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National Geographic : 1979 Nov
Contents
major concern," Dr. S. F. Lam, acting health director for the Hong Kong Govern ment, said. "Of those two, we pay special attention to plague. We try to keep the rats from coming ashore; that's one reason for holding the boats in Discovery Bay for a time. If we find that many rats have died, we become concerned. The fleas that carry plague need warm blood, and when the rats die, the fleas will seek out humans. In a place called Jubilee, a young girl earns a few dollarsstringingcotterpinsfor one ofHong Kong's thousandsofsmallfac tories.Jubilee is a former army barracks; other refugee quarters rangefrom prisons to a World War II POWcamp to high-rise factory buildings. 720 "As of now, we can say that the general state of health is satisfactory. The strain on medical facilities in Hong Kong is heavy, but so far we have managed to cope." The strain. Hong Kong has known that before, especially at times of troubles in Chi na, when tens of thousands have streamed across the 17-mile fenced frontier. In 1962, for example, when border controls were relaxed, more than 60,000 Chinese moved from the mainland into the colony over a period of just six weeks. This year, too, the press of illegal immi grants from the north onto this small piece of rocky, hilly real estate-scarcely four hun dred square miles-has been heavy. Unlike the boat people, those who slip in from Chi na are not welcome in Hong Kong. If caught, they are returned. Many are caught -nearly 46,000 in the first half of this year alone. But at best, only one out of three was being apprehended. The strain. "There could be well over 750,000 squat ters in Hong Kong now," said John Hey wood, a deputy director of the Hong Kong Housing Department. Many of the illegal immigrants move into squatter camps in the hills. "There's no im mediate evidence they are there," Heywood said, "because they pack in with friends and relatives. You can see them when there is no room left and they burst out into the streets. And a fire can make them visible, such as the one in a squatter camp in 1953. It left be tween 50,000 and 60,000 people homeless in one night." Chinese Risk Border Patrols I was on a hill with a four-man ambush patrol of the Royal Green Jackets of the Brit ish Army. The frontier was a mile away; the road fifty yards to our left was a popular infiltration route. Rifleman Dave M. Smith scanned the area with an infrared device that intensifies the faint light of the night skies. We spoke in whispers and sweated in our nylon camouflage jackets. The night passed. Rain beat on us with drops the size of acorns. The ambush failed. "Some nights we catch a dozen illegals, oth ers, like tonight, none," a soldier said. At dawn I was in a British Army Air Corps helicopter that bumped over and NationalGeographic,November 1979
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