A Modern History of Hong Kong

349 Pages·2007·3.45 MB·english

by  Steve Tsang

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
Maps xii
Part I: The Foundations of Modern Hong Kong
1 War and Peace 3
Tea, Opium and Trade 5
Diplomacy and Conflicts 7
The First Anglo-Chinese War 9
The Treaty of Nanking 14
2 The Foundation of a Crown Colony 16
British Occupation 16
Crown Colony 18
Raison d’être 20
Governance 23
The Question of Representation 26
3 Imperial Expansion 29
The Second Anglo-Chinese War and the Acquisition of Kowloon 29
The New Territories 36
An Appointment with China 39
Part II: The Heyday of Imperial Rule
4 Law and Justice 45
Native Laws and Customs 46
Administration of Justice 47
Rule of Law 52
vi A MODERN HISTORY OF HONG KONG
5 Economy and Society 56
Forces for Economic Development 56
A ‘Colonial Society’ 62
Segregation 65
Governance of the Local Chinese 67
6 Agent for Change in China 73
Inspiration for Chinese Reformers 73
Hong Kong’s Role in the Chinese Republican Revolution 76
A Safe Haven for Dissidents and Political Refugees 80
7 The Great War and Chinese Nationalism 84
The Impact of the Great War 86
Labour Unrest 87
The Rise of Chinese Nationalism 90
The Canton-Hong Kong Strike and Boycott 92
8 Imperial Grandeur 102
The Politics of Stability 102
Economic and Social Developments 106
The Calm Before the Storm 114
Part III: A Colonial Paradox
9 Japanese Invasion and Occupation 119
The Battle of Hong Kong 119
The Destruction of Imperial Invincibility 124
Occupation and Resistance 126
Wartime Planning in London 130
10Return to Empire 133
The Race for Hong Kong 134
Military Administration 138
Status Quo Ante? 141
11A Fine Balance 145
Rehabilitation and Constructive Partnership 145
The Question of Hong Kong’s Future 149
The Impact of the Korean War 157
Strategy for Survival 158
CONTENTS vii
12Economic Take-off 161
From Entrepôt to Industrial Colony 162
The Immigrant Mentality 167
Take-off 170
Economic Maturity and the China Nexus 175
13The Rise of the Hong Kongers 180
A Settled People 180
The Test of the ‘Confrontation’ 183
The Emergence of a Local Identity 190
14The Making of a Colonial Paradox 197
The Nature of British Colonial Rule 197
Corruption, Credibility and Benevolent Paternalism 201
The Best Possible Government in the Chinese Political Tradition 206
Part IV: Securing Hong Kong’s Future
15Fateful Decisions 211
Prelude to Negotiations 212
The Sino-British Negotiations (1982–4) 218
The Joint Declaration 225
16The Beginning of the End 228
Realignment of Power 228
Flirtation with Democracy 231
Convergence 233
China’s Hong Kong Policy 236
The Basic Law 238
17The Final Chapter 245
The Impact of the Tiananmen Incident 247
The Last Governor 254
The End of Cooperation 261
‘Building a New Kitchen’ 263
Conclusion: Full Circle 268
Handover 269
British Legacies 273
viii A MODERN HISTORY OF HONG KONG
Notes 279
Bibliography 318
Index 334
Preface and
Acknowledgements
The history of Hong Kong is a fascinating one. It is not so much
because it transformed itself from ‘a barren island with hardly a
house upon it’ into a great metropolis of seven million in a century
and a half, though this is itself a great story. It is, in my view, the
British colonial administration’s creation of a government that met
the expectation of as good a government as possible in the Chinese
political tradition that has made it so special. The real measure of
Hong Kong’s extraordinary achievement was confirmed as the
Communist and highly nationalistic government of the People’s
Republic of China committed itself to maintain the system and way
of life in Hong Kong for 50 years when it negotiated an end to
British imperial rule.
British rule also left its mark on Hong Kong in a more important
and sustainable way. It led to the rise of a people that remains
quintessentially Chinese and yet share a way of life, core values and
an outlook that resemble at least as much, if not more, that of the
average New Yorker or Londoner, rather than that of their compatriots
in China. A modern history of Hong Kong must therefore address
how the residents of Hong Kong came of age as a people with a
common identity and shared worldview. The people of Hong Kong
is also by all conventional measures in political science a population
which, though ready for democracy, has not vigorously pushed for
and built one. This is just one of the various paradoxes or ironies
that marked Hong Kong under British rule and deserves an
impassioned examination and explanation.
With the question of its future hanging in the balance for much
of its history, as Hong Kong transformed itself from an outpost of
the British Empire into a leading trading and financial centre of the
world, a modern history must also account for how this problem
came about and how it was eventually resolved. The issue of Hong
Kong’s future under British rule is consequently a major sub-theme
that receives considerable treatment.
x A MODERN HISTORY OF HONG KONG
Writing a history of Hong Kong shortly after the end of British
imperial rule raises serious questions of perspective and balance. It
has been usual, not least in the former British Empire itself, for post-
colonial historians to err on the side of political correctness and
nationalism. They tend to underplay the role of the British colonists
