Daniela Schneider

Doctoral Candidate

E-Mail: daniela.schneider@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de

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Doctoral Project

Passed by the Censor. Press Censorship in the British Empire with a Special Focus on Hong Kong, 1938–1941

The dissertation researches the administrative setup of colonial press censorship between the British Hong Kong government and the British administration in London between 1938 and 1941. While previous research on press censorship in the British Empire has focussed on individual case studies (mainly on British India), this dissertation works towards understanding the larger Empire framework and the complex negotiations between London and the Colonial Office-administered colonies.

Researching Hong Kong as one of the most intensely censored British colonies adds to a better understanding of the local practical embedding of censorship. The colonies’ Chinese newspapers were visibly censored and gave new insights into the censored newspaper content. Methodologically, the work combines traditional historical source analysis with close-reading and distantreading approaches to analyse the quantity and content of Hong Kong Da gong bao’s (大公報) censored articles. Press censorship administration from London set the framework for the colonies’ local censorship embedding even though Empire press censorship was never central to the planners in London, causing problems already at the planning stage. The responsibility for implementing Empire press censorship was not clearly allocated and involved different institutions, leading to a lack of consistency. Similarly, all colonies implemented censorship individually, stressing the need to research them individually as findings for one colony do not apply to another.

On various levels, censorship in Hong Kong differed from that in the United Kingdom and was adapted according to local needs. Analysing core dates in Hong Kong’s Da gong bao reveals a complex web of up to four intersecting layers of censorship, which depended on article origin, mode of transportation, time of sending and publication language. The
visibly censored content from Hong Kong focused on anti-Japanese and anti-British material and was very specific. This illustrates how, despite differing views on censorship in London and Hong Kong, the censorship practices in Hong Kong reflected Britain’s political strategy of appeasing Japan, as exemplified by a censored newspaper.

Research Interests

Press History
Greater China
Modern Chinese History

Employment

Since June 2024
Researcher,
Galaxy Europe, Technical Faculty, Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
November 2020 – May 2024
Academic Employee,
GRK 2571 'Empires', Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
November 2018 – December 2022
Academic Employee,
Uniseum Freiburg, Germany
April 2018 – September 2018
Research Associate and Lecturer,
Professorship for East Asian History, Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany

April 2016 – September 2016
Tutor,
Department of History, Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
April 2014 – March 2016
Research Assistant,
Department of History, Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
March 2012 – September 2012
Research Assistant,
Department of Sinology, Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany

Education

Since 2018
Doctoral Candidate, Doctor of Philosophy in Modern and Contemporary History,
Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
2014 – 2018
Master of Arts in Comparative Modern History (Vergleichende Geschichte der Neuzeit),
Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
Including a semester abroad at Nanjing University 南京大学, People’s Republic of China
2010 – 2014
Bachelor of Arts in History; Minor in Sinology,
Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
Including two semesters abroad at University of Gothenburg (Göteborgs Universitet), Sweden

Scholarships and Grants

February 2022 – April 2022
Associated as Guest Research, German Historical Institute London
Travel Grant, Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Freiburg im Breisgau
August 2016 – January 2017
Scholarship 'Freiburg Global Exchange', International Office Freiburg
Foreign Exchange Scholarship, Villum K. Rasmussen-Foundation
Scholarship, Chinese Ministry of Education
March 2015 – March 2018
Scholarship, Program for Gifted Youth (Grundförderung der Begabtenförderungswerke)
September 2012 – July 2013
Erasmus Scholarship, European Union
Adlerbertska Hospitiestiftelsen, Gothenburg University
March 2010
Award for Best A-Levels of the Class, Kreissparkasse

Selected Publications

Book Review: Ng, Michael. Political Censorship in British Hong Kong. Freedom of Expression and the Law (1842–1997). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. In Historische Zeitschrift 316 (2) (2023): 499-500. https://doi.org/10.1515/hzhz-2023-1108

Seminars and Workshops

26 – 27 October 2023
Co-Organisation of Workshop “Building Empires with Data” with Prof. Dr. Roopika Risam

19 – 21 September 2022
Co-Organisation of GRK 2571 Summer School 2022, and
Co-Group-Lead "Cultural Reproduction"
Near Freiburg