Some cities are backdrops.
Hong Kong, in this collection, is pulse.

In Horizon Hong Kong, Xu Xi does not merely write about a place — she interrogates it, mourns it, argues with it, and loves it fiercely. Across twenty-two stories spanning the 1960s to the present (and reaching toward the speculative), she captures a Hong Kong that is colonial and postcolonial, intimate and global, tender and unsparing.

These stories unfold against seismic political shifts — the 1997 handover from Britain to China, the 2014 Occupy movement, the 2019 Polytechnic University siege — yet Xu Xi’s genius lies in her refusal to reduce history to headlines. Instead, she filters upheaval through private lives: a woman fighting deportation; a man confronting the awkward ghosts of a high school reunion; a girl transfixed by a stranger in Chung King Mansion; lovers, migrants, daughters, expatriates, all negotiating belonging in a city that is constantly redefining itself.

Language itself becomes contested terrain. English and Cantonese echo through the collection, not just as tools of communication but as markers of class, memory, and power. Xu Xi writes with a transnational sensibility that feels earned rather than ornamental — she understands the friction of hybridity, the ache of displacement, the complicated nostalgia for a place that may no longer exist except in recollection.

What’s most striking is the emotional range. The stories are sharp, often satirical, sometimes quietly devastating. They skew shallow cosmopolitanism one moment and, in the next, lay bare a loneliness so precise it almost startles. There is rage here — at erasure, at injustice, at the slow vanishing of a city’s soul — but there is also deep compassion for those caught within history’s machinery.

The collection feels kaleidoscopic without ever losing focus. Characters stand at thresholds: between languages, between passports, between eras. They grapple with whether to stay or leave, and what either choice will cost them. Hong Kong emerges not as a static setting but as a living contradiction — dazzling, fraught, stubbornly unforgettable.

It’s rare to encounter a short story collection that feels both intimate and expansive, that speaks so specifically of one city and yet resonates globally. Horizon Hong Kong does exactly that. It reminds us that cities are archives of longing — and that the act of telling their stories is, in itself, an act of preservation.

This is not just a collection to read. It’s one to return to.

There's an incredible richness of variety to be found in this collection of short stories. There's characters from all walks of live, themes that run a gamut, not to mention a wonderfully wide range when it comes to when these various tales occur. Between all of that, and of course just the quality of Xu XI's writing, it's not just great reading, but it's hard for me to come away from these tales without feeling like I've been able to become more intimate with the city of Hong Kong, the changes that have transformed it, and the identity intersections that continue to shape life within it.

A great collection from talented writer I haven`t heard of before. I responded stronger to the earlier works versus the last few short stories. I admit I'm not as familiar with the historical context, and am likely missing a ton of parallels. That said, the author is incredibly talented and imaginative. Every short story was unique and inventive.

The standouts for me were: The Yellow Line, Famine, and Servitude

This is a great collection of short stories by a writer I haven't heard of before. I really enjoyed the variety of characters and themes throughout the book. It was very interesting to get a closer look at the city of Hong Kong and how its identity has changed over time. While some stories were stronger than others, the writing is unique and imaginative.

This collection of 22 short stories—comprising stories from 5 previous collections by Xu Xi—is a dedication to life, love, family, and change in the sociopolitical backdrop of Hong Kong and connected diaspora from colonial to modern times.

I’m a sucker for origin stories: to relive the newness of the world through the eyes and ears of children, students, young professionals, retirees, or elderly finding their memories again.

I was pulled in by 9 of the 22 stories:

In Democracy, we feel the poignancy of youthful competition and righteousness amidst fundamental changes from what was previously ordained to opening up to democratic ideals.

In Chung King Mansion and The Yellow Line, we experience secret obsessions bounded by sociocultural expectations and family ties, with an emotional punch in the gut.

In Insignificant Moments in the History of Hong Kong, Citizenship, and Rubato, we experience a series of contrasts, skillfully juxtaposed to highlight the differences. Yet, underneath we are the same.

Monkey in Residence is an amusing and witty homage to the Monkey King legend.

And in Before and TST, we look back at life’s love and experience, including COVID pandemic, through clever repackaging of memories.

Together these stories fit together in a chronological cohesion to explore depths of norms and expectations through flawed characters and social change.

A great collection of short stories. There is a great variety of protagonists and themes, but all are engaging, exploring Hong Kong's recent history, and Hong Kong identity in the diaspora in light of that history, through unique lenses. Excellent reading for transport as the stories are short and can be dipped in and out of at leisure. Would recommend.

