The consumption of radio broadcast technologies in Hong Kong, c. 1930-1960

Economic History Review

Volumn 57, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 691-726

  Clayton, David ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF YORK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEREGULATION; INNOVATION; RADIO; TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT; TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION;

ASIA; CHINA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; FAR EAST; HONG KONG; WORLD;

EID: 14644417790     PISSN: 00130117     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2004.00293.x     Document Type: Review

References (300)

1. This article derives from a project entitled 'Industry and institutions: Hong Kong', financed by the Leverhulme Trust (RF&G/3/RFG/2002/0276) and aided by archivists at the Public Record Office, Hong Kong; the National Archives, Kew, London; and the National Archives, Maryland, US. A special word of thanks to Sue Bowden, who advised on theories of consumption and gave much needed encouragement; thanks also to Peter Adamson, Epidemiology and Genetics Unit, University of York, who provided advice on fig. 1; to Simon Smith and Mark Roodhouse, fellow historians at York; to Carlton Benson, Pacific Lutheran University, US; to three anonymous referees; and to participants at research seminars at the Universities of Bristol, Hong Kong, London (LSE), Villanova (US), and York.
2. http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/1998/en/, p. 38.
3. James Consumption.
4. Economists define luxuries narrowly as goods that people forgo when their incomes fall. Other social scientists, however, adopt less static definitions, noting that sugar and tea were once exotic luxuries but became necessities: see Hilton 'Fable of the sheep', pp. 224-9.
5. On non-material measures of standards of living and on the significance of information: Sen Development.
6. Hayes 'Radio as medium'.
7. For overviews, Miller Acknowledging consumption;
8. Edwards Contradictions.
9. For overviews, Berg 'Consumption';
10. Pennell 'Consumption'.
11. For seminal contributions, de Vries 'Industrial revolution'
12. McKendrick, et al., Consumer society.
13. On the transfer of western values, Stearns Consumerism.
14. Deng Premodern Chinese economy.
15. For an excellent comparative study, Pomeranz Great divergence
16. also note Adshead Material culture.
17. On the consumption of luxuries in nearly modern China, Brook Confusions, esp. pp. 218-38
18. Clunas Superfluous things.
19. On consumption of luxuries in pre-modern Japan, Hanley Everyday things
20. On local cultural values, Wong 'Modernization', p. 309.
21. Gillis, et al., Economics of development, pp. 267-91.
22. On UNESCO schemes in the 1950s and 1960s, Schramm Mass media;
23. Codding Broadcasting; on recent initiatives by the UN and World Bank, World Bank, 'East Asian miracle';
24. on the politics of UN interventions, Stevenson Communication.
25. For sociological overviews Thompson Media and modernity;
26. McQuail Mass communication theory.
27. On transaction costs, Williamson Economic Institutions
28. North Institutional structure;
29. for an application, James 'Information technology'.
30. On potentialities and problems, James, Consumption, esp., pp. 17-33.
31. Rosenberg, Black box, pp. 203-31.
32. On technological lock-in, David, 'Economics of QWERTY'.
33. World Bank, 'East Asian miracle';
34. idem, East Asian miracle;
35. Lall, Asian tigers.
36. For the best account of Hong Kong's recent economic past: Young, 'Landing on one's feet'.
37. For revisionism on the state and economic development: Ngo, Hong Kong's history.
38. On technology policies: Lall, Asian tigers.
39. Radio waves were also used for astronomy, telegraphy, and telephony. For an introduction, Winston, Media, technology and society, pp. 67-88;
40. for the best detailed surveys, Aitken, Syntony,
41. idem, Continuous wave.
42. For a good survey, Katz and Wedell, Broadcasting.
43. For some data, Codding, Broadcasting.
44. For some cases, Zivin, 'Village broadcasting',
45. Schwoch, American radio industry.
46. Conspicuous consumption', a concept traced back to the ideas of Adam Smith, John Rae, and T. Veblen, can be defined as the deliberate display of wealth: Stanković, in Dictionary of economics.
47. Partner, Assembled.
48. On consumer theory, Deaton, Understanding consumption;
49. Blundell, 'Consumer behaviour'.
50. For criticism of these models, Fine and Leopold, World of consumption, pp. 39-59
51. Douglas and Isherwood, World of goods, pp. 95-114.
52. Mass consumption has no set definition but is usually understood as penetration to 70% of the market or over.
53. Bowden, 'Consumer durables revolution';
54. idem, 'Credit facilities';
55. Bowden and Turner, 'Consumer durables'
56. On gender, Glucksmann, 'Some do';
57. on mass marketing, Tedlow, New and improved
58. Strasser, Satisfaction guaranteed;
59. on the politics of consumption, Daunton and Hilton, eds., Politics of consumption
60. Hilton, Consumerism.
61. Bowden and Offer, 'Household appliances'.
62. Before 1960, the colonial state failed to calculate re-export figures, so domestic consumption of washing machines and refrigerators could be estimated only by using the trade returns of Hong Kong's external markets, a time-consuming task.
