Hong Kong Annual Reports, from 1946 to present day

Submitted by David on Mon, 06/04/2018 - 15:12

After WW2, the Hong Kong Government started publishing a book containing a report of the year's events. The Hong Kong public library has electronic copies available to read online - BUT some years have the complete book online, while others only have a few pages online). 

This link should take you to the list of reports: https://mmis.hkpl.gov.hk/search-result?p_p_id=search_WAR_mmisportalport…

Note that the naming convention has changed several times:

  • 1946 to 1971: the book was named after the year it covers. eg "Hong Kong 1971" covers the events of 1971, but was published in 1972.
     
  • 1973 to 1997: the book was named after the year it was published, but covers the events of the previous year. So the next book is "Hong Kong 1973", covering the events of 1972. The last book in that style is "Hong Kong 1997" which covers the events of 1996.
     
  • 1997 and following: After the handover the government returned to the original approach. The first book is "Hong Kong - a new era" covering the events of 1997, then "Hong Kong 1998" covers the events of 1998, etc.

I have a copy of the 1946 report, plus some slightly later reports. Is the 1946 edition of any value? It has a rather interesting fold out map of HK at the back. 

Yes a 1946 report is certainly valuable. Any of the older reports are very collectible, and as the first report post-war the 1946 report is especially so.