The low place of Chinese in Hong Kong's society was the result of their living in a white colony. However, for tens of years before 1870 Hong Kong was also a trans-shipping center for Chinese laborers, mostly bankrupt farmers from the interior.
華人在香港社會中地位低下，固然是作為白人殖民地香港的華人的宿命，但一八七○年以前幾十年間，香港也是白人販運中國苦力﹘﹘從內地湧入香港的破產農民﹘﹘到北美和澳洲的轉繼站。