Multiracial Britishness : global networks in Hong Kong, 1910-45 / Vivian Kong, University of Bristol.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kong, Vivian, 1990- author.

Series:

Modern British histories

Modren British histories

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

British--China--Hong Kong--History--20th century.

British.

National characteristics, British.

Hong Kong (China)--History--20th century.

Hong Kong (China).

Hong Kong (China)--Ethnic relations.

Great Britain--Colonies--Asia--Administration--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Colonies--Race relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 276 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Summary:

What does it mean to be British? To answer this, Multiracial Britishness takes us to an underexplored site of Britishness - the former British colony of Hong Kong. Vivian Kong asks how colonial hierarchies, the racial and cultural diversity of the British Empire, and global ideologies complicate the meaning of being British. Using multi-lingual sources and oral history, Kong traces the experiences of multiracial residents in 1910-45 Hong Kong. Guiding us through Hong Kong's global networks, and the colony's co-existing exclusive and cosmopolitan social spaces, this book uncovers the long history of multiracial Britishness. Kong argues that Britishness existed in the colony in multiple, hyphenated forms - as a racial category, but also as privileges, a means of survival, and a form of cultural and national belonging. This book offers us an important reminder that multiracial inhabitants of the British Empire were just as active in the making of Britishness as the British state and white Britons.

Contents:

Introduction. Hong Kong as a site of Britishness

British by law

The Britishers

Britishness and Chineseness in an age of nationalism

The British Portuguese

Multiracial civic Britishness

The test of war

Epilogue : after empire, after Brexit.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 23 Oct 2023).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781009202930 (ebook)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.