Update your bookshelf this summer with these 10 books about Hong Kong, written by those who know the city inside out.
Hong Kong literature may have a relatively short history, but long gone are the days when anglophone Hong Kong literature was only about the love affair between a Susie Wong and a Robert Lomax at the exoticised harbour. Although many of the anglophone titles used to be written by expats, favoured by foreigners or translated from Chinese, over the last few decades, there has been a growing number of works written in English about Hong Kong, by Hongkongers.
Here are 10 contemporary titles that will re-open your eyes to the city you think you know.
1. A Modern History of Hong Kong: 1841-1997 by Steve Tsang (2003)
Genre: History
There’s no better source than a history book to learn about a city’s birth and growth. Tsang’s comprehensive book starts from the very beginning: from Hong Kong’s occupation by the British in 1841 to the handover in 1997, offering insights into the city’s changing identities as an imperial outpost, the pearl of the British Empire and of the Orient, and finally to its status as a Special Administrative Region.
Addressing the changing relations between the local Chinese and the expatriate communities in 156 years of British rule, this book paints a detailed prequel to the international city that Hong Kong is today.
Available on Amazon