.
— Proportionately much greater use of energy-efficient transport
(e.g. rail) as opposed to energy-intensive and energy-inefficient
transport (e.g. private motor cars and trucks). More use of bicycles.
— Patterns of trade which do not involve dependence for essential
resources (or for national income) on the transportation of goods
over long distances.
— The maximisation of local primary production, especially of
perishable goods, in the immediate hinterland of urban areas,
minimising the necessity for processed foods and for transportation
of foodstuffs over long distances.
— Recycling of resources.
— Less use of machines, and more use of human beings in primary
production.
— Recycling of sewage and of organic wastes.
— Major reductions in the use of chemical biocides (to be used
sparingly and very selectively) and of artificial fertilisers.
— Maintenance of appropriately high standards of public hygiene
(e.g. effective drainage, sewage treatment, clean water supplies
and, when necessary, vaccination programs.)
— Careful and controlled use of chemotherapeutic agents and
antibiotics.
— Building standards which satisfy the basic human health needs for
protection from extremes of climate and from infection with
pathogenic micro-organisms, but which are also feasible in terms
of the material resources available.
— Population densities in homes and neighbourhoods which do not
produce feelings of crowding or of loneliness, and which do not
interfere with sleep or with potential sources of relaxation or
enjoyment.
— Relative self-sufficiency of localities with respect to manufactured
requirements, public amenities, sources of human enjoyment and
entertainment.
— A societal organisation which permits the natural development of
effective psychological support networks.
— A societal organisation which provides jobs in which individuals
feel a sense of participation, involving co-operative small-group

interaction, and a sense of shared responsibility for the quality of
the product or service offered.
— A societal organisation which provides jobs which offer individuals
opportunities and incentives to practise skills and crafts.
— A societal organisation which provides safeguards against long
hours of a single activity of any kind, and especially of monotonous,
boring activities.
— A societal organisation such that individuals experience considerable
variety in a single job, or such that individuals have the opportunity
to share jobs or to have two or more jobs involving different kinds
of activities.
— A societal organisation such that most people live within walking or
cycling distance from their places of work.
— A societal organisation which is not characterised by marked
differentials with respect to the satisfaction of universal health
needs and of culturally-determined wants.
— A societal organisation which is characterised by an equitable
distribution of material wealth.
— A situation such that the common behavioural tendencies of human
beings can find expression in ways which (a) are not harmful to
society or to the individual and (b) are, ideally, beneficial to
society and to the individual.
— A societal organisation which does not permit the existence of
powerful dehumanised corporations which develop their own
values and economic momentum, and which are insensitive to the
ecological needs of the total environment and to the diverse health
needs of the various sections of the human population.
— A societal organisation which does not permit corporations to
launch programs of organised persuasion to influence individual
behaviour to the advantage of the corporations themselves.
— A societal organisation which does not foster in individuals aspira
tions which are unlikely to be fulfilled, and so lead to frustration
and maladjustment or to societally undesirable behaviour.
— A pattern of socialisation and education which
(a) promotes a sense of perspective with respect to the human

situation
(b) promotes knowledge and understanding of life on earth, of the
biological and cultural history of humankind as a whole, and
of the dependence of civilisation on the processes of nature
(c) encourages comprehensive situation-oriented and problem-

oriented thinking
(d) provides knowledge and understanding of the health needs of
human beings
(e) provides knowledge of the rationale for and the means of
family planning
(f) does not foster excessive competitiveness or undue out-group
antagonism
(g) encourages the learning of arts, crafts, skills and interests
which can contribute to the richness of life experience (not
merely for vocational purposes)
(h) promotes interest in societal affairs and encourages interest in,
and a sense of responsibility for the quality of the environment
and of life in the neighbourhood and region
(i) is characterised, as far as possible, by spontaneity in the
learning process.
— A societal organisation and educational system which results in a
reasonable balance of a broad range of human personality types
among the influential members of society, and which ensures an
equitable balance of male and female influence.
— A societal organisation and built environment which
(a) encourages in individuals a sense of belonging to and identifying
with the neighbourhood
(b) encourages in individuals a sense of responsibility for the
quality of the environment and of life in the neighbourhood,
including, for example, the design of buildings, law and order,
care of the incapacitated, control of local community centres,
educational, recreational and spiritual facilities.
(c) promotes the attractiveness and self-sufficiency of residential
neighbourhoods
(d) results in a local environment which provides sources of
enjoyment and rich cultural experience and meaningful small-
group interaction, as well as opportunities for quietness and
solitude
(e) encourages spontaneous play among children
(f) encourages community involvement in local media (newspapers,
radio, television).
(g) permits and encourages, where possible, the production of
foodstuffs in gardens in the community, and ideally, on the
household level.
Two points need to be made about these two lists. First, the response
of some readers will probably be that the suggestions we make are

naive, Utopian and impossible. Our view is that, whether they are
Utopian or not, many of the changes mentioned will indeed be
necessary if ecological stability and the survival of civilisation are to
be achieved. If in fact they are impossible, then ecological stability
and the survival of civilisation are also impossible.
Second, some readers will note that two very essential aspects of
the situation have not been even mentioned in these lists. We have
referred neither to changes in the economic system, nor to changes in
societal values. And yet, we have many times emphasised in this book
that economic processes and societal values are extremely important
factors influencing the quality of the environment.
One reason for not dealing with the economic question is that,
apart from our lack of competence in the area, we consider that the
first stage in the cultural adaptive processes leading to a transition to a
satisfactory Phase 5 of human existence must involve a comprehensive
assessment of the present situation and of future possibilities. This
assessment must be in terms of the ecological conditions which affect
not only the processes of the biosphere on which life and civilisation
depend, but also the quality of human experience. In other words,
the first set of tasks is to define as far as possible the environmental
conditions which, in the long run, are likely to be most satisfactory in
meeting the needs of the biosphere and of people. When some reason
able consensus of opinion has been reached with respect to the
desirable objectives, society must proceed to the second task, that is,
to working out the best economic and political arrangements for
achieving and maintaining these objectives. This book is mainly
concerned with the first set of tasks.
On the question of values, we have made the point several times
that the dominant values and attitudes, which are of course inextricably
related to the economic system, are tremendously potent ecological
forces. We have also noted that some of the values of modern Western
society, such as the contemporary Western Idea of Progress, are, for
ecological reasons, incompatible with the long-term survival of
civilisation. Another ecologically dangerous value is the notion that a
desirable objective for humankind is to ‘conquer nature’—to conquer,
that is, the set of processes which gave birth to human beings and
human culture in the first place, the set of processes of which we are
still a part and on which we and our civilisation will always depend for
survival. The absurd arrogance and imbecility of this idea should be
self-evident.
But most values, like our economic system, are culturally deter
mined—that is to say, they are of our own making. Consequently,
they are not immutable. It is by no means impossible that world
society may one day come to embrace again the more humble ideas of
ancient Chinese philosophy, which put emphasis on the importance of
humankind living in harmony with the other components of an inter
active universe. The materialistic Western Idea of Progress may be
replaced by an alternative idea of progress which puts emphasis on
aesthetic values and on the development of harmonious relationships
within societies, between societies and between society and the natural
environment, and which promotes individual self-fulfilment and
growth in the sphere of personal relationships and through various
expressions of human creativity.
We do not intend to discuss here the problem of ‘how values might
be changed’. We will simply refer to what we call our ‘naive hypothesis’.
This states that, if communities become properly informed about the
human situation in biological and historical perspective and become
aware of humankind’s dependence on the processes of nature, of the
full implications of the ecological trends in modern society and of the
options it faces, then appropriate changes in value systems will occur
spontaneously—changes which are appropriate, in terms of the long
term survival of civilisation.
Returning to the question of societal organisation, it seems to us
that almost all the individual items on the list point in the same
direction. They point towards what we choose to refer to as a multifocal
society.* We suggest that, in the long run, even in such highly urbanised
and densely populated communities as Hong Kong, a change of this
kind will not only be desirable, but will in fact be imperative if
ecological equilibrium is to be attained.
We envisage the multifocal society as consisting in essence of a large
number of relatively small cohesive community foci existing within
the framework of the larger metropolis, or spread throughout a
region, each being as far as possible self-sufficient with respect to
manufactured needs, job opportunities and recreational possibilities.
In the case of large cities, the multifocal society can be described as
consisting of a series of hamlets within villages within towns within
♦Focus: a central point of attraction, attention or activity {American Dictionary).

