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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism How fiscal revenue needs drove public policy

the public interest. For the Chinese, Chu concluded that as premiums. The key benefit was that the leases provided
the defining feature of Hong Kong was its civil order, a strong statutory power over development. Despite this
rule of law, and market freedoms not available in their power, the colonial government allowed the market to
home country. dictate the pace of urban growth which was central to
How this evolved in a freeport established by a British Hong Kong’s success.
Colonial Government committed to laissez-faire economics In 1894, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague, which
is exposed in a series of histories outlined in Chapters 2 to 6 came after many years of concern about the unsatisfactory
of her book. Her opening chapter sets the scene for her growth in water supply to match the growing population
arguments and includes her conclusions. The requirement and concerns about poor sanitary arrangements, especially
by Britain for the Hong Kong colonial government to be in the working-class native Chinese tenements. As
self-sufficient was the original driver to raise revenue from described in Chapter 3, the plague victims were mostly
land sales to European and Chinese Speculators who were located in the dense Chinese district of Taipingshan.
needed to build Hong Kong. As most land in Hong Kong is A Sanitary Committee was established to investigate
owned by the government, the regular sale of leaseholds as the causes and they concluded that the area should be
Hong Kong grew produced a good proportion of the fiscal demolished and redeveloped to protect the wellbeing of the
budget. (Overseas readers unfamiliar with Hong Kong’s population. However, rather than being seen as a triumph
fiscal system will find it useful to read Land Premium and at the time, the resumption (i.e., compulsory acquisition)
Hong Kong Budget: Myths and Realities, a short paper by of the area necessary to do this was challenged by the
Liu (2015), Chinese University of Hong Kong). landlords on costs. In government, the decision to resume
Chu’s research reveals over time that both events and was only carried by one vote. The game-changing vote was
politics required the government to move beyond laissez- cast by Dr. Ho Kai, an unofficial member who also sat on
faire economics and to become interventionist to tackle the Sanitary Board and the Housing Committee. He had
diseased slum areas and unsafe buildings and to shape new long sought to educate the native Chinese about Western
urban development to deliver healthier housing and better medicine and ideas of public health.
environments. Populations fleeing Hong Kong during Despite this intervention, the bubonic plague
epidemics showed that cities need to be healthy if they are to continued to return on an annual basis. In Chapter 4, Chu
prosper. This tallied with overseas experience because there outlines another step forward in colonial administration.
was a growing understanding of the relationship between In 1903, Governor Henry Blake tried an experiment in
health and economy in the 19 century. The result was to the Sai Ying Pun area. He persuaded the Sanitary Board
th
induce a shift in colonial land strategy to accept reduced to transfer the management of two tenement blocks to
land premiums and rely on the private sector to help pay him when the disease risk was high. Blake asked for
for social provision. This also had a bearing on colonial volunteers in the local community to form a kaifong
segregation strategies to reflect different expectations of the (a street committee, a traditional, informal Chinese
European and native Chinese communities. The measures governing unit). This appeal was successful and gained
adopted reflected the need to maintain the loyalty of the the support of the Chinese merchant elites. While the
Chinese merchant elites and native Chinese population. initiative did not ultimately eradicate the plague, no
It is not possible to do justice to Chu’s histories fully bodies were abandoned in the street and residents
illustrated by contemporary photos, maps, drawings, and willingly reported sickness, unlike previously badly
plans in this short review. However, a few examples below handled epidemics. This approach helped cement mutual
help give a flavor of her research. They give illustrations of dependence between the British administration and the
how the forces for change emerged through the operation Chinese merchant elites.
of the land system and why the government intervened Chu also looked for evidence of colonial racial
in the public interest. Chu’s narratives include “people” segregation in her studies including Singapore (Yeoh,
stories and their influence on shaping public policy, which 2003) and Calcutta (Chattopadhyay, 2005). Her research
adds to the book’s strength. revealed that the use of discriminatory policies in all places
In Chapter 2, Chu describes how the colonial land was hindered by corruption, a need for public funds and
system took on its form in the mid-19 century under vested property interests. Bowing to speculator pressure
th
Captain Elliot, the first administrator. With the 1842 and public sentiment, European reservations made
Treaty of Nanking (present Nanjing), all lands in Hong provision for “respectable persons”, namely, anyone who
Kong were ceded to the British, and with that Elliot had adopted Western ways of living and had achieved
established a leasehold system for land sales, later known commercial success. Thus, colonial attempts at segregation

Volume 5 Issue 3 (2023) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1110