126
nese and to provide for the better Security of the Residents of the Colony.” Ordinance 18 of 1888 brought together measures for "The Regulation of the Chinese." It contained the light and pass requirements.
Ho A-mei, who was a student of the Anglo-Chinese College, must have experienced the troubled time of 1856 and 1857. Forty years later, as a prominent leader of the Chinese, he chaired a meeting held to request the Government to repeal the measures enacted when he was yet a youth.
STORM OVER PLAN TO ABOLISH
THE LIGHT AND PASS LAW
Ho A-mei, educated in the 1850s at Dr. Legge's school in Hong-kong, became in later life a leader in the Chinese community. As such, he participated in many public affairs.
In December 1895, he chaired a protest meeting against the strict enforcement of the light and pass regulations. They required Chinese out at night after a certain hour to carry lanterns and passes. These regulations became Hongkong law in 1857 during a time of crisis. It was the opening period of the second Sino-British conflict which extended from 1856 to 1860.
At the time the rules were enacted they were regarded as emergency measures to guard against arson and other subversive activities by agents sent to Hongkong by the Chinese authorities at Canton. After the emergency was over, the requirement for Chinese to carry lights and passes was not suspended. It remained as law but was enforced spasmodically.
Since the rules applied to only one section of Hongkong's population, the Chinese, it was labelled by some as “class legislation.” As such, a growing number of Chinese began to resent them, not only for the inconvenience they caused, but on the principle they were discriminatory and humiliating. It was felt that they implied that the Chinese as a group were lawless and treacherous.
This resentment surfaced when Sir John Pope Hennessy be-
126
nese and to provide for the better Security of the Residents of the Colony.” Ordinance 18 of 1888 brought together measures for "The Regulation of the Chinese." It contained the light and pass requirements.
Ho A-mei, who was a student of the Anglo-Chinese College, must have experienced the troubled time of 1856 and 1857. Forty years later, as a prominent leader of the Chinese, he chaired a meeting held to request the Government to repeal the measures enacted when he was yet a youth.
STORM OVER PLAN TO ABOLISH
THE LIGHT AND PASS LAW
Ho A-mei, educated in the 1850s at Dr. Legge's school in Hong- kong, became in later life a leader in the Chinese community. As such, he participated in many public affairs.
In December 1895, he chaired a protest meeting against the strict enforcement of the light and pass regulations. They required Chinese out at night after a certain hour to carry lanterns and passes. These regulations became Hongkong law in 1857 during a time of crisis. It was the opening period of the second Sino-British conflict which extended from 1856 to 1860.
At the time the rules were enacted they were regarded as emer- gency measures to guard against arson and other subversive activ- ities by agents sent to Hongkong by the Chinese authorities at Canton. After the emergency was over, the requirement for Chi- nese to carry lights and passes was not suspended. It remained as law but was enforced spasmodically.
Since the rules applied to only one section of Hongkong's popu- lation, the Chinese, it was labelled by some as “class legislation.”" As such, a growing number of Chinese began to resent them, not only for the inconvenience they caused, but on the principle they were discriminatory and humiliating. It was felt that they implied that the Chinese as a group were lawless and treacherous.
This resentment surfaced when Sir John Pope Hennessy be-
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