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Politics and Public Administration

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Hong Kong History

Part of the book series: Hong Kong Studies Reader Series ((HKSRS))

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Abstract

No one can deny the centrality of politics and public administration to the history of any place. The government is always of most resources to make possible any act of governance and to initiate change or reform in the community. The same is true with Hong Kong. In the historiography of Hong Kong History, politics and public administration of the Hong Kong government is a dominant theme. In 1999, Lau Siu-kai (劉兆佳), Wan Po-san (尹寶珊), and Shum Kwok-cheung (沈國祥) edited a massive volume of 630 pages entitled Hong Kong Politics: A Bibliography, in which they identify six subthemes, namely (1) general works, (2) political system and institutions, (3) organisation and process, (4) external relations, (5) regime transition, and (6) others that include biographies and personages, as well as commentaries. The bibliography alone lists over 5500 items. Of these, some are not historical studies but time has made them relevant to historians. Moreover, the list has grown quite substantially in the past twenty years. Hence, this chapter cannot do the full justice to either list or comment all of these works. Rather, it would make sense of the general trends and salient features. It should be noted that the post-handover developments are thoroughly discussed in the volume edited by Brian C. H. Fong, namely Hong Kong Politics: In Search of Autonomy, Democracy and Governance under this “Hong Kong Studies Reader Series.”

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999.

  2. 2.

    For example, I have complied a bibliography (altogether 123 pages) of studies about Hong Kong history from 1997 to 2015. See, Wong Man-kong, “A Bibliography of English and Chinese Academic Writings on the History of Hong Kong, 1997–2015,” in Wang Gungwu 王賡武 (ed.), Xianggangshi xinbian 香港史新編 (Hong Kong History: New Perspectives) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company, 2017), pp. 975–1098.

  3. 3.

    Canton: Friend of China Office, 1861.

  4. 4.

    Christopher Munn, “William Tarrant,” in May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn (eds)., Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012). p. 429.

  5. 5.

    See Wong Man-kong, “The Use of Sinology in the Nineteenth Century: Two Perspectives Revealed in the History of Hong Kong,” in Lee Pui-tak (ed.), Colonial Hong Kong and Modern China: Interaction and Reintegration (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005). pp. 135–154.

  6. 6.

    London, Luzac & Company: Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh, 1895.

  7. 7.

    Anthony Sweeting, “E.J. Eitel’s ‘Europe in China’: A Reappraisal of The Messages and The Man,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 48, (2008), pp. 89–109.

  8. 8.

    The book manuscript was published rather late. It was published by Hong Kong University Press in 1980.

  9. 9.

    The book manuscript was similarly published late. It was published by Hong Kong University Press in 1975.

  10. 10.

    First edition: Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1958; revised edition: Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1973. The revised edition has gone through eleven impressions up to 1993.

  11. 11.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1964.

  12. 12.

    The book is published by Oxford University Press, Hong Kong – 1st edition: 1975, 2nd edition: 1977, 3rd edition: 1981; 4th edition: 1986, 5th edition: 1991, 5th edition with Chris Patten’s reform updates: 1995; and 5th edition with post-handover updates: 1998.

  13. 13.

    Hong Kong; New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

  14. 14.

    HKU Legal Scholarship Blog: “Peter Wesley-Smith Reminisces on How He Became HKU’s First PhD in Law (17 January 2016),” http://researchblog.law.hku.hk/2016/01/peter-wesley-smith-reminisces-on-how-he.html

  15. 15.

    First edition: Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1980; revised edition: Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  16. 16.

    Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1988.

  17. 17.

    Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1990.

  18. 18.

    This was published in Hong Kong by Hong Kong University Press, 1994. It is part of the “Hong Kong Becoming China: The Transition to 1997” Book Series. This series is co-published by M. E. Sharpe in New York.

  19. 19.

    London: I.B. Tauris, 1997.

  20. 20.

    This belongs to the book series run by St. Antony’s College, the University of Oxford, published by Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997.

  21. 21.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1999; its European publisher is London: Hurst and Company, 1999.

  22. 22.

    New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

  23. 23.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010; 2nd edition, 2018.

  24. 24.

    Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1997. Arguably, Liu is the most prolific historian in the group. He is the author and editor for many volumes on the history of Hong Kong. See, for example, Liu Shuyong Xianggangshi Wenji 劉蜀永香港史文集 (The collected studies of Hong Kong history by Liu Shuyong) (Hong Kong: Chung Hwa Bookstore, 2010).

  25. 25.

    The book is in Chinese, its original title is Lishi de Chenzhong: Cong Xianggang Kan Zhongguodalu de Xianggangshi Lunshu 歷史的沉重:從香港看中國大陸的香港史論述歷史的沉重. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2000.

  26. 26.

    Steve Tsang (ed.), Government and Politics (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1995).

  27. 27.

    See his brief report in Oral History (Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sincia) 2, (1991), pp. 273–279.

  28. 28.

    “Transcript of Interview with the Lord LacLehose of Beoch, KT, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DL, Political Advisor, Government of Hong Kong (1959–62) Governor of Hong Kong (1971–1982),” MSS. Ind. Ocn. s. 377, Commonwealth and African Studies Collection, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Oxford. The transcript is released on 1 January 2012.

  29. 29.

    Elizabeth Sinn (ed.), Hong Kong, British Crown Colony Revisited (Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 2001).

  30. 30.

    James Hayes, Friends and Teachers Hong Kong and Its People 1953–87 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1996).

  31. 31.

    Rayson Lisung Huang, A Lifetime in Academia: An Autobiography by Rayson Huang (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2000).

  32. 32.

    S. Y. Chung, Hong Kong’s Journey to Reunification: Memoirs of Sze-yuen Chung (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2001).

  33. 33.

    Denis Bray, Hong Kong Metamorphosis (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2001).

  34. 34.

    Elsie Tu, Colonial Hong Kong in the Eyes of Elsie Tu (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003).

  35. 35.

    Allen Lee 李鵬飛, Fengyu Sanshinian: Li Pengfei Huiyilu 風雨三十年:李鵬飛回憶錄 (Memoir by Allen Lee) (Hong Kong: TOM (Cup Magazine) Publishing Limited, 2004).

  36. 36.

    Eric Peter Ho, Times of Change: A Memoir of Hong Kong’s Governance, 1950–1991 (Leiden: Brill, 2005).

  37. 37.

    Jin Yaoru, Xiangjiang Wushi nian Yiwang (Memoir of fifty years in Hong Kong) (Hong Kong: Jin Yaoru Memorial Foundation, 2005).

  38. 38.

    Szeto Wah 司徒華, Da Jiang Dong Qu: Situ Hua Huiyilu 大江東去:司徒華回憶錄 (Memoir by Szeto Wah) (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  39. 39.

    Lawrence W. R. Mills, Protecting Free Trade: The Hong Kong Paradox, 1947–97. A Personal Reminiscence (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012).

  40. 40.

    Richmond: Curzon, 2001.

  41. 41.

    Hong Kong: Centre of Asia Studies, University of Hong Kong, 2003.

  42. 42.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009.

  43. 43.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007.

  44. 44.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012.

  45. 45.

    Hong Kong: Leisure and Cultural Service Department of the HKSAR Government, 2002.

  46. 46.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004.

  47. 47.

    Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2001.

  48. 48.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003.

  49. 49.

    Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2004.

  50. 50.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008.

  51. 51.

    For an overview of Ng’s historical scholarship, see Wong Man-kong and Lau Yee Cheung, “Xianggang Shi Kaituo Zhe: Wulun Nixia Shi di Jiaoyan Gongzuo 香港史開拓者:吳倫霓霞師的教研工作 (A trailblazer in Hong Kong history: the academic career of Ng Lun Ngai Ha),” in History Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (ed.), Guangu Tongjin, Rong Dong Hui Xi: Zhagen Shixue Wushinian 貫古通今 融東會西:扎根史學五十年 (Past and Present, East and West: Historiography in Fifty Years) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company, 2016), pp. 157–186.

  52. 52.

    Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1984.

  53. 53.

    Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1993.

  54. 54.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1990.

  55. 55.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004.

  56. 56.

    Hong Kong: Ming Pao Publications Limited, 2007.

