Sanitary Reforms in Hong Kong (Second Half of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century)

Sanitary reforms in China began in parts of the country where European influence was strong. The British colony of Hong Kong was at the forefront of sanitary reforms, where the population naturally had to adapt to the difficult conditions of the climate, the burden of infectious diseases and constant overcrowding. By the early 1880s, the colony's growing Chinese population and disorderly housing development raised serious concerns among the European community that the presence of the Chinese posed a tangible threat to the health and well-being of Europeans in this part of East Asia. This sentiment prompted a series of sanitary reforms, catalyzed by the reports of colonial engineer Osbert Chadwick, a staunch advocate of sanitation and equal access to modern sanitary infrastructure. His reports of 1882 and 1902 set the course of sanitary reform in Hong Kong for the long term. They were also a response to the Hong Kong Chinese community's request for universal access to adequate methods of rainwater and domestic sewage disposal, as well as access to a more equitable water supply. Like all fast-growing global cities, Hong Kong's continued development was impossible without an extensive sanitation transformation program. It was advocated not only by the most far-sighted members of the colonial administration, but also by much of the colony's Chinese population.

Keywords

China, Hong Kong, sanitary reforms, transit of sanitation idea, Osbert Chadwick, sewerage, sewage disposal, water supply

Received

13.09.2022

Publication date

25.12.2022

Number of characters

58788

Cite

GOST	Mikhel I. Sanitary Reforms in Hong Kong (Second Half of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century) // ISTORIYA – 2022. – V. 13. – Issue 12 (122). Part 1 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840023975-1-1 (circulation date: 18.07.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023975-1
MLA	Mikhel, Irina "Sanitary Reforms in Hong Kong (Second Half of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century)." ISTORIYA 13.12-1 (122) (2022) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023975-1
APA	Mikhel I. (2022). Sanitary Reforms in Hong Kong (Second Half of the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century). ISTORIYA 13(12-1 (122)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840023975-1

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 210

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Mikhel' D. V., Mikhel' I. V. Likhoradka 1843 g. i nachalo sanitarnykh reform v kolonial'nom Gonkonge XIX v. // Sotsial'nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura. Seriya 9: Vostokovedenie i afrikanistika. 2022. № 1. S. 89—105.

2. An Ordinance to Provide a Supply of Water for the City of Victoria, and Appropriate a Sum Not Exceeding Thirty Thousand Pounds for Such Purposes // The Ordinances of Hong Kong. L.: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1866. P. 212—213.

3. An Overview of Water Supplies in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Monthly Digest Statistics, 2015.

4. Benedict C. Bubonic Plague in Nineteenth Century China // Modern China. 1988. Vol. 14 (2). P. 107—155.

5. Chadwick E. Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain: With Appendices. L.: Clowes and sons, 1842.

6. Chadwick O. Report on the Sanitation of Hongkong. Hongkong: Government Printer, 1902.

7. Chadwick O. Reports on the Sanitary Condition of Hong Kong; With Appendices and Plans. L.: Printed by George E.mB. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1882.

8. Chau K.nW. Management of Limited Water Resources in Hong Kong // International Journal of Water Resources Development. 1993. Vol. 9 (1). P. 65—73.

9. Choa G. H. The Life and Times of Sir Kai Ho Kai. A Prominent Figure in Nineteenth-Century Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2000.

10. Chu C. Combating Nuisance: Sanitation, Regulation, and the Politics of Property in Colonial Hong Kong / eds. Peckham R., Pomfret D. M. // Imperial Contagions: Medicine, Hygiene, and Cultures of Planning in Asia. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2013. P. 17—36.

11. Corlett R. T. Environmental Forestry in Hong Kong: 1871—1997 // Forest Ecology and Management. 1999. Vol. 116. P. 93—105.

12. Cowell C. The Hong Kong Fever of 1843: Collective Trauma and the Reconfiguring of Colonial Space // Modern Asian Studies. 2013. Vol. 47 (2). P. 329—364.

13. Evans D. E. Chinatown in Hong Kong: The Beginnings of Taipingshan // Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 1970. Vol. 10. P. 69—78.

14. Fortune R. A Journey to the Tea Countries of China: Including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills; with a Short Notice of the East India Company's Tea Plantations in the Himalaya Mountains. London: John Murray, 1852.

15. Ho F. C. S. Western Medicine for Chinese: How the Hong Kong College of Medicine Achieved a Breakthrough. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2017.

16. Jones M. Tuberculosis, Housing and the Colonial State: Hong Kong, 1900—1950 // Modern Asian Studies. 2003. Vol. 37 (3). P. 653—682.

17. Ka-che Yip, Man Kong Wong, Yuen Sang Leung (eds.) A Documentary History of Public Health in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2019.

18. Lowson J. A. The Epidemic of Bubonic Plague in Hongkong, 1894 // Indian Medical Gazette. 1897. Vol. 32 (1). P. 6—17; Vol. 32 (1). P. 45—59; Vol. 32 (3). P. 87—91.

19. MacPherson K. L. Invisible Borders: Hong Kong, China and Imperatives of Public Health / eds. Lewis M. J., MacPherson K. L. // Public Health in Asia and the Pacific: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2008. P. 10—54.

20. Marian M. Fever Dreams: Infectious Disease, Epidemic Events, and the Making of Hong Kong. A Thesis Submitted in Conformity with the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2016.

21. Martin R. M. Reports, Minutes and Despatches, on the British Position and Prospects in China. L.: Harrison, 1846.

22. Peckham R. Hygienic Nature: Afforestation and the Greening of Colonial Hong Kong // Modern Asian Studies. 2015. Vol. 49 (4). P. 1177—1209.

23. Report of the Meeting of the Legislative Council. November 27, 1902 // Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong. Hongkong: Government Printer, 1902. P. 69—79.

24. Rogaski R. Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

25. Sihn Kyu-hwan. Reorganizing Hospital Space: The 1894 Plague Epidemic in Hong Kong and Germ Theory // Korean Journal of Medical History. 2017. Vol. 26. P. 59—94.

26. Sinn E. Power and Charity: A Chinese Merchant Elite in Colonial Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003.

27. Sutphen M. P. Not What, But Where: Bubonic Plague and the Reception of Germ Theories in Hong Kong and Calcutta, 1894—1897 // Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 1997. Vol. 52 (11). P. 81—113.

28. Taipingshan Resumption Ordinance, 1894 // Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online. Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1984. Vol. 2 (2). P. 123—139.

29. Wilson J. Medical Notes on China. London: John Churchill, 1846.

30. Yuk-sik Chong. A Night Soil Collection Point: The Public Toilets in Hong Kong, 1860s — 1920s // Social Transformations in Chinese Societies. 2016. Vol. 12 (2). P. 98—113.