Fortune's Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong

by Vaudine England

A timely, well-researched, and “illuminating” ( The New York Times Book Review ) new history of Hong Kong that reveals the untold stories of the diverse peoples who have made it a multicultural world metropolis—and whose freedoms are endangered today.

Hong Kong has always been many cities to many people: a seaport, a gateway to an empire, a place where fortunes can be dramatically made or lost, a place to disappear and reinvent oneself, and a melting pot of diverse populations from around the globe. A British Crown Colony for 155 years, Hong Kong is now ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Here, renowned journalist Vaudine England delves into Hong Kong’s complex history and its people—diverse, multi-cultural, cosmopolitan—who have made this one-time fishing village into the world port city it is today.

Rather than a traditional history describing a town led by British Governors or a mere offshoot of a collapsing Chinese empire, Fortune’s Bazaar is “a winning portrait of Hong Kong’s vibrant mosaic” (Publishers Weekly). While British traders and Asian merchants had long been busy in the Indian and South East Asian seas, many people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds arrived in Hong Kong, met, and married—despite all taboos—and created a distinct community. Many of Hong Kong’s most influential figures during its first century as a city were neither British nor Chinese—they were Malay or Indian, Jewish or Armenian, Parsi or Portuguese, Eurasian or Chindian—or simply, Hong Kongers. England describes those overlooked in history, including the opium traders who built synagogues and churches; ship owners carrying gold-rush migrants; the half-Dutch, half-Chinese gentleman with two wives who was knighted by Queen Victoria; and the gardeners who settled Kowloon, the mainland peninsula facing the island of Hong Kong, and became millionaires.

A story of empire, race, and sex, Fortune’s Bazaar presents a “fresh…essential” (Ian Buruma), “formidable and important” (The Correspondent) history of a special place—a unique city made by diverse people of the world, whose part in its creation has never been properly told until now.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Asia, Politics, Audiobook, Sociology

Audiobook

Published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Mai H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nonfiction November

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.

Film pairing: Ip Man

TV pairing: White Dragon

[Linden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently enjoyed reading the fascinating history of Cuba by Ada Ferrer. I was hoping for a similarly compelling history of Hong Kong, but this book, which I felt could have benefited from some judicious editing, was not it. The author obviously did a great deal of research, but it had so many details and names that it became tedious to read. I’ll be looking for a more interesting and readable account of Hong Kong’s history—very disappointed. I received an ARC from Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Brian Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. Read like a school attendance list on far too many occasions. Way too many names and not enough about what was really making up the history for me but each to their own.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Extremely uneven book.

The author makes one central argument in the book - that Eurasians were responsible for the making of Hong Kong. An interesting and worthy argument but she proceeds to hammer away at this point, ten out of 15 chapters, with almost purely anecdotal evidence and in the most mind-numbing way: listing individuals’ genealogy ad nauseum and citing numerous and lengthy quotes from other sources. The lack of editing in these chapters is so bad that I can’t believe Simon and Schuster put this book out, or that it got such a good mention from the New York Times.

It’s not until she gets to WWII that the reader learns new and interesting information about the making of Hong Kong but the author breezes through the juiciest and interesting bits and leaves you wanting to know more: why/how the British surrendered to the Japanese, how Hong Kongers fought the Japanese, how/why the British denied a pathway to citizenship for Hong Kongers. The last chapter, the epilogue, is the most cogent chapter in the book and does a great job summarizing recent Hong Kong history and its outlook. Wished she’d done the same for the rest of the book. I’ll need to read another book on Hong Kong to get a more well-rounded idea of its history. This book is not it.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting (albeit overly-detail-laden) account of the settling and history of Hong Kong, which provides important historical context for Hong Kong's precarious situation today. I agree with other reviewers that this book felt like a who's who of important families/dynasties (even though the author prefaced the book saying she didn't aim to do that). It was fascinating to learn about the Portuguese and Armenian settlers to Hong Kong in addition to the better-known Chinese and British settlers, and the ramifications of all the Eurasian (mixed race) families on Hong Kong society.

