Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1962-08-02

~SiS met. "A ITlenu, nlInSelI |
a refugee from Shanghai, for
mer college president now or
ganizing China University for
Hong Kong, told me there are
more than so church groups
working with refugees here,
but with very little coordina-
ton between them"
Employment at salaries to
support family, adequate
housing, better health care =
these seemed obvious needs as
l walked through courtyards
and along refugee crowded
streets. But much more wide
spread knowledge about family
planning seemed to me essen
tial: how cruel and senseless
for people to have such large
families in such small space,
with too little food to go around,
just because they know of no
alternatives l couldn't helpI
thinking of Japan, where over
crowding has also been great
problem, but where the combin-
alton of industrialization so
greater employment opportuni-
ties appear, and widespread ed
ucation in family planning are
important aspects of Japan's
promising future.
In Japan children are carried
on their mothers back, tied on
in a kind of sling that permits
the mother to work, but 1 saw
no woman in Japan with a
younger child in the sling and
slightly older one in her arms,
as / did so often in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong the number of
children with rashes, sores, in
fected eyes, scalp disorders, was
astonishing compared to sim.
liar group of children on the
street in Japan. Nutrition COM
parsons of course cannot be
made so easily at glance. And
1 realize l am just comparing
people | saw on the street in
two cities, not scientifically Sc
lected groups.
admire the efficiency and
energy the British government
is showing in trying to house
the refugees and solve the prob
lens of a city that has grown
from $4,000 thirty years ago to
more than three million in 1861.
And the picture is not as dis
NAL as just looking at the squat
ter refugee camps would imply.
A number of early refugees
brought capital and skilled
workers with them and have or
gained new textile mills, build
ing industries and other factor
les that offer jobs and increase
Hong Kong's prosperity. Tour
list trade stimulates all kinds of
businessman business is un.
doubtedly booming. New hotels
will provide several thousand
additional hotel rooms within
two years.
Hong Kong continues to be
a crown colony, although l am
sure the Chinese mainland gov
eminent could take over the
area easily il it wanted to. Leav-
ing things as they are allows
people in the colony to buy pro-
duce from inland areas beyond
the New Territories Gland leased
for SO years in 1898 to the
colonial government. This trade
gives the Chinese much-desired
foreign currency for purchases
they want to make.
Most of these comments are
about Hong Kong's problems.
Her delights are immediate -
and will stay in the memory
much longer. She has probably
the most beautiful harbor in
the world (no, / haven't visited
every port) - mountainous is
lands, bays, changing cloud for
nations, modern skyscrapers as
backdrop for junks, sampans,
all kinds of water craft. On her
streets you can see the latest
Hollywood hair and clothes fash
ions, or people dressed in the
working or leisure costume of
thousand years ago - from
China, India, Ceylon, Malaga,
almost any European country.
/ would guess she has a wild
er variety of things sold in her
shops than any other city in
the world - and at lower prices
if you shop around.
Her Chinese shop signs are
ornamental but l can't read