The Hill Stations and Summer Resorts of the Orient

Abstract

HE institution known as the hill station or the summer resort is a phenomenon connected with the residence of the Occidental in the Orient.' Going to the hills is a regular part of the annual calendar of nearly all Occidentals whose economic status and employment affiliations will permit a somewhat extended vacation at a resort. The hill station is not a native institution but one developed during the nineteenth century by the British and Dutch colonial masters in order to make sojourns in a foreign land less uncomfortable. In the past century the hill-station custom has spread throughout the Orient, with varying frequency of distribution and different standards of provision for the summer visitor. It is the purpose of this article to inquire into the origin of the hill station, the growth of the custom of going to the hills, and the effects on native customs and economies. The term is applied to the Asiatic lands from western India2 around to northern Japan. The whole of the Orient is discussed, even though a considerable part of it lies outside the tropics.