We prefer the term ‘multifocal’ to ‘decentralised’, which has a negative conno
tation and implies the absence o f centres o f activity. The multifocal society
is characterised, as we envisage it, by numerous centres or foci o f lively
social interaction.
cities. Food supplies would mostly come from outside the community
area, but ideally these, especially perishable foods, would be chiefly
produced in the immediate hinterland of the urban area. Industrial
and commercial establishments would in the main be kept small and
labour-intensive. Some large-scale activities would still be necessary,
but these should be kept to a minimum and they should never be
permitted to take on the form of independent self-interested
organisations.
The multifocal society would involve investing local communities
with much more responsibility than is at present the case for a wide
range of aspects of local affairs, including the following: law and
order; design and construction of buildings; educational activities;
care of the incapacitated; local press, radio, television, entertainment
and sport; and the achievement of pleasing and aesthetically satisfactory
environmental conditions, such as the establishment and care of local
parks and gardens and the control of noise levels.
From the standpoint of human experience, the multifocal society
would provide a very much more attractive home area than that
provided today by the typical Western city or suburb, in that it would
contain sources of satisfaction for a broad range of elemental ex
periential and health needs. Because each community focus would be
relatively self-sufficient with respect to both the economic and
experiential needs of individuals and families, there would be less
necessity for personal travel, other than on foot or bicycle. Among
other advantages, it would be conducive to a sense of personal
involvement, a sense of belonging, co-operative small-group interac
tion, reasonable levels of physical exercise, the practise of learned
skills, and considerable variety and excitement in daily experience.
Industrial and economic growth would not be a feature of the
multifocal society. Critics of the notion of the ‘no-growth’ society
frequently depict it as ‘stagnant’ and ‘dull’; they have come to equate
technological change and economic progress with a happy and
exciting life for the average individual, and thus imagine that a lack of
rapid change in these areas must necessarily be accompanied by
human deprivation. But this attitude itself is surely indicative of a
very impoverished spirit—of a very narrow perception of the good life.
Are we to believe that our tens of thousands of ancestors, who lived
in times when technological and economic changes between genera
tions were imperceptible, were really so experientially deprived, as
compared with the average individual in the modern urban community?
With regard to the idea of freedom, it is clear that the multifocal
society would involve strict control over the growth and behaviour of
businesses and corporations. Laissez-faire economic policy, in the long
run, is ecologically untenable. However, there is no reason why
individuals should not experience a considerably wider choice of
activities than is usually the case today.
We envisage the multifocal no-growth society as a rehumanising
phenomenon, associated with a rich and rewarding life experience for
the great majority of the population, and offering the opportunity for
individual self-fulfilment and melioric experience in a wide variety of
ways. Moreover, while there might be a moratorium on industrial
growth and a limit to the size of manufacturing and commercial
establishments, there would be no restrictions at all on artistic creativity
or on opportunities for self-expression through song, dance, music,
poetry, painting, prose, woodwork, sculpture, design, drama, learning,
sport, and other ancient low-energy pursuits of human beings. Indeed,
a non-growth society need be stagnant for the individual in only one
respect—in that it would not involve the never-ending acquisition of
energy-expensive material possessions. However, it would obviously
involve the retention of many of the ‘experiential bonuses’ which
Phase 4 society has conferred, including stereophonic recording, the
cinema, radio and television, all of which have the potential to provide
enriching melioric and educational experiences.
It is not appropriate here to dwell further on our thoughts on the
characteristics of the multifocal society or to attempt to discuss in
detail the economic, ecological and governmental interrelationships
between ‘the hamlets, villages, towns and cities’. We will only repeat
that we are convinced that a model of this general kind offers the
best, indeed the only, means of satisfying the ecological needs of the
biosphere and of civilisation, and the environmental and experiential
needs of human beings.
Similar suggestions have, in one form or another, been made many
times before. For example, we are pleased to find that some of our
conclusions are very similar to those of the authors of the Blueprint
fo r Survival, which was published in Britain in 1972 and which gave
rise to a good deal of controversy.
We will not attempt to comment on the actual societal mechanisms
by which human populations might achieve a relatively smooth transi
tion to a humanly acceptable and ecologically viable Phase 5 of
human existence. Let us simply repeat that, as suggested in the
last chapter, the impending conclusion of the fourth phase presents
the greatest challenge of all time to the human capacity for cultural
adaptation. In tact, the societal route to ecological equilibrium may

well differ from one region in the world to another. The problem in
countries of the Third World is very different from that in the affluent
countries of the West. Many of the former, while very much influenced
by the developed countries, are still a considerable way from achieving
full Phase 4 status, and have not yet reaped all its advantages and
disadvantages. With respect to the forthcoming fifth phase, the
choice which faces many of them (if they have any choice in these
matters) is whether to attempt to proceed to Phase 5 through Phase 4,
or whether to seek an alternative route to Phase 5, thereby avoiding
some of the serious traps, disharmonies and difficulties which have
befallen the developed Western countries. Certainly, it is to be hoped
that they will be increasingly selective in what they choose to accept
from Western technology, ideas and values.
We return finally to the supremely important fact about which there
can be no argument, namely, that many serious and learned persons
are today expressing the view that governmental and societal policies
with respect to energy use, economic and industrial growth and military
preparedness are ecologically dangeorus and are likely to lead to
changes in the biosphere which would have very undesirable conse
quences for humankind. As would be expected from the historical
study of the processes of cultural adaptation, these views are vigorously
attacked by representatives of vested interests which stand to gain, in
material terms, from the continued acceptance by society of the
Western Idea of Progress.
No one would suggest that the problem is a simple one, involving,
as it does, complex interrelationships between cultural, political,
economic, physico-chemical, biological and behavioural processes.
Nevertheless, it is clearly a matter of overwhelming importance, and
for governments and others to act as if the issue does not exist must
surely be regarded as the height of irresponsibility.
In our opinion, the fragmented, compartmentalised approach to
societal situations which is characteristic of governments and institu
tions of learning throughout the world today can only lead to further
exacerbation of the problem. If human society is to free itself from the
apparently inexorable spiralling processes to which it seems to have
fallen victim, then a holistic, comprehensive and interrelational
approach offers the only hope—however difficult this approach may be.
The responsibility for successful cultural adaptation to the principal
predicaments of Phase 4 society can be said to lie in three areas—
government, academia and the community. With respect to the first
of these areas, it will be necessary for every government to establish a

strong permanent integrative department with the on-going task of
examining the ecological and societal problems of the communities
they serve in an interrelational and holistic way, and in the context of
the global situation. This department must keep the central government
and all other government departments constantly informed of its
findings, and where necessary, make recommendations with respect
to local, national or international initiative or action.
Similarly, academic institutions will have to correct the gross im
balance which at present exists, both in education and research,
between highly specialised studies on the one hand and comprehensive,
interrelational studies on the other. There must be greater encourage
ment for academics to venture outside their comfortable areas of
specialism and to devote intellectual effort towards improving under
standing of the dynamic interrelationships of which human situations
and human problems are made. In other words, there is an urgent
need, both in government and in institutions of learning, for people
whose ‘specialism’ is integrative ecological thinking.
Community groups concerned about human well-being, now and
in the future, can also play a very important role. In some Western
countries in recent years there has been considerable evidence of an
active community involvement in matters relating to the quality of the
environment and it is to be hoped that this trend will broaden, to
include active interest in the implications of societal policies as they
affect not only the aesthetic and life-supporting qualities of the
physical and natural environment, but also the quality of human
experience. There must be no place in this community movement for
the fatalistic ‘inevitability of progress’ syndrome which we discussed
in the last chapter. Progress there must be, but it must be in a new
direction.
It is not too much to hope that, through these different contributions,
we may look forward to a successful transition to the fifth eco
logical phase of human existence. But there is no time to lose. The
adaptive process must be one that makes the best possible use both
of the knowledge acquired and of the thinking that has taken place
over the millennia. Society must be very selective in its applications of
technology, and it must pay much more attention than at present to
the intangible aspects of human experience which can contribute so
much to life enjoyment. We must accept and value our humanness,
but place less emphasis than at present on self-interest and human
cleverness, and more on our potential for altruism and wisdom. We
must embrace a meaningful philosophy of life, and regain respect for

the processes of nature which gave birth to humankind and upon
which civilisation will always be dependent.
Appendix 1
Life conditions check list
(Experienced environment and behaviour pattern)
The origin and purpose of this check list is described in Chapter 4.

The items in it are arranged according to the groupings which appear
in the conceptual diagrams (Figures 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4). The list is
used merely as an aid to the study of human experience—to ensure
that, in comparing populations or sub-populations, we do not neglect
any aspect of the full spectrum of life conditions that might be impor
tant for health and well-being. Obviously, many of the items are
closely related to each other, and in reality there are few situations in
human experience which could be described in terms only of anyone
of the single items.
Experienced environment
1. Quality of air inhaled (e.g. content of sulphur oxides, carbon
monoxide, lead and hydrocarbons).
2. Other properties of the atmosphere, including environmental
temperature, humidity, ionisation of particles.
3. Ionising irradiation.
4. Exposure to visible light (time and intensity).
5. Noise levels.
6. Diet:
(a) calorie intake in relation to metabolic requirements
(b) nutritional quality*
(c) physical consistency
(d) content of potentially noxious substances
(e) social norms, rituals etc. influencing eating and drinking
behaviour
7. Water—availability and quality
♦Clearly for some purposes this check list can be expanded to include in this
case, tor example, specific chemical nutrients.
384 Appendixes
8. Noxious chemicals in the environment (other than those covered

under previous headings)
Accessibility of pharmaceutical products
p p
Accessibility of psychotropic substances (e.g. alcohol, opium

derivatives, marihuana, tranquillisers, sedatives)
11. Contact with microbial and metozoal parasites and pathogens
12. Contact with other animals and plants (and with nature in
general)
13. Conditions in dwellings:
(a) adequacy of protection from extremes of temperature, and
from rain, snow and wind; degree of ventilation
(b) adequacy of sanitation, and presence or absence of animals
likely to carry infectious diseases transmissible to man
(c) lighting within dwelling, and outlook from windows
(d) physical population density within the dwelling
(e) degree of sharing of facilities within dwellings
(f) other conditions within dwellings (e.g. noise levels)
14. Populaton density experienced by individuals outside dwellings:
15. Daily interactions with other people:
(a) primary group
(b) other in-groups
(c) friends
(d) acquaintances
(e) strangers
16. Characteristics of in-groups with respect to:
(a) the extent to which they are characterised by close enjoyable
and personal relationships
(b) the extent to which they provide a diverse psychological
support network and opportunities for spontaneous conver
sation on matters of mutual concern; the extent to which
they are characterised by care-eliciting and care-giving
behaviour
(c) the extent to which the different in-groups to which indivi
duals belong have conflicting values and generate conflicts
of loyalty
17. The in-group/out-group structure of society as experienced by
individuals and the extent to which the societal environment
generates out-group hostility
18. Hierarchical structure of social environment as experienced by
individuals
19. Extent of opportunity for individuals to move spontaneously
Appendixes 385
from one small-group situation to another, and to and from a

state of solitude; and the extent of opportunity for the spontaneous
temporary separation of individuals when interpersonal tensions
arise
20. Degree of co-operative small-group interaction experienced
21. General interest value of the environment
22. Extent to which the environment encourages in individuals a sense
of belonging to and responsibility for the neighbourhood
23. Aspirations engendered by the environment (in relation both to
the likelihood of their fulfilment and to their implications, for
example through consumer behaviour, for the ecology of the
ecosystem as a whole)
24. Extent and degree of aggressive behaviour in the environment (in
relation, for example, to its tendency to give rise to a sense of fear)
25. The learning situation for individuals (all age groups):
(a) sources of information (e.g. radio, TV, schooling, word of
mouth)
(b) kinds of information (e.g. including information influencing
values and attitudes)
(c) extent to which the social environment is one in which
learning is seen and felt as natural and desirable
26. Levels of sensory stimulation
27. Degree of experience of mob situations likely to interfere with
rationality
28. Extent to which the societal environment is sexually stimulating
(and its likelihood of producing a state of sexual frustration)
29. Opportunities offered by the environment for active (participatory)
entertainment
30. Opportunities offered by the environment for passive entertainment
31. Extent to which the individual witnesses fear, anger, sorrow,
anxiety, joy in other people
32. Degree of variety in daily experience
Behaviour pattern
1. Biological time budget
2. Feeding behaviour
3. Drinking behaviour
4. Drug use
5. Physical work performed and degree of frequency of vigorous
physical activity
6. Rest and sleep pattern
386 Appendixes
7. Sexual behaviour
8. Geographical mobility
9. Degree of co-operative interaction in small groups
10. Degree of practice of learned manual and mental skills
11. Degree of personal creative behaviour
12. Degree of spontaneity in behaviour
13. The forms of expression of common behavioural tendencies (see
Appendix 2)
Other considerations
1. Aesthetic experience of the individual
2. Pattern of extrasomatic energy use by the individual
3. ‘Pace of life’
4. Rate of change in individual’s life conditions
5. The balance between stressors and meliors
Appendix 2
Common behavioural tendencies
We have referred in the text (initially in Chapter 4), to ‘common

