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The article discusses debates about Chinese female bondservants ("mui-tsai" or "meizai") in late 19th-century Hong Kong and how they reflect the changing politics and culture of the British colony. Competing views among colonial administrators from Great Britain are discussed, with some seeing this form of involuntary domestic servitude as a violation of the British ban on slavery, and others seeing it as an outdated custom that would fade with the modernization of China. Also discussed is the rise of Chinese elites with enough power to defend the "mui-tsai" system as a respected Chinese custom.

The article presents an exposition that HongKong has its own distinct place even before the edge of the Chinese and British empires. There were three themes presented to proved this historical investigation. HongKong has its own nature of place, shapen by its own role as a space of movement of goods and products through its colony's influence with South China and with its historical experiences from the British empire.