63. For the slow diffusion rate of television note table A4.
64. On formal institutions, Clayton, 'Industrialisation'.
65. On social organization in Hong Kong, Sinn, Power and charity
66. idem, 'History of regional associations'
67. Katz, and Shapiro, 'Technology adoption'.
68. For a critique of the 'time-using' concept, Fine, 'Household appliances'.
69. For survey data, UK National Archives, Colonial Office [henceforth CO1, 1027/83, 'Hong Kong radio audience survey', conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Hong Kong, in conjunction with the University of Hong Kong, Dec. 1957. A random sample of 1,195 people (1.8% of licence holders) were interviewed, and of them, 95% were Chinese speaking and 2.5% spoke English; 45% of those interviewed were not employed, but were students, housewives, unemployed, or retired. For anecdotal evidence: PRO, Hong Kong [henceforth, HK], RS163/1/1178, minute by deputy colonial secretary, 15 Jan. 1951; HKRS163/1/1783, 'Note by the acting controller of broadcasting' c.June 1955].
70. On dining out, Baker, 'Hong Kong man', p. 475. In theory copyright legislation prohibited businesses and residents from broadcasting publicly unless they had paid an 'exhorbitant' fee of HK$ 500-700 per year, but this law was probably widely flouted: HKRS41/1/881, letter from R. Dennis, The Performing Rights Society Ltd., to the manager, Kowloon Confectionery Bakery Co., 8 March 1956; and minute by J. Murray [director of information services, Hong Kong government]: 26 March 1956.
71. For data sources see n. 38.
72. On this technology, Codding, Broadcasting, pp. 28-30, 114-16. In the West, wired networks were still used in shops, hotels, and hospitals.The technology was also called 'wired wireless', 'relay exchange'. and 'rediffusion'.
73. CO537/4229, minute by Oliver Whitley [information department], 22 July 1947, 'Broadcasting in the colonies', app. 3. RDF dominated colonial markets for commercial radio services, as Northern Broadcasting and Publishing Company [Canada] and Cable and Wireless [Kenya] had only ad hoc operations.
74. Bassett, Digital age.
75. Commonwealth secretariat, Breaking the digital divide, pp. 43-4.
76. Partner, Assembled in Japan, pp. 193-225.
77. HKRS159/3/5, memorandum from the director of broadcasting to colonial secretary, 2 Sept. 1966, 'Some data on radio and television audiences in the colony'.
78. For a brief survey, Katz and Wedell, Broadcasting.
79. For political structures, Miners, Government and politics.
80. On fiscal policy, Stammer, 'Public finance';
81. for national accounts, Report on the national income survey, pp. 81, 83;
82. for a criticism of methods employed, Hsing, 'Critical evaluation'.
83. Schiffer, 'State policy'.
84. For social histories of British radio, Pegg, Broadcasting, Scannell and Cardiff, British broadcasting.
85. Postmaster general reports, 1958-9; HKRS229/1/30, memorandum by J. C. McRobert, principal Crown solicitor, legal department, to colonial secretary, 9 July 1963; 'Note of a meeting held in the colonial secretariat, 4 Feb. 1967, to consider radio and television licence fees'.
86. HKRS159/3/5, memorandum from the director of broadcasting to colonial secretary, 2 Sept. 1966, 'Some data on radio and television audiences in the colony' [based on data from the 1957 survey and one undertaken by the EMNID]; HYRS229/1/30, director of broadcasting [D. Brooks] to colonial secretary, memorandum, 'Broadcasting receiving licences', 27 April 1966, referring to a random survey of 3,000 households by the EMNID.
87. CO537/7540, 'Broadcasting development in the colonies: finances and listeners', 8 Nov. 1949.
88. See Clayton, Imperialism, pp. 139-61.
89. For an overview of the literature on industrialization, Clayton, 'Knitting factory', pp. 52-3; on labour, England and Rear, Chinese labour.
90. On wages, Chow, 'Economic growth', pp. 326-79. Without statutory powers to collect information on wages, the government compiled annual data using 'sporadic and selective' figures received from industrial and service sectors concerns: note HKRS41/l/9789, minute by Hetherington [commissioner of labour], 31 Dec. 1959. Large, modern factories and dockyards were more likely to collect and disseminate data because they entered into collective agreements with unions, but, as wages in these sectors were higher than in the numerous small-scale industrial and service sectors firms, the official data overestimate wage levels. On fuel consumption: National Archives, Washington, DC (henceforth USNA), Record Group (RG) 59/846G.00 (1960-3) (box 2533), John A. Lacey, American consul, Hong Kong, 'Changing standard of living as reflected in shifting pattern of fuel consumption', foreign service despatch, no. 807, 3 May 1961.
91. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, the price of the cheapest transistor set fell from HK$60-65 to HK$35-40, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a comparator wireless set using valve technologies would have cost approximately HK$120. Calculating the full financial cost of radio has not been possible without access to business archives, as it comprises costs hidden from the consumer, including depreciation and running costs. Furthermore, in Hong Kong there was also a competing wired network with a different price structure.