For further reading, I'd recommend The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen Cheung about the current political situation.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Daniel Dykes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vaudine England has clearly trawled through endless archives to pen "Fortune's Bazaar". A detailed story of how Hong Kong was built, this is hardly a story of government decisions, great political men of history, nor even a false narrative of how Hong Kong was a wholly British place; Australia it is not. Rather, England weaves a story of Hong Kong's emergence as a most significant city of the Fat East by weaving a narrative of the people who inhabited and built it, often through their own words. So replete is it with local names and families, I've fondly marked this book as Debrett's Guide To The Rise And Fall of Hong Kong.

As you'd expect in a time where the less well-read use colonial as a synonym for evil and fail to view history with nuance, lots of England's narrative focuses on the outcomes of colonial experience. A colony Hong Kong was, but one rather less exploitative by design and rather more inclusive in practice. A colony where most came to a British-started place to carve out their own future. Hong Kong was a colonial melting pot of many cultures that resulted in its own unique culture, one locals actively chose to rebuild after it endured destruction at the hands of Imperial Japan.

England finds time to highlight Hong King's potential futures, penning the epilogue while Hong Kong was still suffering Covid lock downs and most of its neighbours had reopened. What is clear is that between a Xi led crackdown, Covid-19, and Singapore's surge, Hong Kong's future is not as significant as its past and its position is likely to be supplanted. Hong Kong is facing a new form of colonialism, one no longer distant from its rulers who won't let a region, special or otherwise, differ so greatly from their mainland.

[Cal Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not a history of Hong Kong. Its central premise, its raison d'etre, is to disprove a narrative that Hong Kong was a city with an elite British class living on the peak and the huddled Chinese masses below. It fleshes out all these other important demographics focusing on the Parsis, Jews, Armenians, Portuguese and Eurasians. Their names are all over Hong Kong, although to the uninquisitive eye, Chater, Mody and Kotewall might just blend in with the other "white" names.

The book really hangs in the middle where it does read as an incessant stream of names and dates. Random anecdotes from random families are not pieced together into any coherent narrative. It's a nice reference if your family happens to be in there, but it's a skip for everyone else. There is some discussion of why people like the Parsis, Jews and Armenians disproportionately made their way to Hong Kong and why they might have found success, but there needed to be more because to me this is the real story. It drives to the heart of statelessness and what it means to be human vs a citizen. I also wanted a lot more discussion on language, it was rarely clear which of these historical figures spoke what languages.

As a Eurasian whose family is mentioned, I don't think I can give this below 4 stars. I find it an important angle that helps define the core of Hong Kong, an angle lost by the vast majority of current residents, whether English, Cantonese or Mandarin speaking, many of whom do not understand the definition of Eurasian. The book tries to tie understanding of this past to the modern day fight over Hong Kong, but it struggles to do that because the fight is too raw.

[Wing · Rating 4 out of 5]