behavioural tendencies’. For our purposes, we have found it useful to
construct a list of these (recognising that the various items on the list
are not easily definable or separable). There is no point in raising the
issue of whether or not these behavioural tendencies are ‘genetically
determined , although they are very common indeed in a wide range
of human societies, and it is easy to imagine that each of them would
have been of survival advantage in the primeval, or hunter-gatherer
environment.
The important point is simply that the common behavioural
tendencies are, indeed, very common. Some of them may be expressed
in very different ways in different populations or sub-populations.
Thus the specific behavioural acts which are manifestations of the
tendency to seek approval or to avoid disapproval are culturally
determined, and differ greatly from one society to another. That is
to say, culture determines the criteria of approval and disapproval.
We have not discussed our interest in common behavioural ten
dencies at length in this book, although we have drawn attention to
the fact that their specific or circumstantial expression is not always in
the best interests of the ecology of human settlements. In our opinion,
attempts to overcome ecological and societal threats to human well
being should take account ot these common behavioural tendencies.
Because they are so common, it is, we expect, pointless to attempt to
eradicate them when they are having undesirable consequences for
society. Successful cultural adaptation in this respect must involve the
provision of alternative means for their expression.
The full list of common behavioural tendencies is as follows:
Physiological:
to eat when hungry, to drink when thirsty
to copulate when appropriately stimulated
to avoid pain, discomfort
to seek comfort
388 Appendixes
to rest or sleep periodically in response to the urge to do so

to avoid unnecessary exertion; to take the easiest path to an objective
to avoid prolonged periods of very low or very high levels of
sensory stimulation, but to seek stimulation to an optimum level
Approval seeking:
to seek attention and companionship within the in-group
to seek approval of members of the in-group, to seek their praise
to avoid ridicule from and disapproval of members of in-group
to show approval for forms of behaviour considered advantageous-
to the in-group
to show disapproval for forms of behaviour considered disadvan
tageous to the in-group
to compete with peers for status, respect and influence; and to aim
to out-perform peers in approved activities
(Overall effect: the tendency for individuals to strive to succeed in
activities considered advantageous to the in-group)
General social:
to support, protect, to show trust in and loyalty to the in-group
to co-operate with members of the in-group
to exhibit care-giving behaviour towards immature members of the
in-group, especially one’s own offspring
to exhibit care-eliciting behaviour towards members of in-group in
times of anxiety
to exhibit care-giving behaviour towards members of in-group,
especially in response to care-eliciting behaviour
to establish hierarchies (not necessarily inflexible and lasting)
to accept the beliefs and values of the society into which the
individual is born and in which he lives
to behave aggressively, on occasion, towards others, especially in
response to the frustration of desires
to act with suspicion and distrust towards out-groups
to seek sexual relationships
to imitate (especially in the young)
to play games (especially in the young, but including dancing,
singing, etc.)
to avoid prolonged solitude and loneliness; but to seek solitude on
occasion
to exhibit militant enthusiasm (in certain situations)
Environmental:
to seek to modify the environment
to exhibit interest in and to explore the unknown (despite a certain
Appendixes 389
suspicion and fear of the unknown)

General:
to seek and accept reasonable short-term challenges (i.e. challenges
of a kind which, with sufficient effort, stand a reasonable chance
of being successfully met or overcome in a short time) and to
seek to solve problems
to seek explanations
to follow habit
Appendix 3
The Biosocial Survey
Although a great wealth of information was already available in Hong

Kong, some important gaps existed in terms of the underlying con
ceptual approach of the Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme,
and it was therefore decided to carry out a ‘Biosocial Survey’. This
was done in collaboration with the Social Research Centre at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong and was funded by the Nuffield
Foundation and The Australian National University.
Aims
The Biosocial Survey included both biological and sociological
variables, reflecting the underlying concern in human ecology with the
interplay between cultural and natural processes.
Its aims were broadly as follows:
(1) to contribute to the understanding of the Hong Kong situation by
providing data for a description of the biosocial state of the
population.
(2) to provide data for the study of interrelationships between
environmental and lifestyle variables on the one hand, and state
of health and well-being on the other.
The Survey involved the testing of a number of specific hypotheses
relating, for example, to the effects on health of high density living
and the influence on well-being of certain psychosocial aspects of life
experience.
Method
The sample was drawn from the main urban areas of Hong Kong. The
census records of 1971 were already out of date when the sample was
drawn in 1974, but the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong
Kong government had carried out a Housing Survey in 1973 on a 5 per
cent sample of households. Since this Housing Survey provided the
392 Appendixes
most up-to-date information available, it was used as the basis for the
Biosocial Survey sample.
The original sample consisted 4001 housing units, stratified
spatially by census district and also by housing type, on an equal
probability basis. It included each type of residential building in Hong
Kong except boats, hostels, hotels and government institutions.
Interviewing began in June 1974, randomly selecting a single indivi
dual from each housing unit. A supplementary sample of 1630 housing
units was drawn according to the response rate in this first wave of
interviewing, and the second wave of interviewing began in mid-July.
Interview information finally was obtained from 3983 individuals
between the ages of 20-59 years, 3925 of whom are Chinese. Inter
viewing was conducted by third-year students at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong, all of whom underwent intensive training before the
commencement of the Survey.
The response rate for the Biosocial Survey was 76.2 per cent, which
compares favourably with other large-scale surveys which have been
carried out in Hong Kong.
In conjunction with the Survey in the urban area, a small study was
carried out in which information was obtained on 181 people living in
rural villages in the New Territories. In this study interviewing was
conducted by trained students who spoke the Hakka dialect—the
villagers’ native tongue. This study provided the opportunity for an
urban-rural comparison of certain biosocial parameters in Hong Kong.
The Biosocial Survey interview included items relating to general
state of health and well-being and various aspects of life conditions,
including the nature of the immediate physical environment and the
perception of this environment, occupation and degree of job satis
faction, biological time-budget, kinds of recreational and leisure
activities engaged in, social interaction patterns, and other psychosocial
aspects of life experience. We were also interested in guaging certain
attitudes and values held by the respondents, and in their use in the
home of extrasomatic energy.
A full report of the results of the Biosocial Survey has been published
by S.E. Millar.
The Construction o f indices in analysis

A full list of the questions asked in the Survey will not be presented
here. However, a brief description is called for of various indices
which were derived from the answers to the questionnaire and which
are referred to in the text of this book.
Appendixes 393
Economic status
The respondent’s ‘economic status’, for the purposes of this study, is
based on a single variable: reported household income. Responses to
this item are simply recoded in order to obtain three categories; ‘low’,
medium and high’ economic status. The division is made so that the
range of socioeconomic levels in Hong Kong is reasonable* and so
Household income N Economic status N

(HK$)
Less than 200 22 )
200-399 29 )
400-599 83 ) ‘low’ 817
600-799 265 )
800-999 418 )
1000-1199 658 )
1200-1499 716 ) ‘medium’ 1997
1500-1999 623 )
2000-2499 401)
2500-3499 224 ) ‘high’ 941
3500-4499 138 )
4500 or more 178 )
Missing data 170
Total N 3925
*During the collection of data for a study of the nutritional pattern of Hong
Kong as a part of the Hong Kong Programme, it was found that household
expenditure invariably exceeded stated income by from 10-15 per cent. Actual
household income, therefore, according to the Biosocial Survey data, is almost
certainly an underestimate. However, for our purposes, the relative classifica
tion of low , ‘medium’ and ‘high’ is useful, even if the absolute values are
not accurate.
394 Appendixes
that each category contains a sufficient number of individuals.
Education Status
Responses to the question: ‘What is the highest educational level
you have reached?’ are recoded to create the variable, ‘education
status’. This parameter has four score categories for some aspects of
the analysis, and has two categories for other aspects, as follows:
Education level Education N N

status
no formal education and negligible 710 )
private tutor for less )
than 13 years 710 ) ‘low’ 2528
‘traditional Chinese ) )
primary school’ and ) )
private tutor for more ) primary 1818 )
than 13 years 243 )
primary education 1575 )
secondary education 1043 ) secondary 1043 1
post-secondary education teritary 290 ) <high’ 1333
and university 290 ) )
Missing data 64 64
Total N 3925
Physical density index
The overall measure of physical density experience takes into account
both extra-residential and intra-residential density conditions.
Extra-residential density is measured in terms of the mean number
of persons per hectare in the census tract in which the respondent
lives, according to data from the government census in 1971. This
gross density measure is divided into three categories: ‘low’, ‘medium’
and ‘high’ density, as shown below.
Intra-residential density is measured in terms of the effective floor
space per person in the individual’s home. It is calculated by dividing
the effective floor space in the respondent’s household by the number
of persons forming that household, thus obtaining a figure for the
amount of space per person. This process was carried out by the
interviewer immediately following the interview. For our purposes,
intra-residential density is coded in three categories: ‘low’, ‘medium-
Appendixes 395
high’ and ‘very high’ density. The positions for the division are
dependent upon the actual density conditions represented by the
figures and do not provide an even distribution of scores between
categories.
The two measures of extra-residential and intra-residential density
are combined, by summing their scores, in order to create an index of
physical density experience, as follows:
Extra-residen tial Intra-residential
density N density N Score
‘low’ density ‘low’ density
(< 250 persons per ( > 6.5m2 per person) 850 1
hectare) 549
‘medium’ density ‘medium-high’ density
(250-1000 persons (3.7-6.5m2 per person) 983 2
per hectare) 1691
‘high’ density ‘very high’ density
(> 1 0 0 0 persons ( < 3.7m2 per person) 1936 3
per hectare) 1685
Total N 3925 Missing data 156
Total N 3925
The sum of these scores yields a score range of 2 to 6, which is
recoded to create the index of ‘physical density’:
Combined score Physical density N