92. On the Japanese industry, Partner, Assembled in Japan.
93. On the Hong Kong industry, Chen, 'Electronics industry'.
94. For primary sources: Far East. Econ. Rev. XXIX, no. 3, 21 July 1960, p. 111-12;
95. XXX, no. 5, 3 Nov. 1960, 'Joint electronics venture', p. 223; XXX, no. 11, 15 Dec. 1960, p. 582; XXXIII, no. 10, 7 Sept. 1961;
96. XXXVI, no. 8, 24 May 1962, 'New industries for Hongkong', by E. M. Giles, pp. 429-31; XXXVI, no. 10, 7 June 1962, pp. 499-500;
97. XXXVII, no. 10, 6 Sept. 1962, 'Radios for Asia', pp. 433-52.
98. HKRS70/3/442, D. E. Brooks, director of broadcasting, to postmaker general, 4 Sept. 1963.
99. HKRS229/1/30, acting postmaster general to colonial secretary, 26, Oct 1963.
100. HKRS70/3/442 [press cuttings on radio licences]: South China Morning Post, 2 March 1967;
101. Tiger Standard, 16 Oct. 1966;
102. Sing Tao Man Tao, 15 Oct. 1965;
103. Wah Kiu Man Pao [in Hong Kong Daily press summaries], 10 Aug. 1965;
104. New Evening Post, 4 July 1965;
105. Ta Kung Pao, 27 June 1965.
106. On prices: USNA, RG59/946G (1950-4) (box 5935), 'Annual report on radio receiving sets, radio receiving tubes and radio components, 1949, including the first quarter 1950';
107. on income, Ma and Szczepanil, National income, p. 7.
108. Chow, Economic growth', p. 348.
109. For household expenditure, see Report on the national income survey p. 83.
110. Export prices plus 'mark-up' are taken as a proxy for local prices: merchants and retailers secured mark-ups of between 20 and 30%: Far East. Econ. Rev., XXVIII, no. 21, 28 May 1960, 'Radio supplement' lists the mark-up at 20%; the Report on the national income survey at 30%. Consequently, by 1964, local retail prices would have been in the region of HK$30-40. This is supported by evidence in Report on the national income survey (supplied by local retailers) suggesting that the purchase price was HK$40.
111. Anecdotal evidence suggests that two years later prices had fallen to HK$20: HKRS70/3/442, South China Morning Post, 7 Jan. 1966 [reporting prices at a locally held trade fair];
112. New Evening Post, 4 July 1965;
113. Far East. Econ. Rev., 27 May 1965, pp. 443-5.
114. HKRS41/1/8120, memorandum by the colonial secretariat for discussion by the executive council, 19 Oct. 1954;
115. USNA RG59/946G.40 (1950-4) (box 5935), Julian Harrington, American consul, to Department of State, no. 591, 15 Sept. 1952. Some businesses and households may have spread these fixed costs by charging people in kind or in cash for listening in.
116. CO1027/283, 'Hong Kong radio audience survey';
117. USNA, RG84, Hong Kong consulate general, US information service records, 1951-4, country reports, 1955-6;
118. Central Rediffusion, Commercial broadcasting.
119. Central Rediffusion, Commercial broadcasting, p. 49.
120. USNA, RG59/946G.40 (1950-4) (box 5935), 'Annual report on radio receiving sets'.
121. Olney, M. L., Buy now.
122. Laws protecting the rights of consumers were not as well developed in Hong Kong as they were in the UK.
123. Far East. Econ. Rev., xxiv, no. 6, 6 Feb. 1958, pp. 185-6;
124. XXI, no. 23, 'Hire-purchase in Hong Kong', 6 Dec. 1956, pp. 729-32.
125. On the credit market, Far East. Econ. Rev., XXI, no. 23, 'Hire-purchase in Hong Kong', 6 Dec. 1956, p. 732;
126. USNA RG59, Hong Kong consulate general, 1956-8: Guy G. Long, American consul, 'Marketing methods in Hong Kong', no. 205, 19 Sept. 1957;
127. Far East. Econ. Rev., XXVIII, no. 21, 28 May 1960, 'Radio supplement'.
128. The HongKong and Shanghai Bank provided finance for HP through its North Point branch, and, in the 1960s, set up a subsidiary, Wayfoong Finance, drawing on its experience of working with a California-based firm, Bowmaker Ltd.: King, HongKong Bank, pp. 25-6, 520-1, 719.
129. USNA RG84, HKCG, USIS, 1951-5, (Box 6), foreign service despatch, no. 30, 17 May; for 1970s legal shifts, Allcock, 'Hire purchase clams'.
130. To test this hunch, monthly data on retail sales would be needed.
131. HKRS229/1/30, letter from A. G. Crook, postmaster general, to financial secretary, 7 Sept. 1959.
132. On radio marketing, Far East. Econ. Rev., XXVIII, no. 21, 28 May 1960, 'Radio supplement';
133. ibid., XXXIII, no. 10, 7 Sept. 1961, 'Radios in Asia', p. 511.
134. On retailing, ibid., XXIII, no. 7, 15 Aug. 1957, pp. 209-10.
135. Far East. Econ. Rev., XXIII, 25 July 1957, no. 4: 'Music and money', pp. 114-15.
136. HKRS41/1/8525, letters to the Hong Kong Standard, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Sept. 1959.
137. Far East. Econ. Rev., XXIV, no. 6, 6 Feb. 1958, pp. 185-6.
138. For contemporary critiques, Adorno and Horkheimer 'Culture industry'; and Galbraith Affluent society, pp. 124-5.
139. Boyd-Barrett 'Media imperialism'.
140. For recent critiques, Fejes 'Media imperialism';
141. Liebes and Katz Export of meaning.
142. In theory, the wireless radio industry could have forced consumers to pay for radio services when they bought their sets, but such a solution required radio manufacturers and distributors to collude to prevent free-riding manufacturers or retailers gaining competitive advantages.
