Book Prize: Michael Ng's Political Censorship in British Hong Kong Has Won 10th Ministry of Education Outstanding Scientific Research (Humanities and Social Sciences) Achievement Award

The selection process for the 10th Ministry of Education Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scientific Research (Humanities and Social Sciences) has concluded. Professor Michael Ng (the University of Hong Kong) has won the Popular Reading Award for his monograph Political Censorship in British Hong Kong: Freedom of Expression and the Law (1842–1997).

教育部第十届科学研究优秀成果奖（人文社会科学）评选工作结束，香港大学吴海杰教授专著《噤若寒蝉：港英時代对媒体和言论的政治审查（1842 – 1997）》获普及读物奖。

Professor Michael Ng is Associate Dean (Research and Institutional Advancement) of the Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong. He is a legal historian specialising in the modern legal history of mainland China and Hong Kong, with additional research interests in the business history of Chinese-owned enterprises. He has over fifteen years of professional experience in law and finance, having served as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Financial Officer at a listed multinational corporation.

吴海杰教授是香港大学法学院副院長（研究及学院拓展），他是一位法律史学家，专长为近代中国与香港本地的法律史，也涉及华资企业的商业史。他有超过十五年的法律与金融领域服务经验，曾于上市跨国公司担任首席投资官与财务总监。

The award-winning monograph argues that Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and judicial independence stemmed not from Britain’s rule-of-law tradition, but from Britain’s China policy shaped by specific historical circumstances. Drawing on declassified records, including confidential correspondence archives from London and Hong Kong, Professor Ng found no evidence of references to rule-of-law values in those materials. The book also catalogues the coercive measures deployed by the British Hong Kong government to curb free expression, based on historical sources.

获奖著作提出，香港的言论自由、司法独立並非源于英国的法治传统，而是特定历史环境下英国对华政策的产物。吴海杰教授溯阅解密文件，包括伦敦及香港的机密通讯档案，从未发现有关法治价值观的内容。该书也根据历史资料，罗列了港英政府遏制言论的强硬手段。