French Sisters in HK saved 34000 abandoned children
In 19th century Hong Kong, families abandoned thousands of girls whom they could not or would not bring up. They faced death, disease, a life of domestic service or prostitution.
But the Sisters of St Paul’s, a French religious order who arrived in 1848, adopted them and gave them an education, vocational training and arranged a good marriage.
Between 1848 and 1897, the Sisters adopted an astonishing 34,113 abandoned children, of whom 88 per cent were female.
This was one of the many remarkable contributions of the Europeans to the city and people of Hong Kong. They are recorded in “Europeans in Hong Kong”, a new book just published by Earnshaw Book and written by me.
From the foundation of the city, people came from continental Europe—Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal—and built churches, schools, hospitals, companies and institutions that still thrive today.
The Sisters of St Pauls run three hospitals, two nurseries, a kindergarten, five schools, a home for girls, a convent and the Christ the King Chapel.
A French bacteriologist found the cure to the bubonic plague that ravaged the city in 1894. A Hungarian Jesuit here was the world’s top China watcher for the first three decades of the Communist era. Germans built trading companies that helped to make the city the top commercial port in East Asia.
According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, at the end of 2022, the EU had invested a total of US$34 billion (HK$265.5 billion) in Hong Kong, with France, the Netherlands and Germany the top three. It was the fourth most popular destination in Asia for EU investors, after Singapore, mainland China and India.
At the end of 2022, Hong Kong had invested a total of US$67.9 billion (HK$530.3 billion) in the EU, with the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Portugal among the top destinations. Hong Kong was the third largest Asian investor in the EU, after Japan and Singapore.
About 50,000 citizens from the 27 countries of the EU live in Hong Kong; 16 countries have consulates-general. The largest community are the French, with 10,000 long-term residents.
Europeans are active in all sectors of life. They are businessmen, traders and in finance: architects, doctors, vets, engineers, priests, musicians, artists, volunteers and photographers.
They run restaurants, boutiques and art galleries: they make films and advertisements: they import and export wine and gourmet food: they run high-tech companies, they help refugees, the poor and the elderly.
They live here because the city provides opportunities, salaries, low tax rates and an excitement they cannot find at home.
Jebsen & Co was founded by two members of the Jebsen family in March 1895. It remains a family company today and is headed by Hans Michael Jebsen.
It started life as a shipping and trading company. Now it has become a firm providing products and services in certain sectors, including chemicals, technical and consumer products. The family is German-Danish.
Frenchwoman Laure Raibaut arrived in 2011 to manage a gallery of contemporary Chinese art. Now she works as an art consultant and university lecturer, with her office in a house she bought on a hilltop on Cheung Chau.
“I am not an expatriate but a Hong Konger,” she said. “The city allows me to do things which I could not elsewhere. What I like most about Hong Kong is the kindness of Chinese people. Cheung Chau is a large community; neighbours share with each other.”
In 1993, Jacques Boissier arrived in Hong Kong to run the Asian division of a large French trading company. In January 2001, he set up Classic Fine Foods to import high-quality foods from Europe and sell them to customers in Asia.
“Hong Kong possesses a unique system that helps entrepreneurs, creating companies and the creation of value, especially for small and medium enterprises. It is a state of law and easy to respect contracts,” he said.
“In 24 hours, one can open a company and have a bank account. It is efficient for transport and logistics and with high-quality personnel. For our business, the legislation is simpler than in China,” he said.
The book recounts the extraordinary story of these Europeans, with chapters on people from the five major countries – France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy. It mixes history with personal accounts, including priests, businesspeople and a legendary disc jockey.
One is singer Anders Nelsson, whom the media call the Swedish son of Hong Kong. The son of missionaries stationed here, he is fluent in Cantonese, Swedish and English and sings in all three languages.
Hong Kong was not only built by the Chinese, British and Irish. The European contribution has been essential.
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