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Chapter 17: Hong Kong Becomes Cosmopolitan
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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The British no longer had the monopoly of influence in China. The French, German, Russian and American nationals were taking advantage of the weakness of the Chinese Empire to set up their own concessionary areas and trading outposts in various treaty ports. Hong Kong no longer occupied the premier position on the China Coast. Other treaty ports were growing in importance with Shanghai rapidly outstripping Hong Kong in wealth and power. With the appointment of Sir Frederick Elgin as consular representative in Peking, the governor of Hong Kong lost his remaining influence over events in the treaty ports. By 1865, the Supreme Court for trying cases that originated in China or Japan had been moved to Shanghai. Hong Kong was no longer in the same sense the gateway to China. Hong Kong had always possessed a wide mix of nationalities, with men from Macau, Malaya and India living side by side with those from Manila and of course the large majority from China. But the British had always kept political and economic power in their own hands. As regards economic power, this was set to change. A multi-national, multi-cultural band of talented and enterprising men found that Hong Kong offered them good business opportunities and decided to stay. They united in giving to Hong Kong something it had seldom previously found, commitment to its interests and its future. They regarded Hong Kong as home for themselves and their heirs. To them, Hong Kong’s needs were important and they were ready to donate time and money to their adopted home, particularly in the fields of health and education. These men included among their numbers, Germans, Armenians from Macedonia, Jews from Baghdad, Indians and Parsees from Calcutta, Bombay and Isfahan, as well as the Portuguese from Macau. The Portuguese were numerous and wealthy enough to open the new Club Lusitano in December 1866 with a grand ball. The club boasted the best theatre in the territory and was used by drama groups and touring opera companies for many years to come. This Chapter 17 Hong Kong Becomes Cosmopolitan Lim_txt.indd 349 28/12/2010 4:16 PM Forgotten Souls 350 group were joined by an increasing number of wealthy Chinese businessmen, many of whom had fled the disturbances caused by the Taiping Rebellion. On the occasion of the visit of Prince Alfred with HMS Galatea, at least one day of the duke’s visit was devoted to Chinese receptions and entertainments denoting that a measure of recognition was now accorded to the respectable and prosperous portion of the Chinese community. 1 Among this band of men who now lie in the cemeteries of Hong Kong are the giants of Hong Kong history, the Armenian Sir Catchick Paul Chater, the Parsees, Sir Hormusjee Mody and Dorabjee Nowrojee buried in the Parsee Cemetery, and the Jews, Emanuel Raphael Belilios and members of the Sassoon family in the Jewish Cemetery. During the years 1861–75, they were waiting in the wings, learning skills, and gaining experience and wealth as a series of reforms made Hong Kong into the kind of place where they could succeed. As young men, they became Freemasons, played cricket, and did those things that would give them the contacts and the influence they would need to further their careers. For example, they took part in horticultural shows. In the 1874 show, Nowrojee took prizes for his camellias and dahlias and J.H. Noronha, the Portuguese printer and publisher, won first prize for his group of six vegetables and Belilios won third prize for presenting three plants in flower. The long list of prize winners shows that they were among the best company and making their names known. These men were businessmen rather than merchants. They helped propel the colony to new economic heights, becoming an ever-present force that changed the balance of power in the colony. They were to act as make-weight against the British merchants whose wider interests connected to the treaty ports often left them with less time or energy to tackle the problems of the long-term governance of Hong Kong. The pages of the jury lists in the Government Gazette show clearly the changing composition of the ‘respectable’ part of Hong Kong’s population and the way these changes were producing a more cosmopolitan society. 2 In 1855, there were no Parsees in the jury list. By 1865, there were thirteen of whom five had been honoured with the title of special...