Update | Why Hong Kong has Mao to thank for ID cards

As it turns out, Hong Kong has Mao Zedong to thank for those little green pieces of plas­tic we are obliged to carry on our person: identity cards.

In 1949, the British colony was preparing for chaos and an influx of refugees, as civil war raged in China. On October 1, Mao established the People’s Republic of China.

Attorney general J.B. Griffin moved ear­lier that summer for Hong Kong to register all per­sons in the colony and issue them identity cards. By September, it was announced the government would register 5,000 people per day, a task that would take years.

In 1960, the South China Morning Post reported that a new ID card would be intro­duced, “measuring 3.5 by 4 inches, lami­nated in plastic, simple, durable and conven­i­ent to handle”. The old cardboard cards were easily spoiled and too big for most wallets. There was, however, one problem: how to record Chinese names.

“It is quite normal customarily to use more than one name in everyday life in Hong Kong and second there is the difficulty of romanisations,” said D.C. Trench, acting colonial secretary.