One way of describing British Hong Kong is to view that it “was not a Chinese city with its own citizens and its own civic institutions and traditions that was ceded to Britain; rather it was a city built by Chinese colonists under British sponsorship” (p. 281; quoting Bernard Luk Hung-kay, York University Professor of History). But this is a caricature and an incomplete narrative. Soon after its establishment, “A triangular pattern emerged – where the Armenian Chater, the Parsi Mody, and the Chinese Li Sing would change the shape of Hong Kong. Out of this nexus came the development of the stock exchange, the Jockey Club, the central business district, the docks of Kowloon, mining in the New Territories, the birth of the Star Ferry, the University of Hong Kong, and the establishment of most of the leading companies: the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co., the Hongkong Land Investment and Agency Co., the Dairy Farm Co., Hongkong Electric, Hongkong Telephone, and much more” (p. 112-113). “Like other frontier towns, where the social structure was still fluid, the young colony allowed marginal people with energy and daring – those adept at seizing opportunities as well as creating them – to get ahead” (p. 96, quoting Elizabeth Sinn, Honorary Professor, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences). British Hong Kong was first and foremost a port city, and trade routes that ultimately utilised it had long been established by Asian/Eastern traders well before European colonialists. So this book is also about the origin stories of the Sassoon, Belilios, and Kadoorie families (Jewish); the Ruttonjee and Kotewall families (Parsis); the Harilela family (Sindhi); and the Portuguese community. The main bulk of the book, however, is about the Eurasians. “Who did [Jardine's ruling family] the Keswicks rely on, whether in China or Hong Kong? Their compradors. And who were they? Half-Europeans. This half-world was run by Eurasian compradors” (p. 169, quoting Ian McFadzean, the son of Professor Alec McFadzean). Intentionally, the author spends relatively few pages on the Chinese. She does explain the origins of Tung Wah Hospital Group, Po Leung Kuk (not really a foundling house), and Nam Pak Hong (the trading association). She also spends about half a chapter on the founding of Bank of East Asia and the families behind it. “This brought together the financial heft of the Li, Kan, and Fung families, the elder statesman Shouson Chow, and others” (p. 178). Her account kind of ends abruptly in the post-war renaissance of Hong Kong, presumably because the demographics changed drastically around that time. “Lynn Pan [an author] found that not until 1981 was more than half of Hong Kong's population actually born in Hong Kong (other sources suggest it was the 1960s). And Hong Kong's Chinese are different, they are sui generis” (p. 241). There are just so many gems in this book: who established Wing On department store? Lane Crawford? Jimmy's Kitchen? My alma mater (St. Joseph's College) is cited many times in the book (so are the Diocesan Boy's and Girl's Schools), and this on its own is captivating – at least to me. But do read between the lines and with pinches of salt. I have lost count on how many times the opium trade (and monopoly) is mentioned in the book. Astute readers should think about what this really means. Demonisation is not a virtue, but neither is romanticisation. The sources and interviews that the author has used and conducted are impressive. This is one of those books where the acknowledgement is worthwhile perusing. All in all, fascinating and informative. Four stars.

[Richard Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different angle to the history of this once special gem of a city. The author traces HK’s progression from the colonial to the contemporary era through the stories of real peoples’ lives, folks from throughout the world thrown together in the city-state, working, playing, loving, and raising families as a vibrant multi-ethnic, cultural and religious society.

As one who spent a fair portion of his adult life living in HK, I was enthralled by the narrative. I was prone to think back to friends, colleagues, and passersby’s of this wonderful period of my life!

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really needed to motivate myself to finish this long read and I'm glad I did. What I appreciate the most about this book is that it brings greater visibility to the mixed and Eurasian peoples that built up Hong Kong. I feel like this history has already been forgotten or willfully ignored by young people in the Hong Kong diaspora who only see HK as an imperialist story of ethnic Chinese versus British. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

The picture that Vaudine England paints is much more nuanced and accounts for the social realities of Hong Kong in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In truth, there were hardly any Chinese that were indigenous to the island, perhaps only the tanka people who temporarily lived on boats offshore. It was only once the British opened Hong Kong for trade that it gained the populace and personality that it is known for today. Hong Kong quickly became home to many non-Chinese groups like the Armenians, Parsi, and Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews from Shanghai, Bombay, Macao, and South China who were already well established in Asia for several generations. Ethnic Chinese wanting to escape mainland China flooded into Hong Kong at the same time as Europeans, and several of them had children together. In line with the book's title, it was making a fortune and having the freedom to rise in social status that united these contrasting communities. This kind of ambitious life would never have been possible, especially for women, under China's strict rule.

The author has done loads of archival research and more importantly, interviewed several elderly descendants of these early Hong Kongers. For this alone, the book is an important historical record. In the first half, the writing was a bit bogged down by extensive genealogies. I don't think it's a style issue, there just doesn't seem any good way to write a genealogy in sentence form. It might have been better reading if the book had one genealogy per chapter or just fewer genealogies overall. The book started to really pickup at WWII and after. These chapters were fascinating, especially learning who gained British citizenship (and protection) during the war and who the Japanese considered to be Chinese and therefore more on their side (many of these "Chinese" were in fact mixed people who did not relate to the Asian project or the brutality of the Japanese). I also greatly enjoyed the epilogue where the author traces recent decades of upheaval and rest in HK all the way up to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, illuminating the relative impact of the mass protests and law changes within the wider history.

