Transcript From Social Outcast to Colonial Elite: The Rise of an

From Social Outcast to
Colonial Elite : The Rise of
an Eurasian Entrepreneurial
Family in Hong Kong
Louella CHENG & WONG Siu-lun
Centre of Asian Studies
Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities & Social Sciences
The University of Hong Kong
Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference
Auckland, New Zealand, 17-19 July 2009
INTRODUCTION
 Hong Kong as British colony 1842-1997
 A new social group: the Eurasians
 Dubious origins and doubtful prospects
 Success story of two brothers
 Sir Robert Ho Tung (何東 1862-1957)
 Walter Bosman (何啟佳 1867-1946)
Theoretical Ideas
Ronald Burt
Structural hole
Social Brokerage
: social network analysis
: buffer between two clusters
: linkage between
disconnected subjects
Social innovation
: Vision of options otherwise
unseen
Individual brokerage : middlemen and
compradores
Institutional brokerage : entrepôts and regional hubs
Historical Background
 China, Britain and Hong Kong : a profitable
triangle
 Hong Kong as regional broker
 Special status of Hong Kong
 Independent trading unit : Chinese Maritime
Customs
 Hong Kong dollar : unique economic role
 China’s gateway to world markets
Eurasians in Hong Kong
 Demographic landscape in 1845 :
Chinese inhabitants
95.7%
Expatriate community
2.9%
British Indian troops
1.4%
 Gender imbalance in 1872 :
Sex ratio for Chinese
7:2
Sex ratio for expatriates
5:1
 Sexual liaison across racial divide :
Tabooed but inevitable
 Emergence of Eurasians as separate social category in 1850s :
“a dangerous element out of the dunghill of neglect”
(Endacott 1958)
Two Brothers: Ho Tung & Walter Bosman
 Father
: Charles Henry Maurice Bosman
(1839-1892)
 Mother
: Madame Sze
 Ho Tung
: initiated a “compradorial” family
leading figure of Chinese community
twice knighted
 Walter Bosman : trained as engineer in England
served as captain in Boer War
Director of Public Works in
Zululand
Ho Tung’s mother, Sze, c. 1890
Source : Frances Tse Liu 2003:10.
Compradores in Ho Tung Family
何東
何福
何甘棠
何世亮
何世耀
何世榮
何世儉
何世光
何世奇
何世卓
何世華
Ho Tung
Ho Fook
Ho Kom Tong
Ho Sai Leung
Ho Sai Iu
Ho Sai Wing
Ho Sai Kim
Ho Sai Kwong
Ho Sai Ki
Ho Sai Cheuk
Ho Sai Wah
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank
Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank
E.D. Sasson & Co.
E.D. Sasson & Co.
Merchantile Bank
Merchantile Bank
Ho Tung in Western Costume: Early
1900’s
Source : Irene Cheng 1976 : opposite p.1.
Ho Tung in Chinese Costume, 1924
Source : Frances Tse Liu 2003:19.
Robert Ho Tung
Source : Florence Yeo 1994:164.
The Defiant Fourth: Walter Bosman
何啟佳
Source : Frances Tse Liu 2003:13.
Walter Bosman 1940
Source : W. Bosman 1940 : cover page.
Brokerages and Innovation
 Economic brokerage
:
 Legal brokerage
:
 Socio-political brokerage :
 Institutional innovation
:
compradores
British subjects
Central School
rhizomic family
mother figures
Thank You