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The Hong Kong Chinese Community in the Mid-19th Century

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  • Governor Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell
    Governor Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell (term of office: 1866-1872) supported the founding of a Chinese medicine hospital managed by Chinese people to solve hygiene problems. He officiated at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Tung Wah Hospital in 1870 and also at the hospital's inauguration ceremony on 14 February 1872.
  • Street vendors in D'Aguilar Street, Central
    Street vendors in D'Aguilar Street, Central, in the late 19th century. Hong Kong's development began after it opened its port to foreign trade and street vendors, coolies and masonry workers grew in number.
  • Queen's Road Central in Central
    Queen's Road Central in the early post-war period. In its early years, Hong Kong's British Government implemented administrative segregation of the city's Chinese and foreign populations. Foreigners mostly lived in an area stretching from Central to the Mid-levels, while Queen's Road Central served as Hong Kong's political and financial centre.
  • Criminal wearing pillory being put on public display under watchful eye of Indian police officer
    Although Hong Kong was already a colony, the British continued to impose traditional Chinese penal measures on criminals. This photograph shows a criminal wearing a pillory being put on public display under the watchful eye of an Indian police officer. Information such as the criminal's name, the crime he has committed and the site of the crime is written on the wooden sign he is wearing, so as to deter others from breaking the law. This photograph was taken in the 1910s.
  • Sir Robert Hotung
    Sir Robert Hotung studied in Government Central School (the present-day Queen's College) in his early years. Upon graduation, Sir Hotung joined first Guangdong Customs and later Jardine, Matheson & Co. He was promoted to head comprador at Jardine Matheson and when he retired in 1900 he founded his own trading company. Sir Hotung went on to build his own business empire and became the first Chinese person permitted to live on Victoria Peak.
  • Ho Fook
    Ho Fook, younger brother of Sir Robert Hotung, also graduated from Government Central School. Ho Fook's excellent command of English secured him comprador positions in E. D. Sassoon Sons & Co and Jardine, Matheson & Co, and he was later appointed as a Legislative Councillor. Sir Hotung and Ho Fook's journey to wealth through commerce and trading stands testament to the rise of Chinese businessmen in the late 19th century.
  • Spectators at Happy Valley Racecourse
    Happy Valley Racecourse in the late 19th century. In the early years, horse racing was a social activity enjoyed predominantly by foreigners in Hong Kong, and in this photograph only a handful of Chinese spectators can be seen in the stand.
  • Shops in Wellington Street, Central
    Wellington Street in the early 20th century. This street in Central is full of shops and is littered with Chinese and English advertising and shop signs.
  • Illustrations depicting bread-poisoning incident
    The Illustrated London News reports on the bread-poisoning incident that shocked Hong Kong, with illustrations depicting "E-Sing Bakery" (top) and "Cheong Ah Lum of the bread-poisoning incident taken in for questioning" (bottom). On 15 January 1857, about 400 Europeans in Hong Kong suffered from poisoning after consuming bread from the E-Sing Bakery. Cheong Ah Lum, the proprietor, and a few of his workers were arrested, but they were acquitted of all charges for lack of evidence. Despite being acquitted, Cheong and his workers were fined and deported from Hong Kong. The bread-poisoning incident illustrates the tension that existed between Chinese and foreign residents of Hong Kong at that time.
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