Medical history of Hong Kong Introduction—Anatomy of a city: why Hong Kong’s history of medicine matters now

As COVID-19 fades from view, the most significant pandemic of the 21st century is already being written into history.Hong Kong's experience of the coronavirus outbreak was both local and yet enmeshed in global networks of disease transmission, biomedicine, technology, geopolitics and public response.How one wonders, will the story be told to future generations of schoolchildren, medical students, health professionals and the public?Over time, a singular narrative often emerges, defined by the major events of the outbreak, with the messiness of everyday details, early public uncertainty, frequent policy changes and misinformation gradually erased from memory.Given the mountain of information that emerged and changed on a daily basis, this is inevitable, but medical historiographies should preserve this complexity to ensure a balanced and critical analysis of present and future events.A maritime entrepôt frequently reshaped by migration, imperial power, political turmoil, and capitalist ambitions, Hong Kong has long been at the mercy of local, regional and global health threats.From 19th-century communicable diseases to 21st-century pandemics and chronic health conditions, from bacteriology's early laboratories to genomics and precision medicine, and from missionary, government and private hospitals to a plural public health system, the city's medical story is one of collisions and entanglements, between people, pathogens, medical systems, institutions, and technological innovation.This exciting and timely new series on Hong Kong's rich history of medicine endeavours to bring diverse local archives and stories to life, reminding us of the challenges of the foregone medical landscape and the endeavours of those who sought to construct the robust medical system we benefit from today. Challenges in health governance and building local medical capacityCountless medical and healthcare professionals contributed to shaping local medical expertise,