143. Hazlett, T. W., 'Assigning property rights'.
144. Thompson, J. B., Media and modernity.
145. For an overview, Emery National and international systems.
146. Briggs Histoty of broadcasting, 1.
147. On the origins of commercial broadcasting, Kruse 'Free privilege to regulation';
148. Streeter Selling the air
149. McChesney Telecommunications;
150. Rosen Modern stentors.
151. On the use of broadcasting, Smulyan Selling radio;
152. Prown Manipulating the ether;
153. Fones-Wolf 'Creating business climate'.
154. T219/90 GS91/65/614, J. L. Pumhrey (treasury) to J. S. Gandell [commonwealth relations office], 19 Nov. 1948; chancellor's note, CI(48) 12, 'Development of broadcast services in the colonies'; and RSC to PM, 2 Dec. 1949; CO537/4229/CI(48)12, cabinet committee on colonial information policy, 'Development of broadcasting services in the colonies: interim report', 15 Nov. 1948. The committee was chaired by P. C. Gordon-Walker, parliamentary under secretary of state for commonwealth affairs, and included C. Mayhew, parliamentary under secretary of state for foreign affairs; D. R. Rees-Williams, parliamentary under secretary of state for the colonies; Robert Fraser, central office of information; and Major-general Sir Ian Jacob, BBC.
155. CO537/7540, 'Hong Kong broadcasting development grant, 28 March 1950', colonial development and welfare fund, no. 1678. In total, £1.8 million for capital and £3.2 million for recurrent expenditure was budgeted for colonial radio stations, with the other £4 million available via the colonial development and welfare fund: CO537/7788, 'The future of the central colonial development and welfare allocation for the development of colonial broadcasting', 1 May 1952.
156. On Colonial Office attitudes towards commercial broadcasting: CO537/ 4229, Whitley, 'Broadcasting in the colonies', 22 July 1947, app. 3: 'Principal commercial organisations'; CO1027/283; minute by Carstairs, head of the Colonial Office information department, 12 Nov. 1957; minute by Martin, 20 Nov. 1957.
157. On radio, CO129/506/10, S. H. King [chief engineer, general post office, Hong Kong] to CO, 7 Dec. 1927.
158. On prewar social and political conditions, Chan, China, Britain and Hong Kong, pp. 221-65.
159. Chan 'Mass media'.
160. HKRS 163/1/1178, 'The development of broadcasting', Nov. 1950.
161. CO323/1390/3, copy of report by the postmaster general, Hong Kong, to M. J. Breen, 11 Feb. 1936; CO537/7540, letter from Sir W. T. Southorn (official administering Hong Kong) to Malcolm Macdonald, colonial secretary, 13 Aug. 1935; CO323/1390/3, letter from A. Calecott, governor of Hong Kong, to J. H. Thomas, colonial secretary 20 Feb. 1936.
162. For negotiations with Cable and Wireless: CO323/1387/8, untitled CO memorandum, Feb. 1936; note by the governor of Hong Kong [Calecott], 12 Sept. 1935; memorandum of discussion between Sir Norman Leslie, Cable and Wireless Ltd., and Vernon and Bowyer (CO), 20 Jan. 1936, in annex to imperial communication advisory committee, 87th meeting, minute VI.
163. CO537/7540, Southorn to Macdonald, 13 Aug. 1935, and minute by E. Gent, CO, 23 April 1935.
164. On the politics of buying recorded materials: CO537/7540, H. L. Wilson, director, Electric and Musical Industries (China) to Breen, GPO, 7 June 1935; Humphries, broadcasting committee, International Federation of Phonographic Industries, to CO, 29 Aug. 1935; King to Gent, CO; draft telegram from P. Cunliffe-Lister, colonial secretary, to the governor, 7 June 1935.
165. CO323/1390/3, Calecott to Thomas, 20 Feb. 1936.
166. On its evolution: CO323/1337/8, L. H. King to 'Howard', CO, 14 Sept. 1935; HKRS41/1/797, Wynne-Jones, postmaster general, to colonial secretary, 4 Feb. 1946; 123 minute by postmaster general, 9 July 1947; HKRS41/1/797, postmaster general to colonial secretary, 27 Oct. 1948; HKRS41/7247, minute by assistant secretary, 19 March 1952.
167. On early postwar reforms, CO129/595/9, report by the chief civil affairs officer; CO131/130, annual report by the public relations officer, 1953-4.
168. HKRS41/1/3969, minute by the financial secretary, 7 April 1948.
169. HKRS163/1/964, J. H. Lee, postmaster general, to colonial secretary, 19 March 1949; postmaster general to colonial secretary, 11 May 1949; RG89, HKGCC, USIS, 1951-5, 110-190 (box 4). USIS, Hong Kong, to USIA, Washington, 19 Aug. 1953, 'USIS semi-annual evaluation report', Arthur W. Hummel, acting public affairs officer.
