Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong, 1882-1912

This book provides valuable and informative insights into the controversies involving appropriate responses to the protection of life and property in any community when it comes to that ever contentious topic — the weather. Numerous personality clashes and financial and other intrigues surrounded the early efforts to set up an observatory in Hong Kong. Blending personalities, politics, and practicalities of studying the weather, this book provides insights into the public and private controversies growing out of responses to and responsibilities involved in the protection of life and property. This portrait is set firmly in the context of the history of Hong Kong as a British colony on the China Coast and its role as a burgeoning commercial port within the trading complex of the Empire. It brings to life many of the people and institutions in Hong Kong and elsewhere on the development of meteorology on the China Coast. Dr. William Doberck, who became the founding director of the new Observatory, played a crucial role in its development during most of forty years covered by this book. Doberck was an astronomer with little interest in meteorology and a penchant for not suffering gladly those whom he considered to be his inferiors. The book follows many snippets of scandal concerning Doberck and his often cantankerous relationship with his employers and the other stakeholders in the Colony. In later chapters, the book explores the complex dynamics of the contentious interactions between Doberck and the Jesuits in charge of the Manila and Zikawei Observatories. The storms that rage in the narrative as well as the tragedy of the very real storm of 1906 illustrate the drama that played out both locally and internationally in terms of jealousies, rivalries, and many attendant charges and counter-charges animating the controversy In this colourful story of the Hong Kong Observatory, P. Kevin MacKeown takes us through the development of the Observatory in the Crown colony in the period 1882–1912, featuring in particular its nettlesome founding director William Doberck. A Danish astronomer with little interest in meteorology, though eminently qualified for the senior scientific position, Doberck proved to be a very difficult employee — constantly clashing with his superiors, his confreres, and with the commercial community. Despite the antagonism between Doberck and the Jesuit observatories, a successful storm warning system was developed over several years. MacKeown also introduces the earliest efforts of quantitative meteorology in the region, and documents the additional contributions made by Jesuit observatories at Manila and Shanghai. The study of typhoons and their forecasting was of the greatest importance, and MacKeown details the earliest studies of storms in the China Sea. Apart from general readers interested in Hong Kong's history, this book will attract historians of science, especially those familiar with China and with Western colonialism in Asia. Contents......Page 6 List of Figures......Page 8 Foreword to the Series......Page 10 Foreword......Page 12 Preface......Page 14 Acknowledgements......Page 16 1 Nineteenth-Century Observatories......Page 18 2 An Observatory for Hong Kong......Page 44 3 A Director for the New Observatory......Page 72 4 Government Astronomer or ‘Merely a Meteorological Observer’......Page 90 5 Universal Dissatisfaction......Page 124 6 Typhoon Studies......Page 150 7 A Jesuit Conspiracy!......Page 190 8 A New Age......Page 224 Appendix A A Gazeteer......Page 246 Appendix B Hong Kong Observatory Publications......Page 248 Appendix C Publications of John I. Plummer......Page 252 Appendix D Publications of A. W. Doberck......Page 256 Notes......Page 266 Bibliography......Page 290 Index......Page 296 Numerous personality clashes and financial and other intrigues surrounded the early efforts to set up an Observatory in Hong Kong. Blending personalities, politics and practicalities of studying the weather, this entertaining book provides valuable and informative insights into the public and private controversies growing out of responses to and responsibilities involved in the protection of life and property. This portrait is set firmly in the context of the history of Hong Kong as British colony on the China Coast and its role as a burgeoning commercial port within the trading complex of the Empire. It brings to life many of the people and institutions in Hong Kong and elsewhere on the development of meteorology on the China Coast P. Kevin Mackeown. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [249]-277) And Index.