History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)

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This article is part of a series on the
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Prehistoric
Imperial  (221 BC – 1800s)
Bao'an County and Xin'an County
British Hong Kong (1841–1941, 1945–1997)
Colonial  (1800s–1930s)
Convention of Chuenpi
Treaty of Nanking
Convention of Peking
Japanese occupation (1941–1945)   (1940s)
Retrocession to China
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
(since 1997)
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Hong Kong (1800s–1930s) oversaw the founding of the new

Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and Convention of Peking (1860) in perpetuity. Together with additional land that was leased to the British under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898), Hong Kong became one of the first parts of East Asia to undergo industrialisation
.

Territorial establishment

Beginning of trade

Dent's Fountain, also known as City Hall's Fountain (near the rear side of present-day Bank of China Building), was built in 1864 and demolished in 1933.[2]
Streets of Hong Kong, 1865
Beaconsfield Arcade, Hong Kong, c.1890. The building on the left is the HSBC building
(second design)

China was the main supplier of its native tea to the British, whose annual domestic consumption reached 30,050,000 pounds (13,600,000 kg) in 1830, an average of 1.04 pounds (0.47 kg) per head of population.[3]

From the British economic standpoint, Chinese tea was a crucial item since it provided massive wealth for the

duty on tea accounted for 10% of the government's income.[1] Some of the earliest items sold to China in exchange for tea were British clocks, watches and musical boxes known as "sing-songs". However, these were not enough to compensate for the trade imbalance and the insistence by the Chinese that they be paid in silver. Opium exports from India after 1830 provided the silver needed to balance the trade. Lin Zexu, a special Chinese commissioner appointed by the Qing Daoguang Emperor, wrote a letter to Queen Victoria in 1839 taking a stance against the acceptance of opium in trade. He confiscated more than 20,000 chests of opium already in Hong Kong, which had already been used years earlier as a transhipment point, and supervised their destruction.[4]

Confrontation

See also: Bao'an County
Map of Bao'an (Po'On) County in 1866. It shows that Hong Kong used to be a part of Bao'an (Po'On) County in ancient China.
Great Britain acquired Hong Kong Island in 1842, Kowloon Peninsula in 1860, and leased the New Territories rent-free[5] in 1898.

London saw the destruction of British products as an insult and sent the first expeditionary force to the region. The

Anthony Blaxland Stransham of the Royal Marines. After a series of Chinese defeats, Hong Kong Island was occupied by the British on 20 January 1841. Sir Edward Belcher, aboard HMS Sulphur, landed in Hong Kong on 25 January 1841.[6] Possession Street still exists to mark the event.[6] Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer raised the Union Jack and claimed Hong Kong as a colony on 26 January 1841.[6] He erected naval store sheds there in April 1841.[7]

The island was first used by the British as a staging post during the war, and while the

East India Company intended to establish a permanent base on the island of Zhoushan, Elliot took it upon himself to claim the island on a permanent basis. The ostensible authority for the occupation was negotiated between Captain Eliot and the Viceroy of Liangguang, the Manchu official Qishan. The Convention of Chuenpi was concluded but had not been recognised by the Qing Dynasty court at Beijing. Subsequently, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking, when the territory became a Crown colony.[8]

The Opium War was ostensibly fought to liberalise trade with China. With a base in Hong Kong, British traders, opium dealers, and merchants including

Jardine Matheson & Co. and Dent & Co. launched the city which would become the 'free trade' nexus of the East. American opium traders and merchant bankers such as the Russell, Perkins and Forbes
families would soon join the trade.

On signature of the 1860

Convention between Great Britain and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory (also known as the Second Convention of Peking) that compelled China to cede a further area north of Boundary Street to the Sham Chun River along with more than two hundred nearby islands.[9] Seen by the British government as vital to safeguard the defensive capabilities of Hong Kong, these areas became collectively known as the New Territories. The 99-year lease would expire at midnight on 30 June, 1997.[8]