  57. 57.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1992.

  58. 58.

    Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012.

  59. 59.

    Steve Tsang, A Documentary History of Hong Kong: Government and Politics, p. 16.

  60. 60.

    Peter Wesley-Smith, The Sources of Hong Kong Law (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1994), pp. 205–224.

  61. 61.

    Eitel, Europe in Hong Kong, pp. 170–174.

  62. 62.

    Christopher Munn, “Sir Henry Pottinger,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, p. 359.

  63. 63.

    See also, George Pottinger, Sir Henry Pottinger: The First Governor of Hong Kong (New York: St. Martin Press, 1997).

  64. 64.

    Frederic E. Wakeman, Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839–1861 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 81–88.

  65. 65.

    Chan Yue-shan, “The Maintenance of Law and Order during the Governorship of Sir John Francis Davis in Hong Kong 1844–1848,” M. Phil. Thesis, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, (1993).

  66. 66.

    For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir John Francis Davis,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 117–120.

  67. 67.

    See J. S. Gregory, Great Britain and the Taipings (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1969).

  68. 68.

    For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir Samuel George Bonham,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 36–38.

  69. 69.

    See J. Y. Wong (黃宇和), Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism, and the Arrow War (1856–1860) in China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 84–108.

  70. 70.

    By far, the best historical analysis of the Caldwell Affairs is Munn’s Anglo-China, pp. 290–328.

  71. 71.

    For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir John Bowring,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 41–44. See also Philip Bowring, Free Trade’s First Missionary: Sir John Bowring in Europe and Asia (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2014).

  72. 72.

    Steve Tsang, Governing Hong Kong. See also Henry J. Lethbridge, “Hong Kong Cadets, 1862–1941,” in Henry J. Lethbridge (ed.), Hong Kong: Stability and Change: A Collection of Essays (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1978), pp. 31–51.

  73. 73.

    Ng Lun Ngai Ha, Interactions of East and West.

  74. 74.

    For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 370–372.

  75. 75.

    Elizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity: A Chinese Merchant Elite in Colonial Hong Kong (New edition) (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003). For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 297–299.

  76. 76.

    For an overview of his life, see Shiona M. Airlie, “Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 221–222.

  77. 77.

    Poon Shuk-wah (潘淑華), “Five Years of ‘Mischievous Activity’: A Study of Governor Hennessy’s Policies towards the Chinese in Hong Kong, 1877–1882,” MPhil. Thesis, Hong Kong Baptist University, (1995). For a receptive discussion of the political career of Wu Ting-fang in Hong Kong, see Linda Pomerantz-Zhang, Wu Tingfang (1842–1922): Reform and Modernization in Modern Chinese History (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1992), pp. 41–69. For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir John Pope Hennessy,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 179–181.

  78. 78.

    Tsai Jung-fang, Hong Kong in Chinese History: Community and Social Unrest in the British Colony, 1842–1913. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 124–146. For another receptive study, see Elizabeth Sinn, “The Strike and Riot of 1884—A Hong Kong Perspective,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 22, (1982), pp. 65–98.

  79. 79.

    For an overview of his life, see Christopher Munn, “Sir George Ferguson Bowen,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 39–41. See also, Stanley Lane-Poole (ed.), Thirty Years of Colonial Government: a Selection from the Despatches and Letters of Sir George Ferguson Bowen (London: Longmans & Co., 1889), pp. 241–401.

  80. 80.

    For an overview of his life, see Shiona M. Airlie, “Sir George William Des Vœux,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 123–125. See also, George William Des Vœux, My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, And Hong Kong, With Interludes (London: John Murray, 1903).

  81. 81.

    The governor wrote a full report about the plague. See, William Robinson, Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong (London: Her Majesty Stationery Office, 1896).

  82. 82.

    For example, there was a fiction being published and widely circulated at that time. See, Gillian Bickley, Hong Kong Invaded!: A ‘97 Nightmare (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2001).

  83. 83.

    Chan Lau Kit Ching, China, Britain, and Hong Kong, 1895–1945, p. 35.

  84. 84.

    For an overview of his life, see Libby Halliday Palin, “Sir William Robinson,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 372–374.

