Empire Retained: Hong Kong, 1950–54

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, the British acquisition of Hong Kong symbolised western imperial encroachment in China and highlighted the weakness of the Chinese empire.2 In the twentieth century, Hong Kong became a target for Chinese nationalists; in 1925 and 1926 there was a Chinese boycott of trade with Hong Kong and a general strike of Chinese workers within the colony. By the early years of the Second World War, Britain’s hold on Hong Kong seemed untenable: the colony was occupied by the Japanese, whilst the US administration pressurised the British government to return the colony to China after the war.3 Nevertheless, in the immediate post-war period, Britain retained the colony. Three changes explain this turnaround. Firstly, the new Labour government wanted an imperial possession in China; secondly, the US administration no longer pressurised Britain to return Hong Kong to a war-torn and potentially communist China; thirdly, China, weak and preoccupied by civil war, did not demand its return.4KeywordsTrade UnionLabour GovernmentBritish GovernmentEmpire RetainLegislative CouncilThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.