I've always been fascinated by Hong Kong. In the Vietnamese diaspora, Cantonese is the lingua franca amongst overseas Chinese, and the language and food are familiar aspects from childhood. I also think the language sounds more pleasant than Mandarin, but I enjoy the tones.

I hate to say what makes Hong Kong great is its formerly being part of the British Empire, as I have a multitude of problems with colonization. However, former British colonies are often miles ahead of their Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish counterparts.

But Cantonese and English are hardly the only languages of the land. A port city, the island was also settled by passing traders, including other Europeans, South Asians, and Southeast Asians. It was even a hideout for Hồ Chí Minh during the period the Vietnamese call the American War.

Even after the the island reverted back to China in 1997, Hong Kongers are proud of their distinct identity. And they should be. A multicultural land of promise, Hong Kong is known as one of the four Asian Tigers, vastly developed East Asian economies.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This was not totally what I had expected. It is a tough read. Very well done but I don't expect it will be what the cover would lead the reader to expect. I was hoping for a thorough history of Hong Kong. This is not that. Somewhat disappointed in this.

Hong Kong had humble origins. The British won the Opium War and subsequently leased Hong Kong from China for 99 years. (I’m consolidating events but that’s the gist of it.) What’s always been interesting is that while it was a British colony, its identity was far from just that.

HK was built by the immigrants who came in from China, and also those from Armenian, Jewish, Indian, Portuguese, Dutch communities. Alongside investors, bankers, entrepreneurs, came the workers from other Asian countries. Together they forged a new working relationship that culminated in a rising Eurasian population that influenced the direction of the city, turning it into one of the post important trading ports in the world thanks to its deep harbor.

The author did diligent research, as a Hong Konger myself, there were plenty of ’aha’ moments like street names or learning of connections between HK families and Hollywood types, and other forces worldwide. HK is famous for its land reclamation since land is limited. I’d always assumed it was a modern tech, but I learned that an American in the late 1800’s conducted testing and research in the harbor in order to start reclaiming land. I also learned of the humble beginnings of the Star Ferry that shuttled folks across the harbor.

The book stops abruptly after the Korean War because by that time the Hong Kong of today was well on its way. I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t what I expected, and it’s a lot of information dump, but I also have lived context to navigate through that. Internet research can help fit the pieces together easily .

This is the perfect read for any world traveler, one fascinated with East Asia, one who’s visited or lived in one of the most unique cities.

Thanks to @netgalley & @scribnerbooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Going into this book, I knew very little about Hong Kong. What I did know came from a couple fiction books [Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Station anyone?] and the Hong Kong Chinese families I met when I lived in Toronto [they were friends of my ex-husband and some of the nicest people I had ever met]; they weren't always reliable narrators though - they were quick to talk about their wealth all while being self-deprecating and also made quick fun of themselves and their countrymen. I never knew what they were going to say [nor how I should react].

I will say that my interactions with them helped me a lot with this book - I could see where some of their humor came from and the complex history of Hong Kong explained so much of why and how they look at life.

This book is packed with information. It is definitely a two-time read, as there is so much going on, I absolutely know I missed stuff. It was so interesting though that I found myself not wanting to quit reading when I *KNEW* I needed to move on to my other books.

If you are interested in the making of Hong Kong and the ins and out of that magnificent place and what happened before and after the British rule, then this book is for you. It was simply fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley, Vaudine England, and Scribner for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The author goes on a lot in the introduction that this is not a traditional history of Hong Kong that focuses on the elites of the Europeans or the Chinese. Instead will focus more on the in-between people, those people who were not in some clearly defined groups but even the clearly defined groups turn out to often not to be as clearly defined as historians once pictured it. It does not mean that this will focus specifically on Eurasians because there were a lot of different groups from the beginning: Armenians, Indians, Jewish, Malay, Parsi and others. However, this does not mean that the focus in on the "common" people. The people mentioned are the ones that made an impact on Hong Kong and may even be considered elite--even if only for a time--not matter what their beginnings, humble or not.

It is interesting to see how many different groups influenced the shaping of the beginning of Hong Kong, even if some groups left or their influence diminished as time went on. The book also goes through the atrocities and hardships of WWII occupation, the rebuilding, the transition to China control and its uncertain future today.

The breadth is impressive. There is not doubt this was thoroughly researched and does not veer away from addressing race, prejudice, discrimination and the exploitation of women. Sometimes it does drag on with lists of names of people, marriages and children that I can't remember or keep straight.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Just after the Opium Wars, the UK took the island of Hong Kong as a free city. It was half swamp at the delta of Zhuliang River estuary, and not useful for much. But the British had wanted it as a way station for ship sailing between India and China. Godowns were set-up to supply ships with coal and supplies.

In 1897 the British took a 99 year lease on the New Territories (Kowloon). This new land became the center of manufacturing in Hong Kong and the driver for the amazing expansion of the island into a world-wide port. Between 1900 and 1949, Chinese peasants emigrated to the New Territories to work as virtual slaves in the factories, which was still a step up from living in the hinterlands.

After the take-over of Mainland China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hong Kong became a refuge for those who were being persecuted by the Red Chinese. They worked horrendous hours but were able to educate their children who became the bedrock of the new Middle Class.

With the turnover of the colony to the CCP, the promise of being able to live their lives the same way for the next fifty years, didn't last twenty-five. Though Hong Kongers have resisted as best they can, the Red Chinese are slowly eroding the freedoms of Hong Kong.

A fascinating and exhaustive look at how one of the most famous cities in the world as created and how it shaped the fortunes of nations. Without Hong Kong history would have been very different.

With a title that immediately causes a second look, this book follows the recent trend of snapshot biographies. Rather than focus on one person, or group, this book uses mini-biographies of people from all walks of life to give the reader a well-rounded view of the shaping of Hong Kong. While no book can be completely comprehensive, this book seems to be an excellent starting point for this just delving in to the varied and colorful history of Hong Kong and its roles throughout history.

Since the book essentially ends up reading like a large collection of little biographies of various women and men from over Hong Kong’s history, it’s easy to end up getting potentially weighed down a bit in the sheer amount of details from the lives of all the mentioned individuals - or at least that ended up being my own reading experience. That being said, Vaudine England has clearly done impeccable research on her numerous subjects. And her decision to intimately frame this history of the city on the intimate level of all of these individuals excellently highlights her goal of showing that Hong Kong is no mere Chinese-English hybrid, but instead has always been uniquely diverse and cosmopolitan from its very roots.