Political Censorship in British Hong Kong

Michael Ng is Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong and has published widely on the legal history of China and Hong Kong in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has been appointed as visiting fellow of the University of Cambridge, visiting scholar of the University of Melbourne and the National University of Singapore, and visiting Associate Professor of National Taiwan University. He was a founding officer and executive committee member of the International Society for Chinese Law and History.

• Introduction; 1. Punitive censorship and libel lawsuits against the press; 2. “Reading every line”: Era of the daily vetting of newspaper proofs; 3. “Communist China now contiguous to Hong Kong”: Censorship imposed by the “free world”; 4. “Patriotism to you can be revolutionary heresy to us”: Hardened control of media, schools and entertainment; 5. Preparing to negotiate with China: Overt loosening and covert control; 6. Liberating Hong Kong for China: De-silencing the city; Conclusion and Epilogue; Glossary of Chinese Newspapers; Index.

'Michael Ng offers an outstanding account of political censorship in colonial Hong Kong. Drawing on rich archival research, Ng argues the chimera of the rule of law in Hong Kong, and subsequent legal reforms, were largely shaped by dynamic geopolitics, particularly as between the UK and China. A terrific book.' Pip Nicholson, William Hearn Professor of Law and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (People and Community), Melbourne Law School