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Chinaman living in his Colony who has become quite an Anglo-Chinese, it should be said to him, 'No', because you are a Chinaman, no matter how well you know English, you must take service under the Chinese Government... It was your misfortune to be born a Chinese.”
These sentiments were not welcomed by the majority of the foreign community. "Truth," in replying to the letter written by “Chinese,” reminded the community that the Government was being paid by British taxpayers "to represent British Imperial interest, not as your correspondent truly remarks, as a Chinese representative or to look at affairs from a Chinese point of view.”
From the distance of years and changed attitudes, the Governor's remarks seem eminently fair and appropriate. But before they could be regarded as such the Chinese had to play a careful game, and the European community generally resisted any accommodation.
The European, though at the top of the heap, felt insecure and frightened. He was always suspecting some nefarious conspiracy was at work to topple him.
“Truth” reflects this when he remarks on “the lengths to which a Chinaman will go, the stratagems to which he will resort, to cause injury to his opponents and the sleuth-hound like pertinacity with which he watches his every business and concern in order that he may cause him loss of name or money.”
There was always the fear the Chinese resident in Hongkong would be “got at" by someone who would prod or intimidate him to challenge the position the foreigner had carved out for himself in China.
With this brief review of some of the tensions between the Chinese and foreign population in Hongkong, we can better understand the events of the public meeting of October 1878, and the activity of Ho A-mei as a public figure.
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Chinaman living in his Colony who has become quite an Anglo- Chinese, it should be said to him, 'No', because you are a China- man, no matter how well you know English, you must take service under the Chinese Government . . . It was your misfortune to be born a Chinese.”
These sentiments were not welcomed by the majority of the foreign community. "Truth," in replying to the letter written by “Chinese,” reminded the community that the Government was being paid by British taxpayers "to represent British Imperial in- terest, not as your correspondent truly remarks, as a Chinese rep- resentative or to look at affairs from a Chinese point of view.”
From the distance of years and changed attitudes, the Gover- nor's remarks seem eminently fair and appropriate. But before they could be regarded as such the Chinese had to play a careful game, and the European community generally resisted any accom- modation.
The European, though at the top of the heap, felt insecure and frightened. He was always suspecting some nefarious conspiracy was at work to topple him.
“Truth” reflects this when he remarks on “the lengths to which a Chinaman will go, the stratagems to which he will resort, to cause injury to his opponents and the sleuth-hound like pertinaci- ty with which he watches his every business and concern in order that he may cause him loss of name or money.”
There was always the fear the Chinese resident in Hongkong would be “got at" by someone who would prod or intimidate him to challenge the position the foreigner had carved out for himself in China.
With this brief review of some of the tensions between the Chinese and foreign population in Hongkong, we can better un- derstand the events of the public meeting of October 1878, and the activity of Ho A-mei as a public figure.
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