Hong Kong ANNOTATION
Today's preeminent travel writer offers the definitive study to date of Hong Kong in its last days under British rule.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
On July 1, 1997, a world will come to an end, as one of the last outposts of the British empire returns to Chinese rule. No one has depicted that world - the dazzlingly modern, obdurately traditional Crown Colony of Hong Kong - more faithfully, shrewdly, or affectionately than Jan Morris, who in this contemporary classic of travel writing celebrates the city's charm and squalor, unravels the tangle of its history, and gives us an informed glimpse into its future. Combining firsthand reportage with exemplary research, Morris takes us from Hong Kong's clamorous back alleys to the luxurious Happy Valley racecourse, where taipans place their bets between sips of champagne and bird's nest soup. Morris chronicles the exploits of opium traders and pirates, colonists and financiers, and shows how their descendants view the prospect of reunification with the Chinese mainland. What emerges is an epic tableau, vastly informed and pungently evocative.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In this ``well-written, albeit overly detailed overview,'' Morris alternates chapters on Hong Kong's history with descriptions of its geography, economy, politics and society, interspersing word-portraits of some of its leading rulers and entrepreneurs. ``There is much more here than most American readers will want to know,'' said PW. (Dec.)
Library Journal
With the benefit of extensive reading and long observation, Morris writes of Hong Kong as it nears the end of its colonial status and moves toward the ``enigma of 1997,'' the reunification with China. In alternating chapters of history and analysis, Morris conveys the colony's restless energy, its drive for profit, its lighted hills, the jackhammers pounding to make new buildings. Her prose, spiced with adjectives and apt phrases, moves easily among government officials, traders and triads, and the Chinese populace of millionaires and refugees. This well-balanced description of Hong Kong's past andpresent ends with a perceptive chapter on the belated introduction of democracy as Britain prepares to leave the colony. An enjoyable book that should find many readers. Literary Guild alternate.-- Elizabeth A. Teo, Moraine Valley Community Coll. Lib., Palos Hills, Ill.
AudioFile - William Wilson Goodson Jr.
This is a charming travel book about past and present-day Hong Kong, the last of Englandﾽs Crown Colonies. Nadia May does an entertaining reading, with the right notes of irony and bewilderment at the oddities of this giant city. Her English accent goes perfectly with Morrisﾽs English style and humor. The text itself is designed to entertain, as well as inform, and works well in the audio format. The book may be of special interest because the last chapter deals with the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. W.W.G. ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine
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