Colonial Hong Kong’s Racist Past 

You won't see topics like this being taught in British schools or International schools in HK. Informative video as always 👍

In 2017 South African politician Helen Zillie suggested that some aspects of colonialism in Africa was positive. Shortly thereafter she was forced to apologize “unreservedly for a tweet that may have come across as a defense of colonialism.” In 2019 rioters trashed the Legco building in Hong Kong and put up a Hong Kong colonial era flag at the podium. The western news media routinely refer to them as “pro-democracy activists”. So it seems racism and colonialism against Africa is absolutely forbidden. Racism and colonialism against China is actively encouraged.

I always found it strange that Hong Kong expat slang used the word "heathen" to refer to Chinese. It had such a Victorian drawing room ring to it. Now I see the mindset it comes from.

Being a university student here in Hong Kong, I see so much ridiculous nostalgia for the British colonial rule, even more ever since the Umbrella Movement and the 2019 anti-extradition protests. I understand how horrible and dystopian the Chinese government is, but my biggest pet peeve is how many young Hong Kongers born after the handover expressing their supremacy over others by waving a flag that implies nostalgia for wanting to be a second class citizen.

Did you participate in any podcast or interviews in the past? Would love to listen to them if available.

Thank you for keeping it real and laying down the truth for some of these misguided youth in Hong Kong who've never opened up a history book, only math books. I'm from Mongolia which was a country under Soviet protection but I've never seen anything remotely similar to what you just described in your video. The British simply looked upon the Chinese locals as primitive monkeys whose only purpose of existence was to serve their masters obediently. I hope you make more videos about Hong Kong, I'm deeply interested in its racist colonial past.

How dare you! You are not supposed to shatter our ignorant illusions about how unpleasant Hong Kong could be under 'benevolent' British rule. (JK)

I met a man who was flogged in Hong Kong, he was quite a rough Scotsman

public hangings happened in England until 1868, that is why they were banned in HK too after that :) floggings was common in England too, even for such meager infractions as being unemployed

i was born in HK about 13 months before Pearl Harbor was bombed, we left in 1942 because the Japanese Military Intelligence was looking for my father. We came back in 1949 and I left to go to college in USA in 1957. I don't recognize the description of HK in this video. HK was NOT ruled by some tyrannical foreign power that oppressed the Chinese population, anyone who had been there would see this was obvious. It was a very free economy, not some slave plantation. The court system was based on British Common Law, the police were just like any British law enforcement. HK was one of the "Asian Tiger" economies the grew extremely rapidly during the 1950's and thereafter, it was a major port of entry for trade with China. I did NOT see opium dens for brothels or anything else like that, crime was very low, when I was 10 years old it was safe to go anywhere and do anything except commit crimes. It was a lot safer than any American or European city, the police were no more corrupt than police in Europe or USA, courts didn't discriminate and the British military respected the rights of local people as much as they would in England. If HK was ruled oppressively it would NEVER have developed the way it did, it was the respect for law and human rights that enabled the spectacular economic progress that took place in the '60's and 70's. Taiwan, and even Singapore were more authoritarian in those days. HK is no longer as free as it was then, the commies have cracked down extremely hard and I'm not so sure it would be that safe to go back, besides it would be very depressing to see how they changed everything, you never saw the kind of demonstrations where the local police would use triads to attack demonstrators. The triads are the equivalent of violent prison gangs, it would be like the San Francisco PD using a gang like this to respond to a civil rights demonstration. Anyone who's ever heard of these prison gangs will understand what that means. Basically it means it's something crazy that would never happen over here.. But these days in HK, it's what passes for "good law enforcement".. I never had a problem with the HK cops.. in fact I saw them as very professional, well disciplined and protecting us... all that's changed, and not for the better..

regardless of this racist past, can't deny that HK would still be nothing more than a fishing village if not for the British

Today HK people complaint about living in wood plank partitioned rooms. In my 30 years living in HK since the 50th, me and my family of 5 and all relatives , fiends lived in such partitioned rooms as the norm. There can be no hope of improvement whatever.

