How Hong Kong census data was gathered in 1961 – with a crime amnesty
‘Heroin factories, Triad lodges, or illegal printing shops’ were off the hook when enumerators came to collect data, while sea-based residents were interviewed just before Lunar New Year, when their numbers were greatest
“The Big Count Starts Tomorrow,” ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on February 24, 1961, heralding Hong Kong’s first census in 30 years, a period that included occupation by Japanese forces and the mass influx of refugees from China.
“Tomorrow morning over 12,000 census enumerators will begin the task of counting Hongkong’s total population,” the story continued, noting plans to ensure “no locality is missed whether on land or sea.”
The next day, a fleet of 328 sampans carried the enumerators out to collect census data from more than 100,000 sea-based residents, taking advantage of the days just before Lunar New Year, when officials estimated the greatest number of boats would converge in the city’s ports. Land residents were surveyed in a separate count, starting later that month.
Sampan surveying was just one of the challenges faced by Hong Kong’s census-planning committee, which had taken two years to organise the two-week exercise.
A publicity blitz in the lead-up to the census highlighted another hurdle: privacy concerns. Officials issued announcements coaxing Hong Kong residents to “not be shy, coy, or cussed” when census-takers arrived asking for personal information.