2 and 3 ‘low’ density 581
4 ‘medium’ density 1048
5 and 6 ‘high’ density 2140
Missing data 156
Total N 3925
Sharing
The degree to which the household shares its residence with others is
assessed on the basis of responses to the question: ‘How many house
holds live in this flat (house, unit)?’ If more than one household lives
in the dwelling, then the household with which we are concerned is
coded as for ‘sharing’. In the Survey sample, 656 households share
their residence with one or more others.
396 Appendixes
With respect to the sharing of facilities, a similar procedure was

followed. If the response to the question: ‘How many households
share the following facilities; toilet, kitchen/cooking place, bathroom?’
is either ‘more than one household’, or ‘public facilities are used’,
then the respondent’s household is scored as ‘sharing’ the relevant
facility. The numbers of households in our sample who share toilet,
kitchen or bathroom facilities are, respectively; 1515, 769 and 1456.
Floor level
The floor level of the respondent’s residence is recorded, for our
purposes, simply in terms of two categories; ground floor to fourth
floor, and fifth floor and above. 1891 households in the sample live on
the fifth or higher floor of a multi-storey block.
Density tolerance
Two items are utilised in the construction of the density tolerance
index, and the responses to each are coded in five categories. The
individual’s scores on these two items are combined in such a way as to
obtain a meaningful index representing the attitudes of ‘tolerance’ and
‘intolerance’ of high density situations. The method of combination of
the scores is rather complicated, and can be represented as follows:
Item (2)
‘If there are too many people in your surroundings, what kind of feeling do you
have?’*
Item (1),
‘If you are surrounded Don’t D on’t Feel Feel Feel (md) N
by a lot of people mind like it rather bothered extremely
most o f the time, do m uch, uneasy upset
you find it enjoyable?’* but it’s
alright
v er y e n jo y a b le 2591 60 582 54 153 11 457
q u ite e n jo y a b le 687 273 195 154 61 22 1392
m e d iu m 263 149 83 78 25 20 618
n o t q u ite e n jo y a b le 305 277 253 215 66 14 1130
n o t e n j o y a b l e a t a ll 49 32 33 75 48 6 243
( m is s in g d a t a ) 58 5 4 6 3 9 85
N 1621 796 626 582 218 82 3925
*These responses are the English equivalents of descriptions in Chinese of the

kinds of feeling which a person might be expected to have under potentially
‘crowding’ situations. They were designed in the first instance in the Chinese
language, and are evenly graded with respect to the intensity of the feeling.
Appendixes 397
Combined score Density tolerance N

1 ‘very tolerant’ 946
2 ‘moderately tolerant’ 1663
3 ‘intolerant’ 1158
Missing data 158
Total N 3925
In this way, three categories are obtained, namely: ‘very tolerant’,

‘moderately tolerant’ and ‘intolerant’. The ‘very tolerant’ category of
the density tolerance index comprises those individuals who say that
they ‘don’t mind’ being surrounded by too many people and that they
find being surrounded by people most of the time ‘very enjoyable’ or
‘quite enjoyable’. They report, in other words, no negative feelings at
all in response to high density situations. The ‘moderately tolerant’
individuals are those who report some negative feelings on either or
both of the items, but whose reports of extreme feelings on one item
are tempered by their reports of relatively positive feelings in response
to the other item. ‘Intolerant’ persons are those who clearly report
negative feelings on one or both of the items and who express no
positive feelings at all in relation to situations of high density.
Small-group work interaction

This index classifies the amount of time spent each day in small-group
interaction at work. Respondents were asked with how many people
they worked. Those whose working group was between two and seven
persons were given a score on the index of small-group work inter
action, based on the number of hours per day which they usually
spend with this group. Those people who do not work, or who do not
work in such a ‘small-group’, do not receive a score on this index.
Number in working group N

(not including respondent)
0 614
1-2 400
3-4 344
5-6 206
7+ 775
Missing data 1586*
Total N 3925
398 Appendixes
Hours per day spent with working group N Score

0
19 1
1 16 \
1-2 10 J
2-3 15
3-4 37
4-5 27 h
5-6 51
o
6-7
i
7-8 391 l
8-9 101 J
9-10 100 '
10-11 16
11-12 45
12-13 8
13 + 35
J
Missing data 39
Total N 950
Score Small-group work interaction N

1 ‘low’ 45
2 ‘medium-low’ 170
3 ‘medium-high’ 492
4 ‘high’ 204
*1532 of these are ‘not applicable’, most of whom do not work.
Small-group leisure interaction

This index is concerned with leisure time only. Leisure time small
group interaction was used in the investigation of the relationship
between small group interaction and biopsychic state as it was
applicable to both workers and housewives, whose small-group
interaction during housekeeping hours does not appear to have been
adequately accounted for in the Survey.
The scores for small-group leisure interaction are as follows:
Appendixes 399
Hours per day N

No time 1789 ' Low 1789
1 hour or less 950
1-2 hours 560
2-3 hours 229 " High 1985
3-4 hours 142 ►
4+ hours 104
Missing data 151
Total 3925
Note that when the population was bisected, the ‘Low’ people were
those who experienced no small-group leisure interaction at all (45.6
per cent of the population); and the ‘High’ people were those who
regularly spent some time in small-group leisure interaction—ranging
from the 950 who spent one hour or less to the five women who
claimed to spend upwards of 13 hours per day.
Small-group interaction
This index is derived from the amount of time spent per day in small-
group interaction, both at work and in leisure activities. Those people
who do not work receive a score only for leisure time small-group
interaction. The index is constructed as follows:
Hours per day spent
Hours per day spent in small-group
in small-group Score N (2-8 people) in Score N
(2-7people) at work leisure time
0 0 2994 0 0 1789
1 1 16 1 1 950
1-2 2 10 1-2 2 560
2-3 3 15 2-3 3 229
3-4 4 37 3-4 4 142
4+ 5-14 814 4+ 5-14 104
Misisng data 39 Missing data 151
Total N 3925 Total N 3925
400 Appendixes
The sum of scores for hours per day in small-group interaction at

work and in leisure time yields a score range of 0 to 28, which is
recoded to produce the index of small-group interaction.
Combined Score Small-group interaction N

0 None 1360
1-6 ‘Low’ (up to 6 hours) 1582
7+ ‘High’ (7 + hours) 832
Missing data 151
Total N 3925
Family Support
The family support index was constructed from three parameters:
(1) Talk relatives (i.e. the number of times each respondent had
spoken (personally or by telephone) with a relative not living in
the same household during the previous week)
(2) See relatives (i.e. the number of times each respondent had
attended a family gathering of some kind during the previous
week)
(1) and (2) were combined to form ‘Family contact’.
(3) Over fourteen (i.e. the number of household members aged 14
years or more)
Score talk See Family N

relatives N + relatives N = contact (recoded)
0 - No times 2020 No times 3190 0 = None 1965
1 - 1-4 times 1370 Once 492 1 = Low 985
2 = 5-8 times 283 Twice 118 2 = Med 499
3 = 9+ times 149 3 + times 96 3 = High 365
(Missing data 103) (Missing data 29) (Missing data 111)
Appendixes 401
Score family Over Family support

contact N = fourteen N = Index N
0 = None 1965 One 137 0= 78 '
1 = Low 985 2-3 1775 1 = 840 ' Low 2050
2 = Med 499 4-5 1269 2 = 1132-

3 = High 365 6+ 744 3 = 999"
(Missing data HD 4 = 539 High 1764
5= 168
6 = 58-
(Missingdata 111)
Total N 3925
Job enjoyment
This is a simple index based on two questions:
(1) For workers: ‘How do you feel about your job? Is it enjoyable?’
(2) For housewives: ‘Do you like doing housework?’
Workers Housewives Total

Absolutely unenjoyable 63 21 84 '
Quite unenjoyable 298 109 407 " Low
Neutral 650 246 896

Quite enjoyable 1084 599 1683 1
►High
Very enjoyable 341 200 541 J
Missing data 37 8 45
2473 1183 3656
(Not included: 269 unemployed, retired, etc.)
Fear o f crime
This index was derived from the two questions about the perceived
safety of the area in which the respondent lives, the first referring to
402 Appendixes
the day-time, the second to the night-time. Responses to each question

are coded in five categories, from ‘very safe’ to ‘very unsafe’. The
sum of these scores yields a score range of 2 to 10, which is recoded to
produce the index of fear of crime, as follows:
Fear in the day-time N Fear at night-time N Score

very safe 499 very safe 234 1
quite safe 1900 quite safe 1122 2
medium 375 medium 346 3
quite unsafe 865 quite unsafe 1189 4
very unsafe 242 very unsafe 865 5
Missing data 44 Missing data 169
Combined score ‘Fear o f crime' N

2, 3, 4 & 5 ‘low’ 1600
6 ‘medium’ 783
7, 8,9 & 10 ‘high’ 1356
Missing data 186
Total N 3925
Indices relevant to the state o f health and well-being

General physical health. The index of general physical health is based
on a number of items pertaining to the recent experience by the
respondent of various kinds of physical maladjustment. Two separate
stages are involved in the construction of this index, since its final
form was decided upon during the course of the analysis. The initial
stage in construction is as follows. Scores are assigned for responses
to questions on the individual’s recent experience of bad pains, on the
degree to which these pains interfere with his daily activities, and on
his recent experience of coughs, nausea and high fever. Some weighting
of the scores on these items is necessary before their summation.
Appendixes 403
Pains interfering
No. o f bad pains N Score with daily activities N Score
None 2015 0 Not at all 155 1
One 1014 1 Very seldom 489 2
Two 554 2 Sometimes 484 3
Three 215 3 A lot of the time 440 4
Four 78 4 No pains 2026 0
Missing data 1
Recent experience of
Coughs Nausea Fever Score

(N) (N) (N)
No 3206 3685 3690 0
Yes & not usual 549 181 206 1
Yes & don’t know
or no answer 3 1 4 1
Yes & usual 166 54 21 3
Missing data 1 4 4
Total N 3925 3925 3925
The addition of these scores produces a distribution of scores from

1 to 17 which is recoded, for the present purposes, to create an
‘intermediate index of health’ as follows:*
Initial combined score ‘Intermediate health N Score

index’
1-3 healthy 1664 0
4+ unhealthy 2193 1
Missing data 68
Total N 3925
Scores on the ‘intermediate health index’ are then combined, in the

second stage of construction of the index of general physical health,
with scores assigned for responses to the following two items: the
♦Missing data (68 cases) are coded as ‘healthy’. That is, it is assumed that
persons who ‘do not know’ about their recent state of health have not
experienced physical maladjustment.
404 Appendixes
individual’s recent experience of the common cold or influenza and

his self-report of his recent state of health.
Self-report o f health N Score Cold or flu N Score

in the past month
Very well 1218 0 No 2999 0
Well 1706 0 Once 626 1
Medium 302 0 More than once 294 1
Not too well 632 1 Missing data 6
Very poor 120 1 Total N 3925
Missing data 5
Total N 3925
The summation of scores on the above two items and the score on
the ‘intermediate health index’ yields a score range of 0 to 3, which is
recoded to create three categories of general physical health, as
follows:
Secondary combined score General physical health N

