Feng Chi-shun - Blacksmith Books

Feng Chi-shun is a naturalized US citizen, but considers Hong Kong — where he grew up and attended medical school — his home. His formative years were spent in Kowloon’s Diamond Hill district, where people were poor but life was rich.

Trained as a pathologist, he has published close to 100 scientific articles on his medical research. He has also been a columnist for the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language newspaper in Hong Kong.

Feeling deprived as a child, he is making up for lost time by living life to its fullest. He is an aficionado of wine and cigars, and a part-time punter attracted to roulette, poker, mahjong and horse racing. In his spare time, he plays golf and tennis, and shoots a mean game of pool. He intends to live in Hong Kong for the rest of his life.

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Hong Kong Noir: Fifteen true tales from the dark side of the city

HK$118.00
USD: US$15.11
CNY: CN¥109.39
GBP: £11.83
EUR: €13.91
AUD: AU$22.71
CAD: CA$20.61
JPY: ¥2,374
Hong Kong pathologist Feng Chi-shun was once part-owner of a dive bar in Kowloon City: a rough part of town which was home to the Sun Yee On triad gang. During that time, he heard a lot of stories.

How about the street sleeper who was a secret millionaire, or the man who chose to end it all in Chungking Mansions? Do you want to know the details of Kowloon's gruesome Hello Kitty murder, or what the taxi driver from hell did to his passengers? How about Elvis of the Orient, the ancient movie star who fooled hundreds of people for his final performance, or the student who stumbled into the 1967 riots and entered the world of girlie bars? And what was the truth about the girl with the eagle tattoo?

The 15 stories in Hong Kong Noir offer a glimpse of what happens in the shadows.

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Click on these links to read pages from Hong Kong Noir. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Foreword Inside Hello Kitty's Head The Taxi Driver from Hell

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Kitchen Tiles: A Collection of Salty, Wet Stories from the Bar-Rooms of Hong Kong

HK$118.00
USD: US$15.11
CNY: CN¥109.39
GBP: £11.83
EUR: €13.91
AUD: AU$22.71
CAD: CA$20.61
JPY: ¥2,374
The Cantonese call anyone lecherous, and anything salacious, harm sup — literally salty and wet. And the code word for all things harm sup is "kitchen tiles." Anyone who has stepped into a Chinese kitchen knows it is like a war zone, with broth and condiments spilt all over the place; hence the tiles are deemed salty and wet.

Kitchen Tiles looks at the lascivious aspects of Hong Kong society. These 50 stories of gamblers, drinkers, masseuses and millionaires are based on the real-life experiences of Feng Chi-shun, author of Diamond Hill. Names and circumstances may have been changed, but the sentiment and spirit remain authentically Hong Kong.

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Click on the link to read pages from Kitchen Tiles. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

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Diamond Hill: Memories of growing up in a Hong Kong squatter village

HK$118.00
USD: US$15.11
CNY: CN¥109.39
GBP: £11.83
EUR: €13.91
AUD: AU$22.71
CAD: CA$20.61
JPY: ¥2,374
"Diamond Hill was one of the poorest and most backward of villages in Hong Kong at a time when Hong Kong itself was poor and backward. We moved there in 1956 when I was almost 10. I left when I was 19. Those were the formative years of my life. It’s a time that I remember well and cherish.”

This memoir of a native son of a Kowloon-side squatter village – the first book ever on Diamond Hill, in either Chinese or English – presents the early days of a life shaped by a now-extinct community. Penned by a high-achieving Hong Kong professional, Feng Chi-shun’s sharp recollections of his humble upbringing contain warmth, humour, and an abundance of insights into a low-income Hong Kong neighbourhood that no longer exists – but remains close to the hearts of many who lived there.

Diamond Hill will invite comparisons with Martin Booth's Gweilo. If you enjoyed the latter, you will likely find the former similarly absorbing, because the young Feng was, for many a “gweilo”, the inaccessible yet intriguing face of an altogether edgier Hong Kong.

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Click on the following link to view sample pages from Diamond Hill. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Thugs and gangsters

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