Our publications - Page 2 of 4

The Yunnan Cookbook: Recipes from China’s land of ethnic diversity

HK$208.00
USD: US$26.63
CNY: CN¥192.82
GBP: £20.85
EUR: €24.51
AUD: AU$40.02
CAD: CA$36.32
JPY: ¥4,184
From the yaks which graze at altitudes so high that vegetables cannot grow, and the paradise of Shangri-La; through the flower markets of Kunming, the dramatic tea terraces of Pu-er, and forest floors covered with wild mushrooms; to the tropical south where market stalls brim with brilliant red chillies and shimmering purple eggplants.

Yunnan, an exotic land of former kingdoms which borders Tibet, Sichuan, Burma, Vietnam and Laos, is the most bio-diverse province in China. It is quite possibly the most beautiful part of the country, and also the most culturally rich. Each ethnic minority has its own distinct cooking ingredients, aromas and flavours – all brought together for the first time in this unique cookbook.

Add to basket Details
Remembering Bruce Lee: And Jon Benn’s Other Adventures

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
“Kung Fu?” The Big Boss Loves Adventure

Even four decades after the passing of Asian martial-arts superstar Bruce Lee (1940-73), his achievements still attract adoration from millions of movie fans. The biggest fan of all may be Jon Benn, who befriended the high-kicking hero while playing “the Big Boss”, a villain in Lee’s acclaimed 1972 movie The Way of the Dragon.

In Remembering Bruce Lee, a tell-tale autobiography, Jon reminisces fondly about his experiences with Lee and a lifetime of other adventures. From facing Lee’s fists of fury to riding in a cowboy posse, from almost starting the Third World War to a nude scene with sex symbol Bo Derek, much has happened to Jon for the sake of appearing in movies.

But that’s not all. From exploring ancient Mexican temples and falling into a volcano to eavesdropping on communists in Cold War Europe, from doing business with former Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos to girls-in-hot-pants waving Passports to Pleasure, one heck of a lot has happened to Jon away from the cameras too.

Look inside this book
Click on the link to read pages from Remembering Bruce Lee. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Contents & Introduction

Add to basket Details
Street Life Hong Kong: Outdoor workers in their own words

HK$158.00
USD: US$20.23
CNY: CN¥146.47
GBP: £15.84
EUR: €18.62
AUD: AU$30.40
CAD: CA$27.59
JPY: ¥3,178
with photographs by Michael Perini

Hong Kong is famous for its bustling streets. In this book we hear from two dozen real people who provide its outdoor colour. We meet a flower seller, a street musician and a tram driver; a bouncer, a shoeshiner and a gas canister delivery man; a site foreman and a lifeguard; one man who climbs bamboo scaffolding for a living, and a woman who ferries visitors around the harbour on a sampan.

These are the working people who are always seen but rarely heard, and in this book they tell their life stories in their own words. Sharp black-and-white portraits immerse the reader in the dynamic streetscape of Hong Kong.

Look inside this book
Click on the links below to read pages from Street Life Hong Kong. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Contents Tony Tam Kwok-Chiu, Assistant foreman Chu Yin-Ping, Sampan tour guide

Add to basket Details
Year of Fire Dragons: An American Woman’s Story of Coming of Age in Hong Kong

HK$128.00
USD: US$16.39
CNY: CN¥118.66
GBP: £12.83
EUR: €15.08
AUD: AU$24.63
CAD: CA$22.35
JPY: ¥2,575
In 2010, bookish 22-year-old Shannon follows her Eurasian boyfriend to Hong Kong, eager to forge a new love story in his hometown. But when work sends him to London a month later, Shannon embarks on a wide-eyed newcomer's journey through Hong Kong – alone.

She teaches in a local school as the only foreigner, explores Asia with other young expats and discovers family history in Hong Kong, all while trying to hold on to her thwarted romance. The city enchants her, forcing her to question her plans. Soon, she must make a choice between her new life and the love that first brought her to Asia.

