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In 1842 a "barren island" was reluctantly ceded by China to an unenthusiastic Britain. "Hong Kong", grumbled Palmerston, "will never be a mart of trade". But from the outset the new colony prospered, its early growth owing much to the energy and resourcefulness of opium traders, who soon diversified in more respectable directions. In 1859 the Kowloon Peninsula was sold to Britain, and in 1898 a further area of the mainland, the "New Territories", was leased to Britain for 99 years - the arrangement from which the present difficulties spring. Despite its extraordinary economic success, which has made it one of the world's leading commercial centres, Hong Kong has never quite shaken off the raffishness of its early days. It has continued to be a source of embarrassment to British governments, and now, as its enforced return to China approaches, its future is the focus of worldwide attention and speculation. This work is an evocation of Hong Kong and the characters of those who shaped it, from its buccaneering origins to its post-war growth. ... Read more

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The Cinema of Hong Kong examines one of the most popular and dynamic cinema traditions in the history of film. Providing an overview of major directors, genres and stars, from its origins to the present, this volume examines Hong Kong cinema in transnational, historical, and artistic contexts. Individual essays focus on Hong Kong cinema before and during World War II; the cinema of the turbulent 1960s; its rise to world prominence in the 1970s and its reception in the United States, and the revival of Cantonese cinema, among other topics. ... Read more

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Great condition, short wait, good price
Very satisfied with the book, it looks like new and it came in quickly. What else could you ask for? ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Tsang makes history enjoyable
As we travel, I like to read the history of a country or area before we go there. I find that it is difficult to find a factual history that is easy to read, let alone enjoyable.

Tsang has a writing style that makes history interesting. He discusses the roles of Chinese government, the British government and the Chinese who immigrate to Hong Kong. He also has a very good understanding of the role of government and the economic forces at work.

He is very objective and does not have an "agenda".

I feel that this book has given me a very accurate description of the history of Hong Kong and will make our trip to Hong Kong, on which we leave in three days, much more enjoyable.

An excellent history of Hong Kong
This history is well balanced, thoroughly researched and very readable.It covers the period from the Opium Wars when the British obtained the rocky island referred to as "fragrant harbour" (Hong Kong) to the handover of one of the world's preeminent trading and financial centres to the PRC.The strength of the text is that it makes very clear that Hong Kong's existence was a function of the relative power of China and Britain.As China disintegrated in the 19th Century and European powers took little pieces for themselves, Britain was the leading European in the area, and (after serving itself) even sought to protect China against its European competitors. When the costs of World War II and the Japanese Empire broke the back of Europe's colonies in Asia, a new chapter began in Hong Kong as well. Prof. Tsang shows a Hong Kong that somewhat resembles the United States in that it is a refuge for immigrants from troubled foreign countries, although in the case of Hong Kong almost everyone came from China.Tsang does not shy away from depicting the racist and elitist practices of Victorian England towards the Chinese refugees who made up Hong Kong's population, but stresses that what the colonial masters had to offer (particularly the rule of law and civil service) was much better than what these people could expect from their Chinese homeland. This portrait of the people of Hong Kong is extremely sympathetic, even endearing.They appear as enterprising refugees who had no real power to defend themselves against either Imperial Britain or Communist China except making Hong Kong such a special (and wealthy) place that the power current overshadowing them would look favorably to giving them space to breathe. This is not only a captivating and informative history, but also an excellent study of colonies generally and culture: it shows how and the extent to which a Western economy and society can develop in a culture that remains completely Chinese.

Best book on Hong Kong
This is by far the best book on Hong Kong I have ever read. It is clearly written, balanced, and insightful. My family and I have lived in Hong Kong for years and it is nice to read a book that describes a place one knows well in beautifully written prose. It is fair about both the British and the local Chinese communities. When I read the chapter on the rise of a Hong Kong identity I know this is really good.It rings true.Most highly recommended.

A well-balanced treatment of Hong Kong's history that lives up to its name
A Modern History of Hong Kong presents a supremely well-balanced history of this former British imperial possession. Steve Tsang's meticulously researched historical narrative duly recognizes the efforts of both Hong Kong's industrious and civic-minded local Chinese population and the expatriate British who held the bulk of the administrative power over Hong Kong during its tenure as a crown colony. Tsang's work demonstrates that Hong Kong's ethnic Chinese inhabitants played an essential and dynamic role in the creation of the former colony in that they constituted its economic, industrial, and infrastructural workforce from the beginning, and came to develop their own unique Hong Kong identity as the population stabilized culturally but exploded in number in the decades following the Second World War. Tsang's historical account never strays far from what students of Marxist theory would likely refer to as Hong Kong's material conditions, in that the book portrays Hong Kong's cultural development within the context of its economic and political circumstances. The work puts forth a history of Hong Kong in which the colony's unique social and cultural characteristics were established as a result of the relatively minimalist legal and political framework that was provided by the British colonizers in order to ensure Hong Kong's capitalistic success. Students of history, English, postcolonial studies, comparative literature, and other academic disciplines will find this book to be a fascinating primer for further studies into both Hong Kong's history and the colonial and postcolonial initiatives of Britain and other Eurasian countries. General readers and academics alike who are interested in Hong Kong's history will find Steve Tsang's book to be a lively, entertaining, and fair treatment of the forces and events that led to the formation of this former colony and to the creation of its current identity as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. ... Read more

