"Managing a State Business: The Establishment of the Hong Kong Mint and its Transnationality"

This paper examines the establishment of the Hong Kong Mint to investigate how the success and failure of a state-owned enterprise in colonial Hong Kong were intertwined with imperial goals and global political-economic shifts. The establishment of the Mint served multiple objectives, including the rationalisation of Hong Kong's monetary system, securing the financial base of the Hong Kong government, and expanding Britain's influence in East Asia. Under these circumstances, the minting of Hong Kong Dollars means more than making a profit. Yet, to make the Hong Kong Dollar the sole legal means of payment in the colony, Britain must guarantee that the new coins could fit with the monetary practices of its Chinese subjects, the supply of raw materials, labour, technology and capital, and a cross-departmental supervision system that monitor the Mint's functioning. These prerequisites put the British imperial and colonial governments in an uneasy position because the world situation in the mid-nineteenth century was unfavourable to reform. In the 1860s, in China, all currencies were passed by weight, while Mexican Dollars were the most universal means of payment. This being so, the Hong Kong Dollar would not be widely accepted unless it replicates the Mexican Dollar to the largest extent. Unfortunately, at the same time, Mexico was plunged into civil war due to France's military intervention. Mexico's political division contributed to the decline of the global silver supply and prevented Britain from obtaining information on the standard weight and fineness of Mexican dollars. These situations highlight the impact of international events on Hong Kong's monetary development and offer new insights into the Mint's ultimate failure.