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to view sample pages from Year of Fire Dragons. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

One Two

Add to basket Details
Hong Kong for Kids: A Parent’s Guide

HK$158.00
USD: US$20.23
CNY: CN¥146.47
GBP: £15.84
EUR: €18.62
AUD: AU$30.40
CAD: CA$27.59
JPY: ¥3,178
Hong Kong’s bestselling parents’ guide is back, completely revised for 2015 and more comprehensive than ever before, with 70+ outing ideas! Filled with exciting child-friendly activities to do, see and experience, Hong Kong for Kids gives parents and educators all the important information they need to have a successful and stress-free outing with kids.

Whether you’re a tourist visiting the city for the first time, a seasoned expat, a life-long resident or a teacher planning a school field trip, this book is indispensable.

Look inside this book
Click below to view sample pages from Hong Kong for Kids. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.
Contents
Sham Shui Po themed street shopping
Hong Kong Heritage Museum
Victoria Peak Garden
Sample maps

Add to basket Details
Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A Collection of Biographical Reflections

HK$180.00
USD: US$23.05
CNY: CN¥166.86
GBP: £18.04
EUR: €21.21
AUD: AU$34.64
CAD: CA$31.43
JPY: ¥3,621
with a foreword by Irene Eber

A compilation of 26 biographical accounts from the entire spectrum of Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jewish society offers fresh insights into a remarkable community that lived through the crossroads of China’s 20th-century history.

Using previously unseen diaries and archival material, Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews documents the rise and fall of larger-than-life personalities who witnessed the Sino-Japanese War, the Occupation of Shanghai and the Communist Party’s rise to power. Photographs illustrate the life and times of these individuals and the magnificent, cosmopolitan city they called home.

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to view sample pages from Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Foreword Sample photo pages

Add to basket Details
Tales from Victoria Park: Short stories of Indonesian women in Hong Kong

HK$108.00
USD: US$13.83
CNY: CN¥100.12
GBP: £10.83
EUR: €12.73
AUD: AU$20.78
CAD: CA$18.86
JPY: ¥2,173
Victoria Park, the largest expanse of open space in Hong Kong, is the crossroads and away home for thousands of Muslim women who come from Indonesia to find their fortunes, or at least support their families, in the teeming Chinese city. Most come initially as maids, but some lose their employers and descend into the netherworld of overstayers, illegal street hawkers and disco “PR” girls. Whoever they are, they all know Dina: a woman who sells phonecards, changes money, dispenses advice and listens to their tales of exile.

Leila and Ahmed spend the day searching for a place to make love on their one day off, but all the cheap hotels are filled with other lovers celebrating the “End of Ramadan.” Ani finds an unusual way to put a curse on a rival for her affections in “Golden Needles”, while Retno decides that if she becomes a Mormon maybe she can find a regular place to sleep at night. “Wiji” somehow manages to juggle her two Western boyfriends until she manipulates them both into helping her buy a rice field back home, then finds that they insist on accompanying her to her home village as her great benefactors. “Wati and Murtini” grew up in the same small village in Java and worked together in Hong Kong until, on one hot day in Victoria Park, friendship ended in betrayal.

From the comic to the bizarre to the heart-breaking, these cross-cultural tales of exiles in another country build on a sensual evocation of place and character.

Add to basket Details
Paul’s Records: How a refugee from the Vietnam War found success selling vinyl on the streets 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
As a youth in Saigon's Chinatown of the 1960s and '70s, Paul Au was greatly affected by American "hippie" culture and Rock and Roll. He was smuggled into Hong Kong in 1974 to escape the South Vietnamese military draft.

At first living in rooftop squats, he started to trade used vinyl records on the streets of Sham Shui Po, and finally established an underground reputation for his eclectic blend and unending supply of recorded music.

