Health Policy and Disease in Colonial and Postcolonial Hong Kong, 1841-2003

Besides looking at major outbreaks of diseases and how they were coped with, diseases such as malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, plague, venereal disease, avian flu and SARS, this book also examines how the successive government regimes in Hong Kong took action to prevent diseases and control potential threats to health. It shows how policies impacted the various Chinese and non-Chinese groups, and how policies were often formulated as a result of negotiations between these different groups. By considering developments over a long historical period, the book contrasts the different approaches in the periods of colonial rule, Japanese occupation, post-war reconstruction, transition to decolonization, and Hong Kong as Special Administrative Region within the People’s Republic of China.

Ka-che Yip is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA.

Yuen-sang Leung is Professor of History, Dean of Arts, and Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.

Man-kong Wong is Director of the China Studies Programme and Associate Professor of History at Hong Kong Baptist University, China.