 Book Description
"A major contribution to the early history of Hong Kong. [Munn] has done an excellent job in challenging the established view and should be congratulated. His research is meticulous, his arguments well supported, and his case eloquently argued." -- Steve Tsang, SOAS Bulletin
“This book will surprise any reader interested in the history of Hong Kong. Through meticulous research, Munn has discovered that an extraordinary 175,000 Chinese appeared before British magistrates from the 1840s through the 1860s. Colonial law not only intervened heavily in the lives of Chinese subjects; it followed a systematic bias, contradicting the comfortable notion that the British, despite whatever other failings, at least brought justice to China.” — Timothy Brook, Run Run Shaw Professor of Chinese, University of Oxford
- Traces the development of colonial rule in early British Hong Kong, overturning the standard view that the colonial government was light and non-interventionist.
- Examines the workings of the colony's early legal system against the rhetoric of the rule of law.
- A highly readable survey of daily life in a place and time filled with colourful characters and vignettes, bringing to life individuals from all walks of life - magistrates and murderers, compradores and crooks, lawyers and labourers, pirates and policemen.
Christopher Munnserved as an administrative officer in the Hong Kong Government between 1980 and 1992. After a short break in the mid-nineties to take a PhD at the University of Toronto, he returned toHong Kong, where he now works for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
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