Hong Kong and British culture, 1945–97

This book examines the place of Hong Kong in the British imagination between the end of World War II and the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997. It argues that Hong Kong has received far less attention from British imperial and cultural historians than its importance would warrant. It argues that Hong Kong was a site within which competing yet complementary visions of Britishness could be imagined—for example, the British penchant for trade and good government, and their role as agents of modernization. At the centre of these articulations of Britishness was the idea of Hong Kong as a “barren rock” that British administration had transformed into one of the world’s great cities—and the danger of its destruction by the impending “handover” to communist China in 1997.The book moves freely between the activities of Britons in Hong Kong and portrayals of Hong Kong within domestic British discourse. It uses such printed primary sources as newspapers, memoirs, novels, political pamphlets, and academic texts, and archival material located in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the United States, and Australia, including government documents, regimental collections, and personal papers. This book examines the British cultural engagement with Hong Kong in the second half of the twentieth century. It shows how the territory fit unusually within Britain's decolonisation narratives and served as an occasional foil for examining Britain's own culture during a period of perceived stagnation and decline. Drawing on a wide range of archival and published primary sources, Hong Kong and British culture, 1945-97 investigates such themes as Hong Kong as a site of unrestrained capitalism, modernisation, and good government, as well as an arena of male social and sexual opportunity. It also examines the ways in which Hong Kong Chinese embraced British culture, and the competing predictions that British observers made concerning the colony's return to Chinese sovereignty. An epilogue considers the enduring legacy of British colonialism. This book will be essential reading for historians of Hong Kong, British decolonisation, and Britain's culture of declinism. Front matter Dedication Contents List of illustrations Preface and acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Britishness, empire, and Hong Kong Hong Kong and British culture: postwar contexts The discourse of unbridled capitalism in postwar Hong Kong A man’s playground The discourses of order and modernisation Good governance Chinese Britishness Narratives of 1997 Epilogue: postcolonial hangovers Select bibliography Index A major contribution to the scholarship on British decolonisation, the cultural history of imperialism and British engagement with China. This highly original study places the emergence of contemporary Hong Kong in the wider, post-imperial setting. A major contribution to the scholarship on British decolonisation, the cultural history of imperialism and Britain's engagement with China, this highly original study places the emergence of contemporary Hong Kong in a wider post-imperial setting