It's so nice to see how highly the British thought of their Chinese territorial possession

No mention of rules regarding interracial marriage…

In the early 1970s, the British government under which Hong Kong was its colony agreed quietly (i.e. did not object - oppose) with the PRC to delist British Hong Kong from the formal UN List of Colonies. Hong Kong island and Kowloon peninsula were ceded in perpetuity to Britain as a result of the two 19th century Opium Wars. Britain in allowing the delisting of British Hong Kong as a former colony thus never intended to give independence to Hong Kong island and Kowloon upon the 99 year lease of the New Territories ending in 1997. Hong Kongers in British Hong Kong colony forfeited the political right to seek political independence from their British colonial masters (and PRC for that matter) with the formal legal delisting. The British were more concerned about continuing their commercial and economic interests in the Far East rather than democracy for those under their rule.

Makes all the HK rioters waving the UK flag all the more ridiculous.

HK rioters be waving the british flag.

wow ! I had not realised. This explains about Hollywood Road that marked the Boundary in the mid levels between where the British lived. My Grandparents are of Anglo Portuguese Chinese mix born in HK. lived around Sheung Wan/ Sai Ying Pun. I guessing HK Eurasians faced the same level of discrimination which is probably why the migrated to Singapore in their early 20s.

This is what the Hong Kong protestors want lmao.

This reminds me of the classical TV series "Shangshai Bund", made in HK in the early 1980s. The setting was mostly in Shanghai French colony, but several episodes were in HK. The colonies were certainly not a paradise that the young generation fancied. The colony governments were corrupted and colluded with the local elites to maximize its profits, and would not be hesitant to use fatal force against the local population.

Certainly not condoning the British behaviour, but it’s also just worth mentioning that up until only about 80 years ago this is basically how every country / kingdom / empire / dynasty behaved. For most of Human history the world was a pretty horrible place to live.

Hong kong under the British was way better than the way they waould have been under mao In the end the brush shared freedom and markets with Hong Kong My best teacher I ever had was from Hong kong … he referred to Hong kong as a British crown colony and described looking out the window at their school at Chinese citizens trying to escape from communist China as they were shot at by Chinese communist soldiers Why would a Chinese national try to escape to Britain colony unless he thought if he made it he wouldn’t be dead The world has lost most of its free countries Most of them left were either part of the British empire

There's an enormous amount of Outrage in the British media over the Chinese governance of Hong Kong. EVERY SINGLE Member of the British Media should be FORCED to watch this and similar videos and then be COMPELLED to Defend their ongoing Arrogance and Hypocrisy!

I find it a bit unfair that the Brit's racist ways was to allow local Chinese to be organized under Qing law, which they were most familiar and wouldn't create a border that only exists on paper until 1960s.

Could you give the sources of the artworks shown please?

Hong Kong wasn;t a colony - it was British territory as it was purchased outright form the Chinese Empress or in 1897 leased from the empress. Therefore not a colony a but a British territory.

You ought to 'maintain the anti-colonial rage' when you next review eg. relations between the USA & Philippines in the aftermath of the US-Spanish war, massacres in the north included. By the late 19th century, the US was an expanding power with global imperial, racist aspirations (what else to expect?). Amongst other things. it stole the Hawaiian islands and basically annexed Panama to build the canal - albeit a fine piece of civil engineering that my late mother transited in late 1938. Your pontifications against all- things British are nauseatingly ill-informed and hypocritical, and we haven't yet addressed long-standing racism in the US itself against blacks and native Indians (and systematic theft of tribal lands despite treaties). President Wilson was a bigoted racist too. And FDR's WW2 anti-British Empire rhetoric and policies were equally ill-informed and antithetical to efficient prosecution of allied war aims. The world is a complex messy imperfect place. I've travelled extensively around the Phil north (a fine region) and seen numerous monuments to local heroes in the Phil-US war of independence; so I am modestly well informed on this stuff. Finally, the average Chinese family was better off in socio-economic metrics in HK than mainland China. despite the 101 evident imperfections and failings of British rule. TTFN old boy!

Its interesting to note that some of those racist,'Imperial' attitudes by expats toward Chinese still prevail in Hong Kong nearly 30 years after handover and,by some, who had no memory of Hong Kong as a Colony,arriving, some years in many cases, after handover.

What colonial society isn't racist?

History is the best indicator of ones race,the western race never changed…

Bail from position of power only to have it be replaced by another oppressive authority.

The thing overlooked in this is that HK had no significant native population. If HK was so terrible to the Han then none of them would have moved or stayed there.

Why constantly refer to "Europeans"? Virtually ALL "Europeans" in Hong Kong were BRITISH. So call out British Racism!