0 ‘healthy’ 2232
1 ‘medium’ 991
2 and 3 ‘poor’ 702
Total N 3925
The separate male and female figures for this index are as follows:
Male Female
0 1059 1173
1 407 584
2 and 3 209 493
Total N 1675 2250
Langner scale
The Langner scale is an index of psycho-physiological maladjustment
Appendixes 405
or ‘personal distress’. An individual’s score on the Langner scale is

based upon a simple addition of pathognomonic responses. The scale
comprises twenty-two items, so that the summary score ranges from
zero to twenty-two. A response of ‘don’t know’ or ‘no answer’ to any
item is regarded as a ‘non-pathognomonic’ response, and it is not
considered in the overall score. There is an average of 0.6 per cent of
missing data for each item. For the purposes of our analysis, the con
tinuous score range is sometimes split at a score of four symptoms,
so that those individuals who score less than four on the scale are
coded as ‘non-disturbed’ and those with a score of four or more
symptoms are coded as ‘disturbed’. This cut-off point is the same as
that used by Langner.
Life enjoyment
This index is based on the single question: ‘Generally speaking, do you
find your daily life enjoyable?’
N
Not enjoyable 58 -
>- Low
Quite unenjoyable 331 J
General 1083 -1 Medium
Quite enjoyable 1910
High
Very enjoyable 522 J
Missing data 21
Total N 3925
Appendix 4
Glossary of terms used in this book
Adaptation—
(a) The process of modifying to suit new conditions; a process of
modification which occurs in response to a threat and which
results in an increased capacity to cope with or overcome that
threat.
(b) A modification in an organism or a population which occurs as a
result of a new detrimental influence and which renders it better
able to cope with the new conditions, leading to a reduction in any
signs of maladjustment that may have resulted from the new
influence and resulting in improved chances of survival.
Affective density—
The state of feeling crowded—that is, the feeling of wanting to
move away from a situation in which the physical density is
perceived to be ‘too high’.
Antidotal cultural adaptation—
Cultural adaptation which is directed at a symptom of a disorder
or state of maladjustment, or at an intermediate or subsidiary
cause, but not at the unsatisfactory conditions which gave rise to
the disorder in the first place.
Apparent consumption—
The per capita consumption of nutrients as estimated by subtract
ing exports and known losses from known inputs into the system,
and dividing by the total population.
Behaviour pattern (in the conceptual diagrams)—
That aspect of human experience which comprises what an
individual does.
Boiling frog principle—
The principle that an individual may become slowly and pro
gressively unwell without being consciously aware of the fact. On
the societal level, mild chronic ill-health in a population may
408 Appendixes
similarly come to be regarded as ‘normal’, so that no cultural

adaptive response occurs.
Biological-
Pertaining to the study of the processes of life.
Biopsychic state (in the conceptual diagrams)—
That aspect of human experience which comprises the actual
physical and mental state of an individual at any given time.
Biotic—
Pertaining to the processes of life.
Canary principle—
The principle that, when a detrimental influence affects a com
munity, some individuals are likely to be more sensitive than
others. These individuals should be regarded by society as sensi
tive indicators of potentially detrimental changes in environmental
conditions.
Common behavioural tendencies—
Basic forms of behaviour commonly observed in all human
communities (possibly phylogenetic characteristics).
Corrective cultural adaptation—
Cultural adaptation in which the aim is to reverse the underlying
environmental change which is responsible for a state of phy
logenetic maladjustment.
Culture—
That set of processes which are characteristic of human societies
and which involve the acquisition and accumulation of informa
tion, and its transmission by non-gehetic means, mainly through
the use of learned symbols, from one human being to another,
from one society to another and from generation to generation.
Cultural adaptation—
Adaptation through cultural processes.
Domestic transition—
The transition from ecological Phase 1, the primeval (hunter-
gatherer) phase of human existence to Phase 2, the early farming
phase.
Elementals—
Aspects of human experience expressed in terms of their basic
qualities and applicable to all societies, no matter what their level
of technological development.
Evodeviation—
A deviation in life conditions from those which prevailed in the
environment to which a species has become adapted through
Appendixes 409
natural selection.
Evolutionary adaptation—
The adaptation of a population through natural selection (applies
only to populations and is only transgenerational).
Extrasomatic energy—
That energy which flows outside living organisms. In studies on
human settlements in the modern world the most significant
extrasomatic energy to be considered is that which is used to drive
machines.
Filters (in conceptual diagrams)—
Those factors (e.g. economic and cultural) which separate the
individual from the total environment and which determine the
quality of his experienced environment.
Habituation—
The tendency to come eventually to accept as ‘normal’ changes
in life conditions which, if they occurred suddenly, would be
considered undesirable.
Health—
That physical and mental state most likely to ensure the survival
and successful reproduction of the individual in the ‘natural’ or
primeval environment of the human species.
Hippocratic postulate—
The principle that the health and well-being of an individual is to
a large extent a function of his experienced environment and his
behaviour pattern.
Homeostasis—
The tendency of the body to maintain a steady state despite
external change.
Holistic cultural adaptation—
Cultural adaptation which is based on a comprehensive under
standing of a situation, and which takes into account the various
causes of detrimental trends, the interrelationships between
different detrimental trends and all the consequences of the
adaptive measures.
Human ecology—
The study of the dynamic interrelationships between human
beings and the physical, biotic, social and cultural aspects of their
environments.
Human experience (in conceptual diagrams)—
That aspect of a human situation which concerns the actual
biopsychic state of individuals and their life conditions.
410 Appendixes
Individual evodeviation—
Evodeviation in the life conditions of individuals.
Industrial transition—
The transition from ecological Phase 3, the early urban phase, to
Phase 4, the modern industrial phase—sometimes called the
‘industrial revolution’.
Intangibles—
Those aspects of life conditions which are considered to be impor
tant in terms of health and well-being, but which are difficult or
impossible to describe in material and quantitative terms.
Life conditions (in conceptual diagrams)—
That aspect of human experience which comprises the experienced
environment and behaviour patterns of individuals.
Maladjustment—
Deviation from health.
Melior—
Any condition or experience which tends to promote a state of
health and well-being, and to protect an individual from a state of
stress (and which thus counters the influence of stressors).
Nature—
All processes of a kind which existed on earth before the advent in
evolution of human culture.
Personal environment (in the conceptual diagrams)—
That aspect of human experience which comprises the environ
ment actually experienced by an individual or group of individuals.
Piecemeal cultural adaptation—
Cultural adaptation which is directed only at a single undesirable
environmental influence.
Phylogenetic characteristic—
A genetically-determined characteristic of the species, being a
product of evolution through the processes of natural selection.
Phylogenetic maladjustment—
Maladjustment which is due to evodeviant life conditions.
Primeval—
Pertaining to the ecological Phase 1 of human existence (before
the domestic transition) and the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Principle of evodeviance—
The principle that if the conditions of life of an individual animal
deviate from those to which the species is adapted through evolu
tion, signs of maladjustment may be expected.
Appendixes 411
Social—
Pertaining to the interpersonal interactions experienced by
individuals.
Societal—
Pertaining to society.
Societal evodeviation—
Evodeviation in societal organisation.
Somatic energy—
That energy which flows through living organisms.
Stress—
An aspect of the biopsychic state which lies at the extreme end of
a continuum which is represented at the opposite end by a state of
homeostatic equilibrium. It results from a potential or perceived
threat (which may be an evodeviation) and in appropriate condi
tions may lead to a successful adaptive response. If it persists,
however, or if it is of sufficient degree, it leads to maladjustment.
Stress continuum—
The continuum (an aspect of the biopsychic state) which is
represented at one end by a state of homeostasis, and at the other
by a state of stress, and which is sensitive to the influence of
stressors and meliors.
Stressor
Any condition or experience which tends to promote a state of
stress.
Stressor-melior balance—
The theoretical sum of the influence of stressors and meliors. In a
favourable stressor-melior balance, the influence of meliors is
greater than that of stressors, so that the stress continuum is not
influenced in the direction of a state of stress.
Technoaddiction—
The dependence of human societies on technological develop
ments for the satisfaction of simple human health and survival
needs.
Technology—
Science of the industrial arts; knowledge of how to make and use
machines.
Total environment (in conceptual diagrams)—
That aspect of human situations which comprises the ‘system as a
whole’.
Urbanisation—
The process of population growth in cities due to immigration.
412 Appendixes
Urbanism—
The characteristics of the urban environment.
REFERENCES
It is not feasible to present here a full list of all the sources of informa
tion used in the Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme. These are
listed, however, in the various papers arising from the Programme
published in the academic literature (see below).
The following list includes some of the main sources of information
relating to Hong Kong, as well as a small selection of articles and
books which are pertinent to various topics discussed in the book. The
list does not include the numerous Hong Kong government reports or
the monographs published by the Social Research Centre at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Centre of Asian Studies at
the University of Hong Kong, all of which were important sources
of data.
Hong Kong General

Coates, A. (1966), Prelude to Hong Kong, London, Routledge and
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Hopkins, K. (1971), Hong Kong— the industrial colony, Hong Kong,
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Jarvie, C. and Agassi, J. (eds.) (1968), Hong Kong: A society in
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McGee, J.G. (1973), Hawkers in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Centre of
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414 References
Wood, W.A. (1940), A brief history o f Hong Kong, Hong KOng,

South China MOrning Post.
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Cultural influences in Hong Kong

Boxer, B. (1969), Space, change and feng-shui in Tsuen Wan’s
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Lao-tzu (1963), Tao Te Ching, trans. D.C. Lau, London, Penguin.
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Wager, W.W. (1969), The idea o f progress since the Renaissance, New
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Economics o f Hong Kong

Hong Kong Research Project (1970), Hong Kong: a case to answer,
Nottingham (UK), Spokesman Books.
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Land-use and housing

Davis, S.G. (1964), Land use problems in Hong Kong, Hong Kong,
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Drakakis-Smith, D.W. (1973), Housing provision in metropolitan
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416 References
Chinese University of Hong Kong.

