The Empire, the Naturalist, and the Countryside: Biological Science in Colonial Hong Kong
Abstract
This article examines the significance of the Hong Kong countryside as a site of knowledge production. By analyzing biologist Geoffrey Herklots’ career as a university academic, a naturalist, and a colonial official, I demonstrate the scientific and geopolitical importance of biology in interwar Hong Kong. Drawing on an article in the journal Herklots created (Hong Kong Naturalist), a proposal for a colonial museum, and the connection between biology and wartime experience, I illustrate the role biology plays in the imagination of the British Empire as well as how Hong Kong’s countryside can be understood through the lens of science.

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Copyright (c) 2020 CC BY 4.0 Leo Chu

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.