The Tung Wah Hospital And The Modern Chinese Community In Hong Kong

In early days of Hong Kong, there were large quantities of Chinese moving intothe island to seek a living as a labour or hawker; Later on, there were also some wealthy people migrated to Hong Kong for business, which have together formed gradually the huge Chinese community of Hong Kong. Due to the racial discrimination and segregation policy under the colony system, the colonial government scarcely gave welfare service to those Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong. Therefore, a charitable welfare organization for the whole Hong Kong Chinese community was severely in need. Tung Wah Hospital was established in 1872 on the basis of "Kwong Fuk Yee Tsz", with the support of Chinese businessman in Hong Kong.Tung Wah Hospital was mainly to treat ill Chinese people by Chinese medicine, and simultaneously manage all kinds of charity activities. These activities included: providing free medical treatment and other medical assistance for the poor Chinese people; positively developing charity sponsorship for the poor people whenever any natural disaster and even for mainland China; providing shelter for orphans and free schools; taking care of non-dependent aged people. Eventually, it became the dependence of Chinese people for birth, age, illness and death in Hong Kong.In the early stages, the leaders of Tung Wah Hospital were mostly prominent and wealthy people, or celebrities in the Chinese community of Hong Kong, who could communicate with the colonial government and had the relationships with the officials of mainland China.Therefore, these people have spontaneously become the leaders of Chinese community in Hong Kong. In the meantime, Tung Wah Hospital has been the authority and counsel center of the Chinese community, playing an important role in the early stage of Chinese community in Hong Kong beyond comparison.