170. HKRS163/1/964, deputy colonial secretary to C. Burgess, colonial secretary, 21 March 1949.
171. HKRS1/936/163, minute by Murray, 7 Nov. 1950; HKRS163/1/1178, minute by deputy colonial secretary, 15 Jan. 1951; HKRS41/1/797, postmaster general to deputy colonial secretary, 14 Oct. 1950. The government attempted initially to restrict people to a three-year tenure but could not recruit sufficient well-qualified members. In 1949, KwokYan, one of the three incumbent Chinese representatives, had been an ideal appointment. He had worked for the Foreign Office in San Francisco during the war as a radio censor and monitor, and then as the China editor of the British Far Eastern Broadcast Service (BFEBS). But it was highly unusual to have such a committed and loyal recruit; indeed Kwok had probably offered his services only because he had lost his job with the BFEBS in Singapore and probably wanted to establish contacts in Hong Kong to secure a new one: HKRS41/1/797, colonial secretary to Lee, 15 Feb. 1949; minute by Lee, 8 Feb. 1949.
172. HKRS163/1/2035, Brooks to financial secretary, 25 Aug. 1954; HKRS41/1/ 6623; note by secretary for Chinese affairs, 10 July 1957. The government took out a subscription to RDF (HK) and located a loudspeaker 'centrally' so that officials could periodically monitor the station's output; RHK staff also tuned in now and again. HKRS163/1/964, minute by deputy colonial secretary, 25 April 1949; Burgess to deputy colonial secretary, 26 March 1949. HKRS163/1/1695, ISD to financial secretary, 23 June 1953; CO875/34/5, Conner to Whitley, 24 Sept. 1947.
173. HKRS163/1/1695, Murray to colonial secretary, 20 Oct. 1959; minute by acting colonial secretary, 21 Oct. 1959; deputy financial secretary to deputy colonial secretary, 16 and 23 Oct. 1959.
174. CO875/34/5, governor of Hong Kong to secretary of state for the colonies, 5 Aug 1947, no. 444.
175. On programming at RDF (HK): RG84, United States Information Services (USIS), Hong Kong 1951-5, 1955, 250-461 (box 6): memorandum, 'Rediffusion Hong Kong', P. W. Hummel to P. W. Frillmann, supplementary to the foreign service despatch, 'Barnett report', 878, no. 6, 1951; CO875/34/5, minute by Whitley to head of information service branch [CO], 17 Dec. 1947; Whitley to Grenfell Williams, BBC, 22 Oct. 1947, 10 Nov. 1947; Grenfell Williams to Whitley, 30 Oct. 1947.
176. HKRS163/1/1178, programme secretary to colonial secretary, 9 Nov. 1950, 'The development of broadcasting in Hong Kong'.
177. HKRS163/1/1178, ISD to financial secretary, 19 Oct. 1951; Murray to R. W. P. Cockburn, senior administration assistant, overseas services, BBC, 17 Nov. 1951.
178. HKRS163/1/1178, 'The development of broadcasting in Hong Kong', Nov. 1950;
179. HKRS163/1/1179, minutes by deputy colonial secretary, 15 May 1950, 22 Oct. 1954; financial secretary, 4 July 1950
180. On programming: CO131/113 and 115, annual report[s] of the postmaster general, 1950-1; annual departmental reports, 1954-5, controller of broadcasting (Hong Kong, 1955). USNA, RG84, USCG, USIS, 1951-5 (box 6). foreign service despatch, no. 31, 30 Nov. 1955; HKRS41/1/8120 memorandum by the colonial secretariat for the executive council, 16 Oct. 1954. Even if further finance had been available to RHK, the station might still have faced difficulties in recruiting staff, because unlike its commercial competitors, it could not recruit freely from the market. Employees at RHK not only needed to be technically skilled and fluent in as many languages as possible, they also had to be politically reliant.
181. USNA RG84 Hong Kong consulate general (USCG), USIS, 1951-5, 1955, 250-461 (box 6), foreign service despatch, 31, 30 Nov. 1955, 'Radio Hong Kong', by Richard M. McCarthy, public affairs officer.
182. These claims were made by Frank Harris, the chief executive of RDF (HK) from 1947 to 1954. He also argued that to evade British taxes, UK-based shareholders of RDF (HK) may have received only 12% of the profits. US consulate general staff reported that Harris, who held 3,000 shares out of a total of 40,000, was at the time party to a legal dispute with RDF (HK) and hence 'hardly a disinterested witness'. but they argued that 'the conditions described are in the main correct' and that Harris was 'a reliable informant'. USNA RG84 USCG, USIS, 1951-5, 1955, 250-461 (box 6), foreign service despatch, no. 30, 17 May 1954.
183. HKRS163/1/695, letter from W. A. Wiring, managing director, to C. G. F. F. Melmoth, 10 Dec. 1954; minute by colonial secretary, 8 April 1954, of meeting with Whiting and Lyon [RDF (HK)].
184. HKRS163/1/1695, minute by the deputy financial secretary [of meeting with two RDF (HK) directors], 26 Nov. 1954.
185. On these events, Clayton Imperialism revisited.
186. For documents chronicling negotiations: HKRS163/1/695, extracted from the finance committee, 20 Oct. 1954; minute by the deputy financial secretary, 26 Nov. 1954; minute by F. S., 27 Nov. 1954; minute by the deputy financial secretary, 3 Dec. 1954.
