Toilets for Rent: The Governance of a Colonial City by Politicians and Businessmen (1860-1920)

After the Opium War, Shunde, a major silk town, connected with the global silk market. In order to improve the quality of silkworm mulberry leaves, it bought Hong Kong feces at a high price as fertilizer, triggering Chinese real estate businessmen to expand commercial toilets in Hong Kong and rent them at high prices as feces collection stations. This book explores the commercialization of toilets through the collusion of politicians and businessmen, and discusses the important role of social elites in governance by using land resources, injecting new forms into the governance of colonial cities.