Hong Kong Remembers - Tapa dura

admirable, and only slightly pious, obituary compilation (Nicholas Harman, Spectator)

quite wonderful, stuffed with revealing interviews with Hong Kong people, Chinese and British, with long memories indeed (Jonathan Mirsky, The Times)

The story of Hong Kong's social, political, and economic development - from the post-War period to the end of its life as a colonial territory - is a remarkable Chinese-British story. This book contains first-hand accounts of life and times in Hong Kong by luminaries, former governors, officials, politicians, business people, artists, and average people - natives, émigrés, and expats alike.

Over six decades, Hong Kong has been transformed from a depressed and overcrowded, refugee haven, fraught with health and welfare problems, to a shining model of laissez-faire capitalism with an exemplary public housing programme, a modicum of democracy, and a thriving, hybrid cultural life. The contributors to this book recall the important events along the rocky path of development, including the housing crisis of the 1950s, the 1967 anti-Government riots, the Sino-British talks over Hong Kong in the 1980s, the sobering affect on the Hong Kong people of the Tiananmen Incident in 1989, and the contentious politics of the transition to Chinese rule in 1997.

Among those who tell how it happened are the former Governors Lord (Murray) MacLehose, Lord (David) Wilson, and current Governor Christopher Patten; T. S. Lo (who is on the short-list of candidates for the position of Chief Executive of Hong Kong after the transition); Hong Kong's most important democracy advocate, Legislative councilor Martin Lee; colourful media tycoon Jimmy Lai; a former drug addict; a political cartoonist; the founder of a ballet school; a former leftist guerrilla; and a Maryknoll sister. Their recollections are opinionated, personal, poignant, amusing, and always informative. Collectively they provide a unique and valuable account of Hong Kong history.