187. For lobbying in the early 1950s: HKRS41/1/5873, letter from Y. C. Kung to colonial secretary, 25 Aug. 1950; letter from J. Key to colonial secretary, 10 July 1953. Key, a wireless inspector, applied for a licence backed by two Chinese entrepreneurs, Tan Chin Poo and Robert Lim Kim Chong.
188. For the views of local dealers: HKRS163/1/1179, letter from Geo M. Lau, Chinese radio association, to postmaster general, 12 April 1950; letter from S. W. Wong and Co. to postmaster general, 14 April 1950; letter from A. J. C. Threlfall, radio department of the British General Electric Co. Ltd., to postmaster general, 27 April 1950; HKRS41/1/8120, [petition] 'To his excellency the governor-incouncil', 'under-signed by members of the radio dealers association' i c.Sept. 1954].
189. RG84, HKCG, USIS, HK, 1951-5, 1955, 250-461 (box 6), foreign service despatch, no. 30, 17 May 1954;
190. HKRS163/1/1179, Brooks to colonial secretary, 13 April 1955.
191. For lobbying from 1954: HKRS41/1/8120, 'Radio dealers' association petition'; memorandum by colonial secretariat for discussion by the executive council, 19 Oct. 1954; HKRS163/1/1783, 'The Hong Kong Broadcasting Co.' (paper prepared by F. S. Cooke, Cable and Wireless, c.Jan. 1955). This consortium was backed by George Marden, a powerful expatriate merchant: see minute by deputy financial secretary [of meeting with Cooke and Marden], 5 Feb. 1955; HKRS41/1/8525, letter from George Ho, managing director, Goddard and Co. Ltd, to E. B. David, colonial secretary, 4 Nov. 1955.
192. HKRS163/1/1586, telegram from the governor, Hong Kong, to secretary of state for the colonies, 1 June 1949, no. 661;
193. CO537/7540, 'Broadcasting development in the colonies', 8 Nov. 1949;
194. telegram from governor [Alexander Grantham] to the secretary of state [James Griffiths], no. 899, 1 Aug. 1951.
195. HKRS163/1/1783, Grantham to Alan Lennox-Boyd, 8 March 1955.
196. 'The future of broadcasting'
197. Hong Kong Hansard, pp. 47-54.
198. Radio dealers contributed 1% of turnover to this trade association.
199. CO1027/283, minute by Carstairs, 12 Nov. 1957.
200. CO1027/283, minute by Martin, 20 Nov. 1957;
201. on earlier discussions: HKRS163/1/178, 'Note of a discussion with. A. M. Mackintosh of the colonial office at the government house', 29 July 1955.
202. On Chau's interests in radio: HKRS163/1/1783, 'The Hong Kong Broadcasting Co.' [paper repared by F. S. Cooke, Cable and Wireless, c.Jan. 1955]; for his relationship with Ho, minutes by financial secretary, 5 and 13 Jan. 1955. On relations between RDF (HK) and the colonial state: UK, CO1027/283, minute by Carstairs, 12 Nov. 1957; HKRS163/1/1783, letter from Leslie Smith to John Rayner, regional information officer, Singapore, 10 June 1955.
203. CO1027/283; letter from Grantham to E. Melville, CO, 16 Oct. 1957. Consortium members included D. G. Geddes (Jardine Matheson), Tang Shiu Kin, and Oen Yin Choy.
204. Quoted in Tunstall, J. The media are American, p. 44.
205. Adorno, T. W. and Horkheimer, M., 'The culture industry: enlightenment as mass deception', in Dialectic of enlightenment, trans. J. Canning (1973), pp. 156-67.
206. Adshead, S. A. M., Material culture in Europe and China, 1400-1800 (1997).
207. Aitken, H. G. J., Syntony of spark: the origins of radio (New York, 1976).
208. Aitken, H., The continuous wave: technology and American radio, 1900-1932 (Princeton, NJ, 1985).
209. Allcock, B., 'Hire purchase deficiency claims', Hong Kong Law J., 16 (1986), pp. 227-66.
210. Baker, H. D. R.,'Life in the cities: the emergence of Hong Kong man', China Qu., 95 (1983), pp. 469-79.
211. Bassett, R. K., To the digital age: research labs, start-up companies and the rise of MOS technologies (Baltimore and London, 2002).
212. Becker, G. S., The economic approach to human behaviour (Chicago, 1976).
213. Berg, M., 'Consumption in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain', in The Cambridge economic history of modern Britain, 1: industrialisation, 1700-1860, ed. R. Floud and P. Johnson (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 357-87.
214. Blundell, R., 'Consumer behaviour: theory and empirical evidence-a survey', Econ. J., 98 (1988), pp. 16-65.
215. Bowden, S. M., 'The consumer durables revolution in England, 1932-1938: a regional analysis', Exp. Econ. Hist., 25 (1988), pp. 42-59.
216. Bowden, S., 'Credit facilities and the growth of consumer demand for electric appliances in England in the 1930s', Bus. Hist., 32 (1990), 1, pp. 52-75.
