Mr. Yam s ancestral village is still largely as he left it in 1958. As a boy, he learned how to sew in his father s textile workshop, which was closed down by the Communists in 1955. His father was forced to work on the land, and the poverty of his family and village encouraged him to leave his home. This was my house. I bought here.
Starvation is rampant in China.
His departure was soon followed by a mass exodus. Thousands of people, including half Mr. Yam s village, fled into Hong Kong to escape the hardship and famine caused by Mao s disastrous great leap forward. And those desperate refugees provided the labor and skills for the industrialization of the British colony, building a manufacturing powerhouse, producing everything from textiles to electronics and children s toys. Among them, Mr. Yam. He started as a janitor in a clothes shop, but by the late 60's was a rich man owning his own factory.