Bubonic plague appeared in Southeast Asia near the end of the nineteenth century. It had been present in China for at least one hundred years before that, mostly in endemic form but with regular epidemic flare-ups. When it appeared in Hong Kong, one of the most important harbors worldwide, in 1894, economic life came to a standstill. Not only did it cause widespread panic because of the high number of infected people and deaths, it also inspired intrusive public health measures in an attempt to stem infections. Infected individuals were segregated and treated on a hospital ship, their houses and possessions burned or disinfected, and the movement of Hong Kong's population were severely restricted. Since it was primarily poor Chinese neighborhoods that were affected, many inhabitants fled the city. Soon after, the plague was exported by ships following the world's most important shipping lines, thereby triggering a global pandemic.
The...