and overstress the contributions made by the local or indigenous
people. To do so produces a history as inadequate as one that sets
out to blow the imperial trumpet for Hong Kong’s time as a Crown
Colony. A native son of Hong Kong who has lived roughly as long in
Hong Kong as outside it, and having been trained in British imperial
history and having spent two decades working on the history and
politics of China, my intention is to ignore political correctness and
present a modern history that does justice to all who were or have
been part of this shared history. In this book I set out to explain and
analyse clearly, simply and as objectively as possible the forces which
made Hong Kong into what it was when British imperial rule ended
in 1997. Whether I have succeeded or not is for you to judge.
A Modern History of Hong Kong is meant as much for general readers
as for specialists. General readers should ignore the fairly large number
of notes. As I aim to disperse a number of widely popularised
misconceptions and myths about Hong Kong’s history, I have decided
against dispensing with references. General readers may not wish to
get into the academic debates but specialists may like to check on the
authenticity and reliability of the sources or use them to further their
own scholarly pursuits.
Readers are advised that, in China, the surname precedes the given
name. In Hong Kong, most ethnic Chinese follow the same rule –
but not everyone does so. In the case of those who give their names
in the English way, their preference is respected. In the transliteration
of names and Chinese terms, the pinyin system adopted in the People’s
Republic has been followed. Exceptions have been made for personal
or place names in Hong Kong or for Chinese personalities and cities
well known to English readers. In these cases their usual form is used.
Acknowledgements
This volume is the result of research carried out over two decades,
though it was largely written in 2001 and 2002. Some of the basic
work was done in conjunction with other projects. The relentless but
invariably gentle and good-humoured prodding from Dr Lester Crook
of I.B.Tauris has played a key part in making sure this longstanding
ambition of mine was turned into reality. He has also kindly arranged
for some copyright material published in an earlier work, Hong Kong:
An Appointment With China, to be used in this volume. My wife,
Rhiannon, ensures that I have the best possible environment to write
in. It was not just her love and tender care but also her understanding
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi
and the many discussions I had with her about elements of this book
that made this venture a joy. To her this volume is dedicated with
love and affection.
In undertaking the research which directly helped the preparation
of this volume I would like to thank Carmen Tsang for her assistance
with various sources in Hong Kong over the years. I am grateful to
Lieutenant-General Fu Ying-chuan for special access to the Ministry
of National Defence archives of the Republic of China, to the For-
eign Ministry for access to its papers in Taipei, and to the Tung Wah
Group of Hospitals for access to its archives. I am also obliged to
the keepers of the Public Record Office (Kew), Rhodes House Li-
brary (Oxford), the Hung On-to Memorial Library (Hong Kong Uni-
versity), the Hong Kong Public Records Office, the Butler Library
(Columbia University), the Eisenhower Library (Abilene, Kansas), and
the Truman Library (Independence, Missouri) for access to and per-
mission to cite from archival material under their care. The staff at
St Antony’s College Library and the Institute for Chinese Studies Li-
brary, both at Oxford, at the University of Hong Kong Library and at
the Institute for Modern History Library (Academia Sinica, Taipei)
have also provided kind assistance and congenial environments for
my work over the years. I am also grateful to colleagues at the Centre
of Asian Studies and Robert Black College at the University of Hong
Kong, which provided a home to me when I conducted some of my
research in Hong Kong.
In the course of the last two decades I benefited greatly from in-
depth interviews conducted with more than 40 former members of
the Hong Kong government, the British diplomatic service, the
Executive and Legislative Councils of Hong Kong and the Basic Law
Drafting Committee. Most though not all of these interviews were
conducted when I was director of the Oxford University Hong Kong
Project. The Hong Kong Project interviews were conducted on a
confidential basis. The oral records and the tens of thousands of
pages of transcripts are kept at the Rhodes House Library and are
mostly still closed to public access. Because of the need to honour
the pledge of confidence, I have made no use of any interview record
still subject to a time-ban. However, I cannot unlearn what I have
learnt. The perspective which I have taken in this volume has been
affected by the many intensive hours of historical discourse. To all
the contributors to the Project – whom I shall not name but you
know who you are – I owe a debt of gratitude.
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Part I
The Foundations of
Modern Hong Kong