Book Description
From a little-known fishing community at the periphery of China, Hong Kong developed into one of the world's most spectacular and cosmopolitan cities after a century and a half of British imperial rule. The history of Hong Kong, from its occupation by the British in 1841 to its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, is a fascinating story of East meeting West. This book addresses the changing relations between the local Chinese and expatriate communities in 156 years of British rule, and the emergence of a local identity. It explains the importance of China as a factor in its development and the origins of the so-called "1997 problems," thus analyzing the underlying reasons for the rise of a liberal society committed to the rule of law without democracy.


About the Author
Steve Tsang is Louis Cha Senior Research Fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford University. He is the author of Hong Kong: An Appointment with China (I.B.Tauris, 1997).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This major new history of Hong Kong tells the remarkable story of how a cluster of remote fishing villages grew into an icon of capitalism. The story began in 1842 with the founding of the Crown Colony after the First Anglo-Chinese war -- the original 'Opium War'. As premier power in Europe and an expansionist empire, Britain first created in Hong Kong a major naval station and the principal base to open the Celestial Chinese Empire to trade. Working in parallel with the locals, the British built it up to become a focus for investment in the region and an international centre with global shipping, banking and financial interests. Yet by far the most momentous change in the history of this prosperous, capitalist colony was its return in 1997 to 'Mother China', the most powerful Communist state in the world.