000			01454cam a2200157 4500500
005			20250112060417.0
041			_afre
042			_adc
100	1	0	_aDecaudin, Maxime _eauthor
245	0	0	_aHong Kong’s barren landscapes: Scientific controversy, environmental transformation, and founding myth in the age of British colonization
260			_c2020.
500			_a30
520			_aThrough the use of the word “barren” in Hong Kong’s landscape descriptions by travellers and colonists, this article examines how the absence of tropical forest and its multiple interpretations evolved throughout the nineteenth century. While for precolonial visitors, the barren aspect of the island questioned the land’s fertility, to the first settlers, it became the source of numerous environmental anxieties threatening the colonial enterprise and later justifying a long and expensive reforestation program. These deep landscape transformations allowed colonists to condemn the Chinese backward and unproductive vernacular practices while legitimizing British occupation. As the Empire’s domination grew and the image of China deteriorated, Hong Kong’s colonial founding myth increasingly contrasted the precolonial “barren rock” with the success and superiority of British civilization.
786	0		_nRomantisme | o 189 | 3 | 2020-08-11 | p. 62-73 | 0048-8593
856	4	1	_uhttps://shs.cairn.info/journal-romantisme-2020-3-page-62?lang=en
999			_c222565 _d222565