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Young people in Hong Kong

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Human ecology
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Sargent, F. (ed.), (1974), Human ecology, Amsterdam, North Holland
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Schumacher, E.F. (1973), Small is beautiful: a study o f economics as
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human living spaces— the cybernetic approach, Munich, Walter
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Cities—general
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Energy and society

Chapman, P.R. (1975), Fuel’s paradise, Harmondsworth, Penguin
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INDEX
Aberdeen, 210 common tendencies, 104, 320,

adaptation, 82, 104-6, 250, 253, 339- checklist 387-9; creativity, 289;
43; see also cultural adaptation decision making, 122, 295; social
adm inistration, selection process, relationships, 279 (competitiveness)
50-1,295, 362 295, 323, 365; see also animals;
affective density, 335\ see also popu environmental perception; evo-
lation density deviation; maladjustment; manual
aggression, 247, 267, 302-11, 365, skills; recreation
371; see also crime beri-beri, 66, 174, 262
agriculture, 11, 15, 23, 33, 34, 112- beverages, see alcohol; tea
13, table 114; energy inputs, 161- biogeochemical cycles, 16, 370; see
70; water for, 196-7; see also also phosphorus
animal protein; fishing; somatic biopsychic state, 96; in early Hong
energy Kong, 65, 71; effects of urbanism
air: quality of, 247-51; pollution, on, 347; modern Hong Kong, 109,
see pollution 243, 244, 247 (noise) 252, 253, 316
alcohol, 32, 312-13 (high density living) 330; model,
animal protein: consumption, 256; 340; see also aggression; disease;
inputs, 174, table 175 drugs; health; personal well being;
animals: behaviour, 91, 281; domes physical activity
tic, 262-3; wild, 23; see also Pan Biosocial Survey: origins, 327, (for
golin mat) 391-405; results, 236-41,
antidotal cultural adaptation, 105, (alcohol) 312, (crime) 306, (educa
309, 316, 318, 342, 348, 352, 353; tion) 298, (energy use) 136, (health)
see also drugs; habituation 234, 267, table 270-1, 315, table
apparent consumption of nutrients, 328, table 345, 350, (housing),
178-88 210, 262, 264, (noise) 252, 315,
Ashton, Alan, 195 (physical activity) 299, 301, (phy
Australia, see Canberra; Sydney sical density) 330, 334-9, (social
Australian National University, see relationships) 278, 292, 344
Human Ecology Group biosphere: impact of man on, 3, 7,
Ayres, Dr Phineas, Colonial Surgeon, 8, 11, 15, 17, 121, 297, 353, 359
32, 68, 72, 73 366, 367, 369, 370; integrity of,
109
behaviour patterns, 95, 243, 293; birth rate, see population (fertility)
checklist 385-6, (of addicts) 317; Black Death, see bubonic plague
430 Index
Blake, Sir Henry, 76, 354 opium sales, 28; see also Boxer
Blueprint fo r Survival (1972), 378 Rebellion; Canton; Kwangtung
boats, see fishing; housing; trans Province
portation Chinese cosmology, 34-9, 47, 304,
boiling frog principle, 250 349, 376; ancestor reverence, 39;
Botanical Gardens, Hong Kong density tolerance, 340; planchette
Island, 263, 264 board, 76
Boxer Rebellion, 30 Chinese University of Hong Kong,
British: government, 21 (and coloni 264; see also Social Research
sation) 27-8; public health move Centre
ment, 74; see also Britons; Colony cholera, 12,70,71,75,233,260
of Hong Kong Christianity: and aggression, 304;
British Medical Journal, 67, 250 doctrines, 45, (Jesus Christ) 15
Britons: in Hong Kong, 24, 213, 294; Chu Kiang River, see Pearl River
as traders, 26, 28, 56, 58 cities, see urbanism
bubonic plague, 74, 75, 77 civilisation and specialism, 13, 379-80
Buddhism, 55, 310 cleanliness, see hygiene
Clearwater Bay, 264
calcium, 181-3 climate, 22, 117-19,139, 370; see also
canary principle, 259 rainfall; typhoons
Canberra, Australia, 200, 239-40 Colonial Surgeon, 68; see also Ayres,
cancer, 223, 258, 361; lung, 156, Dr Phineas; Murray, J.I.
table 224-5 Colony of Hong Kong, 21, 30, 52,
Canton, China, 21, 24, 27, 28; and 67-9, 363-4; see also Hong Kong
bubonic plague, 75; emigrants, common behavioural tendencies, see
23,32,341 behaviour patterns
carbon dioxide, in atmosphere, 117- Commonwealth Human Ecology
18 Council of London, xiv, xviii
carbon monoxide, in atmosphere, comprehensive scholarship, see multi
149-50, 249 disciplinary studies
cardiovascular disease, 233, 224-5, Confucian Analects, 36
256, 302, 325,361 Confucianism, 35, 38, 40, 48, 50,
Causeway Bay, 151 55,279, 341
Central District, Hong Kong Island, Consultative Assembly, New Terri
148,201,203 tories, 53
Chadwick, Osbert, 68, 69, 71,72, 77 Consumer Price Index, 184-6
chemicalisation, 17; of environment, corrective cultural adaptation, 105,
297, 309, 363, 370 (food) 258-61; 348, 353
see also drugs crime, 3, 156, 302-11, table 305,
Cheung Chau Island, 112 317, 352, 365
Childe, Gordon, 173 crowding, see population densities
children, 2; in squatter areas, 206; cultural adaptation, 104-6, 289, 347-
health care, (food additives) 258- 54, (projections) 353-4, checklist
9, (infant feeding) 257-8, (measles) 371-4, 380; and addiction, 317,
43; see also education 317; and aggression, 304; and
China, 66; agriculture, 163; Con diet, 66; and health care, 71, 73,
fucianism, 38; emigration to 75, 77, 80, 82, 235; and learning,
Hong Kong, 30, 31; exports to 104; and maladjustment, 73, 100,
Hong Kong, 59; famine, 13; 250; and population density, 339-
Index 431
43; see also antidotal cultural 47, 292, 362, 364, (curriculum)
adaptation; corrective cultural 296-8, 362, (Chinese Middle
adaptation Schools) 294, (environment) 292-
culture: Chinese, 48, see also Chinese 6, (hours) 294-5, (vocational role)
cosmology; and ecosystems, 22, 289; see also cultural adaptation;
34-49; perceived superiorities, 25, learning experience; scholastic
27; Western, 48; see also Western performance
Idea of Progress Ehrlich, Paul, 82
electricity, 63, 135-6
Darwin, Charles, 103 elementals, 244
deficiency diseases, see disease (and Emery, F.E., 285
nutrition) energy: bioconversion from wastes,
demographic movement, see im 142; conservation, 141-2, 361-2;
migration; population consumption, 3, table 124, 153-5,
diabetes, 231-2, 255 346, 359, (domestic) 135-6, (in
diphtheria, 81,233, 262 dustrial) 16, 285-6; historic con
disease: control, 17, 371; and nutri sumption (hunter-gatherers) 7,
tion, 13, 66, 174, 231; see also (farmers) 8, (industrial) 16, (future)
nutrition; and urbanism, 12, 70, 140-12, 370-1; and ecology, 93,
79, 262, 329; see also names of 110, 125,321
diseases e.g. beri-beri; cancer; England, see Great Britain
cholera; diphtheria; measles; tuber environmental legislation see legis
culosis; venereal disease lation
dollar hierarchy, see wealth environmental perceptions, 93, 332
domestic transition, 8, 10, 49, 100, Europe: and industrial transition,
348 15; people (Dutch) 27,213, (French)
drugs, 311-19; psychotropic, 351, 213, (Germans) 213, 294, (in Hong
see also opium; tobacco, 313; see Kong) 24-5, 27, 70, (Portuguese)
also alcohol; Society for the Aid 24, 213; see also Great Britain
and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts evodeviation, 49, 51, 98, 100, 102,
Dubos, Rene, 342 243, 326; and causes of death,
dwellings, see housing 229, 302; and diet, 66; and enjoy
Dwyer, D .J., 206 ment, 282-3; and formal educa
dysentery, 70, 233 tion, 293; and populations, 70,
265; and work, 365; see also drugs;
East India Company, 26 individual evodeviation; phylo
ecological: change, 111; equilibrium, genetic maladjustment; societal
381; problems, 353, 357, 366, evodeviation
(solutions) xvi, 47, 352-4; studies, evolution, 3, 99, 244, 281, 297; and
297; see also energy; urbanism adaptation, 84, 104, see also
economic: history (Hong Kong) 56- adaptation
64 (miracle) 46; status, 327, table Executive Council, 52
328, 331; system, 53-5, 62-4, 362, experts, see specialisation
373, 375; see also income extrasomatic energy: and animal
ecosystems, 18, 87, 90-1, 121, 297; production, 190; dependence on,
Hong Kong, 110, 213 371; and laissez-faire system, 63;
education: and alcohol, 312; and use of, 7, 11, 16, 122, (Hong
diet, 66; examinations, 291; parti Kong)111, 125-30,131-44, 157-9,
cipation, 216-17, table 217; system, 359-62, (light industry) 58, 285,
432 Index
(machines) 46, 121-4; see also Great Britain: imports, 58; plague
fire; fossil fuels; somatic energy in, 77; see also British; Britons
family: in Chinese society, 38, 39, Greek philosophy, 45
57, 276, 308, 315, (extended family)
274, 278, 284, 364, (lineage elders) habituation, 342
50; in hunter-gatherer societies, Hakka people, 23
101,275-6 healing: Chinese traditions, 42, 44,
Family Planning Clinics, 219 48; see also medicine
famine, 13, 170, 174 health, 35, 109, 221-32; and economic
farming, see agriculture; domestic status, 327, table 328; hazards,
transition see pollution, stress; and housing,
fire: hazard, 205, 206; introduction 63, 71, 268-74; and meliors,
of, 7, 9, (smelting) 11 table 345; see also disease; healing;
fishing and fishermen, 23, 133, 134, medicine; nutrition; vaccination
175 heart disease, see cardiovascular
fitness, meanings, 103 disease
food: Chinese attitudes to, 349-50; high density living, see population
consumption, 117, 173-92, table densities (high)
185, table 187, 254-8 363 (addi High Island Scheme, 197
tives) 258-61, (monosodium gluta Hippocratic postulate, 71, 95, 243,
mate) 259-61, (nutrition require 272
ments) 17, see also animal proteins, Hok Yuen Power Station, 153
calcium; distribution, 1, 181 (im Hoklo people, 23, 24
ports) 59, 170, 360, (licensing) 53, holistic thinking, 47, 353, 380; see
(stalls) 2, (and urbanism) 11, 13, also multi-disciplinary studies
65-7; production, 10, 161-7, homeostatic equilibrium, see personal
(energy budget) 161, table 165, well being
358-9, (losses) 176-8, (projections) H om o sapiens, see human beings
168-70, 370; see also apparent human beings, 99, 121, 155-6, see
consumption of nutrients also human ecological phases;
fossil fuels: historic use of, 1, 8, 16; human experience; population;
modern use of, 117, (and global social relationships
release of heat) 152, (and pollu Hong Kong Certificate of Education,
tion) 144, 249, (and shipping) 60 294
Fox, Mr Justice R. W., 367 Hong Kong Fever, 70
fung shui: beliefs, 39, 41-2; wood Hong Kong Human Ecology P ro
lands, 23, 41 gramme; concepts, tables 89-94,
320; origins, xv, 391; publications,
gastro-enteritis, 70 xvii; studies, 197-8, 320; see also
generations, 8, 15 Biosocial Survey; Human Ecology
government: approach, 1; expendi Group
ture, 60-1; see also administration; Hong Kong Island, 21, 22, 29, 112,
British government; legislation; 114, 263; Ap Lei Chou, 146;
societal (organisation) water supply, 195; see also Peak
Government Civil Hospital, 32, 83 District; Urban Council
Government Development Loan Hong Kong Settler’s Housing Cor
F u n d ,208 poration 206,210
Governor of Hong Kong, 52; see housing, 203, 210,264-74; and crime,
also Blake, Sir Henry 309; government programme, 62,
Index 433
203, 207, 360, see also Low Cost individual evodeviation, 102, 322
Housing Programme, Resettle industrial growth, 3, 56, 202, 308;
ment Programme; nineteenth and Chinese society, 56; and
century, 68, 72-3; modern Hong energy use, table 131, 132-4; and
Kong, 207-9, tables 269-73, (boats) nitrogen oxides, 119; see also
210, (demolitions) 203, (floor Western Idea of Progress
space) 198, (noise) 253, (private) industrial transition, 15,49, 117
210, (tenements) 209; see also infantile diarrhoea, 12
squatters infectious diseases, see diseases
Housing Authority, 208 intangibles, 325, 380; enjoyment, 281;
Housing Society, 208 innovation, 289; small-group inter
Hong Kong: geography, 21-3; his action, 289-90; sense of belong
tory, 23-34, 69; as total environ ing, 291 \ see also family; personal
ment, 90, 347; as urban ecosystem, well being; social relationships
110; water supply, 192-6 integrative studies, see multi-dis
human ecological phases: primeval, ciplinary studies
9-10, 294, 275, 299, 303, 320; International Rice Research Institute,
early farming, 10-12; early urban, 170
12-15, 67; transition to phase International Scientific Committee
four, 79-85; modern industrial, on Problems of the Environment,
15-18, 79; fifth phase, 17-18, 367, 119
checklist 369-71, 376, 380 (agri
culture) 168, (nutrients) 174 Japan: energy consumption, 125;
human ecology, 87-106; concepts in, exports to Hong Kong, 57
(culture) 7, 19, (life conditions) Japanese: bacteriologist see Kitasato;
244, (ecological phases) 9, (lan occupation of Hong Kong, 32,
guage of) 407-12 56, 57, 67, 81; in Hong Kong
Human Ecology Group, Australian 1970s, 213,294
National University, xiv, 222, see Jenner, E., 80
also Biosocial Survey
human experience: aspects of, 353, Kai Tak Airport, 252, 263
365, (creativity) 286-91; concept Kalma, Jetse, 145
of, 89, 93, 95-103, 380; of Hong Kitasato, 77
Kong, 109, 308, table 248, 319; Ko, Dr N., 252
improvement of, 369; see also Koch, Ludwig, 80
biopsychic state; life conditions Kowloon-Canton Railway, 63
Hung Horn, 148, 153 Kowloon Peninsula, 21,22, 30, 114;
Hung Mun organisation, 310 airport, 252; water supply, 195;
hunter-gatherers, 7, 23, 51, 65, 101, see also Kowloon Tong; Marine;
244, 245, 265, 280, 292, 321, 365; Tai Hang; Urban Council
see also human ecological phases Kwaan Tai god, 76
(primeval phase) Kwangtung Province, China: food
hygiene, 72, 78-9; see also sanitation imports, 360; immigrants from,
32, 174,213
immigration to Hong Kong, 31-3, 57 KwunTong, 21, 115, 146, 153,203,
income: averages, 59; distribution, 206
table 6 1; see also wealth
India: and opium. 26-8; migrants laissez-faire capitalism, see economic
in Hong Kong, 213, 294 (system)
434 Index
Lamma Island, 112 malaria, 11, 12,70, 74,233,262

