Events
CUHK LAW Greater China Legal History Seminar Series – ‘Deportation in Hong Kong History’ by Dr. Christopher C. Munn (Online)
21 Mar 2025
12:30pm – 2pm
Online via ZOOM
Dr. Christopher C. Munn, Hon. Associate Professor, Department of History, HKU
Christopher Munn served as an administrative officer in the Hong Kong government and in various positions in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford and has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Toronto. His publications include Anglo-China: Chinese People and British Rule in Hong Kong, 1841–1880 (HKUP, 2001), Crime, Justice and Punishment in Colonial Hong Kong (with May Holdsworth, HKUP, 2020), and Penalties of Empire: Capital Trials in Colonial Hong Kong (forthcoming, HKUP, spring 2025).
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Hong Kong government deported tens of thousands of people it deemed a threat to the peace and good order of the colony. The deportees included convicted prisoners, political activists, instigators of strikes, triad society members, newspaper editors and other ‘dangerous persons,’ as well as beggars, gamblers, prostitutes, fortune-tellers and other social nuisances. Carried out within a system of free immigration, the deportation system relied on the premise that the great majority of Hong Kong’s inhabitants were aliens; it also required access to mainland China as a destination for deportees. Deportation served as both an adjunct and an alternative to the judicial system. It was a secret process administered by the executive under a complex system of laws. The courts might recommend or order deportation in certain cases. Otherwise, they usually only became involved if a person breached a deportation order, for which there were severe punishments, or in the rare challenges to deportation through judicial review.
Focusing on the period 1857-1955, this presentation explores the legal background of deportation in British Hong Kong, the experiences of some deportees, and the impact of deportation on justice and society in Hong Kong.
For more details: Greater China Legal History Seminar Series – ‘Deportation in Hong Kong History’ by Dr. Christopher C. Munn (Online)
Language: English
