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Chinese refugee children and empires: the politics of international adoptions in cold war Hong Kong

Franco, Rosaria

Authors

Rosaria Franco



Abstract

With the support of new sources from British and Hong Kong archives, this study casts new light on the post-war international adoptions of Chinese refugee children in the British colony of Hong Kong. It argues that while children were ‘saved’ and found families overseas, they were also used as pawns in a bigger political game. A way to delegate welfare for the Hong Kong government, a symbolic humanitarian concession vis-à-vis a strict anti-immigration policy for Britain, and an anti-communist propaganda tool for the United States, these adoptions also convey the competing power and population politics played over subject children by two multiracial empires: one in decline (the rapidly decolonising Britain), the other on the rise (the new cold war superpower).

Citation

Franco, R. (2018). Chinese refugee children and empires: the politics of international adoptions in cold war Hong Kong. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 46(3), 579-601. https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2017.1408227

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 1, 2017
Online Publication Date Dec 7, 2017
Publication Date May 1, 2018
Deposit Date Jun 27, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
Print ISSN 0308-6534
Electronic ISSN 0308-6534
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 3
Pages 579-601
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2017.1408227
Keywords International adoptions; refugee children; Chinese refugees; Hong Kong; British empire; United States; cold war; immigration; decolonization; 1950s; 1960s
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/930680
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03086534.2017.1408227
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History on 07 Dec 2017, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03086534.2017.1408227

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