What a rich, immersive collection of short stories, to navigate us through the city that is in constant and continuous transformation. I think what really got to me the most was how Xu Xi wrote with unforgiving, sharp-edged, yet sentimental care into every political event mentioned through the eyes of the private lives, the ones who lives through history but often aren't in the focus in their stories, and instead highlights everyone in a respective space that makes it feel more lived-in than anything else.

I also do really enjoy short stories that challenge not only me, but they answer such questions about belonging, language, and identity in a world, specifically in this case, Hong Kong, that undergoes several transformations shaped by war, foreign involvement, integration with others, and so on. And that way that's all done through humor, grief, and my favorite - that super direct anger at erasure that critically points out what the actual TRUE sentiment is throughout. But it's done in such a matter that is calculative. I will say, I think this might be just a common thing about short stories, etc but sometimes it can be difficult to get attached to characters because it ends in such a manner. I will commend it though for how Xu Xi navigated the lack of continuity and instead balanced it out in such a generational manner.

Fascinating, although, I do feel like some collections require some cultural and historical knowledge, which I do see creating some friction with readers, potentially? However, the first couple pages explaining the purpose of this, the knowledge and fascination of Xu Xi, was SO NICE. So well articulated, complete and utter respect for the craft and recognition and I think it would be any reader's due diligence to research more anyways. That was definitely thought out and an absolute great addition to the book altogether.

I will note that my favorites in here were The Yellow Line and Famine. 10/10!

Thank you Gaudy Boy x NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own!

Horizon Hong Kong is a thoughtful and beautifully layered collection that gives a vivid sense of Hong Kong, not just as a place, but as a living, changing world shaped by the people in it. What makes the book so engaging is how Xu Xi explores the city through different perspectives, showing lives that feel personal, messy, and deeply real. Each story brings something different, but together they build a rich portrait of identity, culture, belonging, and the quiet ways people struggle to understand themselves and each other.

What I appreciated most was how honest the writing feels. Xu Xi doesn’t over-explain emotions or force dramatic moments. Instead, she lets small details, conversations, and inner thoughts do the work, which makes the stories feel intimate and authentic. There’s a strong sense of place throughout which is the energy of Hong Kong, its fast pace, its layered history, and the tension between tradition and change all quietly shape the characters’ lives.

The collection also stands out because of how emotionally varied it is. Some stories feel reflective and tender, while others carry loneliness, frustration, or a sense of longing. There’s a lot here about identity-especially cultural identity and what it means to belong somewhere while also feeling disconnected from it. That emotional complexity gives the book weight without making it feel heavy.

Overall, Horizon Hong Kong is the kind of collection that stays with you because it feels so human. It’s observant, nuanced, and full of quiet emotional depth. Rather than telling one big story, it offers many smaller ones that come together to create something rich, moving, and memorable.

This was so interesting for me to read as someone whose family emigrated from Hong Kong. I was personally born and raised in the UK and so my knowledge of Hong Kong’s history is very limited.

This felt like a great way to get up to speed on the history of Hong Kong from the 60s to the present day. Although you won’t get absolutely all the details, it’s just nice to have more of a basic knowledge on it all. The bite size stories are perfect not to overwhelm you.

It felt authentic, varied, unique, and definitely moving. I’d definitely like to read more work from this author!

I always have mixed feelings about short story collections, and Horizon Hong Kong was no exception.

Some of these stories were so powerful and unforgettable, and others I found myself skimming a bit. Overall, this was a rich, immersive reading experience and I learned so much about Hong Kong along the way.

What really stood out to me was the tension running through so many of the stories, this pull between past and present, tradition and independence, home and elsewhere. There’s a recurring feeling of being caught in between identities, cultures, and even languages. Cantonese, English, Mandarin, all markers of class, history, belonging.

A few moments I won’t forget: a boy standing at the yellow line of the newly opened MTR, returning again and again as an escape from an abusive home, a woman arriving in NYC and finally allowing herself to indulge after a childhood shaped by scarcity, and the quiet but powerful undercurrent of colonialism and its lasting effects.

A deeply personal exploration of a city both trapped in time and caught in flux.

As an American I was never formally educated on the colonization of Hong Kong. Through the lens of diaspora, the reader can begin to understand the truth of Hong Kong - it's affect and effect on the people that lived there. What a heart wrenching perspective on the will of people and the meaning of self-determination.

While not all 22 stories were amazing, enough of them were. I'll definitely be buying this book.

Firstly thank you to NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for this eArc.