217. Bowden, S. and Turner, P., 'The demand for consumer durables in the United Kingdom in the interwar period', J. Econ. Hist., 53 (1993) pp. 244-58.
218. Bowden, S. and Offer, A., 'Household appliances and the use of time: the United States and Britain since the 1920s', Econ. Hist. Rev., XLVII (1994), pp. 725-48.
219. Boyd-Barrett, O., 'Media imperialism: towards an international framework for the analysis of media systems', in J. Curran, M. Gurevitch, and L. Wollacott, eds., Mass communication and society (1977), pp. 116-35.
220. Briggs, A., The history of broadcasting in the United Kingdom, 1 (Oxford, 1961).
221. Brook, T., Confusions of pleasure: commerce and culture in Ming China (Berkeley, 1998).
222. Central Rediffusion Service, Commercial broadcasting in the British West Indies (1956).
223. Chan, L. K-C., China, Britain and Hong Kong, 1895-1945 (Hong Kong, 1990).
224. Chan, J. M., 'Mass media and socio-political formation in Hong Kong, 1949-1992', Asian J. Communications, 2 (1992), 3, pp. 106-29.
225. Chen, E. K. Y., 'The electronics industry of Hong Kong: an analysis of its growth', (unpub. M. Soc. Sci. dissertation, Hong Kong Univ., 1971).
226. Chow, S. Chi Man, 'Economic growth and income distribution in Hong Kong' (unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Boston Univ., 1977).
227. Clayton, D., Imperialism revisited: political and economic relations between Britain and China, 1950-54 (1997).
228. Clayton, D.,'Industrialisation and institutional change in Hong Kong, 1842-1960', in A. J. H. Latham and H. Kawakatsu, eds., Asia Pacific dynamism, 1550-2000 (London and New York, 2000), pp. 149-68.
229. Clayton, D., 'A Hong Kong knitting factory in 1933: its reconstruction from bankruptcy court records', J. Ind. Hist., 3 (2000), 2, pp. 51-70.
230. Clunas, C., Superfluous things: material culture and social status in early modern China (Cambridge, 1991).
231. Codding, G. A. Jr., Broadcasting without barriers (UNESCO, 1959).
232. David, P. A. 'Clio and the economics of QWERTY', Amer. Econ. Rev., 332 (1985), pp. 332-7.
233. Daunton, M. and Hilton, M., eds., The politics of consumption: material culture and citizenship in Europe and America (Oxford, 2001).
234. Deaton, A. S., Understanding consumption (Oxford, 1992).
235. Deng, G., The premodern Chinese economy: structural equilibrium and capitalist sterility (1999).
236. Douglas, M. and Isherwood, B., The world of goods: towards an anthropology of consumption (1978).
237. Emery, W. B., National and international systems of broadcasting: their history, operation and control (East Lansing, Mich., 1967).
238. England, J. and Rear, J., Chinese labour under British rule (Hong Kong, 1975).
239. Fejes, F., 'Media imperialism: an assessment'. Media, Culture & Soc. 3 (1981), pp. 281-9.
240. Fine, B. and Leopold, E., The world of consumption (London and New York, 1993).
241. Fine, B., 'Household appliances and the use of time: the United States and Britain since the 1920s: a comment', Econ. Hist. Rev., LII (1999), pp. 552-62.
242. Fones-Wolf, E., 'Creating a favourable business climate: corporations and radio broadcasting, 1934 to 1954', Bus. Hist. Rev., 73 (1999), pp. 221-55.
243. Galbraith, J. K., The affluent society (New York, 1958).
244. Gillis, M., Perkins, D. H., Roemer, M., and Snodgrass, D. R., Economics of development (New York, 1983).
245. Glucksmann, M. A., 'Some do, some don't (but in fact they all do really): some will, some won't; some have, some haven't; women, men, work, and washing machines in inter-war Britain', Gender & Hist., 7 (1995), pp. 275-94.
246. Hanley, S. B., Everyday things in premodern Japan: the hidden legacy of material culture (Berkeley, 1997).
247. Hayes, J. E., 'Radio as medium', in N. J. Smelser and P. B. Baltes, eds., International encyclopaedia of the social and behaviour sciences (Amsterdam, 2001), pp. 12725-31.
248. Hazlett, T. W., 'Assigning property rights to radio spectrum users: why did FCC licence auctions take 67 years?', J. Law & Econ., XLI (1998), pp. 529-75.
249. Hilton, M., 'The fable of the sheep, or private virtues, public vices: the consumer revolution of the twentieth century', P. & P., 76 (2002), pp. 222-56.
250. Hilton, M., Consumerism in twentieth-century Britain: the search for a historical movement (Cambridge, 2003).
251. Hsing, M.-H., 'A critical evaluation of the existing NI/GDP estimates in Hong Kong' (Working paper, economic research centre, Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, 1977).
252. James, J., Consumption, globalisation and development (Basingstoke, 2000).
253. James, J., 'Information technology, transaction costs and patterns of globalisation in developing countries', Rev. Soc. Econ., LX (2002), pp. 507-19.
254. Katz, E. and Wedell, G., Broadcasting in the Third World (Cambridge, Mass., 1978).
255. Katz, M. L. and Shapiro, C., 'Technology adoption in the presence of network externalities', J. Pol. Econ., 94 (1986), pp. 822-41.
