因疫制宜 : 瘧疾與香港的建構（1841–1849）

Abstract

This book delves into the turbulent years of the 1840s, during the early period of British colonial rule in Hong Kong. At that time, malaria—perceived as a mysterious and deadly miasma—claimed the lives of hundreds of settlers. Various attempts to curb the disease’s impact catalyzed changes in the city’s urban landscape, though the process was fraught with challenges.

From military surveyors, naval doctors, Indian soldiers, and government officials to opium traders, contractors, and sojourner architects and artists—their actions intersected and influenced one another. The “construction” of early Hong Kong was both physical and imagined.

Architectural historian Christopher Cowell integrates disciplines such as architectural history, cartography, and epidemiology to examine numerous previously unpublished textual sources, including medical reports, personal diaries and letters, government records, journals, and newspaper advertisements. He also collects scattered visual evidence like city watercolor illustrations, maps, and architectural drawings to reconstruct this historical period before photography was introduced to Hong Kong. Through this, the book explores the evolution of public health and spatial planning, racial dynamics and place-making, and commercial and political ideologies—bringing new light to the “dark age” Hong Kong experienced in the 19th century.