As someone who is a fan of Hong Kong cinema I just knew upon seeing the title of this novel I just had to read it and I wasn’t disappointed.

Hong Kong has gone through some massive changes throughout the years due to various different reasons and I thought this collection of short stories encapsulates it beautifully. Throughout my read I found Xu Xi’s words to be sharp, witty yet somehow delicately full of empathy alongside a narrative which I felt as if was written in a way that almost feels intricate. The characters themselves felt authentic, and through Xu Xi’s writing you could feel just how much they were trying their best to navigate the ever-changing Hong Kong whilst also trying to keep their resolve.

Overall a very great read.

It is no secret that I love Hong Kong, having lived there for a while at the beginning of the 2000s. I didn’t know Xu Xi, but the stories she presents in this collection are very representative of Hong Kong people and the layers of cultures linked to the complex history of the territory. As the 22 stories are taken from different collections, we circulate from colonial Hong Kong in the 1960s to the relative decline under Beijing rule, with events like the 1997 handover or the 2014 Umbrella protests.

The characters sometimes left Hong Kong or were born elsewhere, but the city stays like an anchor in an ever-changing world. Hong Kong is a complex place with different communities, different languages (Cantonese, English, Mandarin, other Chinese dialects like Hakka and and lots of other immigration languages like Filipino, Hindi…), people come and go, always in flux.

Xu Xi characters feel authentic in their diversity of age, origin, culture and identities. They may be rich, or poor, young kid (“Yellow Line”) or old, massage girl (“To body to chicken”) or trusted old male servant. I was more drawn to stories set in the past than the ones set in the future (“All about skin”). “Chung King Mansion”, one of my favorites and a part of an early collection, is one story where a young girl is fascinated by a woman who calls for sailors in front of Chung King Mansions, unaware that she is a prostitute. Some stories are satirical, even political, some more intimate and heartbreaking.

This collection was really fascinating and the stories are memorable, I would even say haunting.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

A short story collection full of pathos and insight 4/5

Horizon Hong Kong is an impressive collection of 22 short stories from the extensive back-catalogue of Indonesian-Chinese-American author Xu Xi.

The format - unconnected stories across Xu's extensive career - highlights the themes she keeps revisiting in her work: the way Hong Kong has changed over the last 60 years, ageing, difficult parent-child relationships, lost love, the immigrant experience and being caught between two worlds.

The greatest strength of the collection is Xu’s sense of voice, which draws readers into the stories. As many of the tales are light on plot and told through recollections, a believable and empathetic perspective is a real asset.

Highlights for me included Anon., which elegantly captures a past relationship and untapped potential, and Off the Record, which covers similar ground with an interesting political/cultural overlay and a totally believable believable protagonist. Servitude, Crying with Audrey Hepburn and TST also stood out to me, but the standard was generally high throughout.

Readers who like allegorical works might especially enjoy Democracy, The Transubstantiation of Ants, All About Skin (my pick of this category) and Monkey in Residence.

Thought has been given to the placement of the stories too by the team at Gaudy Boy: often there’s a motif, name or object that reappears in adjacent works, creating a subtle sense of connection across the stories. Fundamentally, though, it’s worth readers bearing in mind that this a collection of standalone works. As the stories are short, slow-paced and rich in themes and ideas, Horizon Hong Kong isn’t the perfect choice for those wanting a long chunk of uninterrupted reading. Instead, this book rewards being savoured: I’d suggest dipping in and out with a couple of stories a day.

I’d recommend Horizon Hong Kong for readers of literature interested in Xu’s themes, especially if they’re fans of the short story format. For those readers, this collection could be the perfect vacation book: thought-provoking and enjoyable without demanding big chunks of time. Readers wanting plot-heavy works or more action might do better elsewhere. As for me, I’m keen to try one of Xu’s novels, as I think her writing style and characterisation could work well in a longer format.

Thank you to Xu Xi, Gaudy Boy and Netgalley for a free review copy of Horizon Hong Kong, in exchange for an honest review.

The short story isn't one of my favourite genres. However, Horizon Hong Kong, this collection of Xu Xi’s stories, was a blessed NetGalley find. I couldn't engage with all the stories equally, but I found quite a few that I would remember with fondness.

Most of these stories are vignettes from the lives of different people from different socio-economic strata. The one thing that connects them is Hong Kong, the region that they live or used to live in.

I personally loved the stories of characters from the economically disadvantaged classes the most. Nothing against the solvent and rich and famous, but I found the poorer ones’ tales more poignant and relatable. They also bring to life the more colourful locations of Hong Kong.

