Opium, Secret Societies, Free Trade:

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  • Onimaru Takeshi
    Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University

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Other Title
  • 阿片・秘密結社・自由貿易
  • 阿片・秘密結社・自由貿易--19世紀シンガポール,香港でのイギリス植民地統治の比較研究
  • アヘン ヒミツ ケッシャ ジユウ ボウエキ 19セイキ シンガポール ホンコン デ ノ イギリス ショクミンチ トウチ ノ ヒカク ケンキュウ
  • ――19世紀シンガポール,香港でのイギリス植民地統治の比較研究――
  • A Comparative Study of British Colonial Rule in Nineteenth Century Singapore and Hong Kong

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Description

In the nineteenth century, Britain possessed two important bases for its “free trade policy” in Southeast and East Asia—Singapore and Hong Kong. The success of the British free trade policy in these regions hinged on their ability to make Singapore and Hong Kong flourish. To achieve this end, the colonial governments had to overcome two obstacles: the problem of raising revenue and the maintenance of public order. As both Singapore and Hong Kong were free ports, the colonial governments were prevented from collecting revenue through tariffs. Thus, somehow they had to obtain revenue from the local populace, which in both cases was mainly Chinese. With respect to public order, both administrations had to deal with crimes, riots, and strikes engaged in by the Chinese. In this paper, I try to reveal how the British colonial governments in Singapore and Hong Kong dealt with these issues of revenue raising and policing. In terms of revenue-raising, I examine the importance of the opium farming system under the two administrations; with regard to public order, I investigate how the Chinese secret societies were policed. By comparing practices in these colonies, I aim to describe the character of colonial rule in Singapore and Hong Kong and how it reflected the British “free trade policy.”

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