The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism
Patrick H. Hase
Abstract
In 1899, a year after the Convention of Peking leased the New Territories to Britain, the British moved to establish control. This triggered resistance by some of the population of the New Territories. There ensued six days of fighting with heavy Chinese casualties. This forgotten war has been researched and recounted for the first time. After a brief discussion of British Imperialism in the 1890s and British military theory of that period on small wars, the heart of the book is a day-by-day account of the fighting and of the differences of opinion between the Governor of Hong Kong (Sir Henry ... More
In 1899, a year after the Convention of Peking leased the New Territories to Britain, the British moved to establish control. This triggered resistance by some of the population of the New Territories. There ensued six days of fighting with heavy Chinese casualties. This forgotten war has been researched and recounted for the first time. After a brief discussion of British Imperialism in the 1890s and British military theory of that period on small wars, the heart of the book is a day-by-day account of the fighting and of the differences of opinion between the Governor of Hong Kong (Sir Henry Blake) and the Colonial Secretary (James Stewart Lockhart) as to how the war should be fought. The book uses knowledge of the people and the area to give a picture of the leaders and of the rank-and-file of the village fighters. New estimates of the casualties are provided, as are the implications of why these casualties are down-played in most British accounts.
Keywords:
Convention of Peking,
New Territories,
resistance,
Chinese casualties,
British Imperialism,
British military theory,
small wars,
Henry Blake,
James Stewart Lockhart
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2008 |
Print ISBN-13: 9789622098992 |
| Published to Hong Kong Scholarship Online: September 2011 |
DOI:10.5790/hongkong/9789622098992.001.0001 |
