Books : A Modern History of Hong Kong
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 951
EAN: 9781845114190
ISBN: 1845114191
Label: I. B. Tauris
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: September 04, 2007
Publisher: I. B. Tauris
Release Date: September 04, 2007
Sales Rank: 201368
Studio: I. B. Tauris
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Product Description:
From a little-known fishing community at the periphery of China, Hong Kong developed into one of the world's most spectacular and cosmopolitan metropoles after a century and a half of British imperial rule. This history of Hong Kong -- from its occupation by the British in 1841 to its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 -- includes the foundation of modern Hong Kong; its developments as an imperial outpost, its transformation into the "pearl" of the British Empire and of the Orient and the events leading to the end of British rule. Based on extensive research in British and Chinese sources, both official and private, the book addresses the changing relations between the local Chinese and the expatriate communities in 156 years of British rule, and the emergence of a local identity. It ends with a critical but dispassionate examination of Hong Kong's transition from a British Crown Colony to a Chinese Special Administrative Region.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This history is well balanced, thoroughly researched and very readable. It covers the period from the Opium Wars when the British obtained the rocky island referred to as "fragrant harbour" (Hong Kong) to the handover of one of the world's preeminent trading and financial centres to the PRC. The strength of the text is that it makes very clear that Hong Kong's existence was a function of the relative power of China and Britain. As China disintegrated in the 19th Century and European powers took little pieces for themselves, Britain was the leading European in the area, and (after serving itself) even sought to protect China against its European competitors. When the costs of World War II and the Japanese Empire broke the back of Europe's colonies in Asia, a new chapter began in Hong Kong as well. Prof. Tsang shows a Hong Kong that somewhat resembles the United States in that it is a refuge for immigrants from troubled foreign countries, although in the case of Hong Kong almost everyone came from China. Tsang does not shy away from depicting the racist and elitist practices of Victorian England towards the Chinese refugees who made up Hong Kong's population, but stresses that what the colonial masters had to offer (particularly the rule of law and civil service) was much better than what these people could expect from their Chinese homeland. This portrait of the people of Hong Kong is extremely sympathetic, even endearing. They appear as enterprising refugees who had no real ... Read More
Rating:  -
This is by far the best book on Hong Kong I have ever read. It is clearly written, balanced, and insightful. My family and I have lived in Hong Kong for years and it is nice to read a book that describes a place one knows well in beautifully written prose. It is fair about both the British and the local Chinese communities. When I read the chapter on the rise of a Hong Kong identity I know this is really good. It rings true. Most highly recommended.
Rating: -
A Modern History of Hong Kong presents a supremely well-balanced history of this former British imperial possession. Steve Tsang's meticulously researched historical narrative duly recognizes the efforts of both Hong Kong's industrious and civic-minded local Chinese population and the expatriate British who held the bulk of the administrative power over Hong Kong during its tenure as a crown colony. Tsang's work demonstrates that Hong Kong's ethnic Chinese inhabitants played an essential and dynamic role in the creation of the former colony in that they constituted its economic, industrial, and infrastructural workforce from the beginning, and came to develop their own unique Hong Kong identity as the population stabilized culturally but exploded in number in the decades following the Second World War. Tsang's historical account never strays far from what students of Marxist theory would likely refer to as Hong Kong's material conditions, in that the book portrays Hong Kong's cultural development within the context of its economic and political circumstances. The work puts forth a history of Hong Kong in which the colony's unique social and cultural characteristics were established as a result of the relatively minimalist legal and political framework that was provided by the British colonizers in order to ensure Hong Kong's capitalistic success. Students of history, English, postcolonial studies, comparative literature, and other academic disciplines will find this book to be a ... Read More
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