256. King, F. H. H., The HongKong Bank in the period of development and nationalism, 1941-1984: from regional bank to multinational group. Vol. IV of The history of the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (Cambridge, 1991).
257. Kruse, E., 'From free privilege to regulation: wireless firms and competition for spectrum rights before World War I', Bus. Hist. Rev. 76 (2002), pp. 659-703.
258. Lall, S., Learning from the Asian tigers: studies in technology and industrial policy (Basingstoke and London, 1996).
259. Liebes, T. and Katz, E., The export of meaning: cross-cultural readings of 'Dallas' (New York, 1990).
260. Ma, R. A. and Szczepanik, E. F., The national income of Hong Kong 1947-1950 (London, 1955).
261. McChesney, R. W., Telecommunications, mass media and democracy: the battle for control of US broadcasting, 1928-1935 (New York and Oxford, 1993).
262. McKendrick, N., Brewer, J., and Plumb, J. H., eds., The birth of a consumer society: the commercialisation of eighteenth-century England (1982).
263. McQuail, D., Mass communication theory: an introduction (1989).
264. Miller, D., ed., Acknowledging consumption: a review of new studies (London and New York, 1995).
265. Miners, N., The government and politics of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 1995).
266. North, D. C., Institutional structure and institutional change (New York, 1990).
267. Ngo, T.-W., ed., Hong Kong's history: state and society under colonial rule (1999).
268. Olney, M. L., Buy now, pay later: advertising, credit, and consumer durables in the 1920s (Chapel Hill, NC, and London, 1991).
269. Partner, S., Assembled in Japan: electrical goods and the making of the Japanese consumer (Berkeley, 1999).
270. Pegg, M., Broadcasting and society, 1918-1939 (London and Canberra, 1983).
271. Pennell, S., 'Consumption and consumerism in early modern England', Hist. J., 42 (1999), pp. 549-64.
272. Pomeranz, K., The great divergence: China, Europe, and the making of the modern world economy (Princeton, 2000).
273. Prown, R. J., Manipulating the ether: the power of broadcasting radio in Thirties America (Jefferson, 1998).
274. Rosen, P., The modern stentors, radio broadcasting and the federal government, 1920-1934 (Westport, Conn., and London, 1980).
275. Rosenberg, N., Exploring the black box: technology, economics and history (Cambridge, 1994).
276. Scannell, P. and Cardiff, D., A social history of British broadcasting, 1, 1922-1939: serving the nation (Oxford, 1991).
277. Schiffer, J. R., 'State policy and economic growth: a note on the Hong Kong model', Internat. J. Urban & Regional Res., 15 (1991), p. 183.
278. Schramm, W., Mass media and national development: the role of information in the developing countries (Paris, 1964).
279. Schwoch, J., The American radio industry and its Latin American activities, 1900-1939 (Urbana and Chicago, 1990).
280. Sen, A., Development as freedom (New York, 2000).
281. Sinn, E., Power and charity: the early history of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 1989).
282. Sinn, E., 'A history of regional associations in pre-war Hong Kong', in idem, ed., Between East and West: aspects of social and political development in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 1990).
283. Smulyan, S., Selling radio: the commercialisation of American broadcasting, 1920-1934 (Washington, DC, 1994).
284. Stammer, D. W. 'The public finance of Hong Kong' (presented at the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1967).
285. Strasser, S., Satisfaction guaranteed: the making of the American mass market (New York, 1989).
286. Stankovic, F., 'Conspicuous consumption', in J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman, The new Palgrave: a dictionary of economics (1987), pp. 479-80.
287. Stearns, P. N., Consumerism in world history: the global transformation of desire (2001).
288. Streeter, T., Selling the air: a critique of the policy of commercial broadcasting in the United States (Chicago, 1996).
289. Stevenson, R. L., Communication, development and the Third World (New York and London, 1999).
290. Szczepanik, E. F., The national income of Hong Kong, 1947-1960 (Hong Kong, 1960).
291. Tak, N. N. Y, 'The early population of Hong Kong: growth, distribution and structural change, 1841-1931' (Occasional Paper No. 61, March 1984, Chinese University Hong Kong).
292. Tedlow, R. New and improved: the story of mass marketing in America (Oxford, 1990).
293. Thompson, J. B., The media and modernity: a social theory of the media (Oxford, 2000).
294. Tunstall, J. The media are American: Anglo-American media in the world (1977).
295. de Vries, J., 'The industrial revolution and the industrious revolution', J. Econ. Hist., 54 (1994), pp. 249-70.
296. Williamson, O., Economic institutions of capitalism (New York, 1985).
297. Winston, B., Media, technology and society: a history: from the telegraph to the internet (1997).
298. Wong, S.-L., 'Modernization and Chinese culture in Hong Kong', China Qu., 106 (1986), pp. 306-25.
299. Young, A., 'Hong Kong and the art of landing on one's feet: a case study of a structurally flexible economy', (unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts Univ., 1989.)
300. Zivin, J., 'The imagined reign of the iron lecturer: village broadcasting in colonial India', Modern Asian Stud., 32 (1998), pp. 717-38.