The First Hong Kongers Used to Be Farmers and Fishermen

Hong Kong is primarily known as one of the most important financial and banking centers in the world; but that wasn’t always the case. When the British took possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841, Hong Kong was little more than a barren rock lost in the South China Sea.

However, Hong Kong was not an uninhabited territory either. In the eleventh century, the Punti, which literally translates as the "original residents," settled in what became the New Territories. They found fertile soil, which they took advantage of to establish a strong agricultural society.

They were later followed by the Hoklo, or "river people," who developed small fishing communities; and the Tanka, or "sea gypsies," who were known as boat-dwellers and spent their entire lives on the water.

In the late seventeenth century, the Hakka became the last of the four indigenous ethnic groups to arrive in Hong Kong, and they grew to become the largest indigenous group in the region. The traditional occupation of the Hakka was farming and cultivation.

As of 2026, there were about 10,000 fishermen and 4,500 farmers left in Hong Kong. That is, quite astonishingly, twice as many as there were in 1841, when the British arrived. To put that number in perspective, however, since 1841, the population of Hong Kong has grown a thousand-fold.