  85. 85.

    Yip Ka-che, Leung Yuen Sang, Wong Man Kong, Health Policy and Disease in Colonial and Postcolonial Hong Kong, 1841–2003 (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016), pp. 27–28.

  86. 86.

    See, Patrick Hase, The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press; 2008).

  87. 87.

    For a succinct discussion, see Chan Lau Kit Ching, China, Britain, and Hong Kong, 1895–1945, pp. 57–60.

  88. 88.

    For an overview of his life, see Shiona M. Airlie, “Sir Henry Arthur Blake,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 32–34. In his retirement, he wrote a book about the social life in China, of which the last two chapters focused on aspects of social and cultural features in Hong Kong. See, Arthur H. Blake, China (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1909).

  89. 89.

    Peter Moss, A Century of Commitment: The KCRC Story (Hong Kong: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, 2007), p. 28.

  90. 90.

    For an overview of his life, see Judith Green, “Sir Matthew Nathan,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 333–334.

  91. 91.

    Chan Lau Kit Ching, China, Britain, and Hong Kong, 1895–1945, p. 35.

  92. 92.

    For an overview of his life, see Anthony Sweeting, “Sir Frederick John D. Lugard and Dame Flora L. Lugard,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 288–290. Lugard was probably the best-known colonialist who contributed to the writings of both administrative and scholarly notes about Colonialism. His focus, however, was more on Africa.

  93. 93.

    See, Chan Ming K., “A Turning Point in the Modern Chinese Revolution: The Historical Significance of the Canton Decade, 1917–1927,” in Gail Hershatter (ed.), Remapping China: Fissures in Historical Terrain (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), pp. 224–241; Stephanie Po-yin Chung, Chinese Business Groups in Hong Kong and Political Changes in South China, 1900–1925 (London: Macmillan Press. 1997).

  94. 94.

    For an overview of his life, see Shiona M. Airlie, “Sir Francis H. May and Helena A. V. May,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 317–319.

  95. 95.

    For an overview of his life, see Norman J. Miners, “Sir Reginald E. Stubbs,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 405–408.

  96. 96.

    For an overview of his life, see Shiona M. Airlie, “Sir Cecil Clementi,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 103–104.

  97. 97.

    Tsai Jung-fang, Hong Kong in Chinese History.

  98. 98.

    Chan Ming K, “Labour vs Crown: Aspects of Society-State Interactions in the Hong Kong Labour Movement before World War II,” in Elizabeth Sinn (ed.), Between East and West: Aspects of Social and Political Development in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1990), pp. 132–146. See also, Chan Wai-kwan, The Making of Hong Kong Society: Three Studies of Class Formation in Early Hong Kong (Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1991), pp. 145–192.

  99. 99.

    See, Zheng Wantai 鄭宏泰, Chow Chun Wai 周振威, Xianggang Da Lao: Zhou Shouchen 香港大老 周壽臣 (A Great Man in Hong Kong: Chow Shou-son) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Limited, 2006).

  100. 100.

    There are several studies about the Hong Kong Seamen’s strikes and the Hong Kong and Guangdong General Strikes. Chan Lau Kit Ching, China, Britain, and Hong Kong, 1895–1945, pp. 169–220. Daniel Y. K. Kwan, Marxist Intellectuals and the Chinese Labor Movement: A Study of Deng Zhongxia (1894–1933) (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997). John M. Carroll, Edge of Empires: Chinese Elites and British Colonials in Hong Kong (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005), pp. 131–158.

  101. 101.

    Peter Cunich, A History of the University of Hong Kong, p. 308.

  102. 102.

    Chan Lau Kit Ching, From Nothing to Nothing, pp. 78–143.

  103. 103.

    For an overview of his life, see Norman J. Miners, “Sir William Peel,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 354–357.

  104. 104.

    For an overview of his life, see Gavin Ure, “Sir Andrew Caldecott,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 58–60.

  105. 105.

    For an overview of his life, see Gavin Ure, “Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 343–344.

  106. 106.