Demographics

Further information: Demographics of Hong Kong
1890 woman in traditional dress

Population

When the

charcoal burners living in a number of coastal villages.[10][11] In the 1850s large numbers of Chinese would emigrate from China to Hong Kong due to the Taiping Rebellion. Other events such as floods, typhoons and famine in mainland China would also play a role in establishing Hong Kong as a place to escape the mayhem. According to the census of 1865, Hong Kong had a population of 125,504, of which some 2,000 were Americans and Europeans.[10] In 1914 despite an exodus of 60,000 Chinese fearing an attack on the colony during World War I, Hong Kong's population continued to increase from 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 and 1.6 million by 1941.[12]

Segregation

The establishment of the

Peak Reservation Ordinance prevented Chinese from living in elite areas like Victoria Peak.[14] Politically, the majority Chinese population also had little to no official governmental influence throughout much of the early years. There were, however, a small number of Chinese elites that the British governors relied on, including Sir Kai Ho and Robert Hotung.[14] They accepted their place in the Hong Kong hierarchy, and served as main communicators and mediators between the government and the Chinese population. Sir Kai Ho was an unofficial member of the Legislative Council. Robert Hotung wanted Chinese citizens to recognise Hong Kong as the new home after the fall of China's last dynasty in 1911. As a millionaire with financial influence, he emphasised that no part of the demographics was purely indigenous.[15]

Culture

Further information: Culture of Hong Kong

Lifestyle

Congee, a popular colonial era breakfast

The east portion of Colonial Hong Kong was mostly dedicated to the British; filled with race courses, parade grounds, barracks,

tea houses. The Hong Kong tea culture began in this period and evolved into yum cha. One of the most common breakfasts was congee with fish and barley
. In the mid-19th century many of the merchants would sell silk,
coolies arrived with the notion that hard work would better position them for the future. Due to the commercial success of merchants, boatmen, carters and fishermen there, Hong Kong overtook China's most populous port in Canton. By 1880 Hong Kong's port would handle 27% of the mainland's export and 37% of imports.[1]
A British traveller,
tai-pans or "bigshot". One of the more notable Tai-pan hangout spots was the Hong Kong Club at Queen's Road.[1]

Education

Further information: Education in Hong Kong

In 1861, Frederick Stewart would become the founder of Hong Kong education system bringing Western-style pedagogy to the East. Some[who?] have argued that his contribution is the key turning point between the group of Chinese that were able to modernise Hong Kong versus the group that did not in China. The education would bring Western-style[clarification needed] finance, science, history, technology into the culture. The father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen was also educated in Hong Kong's Central School.[14]

Law and order

Further information: Law enforcement in Hong Kong

In 1843 the legislative council was established. The governor of Hong Kong generally served as the British plenipotentiary in the far east in the early years. The Colonial Secretary would also assist in legal matters. A colonial police force was established in the 1840s to handle the high crime rate in Hong Kong. By China's standards, colonial Hong Kong's code of punishment was considered laughably loose and lenient.

George D'Aguilar.[17]

Pandemics and disasters

The Third Pandemic of bubonic plague broke out in China in the 1880s. By the spring of 1894 about 100,000 were reported dead in the mainland. In May 1894 the disease erupted into Hong Kong's overcrowded Chinese quarter of Tai Ping Shan. By the end of the month, an estimated 450 people died of the illness.[1] At its height, the epidemic was killing 100 people per day, and it killed a total of 2,552 people that year. The disease was greatly detrimental to trade and produced a temporary exodus of 100,000 Chinese from the colony. Plague continued to be a problem in the territory for the next 30 years.[1][12]

In the 1870s a typhoon hit Hong Kong one evening, reaching its height by midnight. An estimated 2,000 people lost their lives in a span of just six hours.[1][12]

Economy

First generation of automobiles in Hong Kong

Transport

Main article: Transport in Hong Kong

The growth of Hong Kong depended greatly on domestic transport of citizens and cargo across

Kowloon-Canton Railway
. On land the
Sedan chairs were the preferred mode of the transport for the wealthy Europeans who lived on Victoria Peak due to the steep grade which ruled out rickshaws until the introduction of the Peak Tram. The first automobiles in Hong Kong had petrol-driven internal combustion engines and arrived between 1903 and 1905. Initially they were not well received by the public. Only around 1910 did the cars begin to gain appeal. Most of the owners were British.[18] Buses operated by various independent companies flourished in the 1920s until the government formally issued franchises for the China Motor Bus and Kowloon Motor Bus
companies in 1933. The
flying boats were the first British aeroplanes to reach Hong Kong in 1928. By 1924 the Kai Tak Airport would also be found. The first flight service from Imperial Airways would become available by 1937 at a price of 288 pounds per ticket.[14]

