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This is an accessible narrative which explores the remarkable history of Hong Kong from the early 1800s through the 1997 handover, when this former colony became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The book explores Hong Kong as a place with a unique identity, yet also a crossroads where Chinese history, British colonial history, and world history intersect. The book concludes by exploring the legacies of colonial rule, the consequences of Hong Kong's reintegration with China, and significant developments and challenges since 1997. Author: John Carroll. (270 pages)
Level: A/Interdisciplinary projects

This former fishing community has been transformed by its own economic miracle into one of Asia’s world cities. Beneath the surface of Hong Kong’s cliched self-image as Pearl of the Orient and Shopping Paradise, this book reveals a city rich in history, myth, and cultural diversity. Author: Michael Ingham. (254 pages)
Level: A/SRP/SSO/Depot

Revised 2010.

Contents
Getting Started
Index

Now in a cheaper paperback edition! From a little-known fishing community at the periphery of China, Hong Kong developed into one of the world's most spectacular cosmopolitan metropoles after a century and a half of British imperial rule. This history of Hong Kong – from its occupation by the British in 1841 to its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 – includes the foundation of modern Hong Kong, its developments as an imperial outpost, its transformation into the “pearl” of the British Empire and of the Orient and the events leading to the end of British rule. The book addresses the changing relations between the local Chinese and the expatriate communities in 156 years of British rule, and the emergence of a local identity. It ends with a critical but dispassionate examination of Hong Kong's transition from a British Crown Colony to a Chinese Special Administrative Region — and considers what British legacies will survive the changeover. Author: Steve Tsang. Hardback (340 pages)
Level: Cross-curricular projects/Students writing papers/Library/Depot

A highly critical view of developments in Hong Kong:
Since its transfer from Britain to China in 1997, Hong Kong has faced years of externally and locally inflicted pain: bird flu, SARS, financial crisis, demonstrations, intervention by Beijing, cronyism, pollution and overdevelopment. There is a sense that the city is losing its uniqueness, confidence, glamour and livability. Hong Kong’s people, businesses and policymakers have become fearful of competition, change and the future. Social harmony has given way to fracture along antagonistic political and economic lines. This volume recounts the decline in the city’s governance, spirit and ambition in the years following the handover. It explains the political, economic and constitutional structures that have led to weak policymaking, misallocation of public resources, favouritism towards vested interests and public anxiety and resentment. And it asks whether and how Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty can get back on track and achieve its full potential as Asia’s greatest city. Hemlock is the pseudonym of a western-born man who has lived in the city for most of his working life, serving as a factotum to several prominent figures in both business and politics. (207 pages)
Level: A/SRP/SSO/Depot