    Gavin Ure, Governors, Politics, and the Colonial Office, pp. 46–56. See also, Leo F. Goodstadt, Profits, Politics and Panics: Hong Kong’s Banks and the Making of a Miracle Economy, 1935–1985 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007), pp. 37–58.

  107. 107.

    Diana Larry, “The Guangxi Clique and Hong Kong: Sanctuary in a Dangerous World,” in Colonial Hong Kong and Modern China, p. 165.

  108. 108.

    Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, Footprints: The Memoirs of Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke (Hong Kong: Sino-American Publ., 1975), p. 56.

  109. 109.

    Wong Man-kwon, “To Rule is to Feed: A Short History of the Nutrition Research Committee, 1938–1941.” (An unpublished paper presented at the International Conference on “The War with Japan and Social, Economic and Political Transformations of Asia-Pacific.” The University of Queensland, St. Lucia Campus, 25–26 August 2018).

  110. 110.

    H. R. Butters, Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government, 1939).

  111. 111.

    See, Wong Man-kwon, “To Rule is to Feed.”

  112. 112.

    By far, John Carroll produces the most impressive study about the centenary celebration in 1941. See John M. Carroll, Edges of Empires, pp. 159–181.

  113. 113.

    For an overview of his life, see Steve Tsang, “Sir Mark Young,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 484–486. See also, Steve Tsang, Democracy Shelved.

  114. 114.

    For an overview of his life, see Steve Tsang, “Sir Alexander W. G. H. Grantham,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 162–164. See also his autobiography, Alexander Grantham, Via Ports: From Hong Kong to Hong Kong. Revised edition with an Introduction by Lord Wilson of Tillyorn. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012).

  115. 115.

    For an overview of his life, see Libby Halliday Palin, “Sir Robert B. Black,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 30–32. See also, “Transcript of interview with Sir Robert Brown Black, GCMG, OBE, LLD. Governor of Hong Kong (1958–64),” MSS. Ind. Ocn. s. 348, Commonwealth and African Studies Collection, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Oxford. The transcript is released on 1 January 1995.

  116. 116.

    For an overview of his life, see Leo Goodstadt, “Sir David C. C. Trench,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 435–336.

  117. 117.

    For the Mark Plan, see Steve Tsang, Democracy Shelved.

  118. 118.

    Steve Tsang, “Strategy for Survival: The Cold War and Hong Kong’s Policy towards Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Activities in the 1950s,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 25, no. 2, (1997): 294–317.

  119. 119.

    David C. Wilson, “Introduction to the Paperback Edition,” Grantham, Via Ports, pp. XV.

  120. 120.

    David Faure, Colonialism and The Hong Kong Mentality, pp. 195–240.

  121. 121.

    Ray Yep, Robert Bickers, May Days in Hong Kong. See also, Ian Scott, Political Change and the Crisis of Legitimacy in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 81–120.

  122. 122.

    Wong Man-kong, “The Changing Meanings of Governorship in Hong Kong between 1945 and 1997; with References to the China Factor in Hong Kong,” Journal of the Modern Chinese History Society of Hong Kong 1, (2003), pp. 113–130. See also Mark Chi-kwan’s numerous studies in this area, namely, “Everyday Propaganda: The Leftist Press and Sino-British Relations in Hong Kong, 1952–1967,” in Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl et al., Europe and China in the Cold War: Exchanges Beyond the Bloc Logic and the Sino-Soviet Split (Leiden: Brill, 2019), pp. 151–171; “From Vietnam to Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Everyday Cold War, 1965–7,” in Antony Best (ed.), Britain’s Retreat from Empire in East Asia, 1905–1980 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017), pp. 171–189; and “Development without Decolonisation? Hong Kong’s Future and Relations with Britain and China, 1967–1972.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 24, no. 4, (2014): 315–335.

  123. 123.

    Steve Tsang, “Sir Alexander Grantham”.

  124. 124.

    Ian Scott, Political Change and the Crisis of Legitimacy in Hong Kong, p. 125.

  125. 125.

    For an overview of his life, see Steve Tsang, “Sir Crawford Murray MacLehose,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 299–302. See also, “Transcript of interview with the Lord LacLehose of Beoch.”

  126. 126.