My favourite story would be The Yellow Line - I felt so sad for the little boy who found stolen MTR rides to be the only temporary release from his dreary life. He was probably the most unfortunate of all the amazing characters I met in this book.

Teresa in To Body, To Chicken is also looking for a way into a better life. Thankfully the people around her seem to be kinder. With her supportive brother and her efforts to learn and apply new skills, she is likely to find her fairy wings.

The Famine was another story that resonated with me. The teacher who was forced by cultural protocols to live an uptight, austere life giving in to gluttonous Epicureanism, degenerating into deranged excesses - with the visually stimulating last bits, it could have been a hard-hitting short film. Not a O. Henry Prize winning story for nothing, this.

I loved the little girl in Chung King Mansion, and how her brothers looked out for her. Chung King Mansion seems nowadays to house HK’s Little India, but my desire to see inside it was snuffed by the disillusionment Ai Lin’s passing acquaintance with her Orange Lady brought her.

All About Skin was close to becoming a favourite of mine. The concept of different kinds of skin (natural and synthetic, no less) for sale is such a riveting one. But then, the story veers off the personal when the narrator starts to sound obsessed with the business specifics of skin-selling. By the end of it, there are just too many brand and model names, too many market fluctuations and fashion fads for me to remember or care about.

I didn't care much for the two stories with animals as characters - using anthropomorphism to present a social critique is not really my thing.

Horizon Hong Kong was a fascinating collection, and taken together, the stories do offer a sumptuous glimpse of Hong Kong through the years that went into shaping it.

Massive thanks to NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for providing access to this ARC.

As a 'gweilo' who was born and raised in Hong Kong, it's safe to say I've never read any literature this rooted in any time and place I've called home before. Xi's characters span multiple countries, socioeconomic classes and time periods but are all tied to Hong Kong as a place where they spent a significant portion of their lives. Throughout this collection, there is a really strong understanding of Hong Kong's history and its effect on the people who are 'local' to that place. The ways in which people navigate politics, relationships and language are all explored using multiple points of view, storytelling devices and very human scenarios. Even though not every story clicked for me, they were all very thought-provoking and a few touched me in a way no other short story has, simply because I've never before seen certain aspects of my upbringing reflected back at me.

It's also worth noting that Xi does an incredible job at writing with a child's voice. This is probably why 'The Yellow Line' seems to be many people's favourite, but I also think the narrator of 'Chung King Mansion' stands out in this way. Most of the stories have a "slice of life" feel, and some slices are more consequential than others. For example, compare 'Citizenship' in which the main character makes a desperate choice living under an unforgiving system and faces the consequences, and 'To Body To Chicken', where ostensibly all that happens is the main character meets an unusual client, but two conversations are enough to broaden her worldview immensely. Characters in stories like 'Famine', 'Servitude' and 'Interview' have entertaining perspectives on life that carry the story. And as mentioned earlier, stories like 'Kasper's Warp' and 'The 15th Annual Anniversary' made a tremendous impact on me because of the way they explore fears endemic to Hong Kong society: fear of losing connection, of failure, of disappointing those around you. The only story I didn't enjoy was 'All About Skin' - I loved the concept but the way it was discussed felt so abstract and clinical that it became dull. It would've been nice to see it fleshed out more (pun intended) with description and actual character interactions.

Overall, this is definitely a collection I would recommend and would love to revisit in the future. It will give any reader a lot to think about, and I think it will especially resonate with those of immigrant/diasporic backgrounds. This is an erudite and deep example of representing voices in literature you might not otherwise hear, and I'm grateful for that.

Horizon Hong Kong is a collection of short stories, all independent of each other but loosely connected to Hong Kong.

I don’t usually love short stories since I find it a lot of work to figure out what’s going on, and then after investing in the storyline, it’s over. However, these stories were all so interesting and detailed that I was completely drawn in.

While they were a bit darker than what I usually read, and some leaned into sci-fi, which also isn’t normally my thing. However the stories were all very diverse, memorable and even haunting, with very diverse range of scenarios and extremely thorough world-building. The stories took place during different time periods and masterfully captured the current events and mood of the time.

The stories that stayed with me the most were All About Skin, Interview, and Monkey in Residence.

The stories couldn’t have been more different, yet every one felt fully realized and thought-provoking. I was really impressed by the author’s range and imagination. This collection definitely changed my mind about short stories.

Thank you to Gaudy Boy for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.