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The forgotten museum of Hong Kong

A place of unfulfilled ambitions (1869–1933)

Bibliographic Data

ID21834555
AuthorsDaphné Sterk (0009-0004-7065-3186, Sorbonne Université, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume15
Issue2
Pages161-175
Publication date2022-07-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMuseum History Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1936-9816 • E-ISSN: 1936-9824
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19369816.2022.2142411
OpenAlexW4312068662
LanguageEN
Citations received1

This article aims to shed light on the little-known history of the Hong Kong City Hall Museum. Housed in the old City Hall between 1869 and 1933, the museum was intended as a place of entertainment and education for the residents of the British colony, including Chinese people. Dedicated to research and seeking the dissemination of knowledge through scientific displays of natural history specimens and artefacts, it was to be an emblem of Hong Kong's modernity and embody a certain degree of ‘civilization’. However, the City Hall Museum never lived up to the expectations it initially had raised, and its collections remained disappointing and inconsistent. This failure was perceived as a stigma for the colony. This paper intends to offer an understanding of why this institution, during its more than sixty years of existence, failed to gather sufficient organisation and resources to support itself and ended up disappearing from memory

Archaeology · Art · Civilization · Emblem · Entertainment · Institution · Media studies · Modernity · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Museology · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

  • The Development of Museology in 1930s China

    Open Access•Daphné Sterk•Curator The Museum Journal•2025

Citations per year1
Citation span2025 - 2025 (1)
Highly citedNo

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