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Free Trade's First Missionary: Sir John Bowring in Europe and Asia 
	by Philip Bowring
	HKU Press
	

Sir John Bowring, the fourth governor of Hong Kong, deserves to be recognised as one of the defining men of his era, says a new biography by Philip Bowring, a distant descendant and Post columnist.
Free Trade's First Missionary paints Bowring as the archetypal Victorian, a polymath and polyglot as comfortable translating Russian poetry as he was governing in the colonies.
Indeed, the primary reason Bowring isn't more of a household name, says the biographer, is that he spread himself across so many disciplines rather than focusing on one.
Bowring was born in 1792, just as the French revolution was setting off the chain of events which would ultimately lead to the emergence of Britain as Europe's leading power. As an MP during his early career, he supported a number of radical causes, not least the proto-socialist Chartist movement.
But he disagreed with his contemporary, Karl Marx, on the issue of free trade. To Bowring, free trade was an absolute necessity to economic progress. To a man who grew up during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic wars, it was also a way to build relationships between nations.
Bowring was not afraid of backing up his beliefs with actions. It was on his orders that the first shots of the Second Opium War were fired in 1856.
Bowring had been sent to Asia - first as a consul in Canton in 1849 and then governor of Hong Kong five years later - because he was seen as a man who could advance Britain's mercantile interests in the region.
It is always difficult to pass moral judgment upon those who lived during another era, and Bowring held a particularly complex - and often seemingly irreconcilable - set of views.
While the biographer is on the whole judicious in his appraisal, there are times when his desire to see the best in Bowring treads dangerously close to apologism.
The author describes Britain's opium trade as "selfish but not hypocritical", on the grounds that opium was legal in Britain at the time.
Bowring's controversial views on race are glossed over because many others shared similar opinions at the time.
Despite the book's title, Bowring crosses the line from missionary to imperialist all too frequently.
One incident in 1852 sums up the contradictions at the heart of Bowring better than any other. He fought vocally against the Asian slave trade, where indentured workers were transported around the world, particularly to the US and Australia.
But it appears his motivation to end the practice, at least according to one dispatch he sent back to London, was the damage it was doing to Britain's reputation in the region and the potential for civil disorder and revolts.
When a riot did break out in Xiamen, British marines killed 12 people to restore order.
Bowring did make several worthwhile contributions during his time in Hong Kong, and the author is thorough in the way he documents them.
As a linguist, he was keen to improve the language skills of those governing the region, introducing a student interpreter scheme.
Under his administration, Chinese citizens were first allowed to sit on juries and become lawyers in Hong Kong.
Certainly Bowring is a significant figure who has been overlooked for too long, although there is a sense that this biography presents him in a somewhat sympathetic light.
Nonetheless, Free Trade's First Missionary is a welcome introduction to the life of a man who helped shape the nature of trade in China.


Book review: Free Trade's First Missionary, by Philip Bowring

A view of Hong Kong harbour before John Bowring's time as governor.

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Sir John Bowring, the fourth governor of Hong Kong, deserves to be recognised as one of the defining men of his era, says a new biography by Philip Bowring, a distant descendant and Post columnist.
