公共痰盂的誕生：香港的反吐痰爭議與華人社群的回應

The Birth of the Public Spittoon: An Anti-Spitting Controversy in Hong Kong and the Response of the Chinese Community

寫作本文的動機是想回答一個素樸的問題：為什麼經過長達一個世紀的反吐痰運動後，中國人仍然需要痰盂？而本文的歷史發現是，始於香港政府於1907 至1909 年間企圖立法禁止吐痰而引發的爭議，「公共痰盂」開始成為二十世紀華人防治肺結核與追求衛生現代性時不可或缺、而又飽受爭議的關鍵物件。透過仔細追索香港政府與華人社群長達兩年餘的辯論，本文指出由於何啟、劉鑄伯等華人領袖以及華商公局的積極抗議與爭取，最終香港不僅沒有採納紐約市衛生局的罰則，反而產生了兩個十分獨特的歷史結果。一方面，這個爭議促成香港華人自行組成「勸戒公地任意吐涎會」，這是一個認同吐痰者的社群所組成的民間團體，成立的目的就在與政府合作，通過教育與宣傳教導華人不要在公共場所隨地吐痰，以證明華人吐痰者可以自治。另一方面，由於他們站在吐痰華人代表的立場爭取權益，便向港府爭取到一個紐約市衛生局反吐痰時不曾採取的作法，就是在公共場所廣設「公共痰盂」，並致力於教導人們養成吐痰入盂的習慣，從而深遠地影響到之後華人社會的反吐痰運動。

This article asks why a century-long anti-spitting movement failed toconvince Chinese people to abandon the use of spittoons? This articlefocuses on the crucial historic event through which the Hong Kong colonialgovernment tried to impose an anti-spitting ordinance on Chinese citizens,which resulted an intense struggle over this policy from 1907 to 1909. TheHong Kong controversy is not only the first controversy over the anti-spittingmovement in a Chinese community; it offers a valuable opportunity tounderstand how Chinese people responded to a global movement that can betraced back to the pioneering efforts of the Health Department of New YorkCity in the 1880s. Through the efforts of remarkable leaders such as HoKai, the Chinese community helped create an unusual anti-spitting policythat was different from that of the New York City. As the communityidentified with the Chinese people who needed to spit, it demanded that theHong Kong government take into account this need and provide spittoons inpublic spaces that prohibited spitting. As the result, its efforts gave birth tothe new equipment of “public spittoon” that was at once the central and themost controversial artifact of Chinese hygienic modernity.