landslides, 22 malignant neoplasms, see cancer
land-use, 112, table 114 Man Complex, see Oi Man Housing
Langner scale, 236, 238, 239, table Estate
239, 266, 327, table 336, 344 mankind, see homo sapiens
Lantau Island, 21, 112, 317 manual skills, 286, table 287, 288,
Lao-tzu, 36 339, 347, 357, 367, 369
lead: in atmosphere, 151-2, 250; manufacturing, 58, 200, 285, 358
poisoning, 250-1 material possessions, see wealth
learning experience, 292-8 measles, 43, 233, 235
legislation: artificial feeding, 257; meat, see animal protein
environmental, 63; housing, 72, media, 367
362 medicine: as adaptive response, 342,
Legislative Council, Hong Kong, 349-51; chemotherapy, 82; Chinese,
51,52,73 42-4, 48, 350; European, 80-2;
leisure, see recreation and mild maladjustment, 105; see
life conditions, 67-9, 93, 156, 243, also Colonial Surgeon; vaccination
244-7 , 259, 347 , 350, checklist meliors, 327, 334, 343-7, table 345,
383-6; see also aggression; be 380; see also family; manual skills;
haviour patterns; education; ele- personal well being; workforce
mentals; housing; intangibles; mental health, 236, 266, 274, 312;
personal well being; social rela see also drugs
tionships metabolism, of Hong Kong, 115-19
Lin Tse-hsu, 28 Ming Dynasty, 26
Lintin Island, 28 Mitchell, R.E., 277
liquor, see alcohol money, see wealth
living conditions, see life conditions Mongol Dynasty, 24
Low Cost Housing Programme, mortality rates: and alcohol, 32;
208 causes of, 222-32, table 224-5,
Lun Yu, see, Confucian Analects (accidents and suicides) 229-31,
Lut San Cho (exercises), 301 table 229, (cancer) 223,, (infectious
diseases) 78, table 80, 81, 83-4;
MAB, see Man and the Biosphere historically, (nineteenth century)
Programme 70, (modern) 361; and pollution,
Ma Po Ping, Lantau Island, 317 249
Macao, 24 multi-disciplinary studies, 19, 381-2
Macclesfield, 26 multifocal society, 377-9
mah-jong (game), 2, 340, 347 Mundy, Peter, 25
maladjustment, 244, 327, 348, 363; Murray, J.I., 81
and boiling frog principle, 250; Mutual Aid Committees, 292, 309
and decline in craftsmanship, 288-
9; and food additives, 258; and New Kowloon, 114; see also Urban
goal fulfilment, 322; and health Council
care, 79-81; and housing, 268; and New Territories, 21, 30, 33, 50, 51;
physical density, 332-3; and quality and crime, 305; and housing, 208;
of air, 247; see also aggression; recreational use, 264; water supply,
antidotal cultural adaptation; 195; see also Consultative Assembly
canary principle; meliors; phylo nitrogen oxides in atmosphere, 119
genetic maladjustment noise, 251-4, 267, 344, 358, 363,
Index 435
370-1 pneumonia, 227-8

