electric motors rose from 475, 000 horsepower in 1899 to nearly 34 million horsepower in 1929, and the fraction of overall factory horsepower produced with electricity rose from less than 5 percent to more than 80 percent over that period. 15 a major benefit of electric motors was that they enabled each machine in a factory to be powered by its own motor. this allowed manufacturing plants to be organized in a way that maximized the efficient movement of materials rather than the efficient transmission of power, and it facilitated the spread of continuous processing techniques and the assembly lines made popular by henry ford. indeed, as electric power became less costly - aided by a steep reduction in regulated electricity rates after world war i - its use increased sharply, and factory productivity rose significantly. by one estimate, productivity growth in the manufacturing sector as a whole rose about 5 - 1 / 2 percent per year between 1919 and 1929. 16 of course, other technological innovations also contributed to productivity growth during this period. notable among them were the telephone - which by the 1920s had largely replaced the telegraph ; the internal combustion engine, the use of which in motorized vehicles led to sizable productivity gains in the transportation and agriculture sectors ; and a variety of technological advances in machine tools. in addition, the early 1900s were characterized by the first wave of office automation equipment, including the portable typewriter and adding and duplicating machines. these machines improved the efficiency of a wide range of management and accounting tasks, and the demand for such equipment rose quite sharply between 1900 and the late 1920s. indeed, in real terms, business investment in office equipment increased from about $ 50 million ( in 1929 dollars ) in 1899 to nearly $ 500 million in 1929, with a particularly large jump evident in the 1920s. 17 the productivity gains of the 1950s and 1960s, in part, had their roots in the technological innovations arising out of research sponsored by the military during world war ii. 18 for example, although research advances in synthetic polymerization chemistry ( most notably, the introduction of catalytic cracking in the processing of crude oil ) were made in the 1920s and 1930s, the synthetic rubber program launched during the war led to mass production of the first synthetic polymer from petroleumbased feedstocks. similarly, production of polyethylene, a petrochemical - based plastic discovered in the 1930s, jumped sharply in the 1940s because of its widespread use in military equipment. and, the military ’ s need for large stocks of penicillin led to a production process for it that turned out to have

to be a responsible stakeholder. we seek to achieve this — by putting in place mechanisms to closely monitor market developments and behaviours ; by continually improving our regulatory regimes to mitigate risks in the financial system ; by building buffers and planning for contingencies on sunny days, and by swiftly implementing contingency plans when storm clouds approach ; and by contributing to policy deliberation and standard setting at international regulatory forums. we also build resilience by enabling market participants to seize new opportunities to deepen and expand hong kong ’ s role as an ifc. this brings me to my third word : opportunity. opportunity for many decades hong kong has been intermediating the trade, investment, and financial flows between china and the world. today over 60 per cent of foreign direct investment into the mainland is routed through hong kong. a similar figure applies to china ’ s outward investments. hong kong is the pre - eminent fund - raising venue for mainland corporates, through equity ipos, debt issuance, bank lending, and various forms of private investment. in recent years, two major developments in financial linkage have been gaining momentum. one is the continuous opening of the mainland ’ s financial markets to global investors through the various northbound connect schemes with hong kong. the other is the increasing southbound traffic, again through the connect schemes, that enables mainland investors to invest in overseas financial assets. these are significant developments. they demonstrate china ’ s confidence and willingness to be connected to the global financial markets. the southbound schemes also send a clear 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches message : as china ’ s economy grows and its people become more affluent, both institutional and retail investors look for more diversified allocation to overseas assets. let me offer some context here. when we think about the northbound traffic, we should bear in mind that, in global terms, china ’ s stock and bond markets are second in size only to their us counterparts. for the southbound traffic, we are talking about managing the wealth of the world ’ s second largest economy and most populous country. and we are only in the early stages of these two - way flows through the connect schemes. hong kong is the natural choice of venue to host the connect schemes. quite apart from our excellent ecosystem and proven resilience, we have a strong record as the mainland ’ s trusted partner in its entry into the global financial system. we have been able to assist in achieving the desired outcomes while ensuring the integrity and stability of the mainland ’