Description
Rewriting Hong Kong's history from the bottom up, the chapters investigate vital, but hitherto obscured, aspects of the colony's rise. They cover the Chinese collaboration with the colonial regime, legal discrimination and intimidation, rural politics, social movements, government-business relations, industrial policy, flexible manufacturing and colonial historiography.
Drawing together contributions from historians, sociologists and political scientists, the book highlights the role played by a variety of social actors in Hong Kong's history and differs both from recent celebrations of British colonialism and anti-colonial Chinese nationalism.
Table of Contents
1 Colonialism in Hong Kong revisited 2 Chinese collaboration in the making of British Hong Kong 3 Comprador politics and middleman capitalism 4 The criminal trial under early colonial rule 5 State building and rural stability 6 Social movements and public discourse on politics 7 Industrial history and the artifice of laissez-faire colonialism 8 State–business relations and industrial restructuring 9 Flexible manufacturing in a colonial economy
