British Colonial Censorship Regimes: Hong Kong, Straits Settlements, and Shanghai International Settlement, 1916–1941

Abstract

In the early years of the twentieth century, the power of the filmic image to entertain and to offend, to educate and to subvert, became increasingly apparent and was quickly recognized. Censorship of theatrical productions existed in many places, however, the need and impetus to censor the cinematograph evolved as authorities grappled with the power and potential of the medium. In colonial territories, censorship was an important tool of control often assigned to the police in order to maintain public order and to minimize the screening of representations perceived to be harmful to the native populations.