Youth and empire : trans-colonial childhoods in British and French Asia

417 Pages·2016·3.395 MB·English

by  David M. Pomfret

Youth and Empire

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Youth and Empir E
Trans-Colonial Childhoods in
British and French Asia
David M. Pomfret
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2016 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All rights reserved.
No part of this printing may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pomfret, David M., author.
Youth and empire : trans-colonial childhoods in British and French Asia /
David M. Pomfret.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8047-9517-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Children—Southeast Asia—Social conditions—19th century.
2. Children—Southeast Asia—Social conditions—20th century. 3. Children—
Great Britain—Colonies—Social conditions. 4. Children—France—
Colonies—Social conditions. 5. Great Britain—Colonies—Asia—Social
conditions. 6. France—Colonies—Asia—Social conditions I. Title.
hq792.a785p66 2015
305.230959'09034—dc23 2015010583
isbn 978-0-8047-9686-6 (electronic)
Typeset at Stanford University Press in 10/12.5 Minion
For my mother and father

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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xii
1. Introduction: Childhood and the Reordering
of Empire 1
2. Tropical Childhoods: Health, Hygiene and Nature 22
3. Cultural Contagions: Children in the Colonial Home 54
4. Magic Islands: Children on Display in
Colonialisms’ Cultures 81
5. Trouble in Fairyland: Cultures of Childhood
in Interwar Asia 115
6. Intimate Heights: Children, Nature and
Colonial Urban Planning 147
7. Sick Traffic: ‘Child Slavery’ and Imperial Networks 178
8. Class Reactions: Education and Colonial ‘Comings of Age’ 209
9. Raising Eurasia: Childhood, Youth and the
Mixed-Race Question 243
10. Conclusion 277
Notes 289
Bibliography 357
Index 381
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illustrations
1.1. Map of East and Southeast Asia 16
2.1. Children at Saigon’s Botanical Gardens, 1920s 51
3.1. “Slave Girls Carrying Children,” Hong Kong, c. 1900 60
4.1. “Great Britain and Ireland and Her Colonies Where
M.C.L. Is Actively at Work,” 1906 92
4.2. Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, “Quatre naïfs du poste
de Hien-Luong,” 1901 98
4.3. Honoré Daumier, “La République,” 1848 99
4.4. Clémentine-Hélène Dufau, “Gouvernement Général de
l’Indo-Chine, exposition de Hanoï,” 1902 101
4.5. Paul Tournon, “La France Protectrice,” 1902 102
4.6. The Ministering Children’s League Bazaar, 1916 108
4.7. The Ministering Children’s League Bazaar, 1916 108
4.8. “Twinkle, twinkle, little star,” Lillian Newton as a Fairy, 1899 111
5.1. “Le jeune Empereur Duy-Than et son entourage,” c. 1907 119
5.2. Emperor Duy Tân on display 119
5.3. “Le départ pour le Tonkin,” c. 1890 122
5.4. “Oh! La la, les vilaines figures . . . qui vive!” c. 1890 122
5.5. “Enfoncé le pavillon noir,” c. 1890 123
5.6. “An Incident from the Queen of Hearts,” Ministering
Children’s League Penang Branch, 1928 128
5.7. “Proud Mothers with Their Prize-Winning Babies,” 1928 135
5.8. Fun o’ the Fair, Lee Gardens, Hong Kong, 1938 137
5.9. Marie-Antoinette Boullard-Devé, Untitled portrait of a child, 1927 140
5.10. Marie-Antoinette Boullard-Devé, “Annam,” 1926 140
6.1. “At the Peak,” 1874 159
7.1. “Ah Moy, A Child Slave of Hong Kong,” 1930 192
9.1. “The Retort Courteous,” 1867 249
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Acknowledgments
In the years it has taken to produce this book I have been fortunate to draw upon
the support and expertise of many people. Librarians and archivists in different
countries kindly facilitated research. In Vietnam I would like to thank staff who
helped me at Vietnam National Archives Centre 2, Ho Chi Minh City; Vietnam
National Archives Centre 1, Hanoi; Vietnam National Archives Centre 4, Dalat;
and at the library of the Ho Chi Minh History Museum. In the United Kingdom
I should like to thank the staff at Rhodes House, the National Archives, Surrey
History Centre, the Wellcome Library, Cambridge University Library, the School
of Oriental and African Studies Library, the National Maritime Museum and
HSBC Archives. In Hong Kong I thank the University of Hong Kong Library
and special collections department and the Hong Kong Public Record Office.
In Singapore, I am grateful to the staff of the National Archives and National
University of Singapore Library. In France, my thanks go to staff at the Archives
Diplomatiques (Nantes and La Courneuve), Association pour l’Autobiographie
et le Patrimoine Autobiographique (Amberieu-en-Bugey), Archives Nationales
d’Outre-mer, Missions Étrangères de Paris, Musée Social, Crédit Agricole, Service
Historique de la Défense, Bibliothèque Centrale du Muséum National d’Histoire
Naturelle, Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale and the Bibliothèque
Nationale. In Switzerland I should like to thank staff at the League of Nations
Archive. And in the United States my thanks go to staff at the libraries of Cornell
University, the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University.
I am also grateful to the many individuals, institutions and publishers who
have granted permission for me to reproduce materials in this book. Timothy
Whitworth kindly allowed the reuse of extracts from Phoebe Whitworth, View
from the Peak: An Autobiography (Cambridge: T. G. Whitworth, 2001); Pelanduk
Publications gave permission to reuse parts of From Poor Migrant to Millionaire
(Chan Wing, 1873–1947) (Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, 1997), as did Éditions La Bruyère for Françoise Autret, Pousse de bambou
(Paris: Éditions La Bruyère, 1999). Pierre Fave generously allowed me to reuse