[Bel lvndrgms3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Bailey Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This history of the making of Hong Kong challenges conventional narratives of either British colonial or Chinese ethnic credit for the unique cultural and economic phenomenon that is (was?) Hong Kong. Instead, Vaudine England posits that Hong Kong was made primarily by the in-betweeners, the imports and their offspring from all over the world who flowed into the port city, mixed, intermingled, fell in love, and made both their fortunes and their offspring in Hong Kong.

Her thesis is supported by the resistance forces of Hong Kong to Japanese invasion, the protests in Hong Kong against the massacre of Tiananmen Square, and many anecdotes, lineages, and family histories showing that the in-betweeners and their descendants, untethered to a single mono-culture, created a special, worldly identity of their own and, with it, a dynamic culture and economy unlike any other.

Going forward, what lies in store for Hong Kong? In what I personally perceive as an historical irony, the Chinese Government has allied itself with the industrial and financial ruling class of Hong Kong, enabling that group to secure its position by cooperating and supporting the suppression of Hong Kong identity, language and history. It has become an enclave of the super-rich, supported by the communist Chinese, so that both can enjoy a more stable hegemony.

It is my personal hope that Hong Kong will resurge, that its port, its people, and its history will not be lost to the world because of China's ethno-nationalist ideology. It's not clear how things will go in our lifetimes, but though life is long, history is longer. If Hong Kong has proven anything, it is that Hong Kongers survive.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Chris Stowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived in Hong Kong for a decade, up until the Handover in 1997 - and having started my career there fresh off the boat from Shanghai - I felt I knew the place pretty intimately. That was, until I read Vaudine England's fabulous account of the territory in 'Fortune's Bazaar'.
Her book details the many much earlier arrivals who sought their fortune and refuge from an otherwise chaotic and prejudiced region on this small island blessed with a perfect harbour and semblance of law and order under mostly benign British rule. The objective of each newcomer was to be free, and free to make money, and as long as the system allowed that to happen an enlightened and practical blossoming of multicultural cooperation and tolerance developed, well ahead of its era.
I particularly enjoyed the exposure the author gave to the oft overlooked contribution of women in this entrepreneurial, historical account which at times reads as though lifted from the pages of a James Clavell multi-generational saga. The complex web of family ties, and personal and business connections and alliances can be a little hard to juggle at times, but since when have families been simple?
Finally, to anyone walking around modern-day Hong Kong, this book will add context and hidden depth to all those curious and exotic road names!

[Tawney · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the beginning of this book the author states that it is not a traditional history of Hong Kong, instead a history of the Eurasians in the colony and their contributions to it’s success. A lot of emphasis is on the mixing of races. There are chapters on prositutes, protected women and intermarriage. She describes the wide variety of ethnic groups and the economic successes of some, as well as the connections through marriage creating formidable networks. There was both discrimination and acceptance among them all, British included. Vaudine England’s research has been extensive, but for a person not acquainted with these families the lists of marriages and children are tedious and confusing. The later chapters about the Japanese occupation and British racial polices after the war are quite interesting as is the author’s examination of the population under Chinese rule. For myself less geneaology, a bit more political background and fewer, but longer accounts of some of those earlier Hong Kong personalities would have made for a more readable and memorable book.
My thanks to Scribner’s for an advance copy.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explores the history of Hong Kong from a Eurasian perspective. As Ms. England explains, Hong Kong is a city of people from many places and cultures where everyone is from somewhere else and where almost everyone came seeking their fortunes. Not just English and Chinese, there were also Jews, Armenians, Portuguese, Parsis and other Indian groups. There were certainly many instances of snobbery, clannishness and racism, but also much intermarriage and illegitimate children from mixed race liaisons, who were recognized, educated and given large inheritances. Most of the focus of this book is on the people who were a step down from the famous taipans, but who were nevertheless multimillionaires with great power and influence. In many ways the successful mixed race people became the pillars of the community and, in their diversity, the defining metric for what made Hong Kong special.

Unfortunately the book is written in a plodding one thing after another style that made it a bit of a slog to get through.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Joshua Rigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the history of Hong Kong as seen through the lens of Eurasian people: neither entirely British nor entirely Chinese in ethnicity or origin. it examines the ways in which this heterogeneous community formed and formulated Hong Kong society, culture and governance, while being largely ignored by the British ruling elite in the Chinese government, followed them. The book overall advocates for Hong Konger as a designation distinct from European and Chinese alike. It spends the time from Hong Kong as a scattering of rural fishing villages, through the opium wars, its designation as an international shipping hub, the Japanese invasion and occupation, British reclamation, and the wrestling between China and Great Britain all the way through the present day. I learned quite a bit.

