Hong Kong And British Culture, 1945 97

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. This book reveals 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 at the same time served as an occasional foil for examining Britain's own culture during a period of perceived stagnation and decline.In the British imagination, Hong Kong was a triumph of modernity. Once dismissed by Lord Palmerston as a 'barren island with hardly a house on it', in the late twentieth century it was recast as the site of one of British imperialism's greatest achievements. The book examines the extent to which Hong Kong's Chinese embraced British culture, and analyses the optimistic and apocalyptic predictions made about Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty. The primary sources include a wide range of archival collections from Hong Kong, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as novels, journalistic accounts, popular histories, economics textbooks and children's books. Hong Kong and British culture, 1945-97 will be essential reading for historians of Hong Kong, British decolonisation, and Britain's culture of declinism. 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.