The arrival of western ships and soldiers in Hong Kong meant jobs and wages for Chinese labourers. They were hard at work from the outset, improving the road through the hills to Stanley, shaping granite blocks for houses, offices and the gaol.
Macau's fine villas with colonnaded verandahs were an agreeable mixture of south European and Far Eastern worlds. Western comforts and amenities had come with the Portuguese who once ran all the Far East trade.