Page 101 - JCAU-5-3

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

were tempered (Lugard, 1965). Interestingly, a local While the pricey hardback issue is not likely to appeal to
planning historian, Lawrence Lai, provided a “nuanced students and the general reader, the paperback issue due
analysis” which pointed to the early colonial Hong Kong out later this year will make the book more accessible.
administration protecting the European community from
powerful speculators (Lai et al., 2011). The downside was Acknowledgments
that European property values were lower, something None.
eventually challenged by European owners after World War
II, when they appealed to government to lift the protection Funding
to obtain the best prices.
No funding support was received for the preparation of
These histories of Chu’s reveal the colonial government’s this book review.
recognition that public health and economy are interlinked.
The events she covered include disease outbreaks (2500 Conflict of interest
died in 1894 from the bubonic plague), building collapses The author has no competing interests relating to this book
(43 deaths in 1901), and the colonial government’s review.
recognition of the health benefits of modern construction,
sanitation, and town planning. The lessons learned led to Author contributions
the government introducing the following interventions:
• Land resumption to enable redevelopment Not applicable.
• Changing speculators’ behavior with low interest Ethics approval and consent to participate
loans allied to delivering better building standards
• Crafting special leases to promote modern tenements Not applicable.
for Chinese workers and “garden city” enclaves for
Europeans Consent for publication
• Rent controls to discourage land speculation (for Not applicable.
instance, a new Town Planning Scheme in Kowloon
triggered land price increases of up to 400% in 1922). Availability of data
These histories of Chu’s confirm that the Hong Kong
colonial administration changed from being totally Not applicable.
laissez faire to one which was prepared to intervene in References
the public interest, not to mention, willing to embrace
Chinese elites in the bureaucracy of government. Of Chattopadhyay, S. (2005). Representing Calcutta: Modernity,
course, one cannot forget the 19 -century corrupt and Nationalism and the Colonial Uncanny. New York: Routledge.
th
dysfunctional Qing, and later Republican, governments Lai, L. W. C., Kwong, V. W. C., & Kwong, J. W. Y. (2011).
in mainland China during the formative stages of Segregation legal and natural: An empirical study of the
the colonial government. For the native Chinese, legally protected and free market housing ownership on the
elite or otherwise, Hong Kong was a place of stability, Peak. Habitat International, 35(3):501-507.
opportunity, market freedom and prosperity, unlike the Liu, P. W. (2015). Land Premium and Hong Kong Budget: Myths
corrupt and dysfunctional Qing, and later Republican, and Realities. Chinese University of Hong Kong. Available
governments in mainland China. from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_
id=2657700 [Last accessed on 2023 May 23].
I enjoyed reading this scholarly, well-researched,
and richly illustrated book, which greatly enhanced my Lugard, F. D. (1965). The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa.
knowledge of Hong Kong’s history. This book will appeal London: Frank Cass.
to a wide range of audience, including historians, urban Yeoh, B. (2003). Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power
geographers, government policymakers, architects, Relations and the Urban Built Environment. Singapore:
engineers, surveyors, and public health and housing experts. Singapore University Press.

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