These people are new hkers post 1967. especially the kids. original hkers went through the racism

Another interesting video

Thank you for this. Very fascinating . Would be great to have something like this about the HSBC bank too as it is also related to this .... The bank was founded on drugs money and transferring that back to the UK and it is still in operation today !!

Interesting as I might have mixed race ancestors from Hong Kong that were also British

This is the standard story of European colonization not just British. Actually the British may have been a little nicer than the rest. It is also not any different from the stories of other colonizers before that. Point is, the world has changed and keeps changing. Let us all - Europeans, Asians, and Africans learn to leave together, help each other to live well. Let’s stop living in the past.

Just saying, the Chinese population of HK( at least some) incredibly hated their Manchu Rulers, so much so that they weren't phased by this rule. Also, the spectrum of racism back then isn't the same as now. This was all accepted by the whites as it was part of their common belief. One example of over the top racism that even whites back then critized was lynchings in america of blacks. Thirdly, these ordinances were very short and godamn Peak Ordinance is used so much in every video I watch about old hong kong that it is so godamn funny, the peak ordinance wasn't a strict law,Chinese people could own land there in the 1920's and they could live there immediately after it was repealed. Honestly, racism in Hong Kong is a gradual step to improvement. In the 1950's HK was a great society.

In Hong Kong The Han Chinese there treat Non Han Chinese in many kinds of occupations, jobs, businesses, warehouses, markets, shops, meets, and on and on like waste

UK now near collapsing

The Colonial times was a golden age for Hong Kong.

I find the story disturbing, and surprised because I have not met a Hong Konger in the U.S.A. that complains about the British rule. Most Hong Konger I have met usually don’t have anything nice to say about the CCP.

"Chinese people couldn't walk their streets late at night, certainly not without a pass and a lantern". I seem to recall that this was quite a normal rule for many places across the world. I mean, Chinese even used to close their streets entirely with gates. Carrying a lantern with you meant that you were recognizeable from far away for night watch. Similarily, flogging and hanging were also quite normal punishments for lower classes back in England. There was racism in XIXth century British society, but not all your examples are well picked.

UK contribution housing/ education/ UK law and constitution … UK pls come back Hong Kong AGAIN📣📣📣thanks

hurr hyatt man bad

Thanks UK contribution about Education/ Housing/ Medical in Hong Kong 🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️👏🏻👏🏻

These racist practices were a small price to pay for being civilised by the British. I am a Singaporean Chinese. And obviously our forefathers felt the same, since they were eager to move to Hong Kong and Singapore

I find it fascinating that Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) was granted democracy by their British colonizers in 1931. Sri Lanka is Asia's oldest democracy. It's 2020 and Hong Kong is still fighting for democracy. Britain wanted to give Hong Kong democracy in the 1950s and 1960s, but the China's Communist government threatened to invade Hong Kong to prevent this.

You sound like American basketball fan. Have a nice life

Pfttt, baby.

5:08 - 50 HKD give me a break, that's mere chump change.

I am from Hong Kong but do not find the British racist at all. What about the Chinese who are now carrying out a genocide against the Muslim Uyghurs?

Those racist measures were certainly horrific, but the whole city and its economy were obviously created under British rule. And towards the end they (the more modern British) at least tried to establish a more modern, democratic way of things. And that was supposed to last until 2047. And obviously that's not how it's going to be. I'm just saying that how bad things ever were historically, maybe the handover wasn't the best solution in the end? A sovereign nation of Hong Kong more so, but yes, it would've been another Taiwan, of course... I know, it's not easy.

"There is no rational reason for requiring a Chinese, and only Chinese mind you, both peasant and business man to have to carry a lantern, except for racism." -I'm sorry, but of course there is one. If the propensity for criminal behavior was much higher for that particular group, and the cost of enforcement high (too small a number of constables for the number of locals), it is not irrational to discriminate in such fashion. It's not PC by today's standards, but it is not irrational. I'm not saying that's why they did it, I don't know, but the point is, neither do you. Suspecting irrational prejudice in others that are no longer here to defend their action is too easy, but it is far more likely that they had reason for what they did, much like you and I have reasons for what we do today.

Old things practiced in the past had already died more than fifty years ago new rules come old rules gone things gonna be better and better as years go by. The economy is for every one since 1960