[Scott Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Audiobook) Solid, if not spectacular, overview of the history of Hong Kong. A lot of discussion of the interaction between the British and Chinese citizens in that area. The main emphasis is from the 19th century to the present time. Hong Kong always held a strange place, as it wasn’t completely part of China until recently, and even after 25 years since the UK retuned Hong Kong to Red China, it is still somewhat autonomous. This work will not completely fill in the gap about the history of Hong Kong, and the understanding of recent Beijing efforts to bring Hong Kong more directly under Chinese control is also not emphasized. Decent history, but it probably better read as a physical or e-book vs. an audiobook.

[Keshava S · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it is a very niche book on the history of an island (however influential in world trade and history), but it speaks to a wider audience by discussing how people from various backgrounds have been mixing and matching from ages (even when some might say they are pure this or that and our country has remained same from time immemorial) and how it influences the present and the future. Really well written and reads like a great novel. I enjoyed reading and learning something new about a part of world that I have only seen from afar and through lens of generally western perspectives and media.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and thought I knew a ton about Hong Kong, but the author has made me look at it in a different way. Just from the street signs, buildings and neighborhood names, it’s all pretty obvious that Hong Kong is not what it is (or was) because of solely the British or Chinese. But as the author explains, Parsee, Jewish, Armenian, Muslim, Sindhi, and Eurasian communities built the infrastructure and industries of Hong Kong, going back to the mid-1800s. Mody Road. Chater House. Mosque Street. Kadoorie Hill. Soares Street. It has all been there right in front of our eyes.

[spencer wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[William Liang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been interested in Hong Kong history but I never got around to reading about it until now. I find that fortunes bazaar is a great telling on Hong Kong's history and it went over some topics that I never even knew happened in Hong Kong. Something else that I liked about this book is how it went over not the commonly discussed topics in Hong Kong's history but the topics that are not commonly discussed. I'll rate it 7.5/11

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting thesis - that the essence of HK is its “in betweenness” - with scores of examples of mixed race people from a wider range of backgrounds than I expected.

But, it was nearly impossible for me to keep track of all the names, which got in the way of really processing and making sense of the supporting examples.

That said, it’s thoroughly researched and provides a valuable insight into this special place, with relevance to different places and time periods the world over

[Terence Lau · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s just kind of a slog - and 250 page book that felt like reading the HK Tatler pages over and over and over again and a lot of concentration on who was important - but focus on Brits and Portuguese and Eurasians and a few Chinese who happened to find their way into colonial high society; but I was honestly looking for a lot more stories and details into what was actually happening in Hong Kong.

[Jean Mehochko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, the mark of a good book in my mind is when I learn some thing, and I learned a lot from this book. The melting pot of Hong Kong, the in between people who, from the beginning of Hong Kong's modern civilization have contributed greatly to its success yet been marginalized by those in power: Britain, China, the US. Very interesting place and book.

[Gi V · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting history of the mix of cultures and heritages that contribute to HK's uniqueness, but this book "unapologetically" ignores so much by excluding the histories of the Chinese majority.

One line on the 1967 wave of emigration from HK, which fundamentally changed Chinatowns all over the world. Disappointing.

This book would have benefited from storytelling. Lacks humanity & emotion.

[Trish Manning · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m so disappointed. Hong Kong’s founding and history are so compelling, but this book didn’t do them justice. The book is weighed down by too many names and specific dates that I was lost. So much of the meandering details belong in footnotes or references. There were no threads in the chapters. I picked this up and set it down more than five times before finally giving up.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more critical 2 star reviews are essentially accurate (attendance list, well-researched but needed editing, etc.) and this was a reach for my 3 stars. Still, I think it deserves better because there's real value here for lovers of Hong Kong or for those wanting to peer into the deep sediment of the place, to find the people and cultures that made it. It's just not for the casual reader.