Author: Paul Kua

Publisher: Scout Association of HK

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 9789627835691

Scouting in Hong Kong, 1910-2010 covers the "what, how, when, who, why and so what" of the Hong Kong Scout Movement from 1910 to 2010, using a large volume of primary sources. It deals with the development of the youth movement both as a subject of enquiry and as an analytical tool which may shed light upon the broader history of Hong Kong. The author combines professed aim of Scouting (citizenship), the key motives for supporting it (governance, war, secular education and religious conversion) and the most relevant differentiating identities (race, class, gender and age) to analyze the experience of young people involved in Hong Kong Scouting throughout the years, both colonial and post-colonial. The book is richly illustrated with interesting and instructive images and relied heavily on a doctoral dissertation by the author, though they are also significantly different in both structure and content. It is a critical study aimed at both general readers and readers with more specific interests, and should enrich their understanding of the histories of Scouting, youth, citizenship education, the colonies, the British Empire, decolonization, China and Hong Kong. By reconstructing the evolution of Scouting from a niche movement for a handful of British boys before the First World War to a fully indigenized and co-educational mass movement in the post-colonial Hong Kong society, it fills a gap in the historical studies of youth movements around the world. By analyzing how the movement and the (re)construction of its particular brand of citizenship training reflected the development of the community, it adds to our understanding of the political, cultural and social history of Hong Kong, often influenced by that of China. By demonstrating the uniqueness of its evolution in the colonial context, it provides useful comparative insights into the history of imperialism and colonial youth movements. By exploring the choices made by local Scouting since Hong Kong's retrocession of sovereignty to China, it compliments other studies on decolonization and post-colonial citizenship.