Description
What do โDeep water pierโ, โNine dragons cityโ and โMandarinโs lakeโ have in common with โWong Tai Sinโ, the name of a Taoist deity? Theyโre all districts in Kowloon.
This book is an exploration of what is often seen as Hong Kongโs shadow-side, from the viewpoints of community, consumerism, art, food, fashion and sex โ 15 years after the handover. Scores of colour photographs bring the peninsula to the reader in a salute to street culture and the ordinary and extraordinary people of Kowloon.
MEDIA ATTENTION
We all know Kowloon. Itโs busy. Itโs colourful. Itโs packed with markets, apartments and people. There are beautiful landscapes. Thereโs the sex industry. Thereโs the masses of Mainland tourists. But how much do we really know the โNine Dragonsโ district? One author says thereโs much more hidden away and itโs up to us to go and discover it. โI see Kowloon as an exploding thesaurus,โ says Nicole Chabot, author of new picture-led tome Kowloon: Unknown Territory, โas in there are so many different adjectives you could use to describe it.โ โ Time Out
Chaplain and Chabot talked about their new book on RTHK Radio 3.
Kowloon: Unknown Territory is Susan Blumberg-Kasonโs book of the week!
โOne of my friends lives her life entirely within Hong Kong Island and becomes both disoriented and insecure when she has to venture even into nearby Kowloon or the New Territories. She is not alone. There are many long-time Hong Kong residents who live, work and play within a 1-km radius of Central and donโt see any reason to step outside their comfort zone.โ โ China Daily
Listen to Chaplain and Chabot as they walk through Kowloon on the Hong Kong Heritage podcast.
Chaplainโs photos of Kowloon were exhibited on the wall of Hong Kongโs FCC in January 2013.
About the authors
Half-Chinese freelance writer Nicole Chabot has lived in Edinburgh, Hong Kong, London and Amsterdam and has worked with clients in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. These range from agencies and corporate clients to publishers, magazines and newspapers. Fodorโs, South China Morning Post, Tatler, and Business Traveller are among her clients. Her writing has also appeared in inflight magazines. From 2007 to 2011, Chabot worked as a research associate at the China Business Centre of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where she conducted the interviews for Kowloon: Unknown Territory. She currently works as a freelance writer for the SCMP and other titles.
Ira Chaplain is an award-winning American photographer who has lived in Hong Kong since 1994, after having lived in Thailand and Sweden. In recent years his work has taken him to Korea, Japan, Thailand, Bali, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Bahrain. Chaplainโs clients include top-tier newspapers and magazines including Asiaweek, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, Der Spiegel, Discovery, Dynasty, Far Eastern Economic Review, Forbes, Fortune, L.A. Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Maxim, Newsweek, New York Times, Paris Match, Prestige, Readerโs Digest, Sunday Telegraph, South China Morning Post, Time, Travel & Leisure, Village Voice and Washington Post.