Hospitals and hospitality

Main article: Health in Hong Kong

Soon after the British occupied Hong Kong in 1841, Protestant and Catholic missionaries started to provide social service. Italian missionaries began to provide boy-only education to British and Chinese youth in 1843. "The Catholic French Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres" was one of the first orphanage and elderly home was established in 1848.[19]

In 1870 the Tung Wah Hospital became the first official hospital in Hong Kong. It handled much of the social services and was providing free vaccinations in Hong Kong Island and Kwang Tung. After raising funds for the 1877 famine in China, a number of the hospital officials became Tung Wah elites with much authority and power representing the Chinese majority.[20] Some of the booming hotel businesses of the era included the Victoria Hotel, New Victoria Hotel and the King Edward Hotel.[21]

Finance

Further information: Hong Kong Monetary Authority

In 1864 the first large scale modern bank

Sir Thomas Jackson, has a statue in Statue Square. The bank first leased Wardley House at HKD 500 a month in 1864. After raising a capital of HKD 5 million, the bank opened its door in 1865.[16] The Association of Stockbrokers
would also be established in 1891.

Resources

In December 1890 the

China Light and Power
.)

Politics

British passport issued to Hong Kong people
Naval Dockyard buildings (centre), Queen's Road, 1894
Main article: Politics of Hong Kong

One observer summed up the decades as "politics, propaganda, panic, rumour, riot, revolution and refugees".

HKD 32 cents.[14]
John K. Fairbank's use of the word to describe the mechanisms of government under the late Qing dynasty
in China. When modern China began after the fall of the last dynasty, one of the first political statements made in Hong Kong was the immediate change from long queue hairstyles to short haircuts.[14] In 1938, Guangzhou fell to the hands of the Japanese, Hong Kong was considered a strategic military outpost for all trades in the far east. Though Winston Churchill assured that Hong Kong was an "impregnable fortress",[14] it was taken as a reality check response since the British Army actually stretched too thin to battle on two fronts.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong – Volume One. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. ISBN Volume One 962-7283-59-2
  2. ^ "Dent's Fountain, Queen's Road, Hong Kong". Historical Photographs of China. University of Bristol. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  3. ^ Simmonds, P. L. (1863). "The Progress of the Tea Trade". Journal of the Society of Arts. 11: 770.
  4. University of Maryland
    . Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  5. ^ "Welcome hkjournal.org - Justhost.com".
  6. ^ a b c Base closure to end Royal Navy's Far East presence Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press, 4 November 1997
  7. ^ Eric Cavaliero, Harbour bed holds memories Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 13 November 1997, quoting P J Melson: White Ensign – Red Dragon: the History of the Royal Navy in Hong Kong 1841 to 1997
  8. ^ a b "Background Note: Hong Kong". U.S. Department of State. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  9. ISBN 9781433006869. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help
    )
  10. ^ a b John Thomson 1837–1921, Chap on Hong Kong, Illustrations of China and Its People (London,1873–1874)
  11. ^ Info Gov HK. "Hong Kong Gov Info Archived 18 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine." History of Hong Kong. Retrieved on 16 February 2007.
  12. ^
    ISBN 1-84753-966-1
  13. ^ Race War!: White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire by Gerald Horne, New York University Press, 2003
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong – Volume Two. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. ISBN Volume Two 962-7283-60-6
  15. ISBN 0-674-01701-3
  16. ^ a b Lim, Patricia. [2002] (2002). Discovering Hong Hong's Cultural Heritage. Central, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. ISBN Volume One 0-19-592723-0
  17. ^ "China". The Morning Post. British Newspaper Archive. 5 June 1844. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  18. ISBN 962-209-574-7
  19. ISBN 1-4020-3405-9
  20. ISBN 0-231-07933-8
  21. ISBN 962-209-473-2
  22. OCLC 4491093
  23. ^ Ambrose Yeo-Chi King 金耀基, "Administrative Absorption of Politics 行政吸納政治: 香港的政治模式", in Ambrose Yeo-Chi King, Chinese Politics and Culture 中國政治與文化 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2013), 229-254.
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