    For an overview of his life, see Leo Goodstadt, “Sir Edward Youde,” in Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, pp. 482–484. See also, Wong Man-kong, For the Future.

  127. 127.

    For an overview of his life, see “An Oral History of Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, CMG, KCMG, GCMG, KT, Interviewed 2003.” British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, the University of Cambridge. Internet access: https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/media/uploads/files/Wilson.pdf. Also, “Reflections on Hong Kong and China by Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, Former Governor of Hong Kong” (The Presidential Lecture of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 3 October 2011). Internet Access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjt3U0rkHds&t=1169s

  128. 128.

    For a detailed account of his term of governorship in the journalistic favour, see Jonathan Dimbleby, The Last Governor: Chris Patten & the Handover of Hong Kong (London: Little, Brown, 1997). For a recent autobiographical reflection, see Chris Patten, First Confession: A Sort of Memoir (London: Allen Lane, 2017).

  129. 129.

    Steve Tsang, “Sir Crawford Murray MacLehose,” p. 301. See also, Ray Yep, “The Crusade Against Corruption in Hong Kong in the 1970s: Governor MacLehose as a Zealous Reformer or Reluctant Hero?” China Information 27, no. 2, (2013): 197–221.

  130. 130.

    See, for example, Li Pang-kwong 李彭廣, Guanzhi Xianggang: Yingguo jiemi dangan de qishi 管治香港:英國解密檔案的啟示 (Governing Hong Kong: insights from the British declassified files) (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2012).

  131. 131.

    Ray Yep, Lui Tai-lok, “Revisiting the Golden Era of MacLehose and the Dynamics of Social Reforms,” China Information 29, no. 3, (2010): 249–272.

  132. 132.

    Apart from Chung, Hong Kong’s Journey to Reunification, two similar books deserve attention although they might not be widely known due to restricted distribution. Peter Tsao Kwang-yung 曹廣榮, Xiangjiang lu wode lu: Cao Guangrong zizhuan 香江路我的路:曹廣榮自傳 (An autobiography of Peter Tsao) (Hong Kong: Publications (Holdings) Ltd., 1992). Wong Man-fong, China’s Resumption of Sovereignty Over Hong Kong (Hong Kong: David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, 1997).

  133. 133.

    Sherard Cowper-Coles, Ever the Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin (London: HarperPress, 2012), p. 150.

  134. 134.

    Lo Shiu-hing (盧兆興), The Politics of Democratization in Hong Kong (Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1997), p. 89.

  135. 135.

    For details, see Wong Man-kong, For the Future.

  136. 136.

    “An oral history of Lord Wilson of Tillyorn,” p. 46.

  137. 137.

    Ibid., p. 47.

  138. 138.

    Ibid., p. 48.

  139. 139.

    Cowper-Coles, Ever the Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin, p. 150.

  140. 140.

    Ibid., pp. 150–151.

  141. 141.

    Wilson said the following. “British businessmen complained vociferously in London that the Hong Kong Government did not give them a special deal. British ministers, I hate to say, would come and lobby me to have the Hong Kong Government buy British products. My answer was that we ran an absolutely level playing field, and the worst thing I could do as the Governor they had appointed, would be to tilt that playing field. Not only was it wrong to do so in terms of Hong Kong then, but just think of the consequences in the future. I am bound to say that I don’t think many Ministers understood that. And, similarly, the difference between being there to be avuncularly helpful or to give orders. That was quite difficult, increasingly difficult, for people to understand right down the chain – probably the more junior you got, the harder it was. You could sense that people either dealt with Hong Kong from London as though you were a County Council and you could be bossed around; or as though you were an independent power and” they could be nasty to you if they felt like it.” “An oral history of Lord Wilson of Tillyorn,” p. 56.

  142. 142.

    Lu Ping 魯平, Lu Ping koushu Xianggang huiguiI 魯平口述香港回歸 (Hong Kong and the transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China: an oral history of Lu Ping) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company, 2009), pp. 84–101.

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    Man-Kong Wong

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Wong, MK. (2022). Politics and Public Administration. In: Wong, MK., Kwong, CM. (eds) Hong Kong History. Hong Kong Studies Reader Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2806-1_1

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