nutrients, see food poliomyelitis, 81
nutrition, 175, 326; calorie consump p o litic s ,^ government
tion 261-2; see also food pollution, 3, 297, 367; atmospheric,
117-19, 124, 144-53, 248-51, 358,
Oi Man Housing Authority Estate, 363, see also biosphere; carbon
205,214,361 dioxide; carbon monoxide; chemi-
opium: 26, 27; as a drug, 27, 313- calisation; lead; nitrogen oxides;
19, (addiction) table 319, 352, noise; sulphur oxides; vehicle
364, sale in China, 28, 29, 56 exhaust
organic wastes, 117, 360; from ani population densities, 265-7, table
mal production, 189-90 270-1, 329-43; and heat produc
tion, 153; in Hong Kong, 12,
Pangolin, 23 (nineteenth century) 69, (modern)
Papaver somniferum, see opium 78, 199, 214, 265, 328, 329-43,
parkland, 46, 263-4 (and m aladjustment) tables 336,
Pasteur, Louis, 80 337, 338, 361,363
Pusteurella pestis, see Bubonic plague population of Hong Kong: nine
Payne, Professor D.S., 151 teenth century, 29, 30, 31, 67;
Peak District, 59, 69 twentieth century, 32, 33, 109,
Pearl River, 21, 24, 25; see also 213, 363; comparisons, 1, 33;
Lintin Island demographic aspects, 213-21,
pellagra, 175, 262 (fertility) 218-20, 361; (morbidity)
people, see human ecology; popu 232-9; (mortality) 220-1, see
lation also mortality rates; and energy
People’s Republic of China, see use, 123; see also children; human
China ecology; immigration; workforce
personal well being, 279-92, 364-5, populations: of early urbanism, 12,
371; and aspiraitons, 319-24; and 348; of an ecosystem, 91, 371; and
crime rate, 309, (addiction) 318; economic discrepancies, 47; of
and economic status, table 328; industrialised societies, 17
and education levels, 298; and primeval, see human ecological
exercise, 302, see also physical phases (primeval)
activity Prisons Department, 317
pestilence, see disease progress, see Western Idea of
phosphorus, 190-2, 362 Progress
phylogenetic: characteristics, 96, (of Punt is people, see Canton (emigrants)
enjoyment) 282; maladjustment, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 147
98, 102, see also disease
physical activity: exercise, 301, 350, Radio Hong Kong, 63
371: sleep, 300, 371; work, 300-1; rainfall, 22, 74
see also Lut San Cho; Tai Chi recreation: and contact with nature,
piracy, 24, 26 262-4, 371; and craftsmanship,
Plague, 12, 70, 233; disappearance 288-9; and exercise, 301, see also
of, 78; in Hong Kong (nineteenth physical activity; and farming
century) 30, 75, 354 (twentieth villages, 34; and small-group in
century) 76, 78, (survival rates) teraction, 284; see also mah jong;
77-8\ see also bubonic plague parkland
plant extracts, see opium; tea recycling of nutrients, 188-92
436 Index
religions, see Buddhism; Christianity; monies, 103, 309, 322, 348; evo-
Confucianism; Taoism deviation, 103, 283, 321, see also
Resettlement Programme, 204, 206, crime, pollution, wealth; organisa
207-8, 267-9; see also Oi Man tion, 359, 361, 369, 371, 376;
Estate; Ten Year Housing P ro ranking, 49; values, 375, see also
gramme multifocal society
respiratory diseases, 228-9, 249 Society for the Aid and Rehabilita
rickets, 175, 262 tion of Drug Addicts, 318
somatic energy, 16, 113, 153, 357; in
SCOPE, see International Scientific the food system, 161-71, table
Committee on Problems of the 161, 360-1
Environment specialisation, occupational, 13, 49;
Sai Rung Peninsula, 24, 264 see also manufacturing
Samaritan Association of Hong squatters: in nineteenth century, 73;
Kong, 231 in modern Hong Kong, 204-7,
Sanitary Board, 53; see also (after 273
1935) Urban Council Stone Cutters Island, 30
Sanitary Department, 76 stress, 332; from high population
sanitation, 74, 105, 330, 349; in densities, 333-4; psychological,
squatter areas, 205; see also 333; stressors, 334, see also
organic wastes scholastic performance
scaly anteater,see Pangolin sulphur oxides in atmosphere, 146-
schistosomiasis, 11 9,249
Schmitt, R.C., 329 Sung Dynasty, 23
scholastic performance, 50, 292-3, supernatural beings, 39-51
295; see also Hong Kong Certi Surveyor General, 73
ficate of Education Sydney, Australia: artificial heat
schooling, see education production, 152; energy use, 133
scurvy, 175,262 syphilis, 70, 82
Secondary Planning Units, 149, 199
sewerage, see organic wastes Tai Chi (shadow boxing), 301
Sham Chun River, 21 Tai Lam Centre, 317
Shanghai, China, 56 Taipans, 52
Shanghainese immigrants to Hong Taiping Rebellion, 30
Kong, 32, 58 Taiwan, 26, 27, 33, 277; exports to
Shatin, 203 Hong Kong, 58
Shep Kip Mei, 206, 207 Tang Dynasty, 24
Shing Mun forest, 264 Tanka people, 23, 24, 29
silk trade, 26 Tansley, A.G., 18
Sino-Japanese War, 30 Taoism, 35-7, 55
smallpox, 12, 70, 81,262 tea, 25, 26, 29
social: interactions (small group) technoaddiction, 157-9, 358
284-6, 339; relationships, 275-98, technology, 121, 157, 369; techno
365-6, (extended family) 278-9, logical change, 111
364, (friendship) 279, (sexual) 275, Ten Year Housing Programme, 204
(school) 296\ see also family Thailand: opium trade, 314; rice
societal: adaptation, see cultural imports, 360
adaptation; conditions, 92, 283, Tibet, 27
341, 353, checklist 371-4; dishar Tokwawan Town Gas Plant, 153
Index 437
total environment, 89-94, 109, 354, urbanisation: effects, 12 (agricultural

357; and the human population, land) 115, (nutrients) 173-6, (social
213, (goal fulfilment) 245, 320, relationships) 279
(physical density) 331; see also urbanism, 49, 69, 199-203, 262-4,
air; energy; nutrition; populations 346,349-52; and energy use, 153-6;
tourism, 213-14 and genetic adaptation, 99
trade, 26, 56, 59; see also silk; tea; Utopian ideas, 375
wool
trade unionism, 61 vaccination, 79-82, 330
trans-disciplinary studies, see multi vehicle exhaust, 2
disciplinary studies venereal disease, 32; see also syphilis
transport: and air pollution, 149-51;
and domestic cars, 158, 211; and W anChai, 151, 214, 361
energy use, 133-5, table 134, table water supply, 63, 116, 192-8, table
137, 140, 141, 211; public, 63, 193
210-12 wealth, 51, 54-5, 57, 61, 322-4, dis
Treaty of Nanking, 1842,28 parities of, 63, 321; and education,
Triad Societies, 279, 308, 310-11 295
Tsing Yi Island, New Territories, 146 Western Idea of Progress, 44-5, 46,
Tsuen Wan, 115,203,206 47, 154, 308, 354, 366, 375, 379
tuberculosis, 70, 71, 83-5, table 85, Wolman, A., 115
99, 105, 156,228,233 women: in Chinese society, 278-9
typhoid, 12, 70, 233, 262 (education system) 51, (smoking
typhoons, 22 among) 313; in population struc
typhus, 12,71,73,233 ture, 215; see also population;
(fertility) 219; in primeval society
UNESCO, xv; see also Man and the (aspirations) 321
Biosphere Programme woodlands, see fung shui beliefs
USA, see United States (woodlands)
United Nations embargo on sale of wool trade, 26
strategic goods to China, 57 workforce: and evodeviation, 101;
United Nations Educational, Scientific job enjoyment, 344, table 345; in
and Cultural Organisation, see manufacturing, 58; participation
UNESCO rates, table 217; and small group
United States of America, 32, 277; interaction, 284-5, 347; see also
and air pollution, 148, 249; agriculture; manual skills
Americans in Hong Kong, 213,
294; embargo on China Trade, 57; Yap, Dr P.M .,231
exports to Hong Kong, 58, 360; Yau M aTei, 151,200
high population densities, 330; Yeh people, 23
imports from Hong Kong, 58 Yin and Yang, 35, table 37, 42
University of Hong Kong, 151; see Yuan Dynasty, see Mongol Dynasty
also Centre of Asian Studies Yunnan Province, China, 27
Urban Biology Group, see Human
Ecology Group
Urban Council, Hong Kong, 51,53
urban systems: and other ecosystems,
18-19; and multifocal societies,
377
The ecology of
The Hong Kong Human Ecology Programme was a first attempt to
describe the ecology of a city and its human population in a holistic
and integrative way. This book is the outcome. It is concerned with the
'system as a whole’ — changing patterns of flow and use of energy, of
nutrients and of water, and changes in housing and transport. It is also
concerned with individual people—their actual conditions of life and
their mental and physical health. It describes the mechanisms by
which people adapt to potentially stressful conditions — such as the
extraordinarily high population densities — as well as the limits to
human adaptability. The book discusses important principles of
human ecology relating to the interrelationship between society,
environment and human well-being.
The authors discussthe human ecological predicament as a whole,
and they consider that the greatest hope for a long-term ecologically
stable future for humankind lies in the concept of the multifocal
society. Basically, this can be described as a system in which small
societal units, within cities and in rural areas, are, as far as possible,
self-sufficient in both material requirements for health and survival,
such as food, water, shelter, clothing, and amenities, and in intangible
or psycho-social aspects of human experience such as
psychological support networks, recreational opportunities,
satisfactory work opportunities, variety in daily experience, and
responsibility for local affairs.
The project was carried out by a small integrating group from the
Australian National University in co-operation with a number of
specialist groups from Hong Kong and Australia and with support from
The Nuffield Foundation, UNESCO and UNEP. This resulting book
outlines constructive ideas on the way in which society should
develop if humankind is to derive the greatest benefits from advanced
technology without serious damage to the ecosystem as a whole.
Australian National University Press Canberra

ISBN 0 7081 1095 3

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The ecology of

a city and its people

Australian National University Press, Canberra, Australia

© Stephen Boyden, Sheelagh Millar,

Ken Newcombe and Beverley O’Neill 1981

National Library of Australia

The ecology of a city and its people

1. Human ecology — Hong Kong. 2. Sociology,

Library of Congress No. 81-65024

United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Books Australia,

PART A THE PAST—ECOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

PARTB. THE PRESENT—HONG KONG IN THE 1970s

PARTC THE FUTURE—HUMAN ECOLOGICAL

Appendix 1 Life Conditions Check List 383

6.1 Global and regional comparison of energy consumption

10.7 Deaths from heart disease and cerebrovascular disease,

2.1 Map showing position of Hong Kong in East Asia 25

8.1 Flow chart of nutrients 187

14.4 Conceptual diagram for the relationship between high

We will begin this book by referring to some aspects of the philosophy

central core o f individuals whose main interest, as in our own case, is

*Then known as the Urban Biology Group.

cultural components of the situation, and considering the dynamic

way contribute to progress in this academic no-man’s land.

the comprehensive approach is likely to lessen the degree of dis­

Hong Kong in terms of the future of urban settlements in general.

first as Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and

Hong Kong is a city of paradoxes in a world of paradoxes. In a way,

the environment. Although the effects of this cultural development

Four ecological phases of human existence

It is useful to recognise in history four distinct ecological phases of

Phase 1—the primeval phase

walking the earth about 2500 generations ago. The domestic

Phase 2 — The early farming phase

One further consequence of mankind’s deliberate manipulation of

associated with the acquisition of food, involving trends toward more

cultural repercussions o f relevance to the hum an situation in H ong

*The expression ‘common behavioural tendency’ as used in this book has a

have owned tenement buildings which housed many thousands of

Phase 4— The modern industrial phase

Energy. One of the outstanding features of Phase 4, and the determi­

Thus, unlike the situation in Phases 2 and 3, the rate of increase in

Biogeochemical cycles. Another characteristic of Phase 4 is the fact

ancient biogeochemical flows, are not cyclical, and will therefore

Chemicalisation. Another significant change of a qualitative nature

Population. As already noted, while Phases 2 and 3 provided

The ecology of cities

potent biotically and consequently liable to cause disturbances of one

of reality. In this book, therefore, we will not avoid discussion of

In this chapter we present an overview of the historical, cultural and

experiences a monsoon-type annual rhythm, with generally hot and

elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, leopards, wolves and crocodiles.

Cantonese, were forced to take up residence in the poorer mountain

CHI NA Shanghai :JAPAN

LAND \ VIETNAM : PHILIPPINES:

Figure 2.1 Map showing position of Hong Kong in East Asia

interactions between the Chinese and the European traders in the

•Quoted by Coates, A. (1966), Prelude to Hong Kong, London, Routledge

tendency of human beings to develop an extraordinarily compelling

poppy, Papaver somniferum. This trend eventually had important

of opium in China was becoming an extremely important source of

*According to G.B. Endacott (1973), ‘The Hong Kong Government Gazette

series of political, economic and biotic influences, which can only be

the comprehensive approach is likely to lessen the degree of dis

Energy. One of the outstanding features of Phase 4, and the determi