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As the British rule in Hong Kong draws to a close after a century and a half, the colony remains one of the most vital and intriguing places on earth. Despite being founded on an uninviting collection of sparsely populated islands on the Chinese coast, occupied by the Japanese in wartime, and surrounded by a belligerent Communist giant for over forty years, Hong Kong has grown into a global leader in manufacturing, commerce, and finance--the very symbol of dramatic growth and prosperity.An Illustrated History of Hong Kong captures that dynamic past in a sweeping account of this legendary city.
Combining lavish and revealing illustrations (many of them seen here for the first time) with an authoritative text, Nigel Cameron reaches back to the prehistoric past, long before the arrival of the first Europeans, to build a comprehensive picture of this remarkable region's past. Based on numerous Chinese sources, the book offers a new perspective on the interplay between the Chinese and Westerners in shaping the Hong Kong we know today, and looks ahead to the implications of the resumption of Chinese rule in 1997. The result in an engrossing, up-to-the-minute narrative packed with over a hundred illustrations, including twenty-four color plates. ... Read more

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Hong Kong has always been something of an anomaly, and an outpost of empire, whether British or Chinese. Once described as a barren island, the former fishing community has been transformed by its own economic miracle into one of Asia's World Cities, taking in its stride the territory's 1997 return to Chinese sovereignty. Beneath the surface of Hong Kong's clichéd self-image as Pearl of the Orient and Shopping Paradise, Michael Ingham reveals a city rich in history, myth, and cultural diversity. ... Read more

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This book tells an instructive tale of Hong Kong's tax system from 1940 (when taxes on income were first introduced in the territory) until the present day. For Hong Kong's own historians and political scientists, it supplies cogent but previously neglected evidence of the influence of the territory's business interests. For students of British imperialism, it provides a compelling case-study of relations between London and a recalcitrant colony. For Hong Kong's own tax profession, it corrects the notion that the territory's tax system was the product of governmental design. And for tax theorists and taxpayers everywhere, it suggests how it might be possible to structure a combination of very light taxes and very low public spending so as to win broad popular support.--Michael Littlewood is a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, where he teaches tax. His work has been published in the U.S., the U.K., Hong Kong, China, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. He lived in Hong Kong from 1989 until 2003.--"An excellent read ... partly a matter of 'who done it?' but, even more so, of 'how did they get away with it?' Dr. Littlewood's book will prove indispensable for anyone wanting to use the Hong Kong precedent to argue for a flat rate tax system in their own country." - John Tiley, Professor of Tax Law, University of Cambridge--"Fascinating ... [This book is] a first-rate history and raises troubling questions about the necessity of linking taxes and democratic choice. The book also raises intriguing doubts about whether low taxes and low services may be an acceptable alternative model to the prevalent high-tax, high-services Western welfare state. This book should be required reading for students of political science, history, sociology and law." - Reuven Avi-Yonah, Irwin I. Kohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan----- ... Read more

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how to understand the HK tax system
This book is the perfect manual to understand the Hong Kong tax system from its dawn to our days.
I strictly recommend it to who has to study the Hong Kong taxation. ... Read more

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Drawing together contributions from historians, sociologists and political scientists the book highlights the role played by a variety of social actors in Hong Kong's history and differs both from recent celebrations of British colonialism and anti-colonial Chinese nationalism. It covers the Chinese collaboration with the colonial regime, legal discrimination and intimidation, rural politics, the ruling elite, social movements, government-business relations, industrial policy, flexible manufacturing and colonial historiography. ... Read more

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A Both/And Perspective for analysing colonial governance
Reading Hong KOng's History makes me feel so ignorance with a place where I grow up. Unlike some popular readings about the colonial governance in there, this book proffers us a both/and perspective of the colonial history of hong kong. It also re-articulated the relations between the colonisers and the colonised. Both resistance and collaboration are mentioned in this book. Both the elites and the grassroots are analysed in this book. The sophisticated relations between the British colonisers, the Chinese compradors, trade and political middleman, original habitants in rural areas, etc are opened up in front of reader another picture about hong kong's colonial era. True, Hong KOng's History is a post-colonial reading of the colonial history. However, it has provided lot of new primary resources to evindence that have been wittingly neglected by some famous hong kong coloinal historians. Through the both/and perspective, this book gives a more precise explanation of why hong kong being one of the Asian Miracles. ... Read more

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This book tells an instructive tale of Hong Kong’s tax system from 1940 (when taxes on income were first introduced in the territory) until the present day. For Hong Kong’s own historians and political scientists, it supplies cogent but previously neglected evidence of the influence of the territory’s business interests.
For students of British imperialism, it provides a compelling case-study of relations between London and a recalcitrant colony. For Hong Kong’s own tax
profession, it corrects the notion that the territory’s tax system was the product of governmental design. And for tax theorists and taxpayers everywhere, it suggests how it might be possible to structure a combination of very light taxes and very low public spending so as to win broad popular support. ... Read more

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Land-use planning in Hong Kong has long been an inevitable subject of debate and controversy. Arguing that land-use planning should be considered as a specialised aspect of government administration, the author traces the history of planning from the founding of Hong Kong in 1841 to the present, and examines in detail the relevant current legislation, procedures and government organisation. ... Read more

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Economic history deals with daily life, but also goes beyond that to interpret the important turning points which made daily life possible. This book demonstrates why Hong Kong was so successful as a commercial, industrial and financial city at different times in its history and how these major changes made an impact on the life of its people. The documents selected for inclusion illustrate vividly problems confronted by entrepreneur and government at every state in these changes. An outline history provided in the general introduction and to every chapter brings coherence to the different themes which emerge throughout the book. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more