The University of Hong Kong was one of only a handful of fully autonomous colonial universities in the British Empire in the first half of the twentieth century. From its founding in 1911, the institution was intended as a"'British lighthouse in the Orient," with a broad remit to educate a new generation of Chinese youth who would lead the tp the modernization of China. This book evaluates the success of that mission while also demonstrating the importance of the university to the development of Hong Kong and Malaya, the two areas supplying the most students to the university. As the first university established in Hong Kong, the early decades of its history represent the foundations of China's higher education system. This study provides fresh insight into the character of colonial education and the development of Hong Kong and tracks the fortunes of the colony from the peak of imperial British power to the catastrophic Japanese occupation of 1941 to 1945.