Hong Kong in the 1970s underwent many changes that shaped its future, led for most of the decade by its longest-serving and reform-minded Governor, Murray MacLehose. Economically, it reinvented itself from a manufacturing base into a financial centre.
People grew richer entering the 1970s. Not surprisingly, people started to look for some means of investment.
Many factors contributed to the decline of manufacturing in Hong Kong. The late 1970s saw increases in land prices. Along with the opening up of global trade with China via the 1978 economic reforms, factories were gradually relocated to the mainland, where labour costs were lower.
These fascinating photos were taken by Nick DeWolf that documented everyday life in Hong Kong in 1972.
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