Toilet as Business for the Hygiene of the Chinese Community in Colonial Hong Kong

This book explores the political economy of public toilet provision in Hong Kong between the 1860s and 1930s, focusing on the cross-border night soil business, silk market, land market, and how these factors created a network of toilets. It aims to understand how urban governance functioned in colonies and how it intertwined with economic contingencies within a global economic system.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 175 pages
Publication date: 11 April 2023
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

Between the 1860s and 1930s, the government and local businesses in Hong Kong provided public toilets through a complex process that was deeply intertwined with class and racial politics. This book offers a political economy perspective on public toilet provision, examining the interplay of various factors such as the cross-border night soil business, the silk market between China and Colonial powers, the Hong Kong land market, and their collective impact on the development of a network of toilets in the colony.

As the book reveals, the commercial viability of toilets gave rise to multiple logics and a new moral geography. By exploring this topic, we can gain a deeper understanding of how urban governance functioned in colonies and how it intertwined with economic contingencies within a global economic system.

The intended readership for this book includes academics and members of the general public with an interest in colonialism, public infrastructures, public health, government-business relations, and urban governance.

Weight: 308g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789811913983
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022