Refugees from China to Hong Kong during the Treaty Ports Era

This essay reconstructs the history of refugee migration from China to the British colony of Hong Kong before the Pacific War. Especially the Chinese refugees were one of the largest groups in the history of the British Empire and their arrival ended with shaping the social and economic development of the colony itself. Refugee-generating events included the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), the fall of the Qing imperial dynasty, a civil war, and the Sino-Japanese War (1937-45). Some Chinese were “political” refugees, but others were not. Some were Western evacuees from and through treaty ports. As a result, by the time Hong Kong succumbed to Japanese occupation in 1941, it had accumulated ample political ad humanitarian experience in dealing with ever greater cross-border refugee inflows, including the use of camps.

The essay documents the profile, perception, and management of refugees in a colony of the British Empire. In particular, it analyses official refugee policies and politics, showing how colonial responses reflected British imperial racial hierarchies and differentiated between Chinese and non-Chinese refugees from China. Ultimately, in a trade-based colony where self-sufficiency and profit was embraced even by resident Chinese, poor Chinese refugees were systematically repatriated, while the wealthier ones could easily settle in Hong Kong or resettle abroad, including in other British colonies.