Abstract
Periodically in the history of colonial Hong Kong, people have written about ‘being Chinese’ in the particular circumstances of the colony. In 1917 when Sir Robert Hotung wrote on the matter, he was concerned to show the Western reader that the Hong Kong Chinese were an industrious people and that they contributed to the well-being of Hong Kong as much as they benefited from it.1 A decade later, when the reputable Chinese writer, Lu Xun, wrote an essay on the subject after a lecture tour during which he had felt harassed by the Hong Kong government, he focused it on racial discrimination. Familiar themes, both of these: the deserving Chinese and the wounded Chinese, and they summed up the colonial situation.2
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Notes
W. Feldwick, Present Day Impressions of the Far East and Prominent and Progressive Chinese at Home and Abroad (London: Globe Encyclopedia, 1917), pp. 527–30.
Lu Xun, ‘Luetan Xianggang’ (a cursory discussion on Hong Kong), published in his Eryi ji, 1927, reprinted in LuXun quanji vol. 3, pp. 413–23 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 1973), translated as ‘On Hong Kong’ by Zhu Zhiyu and Don J. Cohn, Renditions 1988 (Nos. 29 and 30, special issue on Hong Kong), pp. 47–53.
Carl Smith, ‘Notes on Chinese temples in Hong Kong’, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1973, pp. 133–9, Elizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity, the Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 32–5.
‘Among the exempted guilds, there were no less than six brass-smiths guilds, six masons’ guilds, and three teahouse guilds, showing the lack of organisation and unity among the workmen of the various trades.’ H. R. Butler, ‘Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong’, Sessional Papers (Hong Kong: Noronha & Co., 1939), p. 118.
Robert Fortune, Three Years’ Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries (London: John Murray, 1847, rep. London: Mildmay Books, 1987), pp. 27–9.
See Linda Pomerantz-Zhang, Wu Ting-fang (1842–1922), Reform and Modernisation in Modem Chinese History (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1992), pp. 41–69, for the first Chinese appointment on the Legislative Council;
and G. H. Choa, The Life and Times of Sir Kai Ho Kai, A Prominent Figure in Nineteenth-century Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1981), pp. 71–89 for Ho Kai and the Sanitary Board.
Ming K. Chan, ‘Labour vs. Crown: Aspects of society-state interactions in the Hong Kong labour movement before World War II’, in Elizabeth Sinn (ed.), Between East and West. Aspects of Social and Political Development in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1990), pp. 132–46.
Luo Xianglin, Xianggang yu Zhongxi wenhua zhi jiaoliu (Hong Kong in the cultural exchange between East and West) (Hong Kong: Institute of Chinese Culture, 1961), pp. 223–56; Lee Ming-kwan, ‘The Evolution of the Heung Yee Kuk as a Political Institution’, in David Faure, James Hayes, and Alan Birch (eds), From Village to City. Studies in Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society;
David Faure, ‘Folk Religion in Hong Kong and the New Territories Today’, in Julian F. Pas (ed.), The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 259–70;
Norman Miners, Hong Kong wider Imperial Rule, 1912–1941 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 153–90.
Steve Yui-sang Tsang, Democracy Shelved: Great Britain, China, and Attempts at Constitutional Reform in Hong Kong, 1945–1952 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1988).
Joe England and John Rear, Industrial Relations and Law in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1981),
citing B. C. Roberts, Labour in the Tropical Territories of the Commonwealth (London, 1964).
Lau Siu-kai, Society and Politics in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1982).
Helen F. Siu, ‘Remade in Hong Kong: Weaving into the Chinese cultural tapestry’, in Tao Tao Liu and David Faure (eds), Unity and Diversity. Local Cultures and Identities in China (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1996), pp. 177–96.
The policy and the mentality that resulted from it are described in Ambrose Yeo-chi King, ‘Administrative Absorption of Politics in Hong Kong: Emphasis on the grass roots level’, in Ambrose Y. C. King and Rance P. L. Lee (eds), Social Life and Development in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1981), pp. 127–46.
Chen Baozhen, Kuangpeng guaiyou (Wild and strange friends), Hong Kong, privately published, 1994, pp. 65–6.
A substantial literature has developed on popular culture in Hong Kong. See Cantonese Cinema Retrospective (1950–1959) (Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1978); Changes in Hong Kong Society through Cinema, the 12th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1988); The China Factor in Hong Kong Cinema, the 14th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1990); Paul Fonoroff, ‘A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema’, Renditions, 1988, pp. 293–308;
Huang Weiliang, Xianggang wenxue chutan (An exploratory account of Hong Kong literature) (Hong Kong: Huahan wenhua shiye gongsi, 1985);
Xie Changqing, Xianggang xin wenxue jianshi (A brief history of the new literature of Hong Kong) (Guangzhou: Jinan University, 1990).
Lu Wiluan, Xianggang wenzong — neiti zuojia nanlai ji qi wenhua huodong (The whereabouts of Hong Kong literature — the southern sojourn of mainland writers and their cultural activities), (Hong Kong: Huahan wenhua shiye gongsi, 1987);
K. C. Fok, Lectures on Hong Kong History. Hong Kong’s Role in Modern Chinese History (Hong Kong: Shangwu, 1990), pp. 118–36. Considerable attention has also been paid in the last few years to the activities of the Chinese Communist East River guerrillas during the Second World War. For the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of VJ day, the Hong Kong government held its ceremonies at the Cenotaph in Central District while the New China News Agency held a separate ceremony at the memorial in Saikung District.
On the activities of the East River guerrillas in Saikung, see Xu Yueqing, Huoyue zai Xiangjiang — gangjiu dadui Xigong diqu kangri shilu (In action at Hong Kong — a true record of the Hong Kong-Kowloon Brigade in the Saikung District) (Hong Kong: Sanlian, 1993).
A summary of these views may be found in Joseph Y. S. Cheng (ed.), Hong Kong. In Search of a Future (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1984).
Lau Siu-kai, Lee Ming-kwan, Wan Po-san, Wong Siu-lun (eds), Indicators of Social Development, Hong Kong, 1988 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991).
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Faure, D. (1997). Reflections on Being Chinese in Hong Kong. In: Brown, J.M., Foot, R. (eds) Hong Kong’s Transitions, 1842–1997. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25499-6_6
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