In the Wake of Political Intervention: British Hong Kong and the Lingnan Macroregion

Abstract

This article attempts a preliminary exploration of the intraregional cohesion and division between British Hong Kong and the Lingnan macroregion. A deliberately overlooked locale in Skinner’s macroregional model, Hong Kong developed from a periphery zone on the far eastern outskirt of Lingnan in its precolonial days to a thriving metropolis at the end of British rule. The transformation of British Hong Kong attests to the economic fundamentals of intraregional cohesion. More significantly it highlights the decisive power of political intervention, underestimated in Skinner’s approach, which brought enduring changes to the shape as well as the internal and external relations of the macroregion.

Keywords

political intervention / regional cohesion / colonialism / Hong Kong

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press and Brill