Synopses & Reviews
Hong Kong is at the heart of modern China's position as a regional -- and potential world -- superpower. In this important and original history of the region, Steve Tsang argues that its current prosperity is a direct by-product of the British administrators who ran the place as a colony before the handover in 1997. The British administration of Hong Kong uniquely derived its practices from the best traditions of Imperial Chinese government and its philosophical, Confucian basis. It stressed efficiency, honesty, fairness, benevolent paternalism and individual freedom. The result was a hugely successful colony, especially in industry and finance, and it remains so today with its new status of Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. This definitive history of the colorful individuals who administered the colony on behalf of the British government sheds light on two empires inextricably linked in nature and philosophy of government.
Review
"An indispensable work for reference as well as for inspired historical interpretation." -- Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin
"Meticulously researched and convincingly argued, Governing Hong Kong is an example of original, detailed yet stimulating historical scholarship at its best." -- Anthony Kirk-Greene, St Antonys College, Oxford
Hong Kong Administrative Officers deserve both accolades and their historian…the Hong Kong Cadets and Administrative Officers have their well-deserved and highly informative history. David Wilson, Asian Affairs
…as Mr Tsang argues in this excellent study, there are lessons here for governments round the world and for those addicted to decrying ‘colonialism...-- Contemporary Review
About the Author
Steve Tsang is Louis Cha Fellow and University Reader in Politics at St Antony's College, Oxford University. He served as Director of the Asian Studies Centre at Oxford from 1997 to 2003 and is the author of A Modern History of Hong Kong, Hong Kong: An Appointment with China and The Cold War's Odd Couple, both published by I.B.Tauris.
Table of Contents
* Preface * Abbreviations * Governance in a colonial society * The Cadet scheme * Benevolent paternalism * Effects of the Pacific War * Expansion * Meeting the challenges of a Chinese community * Localization * Meeting the challenges of modernity * An elite within the government * Inhibited elitism *