Voices From The Past: Hong Kong 1842-1918
by Solomon Bard
Hong Kong University Press $250
'News is the first draft of history.' So said Ben Bradlee, a character from Voyage Round The World by Captain Edward Belcher. Taking this to heart, archaeologist Dr Solomon Bard has assembled cuttings from local English-language newspapers from 1842 to 1918 to paint a picture of colonial Hong Kong that makes a lively supplement to other histories of the territory.
Seen through the eyes of the press, Hong Kong emerges as a place that never stops expanding, and is bursting with opinionated, quirky and eccentric characters. There are news stories about the people who have given their names to the streets: Sir John Bowring, a governor who was honoured by the Chinese community but ignored by Europeans; Sir Paul Chater, who came to Hong Kong as a bank clerk and became one of its wealthiest citizens; and Captain Belcher, author of the opening quote, who was also captain of the British ship which claimed the island of Hong Kong for the British crown in 1841.
Many of the clippings are unintentionally funny. In particular, the pompous tone of newspaper editorials speaks volumes about the attitudes of the colonialists. On the subject of the launch of the South China Morning Post in November 1903, the Hongkong Telegraph wrote: 'Hongkong's troubles are to be increased next month by the addition of a new daily newspaper with the voluminous title of The Morning Post Of South China. A journalist from Japan is the editor. We sympathise deeply with Hongkong. It will soon be as bad as Shanghai in this respect.'