Description
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.
“If you’re interested in Hong Kong’s other face – the one that lies on the un-lit side of the city’s chrome-and-glass structures, this is probably the book for you. The writer was once part-owner of a dive bar in Kowloon City – a somewhat wild part of Hong Kong, where a man who lived on the street could be a secret millionaire and a forgotten movie star could pass himself off as the Elvis of the Orient.” — China Daily
Radio 3 host Phil Whelan talked to Feng Chi-shun about his new book. Listen in online.
“Writing and other artistic pursuits should remain strictly in the domain of people’s hobbies. I’ve seen far too many struggling artists to advocate for abandoning a stable, reliable profession for something as uncertain and subjective as following artistic dreams.” — read the interview in HK Magazine
Watch Feng Chi-shun speaking at a book signing at Hong Kong’s FCC
“Behind the glitzy, sky-scraping face of success lies an alternate Hong Kong; one of drama and destitution, villains and the vulnerable, chutzpah and chancers. It’s the city I knew so well, one Feng Chi-shun writes about masterfully in this long-awaited account.” – Chris Thrall, author of Eating Smoke
