Contesting Power in Victoria Park: Shaping and Re-Shaping Space in Colonial Hong Kong

Charmaine H. Lam

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Hong Kong Studies ›› 2024, Vol. 4 ›› Issue (1) : 1-15.

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Contesting Power in Victoria Park: Shaping and Re-Shaping Space in Colonial Hong Kong

Charmaine H. Lam

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Abstract

This analysis pursues a transnational and spatial approach to the history of Victoria Park to examine the construction and experience of space within Victoria Park in Hong Kong. It applies Henri Lefebvre's categories of spatial analysis to facilitate an examination of how British and local Chinese meanings and experiences of space collided to create an arena of contested power within the spatial practices of the park. These resulting tensions provide an understanding of the larger tensions within Hong Kong's colonial order that points to the importance of recognizing local contributions to urban development and space in colonial histories.This framework provides an equal focus on the roles of the colonial government and the local Chinese working classes in shaping the use and meaning of Victoria Park and, thus, the urban landscape of colonial Hong Kong. Such a focus presents an intervention for a group that has been much overlooked both within Hong Kong's colonial history and within the broader field of imperial urban history.

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Charmaine H. Lam. Contesting Power in Victoria Park: Shaping and Re-Shaping Space in Colonial Hong Kong[J]. Hong Kong Studies. 2024, 4(1): 1-15

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