The Image of Hong Kong in Dutch Travel Writing

Abstract

ABSTRACT The travel accounts examined here were written by Dutch travellers to Hong Kong in the late-nineteenth to early twentieth-century. By applying the imagological approach, examples of ethnotypes and Self-Other oppositions found in the travel accounts are analysed. Findings show that the fact that most Dutch travelled from the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) influenced their observations of Hong Kong. This is particularly prominent, where writers compare the influence of the British in Hong Kong with that of the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, in terms of facilities, infrastructure, activities and other aspects. Hence, this article sheds light on how the Dutch represent the image of Hong Kong through colonial eyes.