This full-colour book uses sample records and sleeve art to depict the evolution of popular music in Hong Kong since the 1970s, and describes the down-to-earth part of Kowloon, with its walk-up buildings and street markets, that Paul Au has become synonymous with.

"Paul's Records solidifies Andrew Guthrie's status as the most perceptive, and astute, observer of the lingering appeal of recording and cassette culture in post-colonial Hong Kong." – Giorgio Biancorosso, Department of Music, The University of Hong Kong

"Paul's Records is a gift to Hong Kong and to anyone who wants to know more about the unique worlds that thrive in its crowded spaces." – Greg Girard, author of City of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City

Add to basket Details
South China Morning Blues

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
There’s no place quite like it. From Guangzhou to Hong Kong, the booming megalopolis of the Pearl River Delta has endless stories to tell. South China Morning Blues is filled with these tales of the postmodern East: depraved, rapidly changing, and never boring.

Just what kinds of people find themselves in 21st-century China? There’s Marco, a crooked businessman with a penchant for call girls; Danny, a culture-shocked young traveler; Sheila, a local club girl caught up in family politics; Amber, a drug-fueled aspiring model; Terry, an alcoholic journalist; and Ting Ting, a lovable artist with a chip on her shoulder. Their lives intertwine in unexpected ways as they delve deeper into their surroundings and in the process learn more about themselves.

China may be leading the world into the future, but its inhabitants will have to make sense of the present if that future is ever going to arrive.

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to view sample pages from South China Morning Blues. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Prologue: Shenzhen Monkey

Add to basket Details
Out of stock
It Won’t Be Long Now: The Diary of a Hong Kong Prisoner of War

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
Japan marched into Hong Kong at the outbreak of the Pacific War on December 8, 1941. On the same day, Graham Heywood was captured by the invading Japanese near the border while carrying out duties for the Royal Observatory. He was held at various places in the New Territories before being transported to the military Prisoner-of-War camp in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. The Japanese refused to allow Heywood and his colleague Leonard Starbuck to join the civilians at the Stanley internment camp.

Heywood’s illustrated diary records his three-and-a-half years of internment, telling a story of hardship, adversity, and survival of malnutrition and disease; as well as repeated hopes of liberation and disappointment. As he awaits the end of the war, his reflections upon freedom and imprisonment bring realisations about life and how to live it.

“Accounts of life in the internment camp differed widely. One friend, an enthusiastic biologist, was full of his doings; he had grown champion vegetables, had seen all sort of rare birds (including vultures, after the corpses) and had run a successful yeast brewery. Altogether, he said, it had been a great experience ... a bit too long, perhaps, but not bad fun at all. Another ended up her account by saying ‘Oh, Mr. Heywood, it was hell on earth’. It all depended on their point of view.”

Heywood’s highly positive attitude to life is food for thought for all of us today, in the midst of increasing consumerism but decreasing spiritual satisfaction. We have enjoyed freedom and an abundance of material wealth in the 70 years since the end of the Pacific War, but we may not always recognise our true good fortune.

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to view sample pages from It Won't Be Long Now. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts. Foreword Chapter 1 - Capture

Details
Sketches of the Southside: Aberdeen Harbour and Repulse Bay to Stanley Market and Shek O

HK$188.00
USD: US$24.07
CNY: CN¥174.28
GBP: £18.85
EUR: €22.15
AUD: AU$36.17
CAD: CA$32.83
JPY: ¥3,782
Hong Kong’s Southside – the glimmering stretch of coastline from Aberdeen, through Repulse Bay, Stanley and Tai Tam, to Shek O – is a weekend paradise of restaurants, markets and beaches, the destination of choice for sailors, swimmers, hikers and shoppers. These attractions are all captured by Lorette Roberts in this book but, in her familiar style, she has discovered much more.

There are vignettes of the old villages, complete with traditional watchtowers, temples and scarecrows; sketches from visits to Ocean Park, two museums and a pristine marine reserve; a sampan trip around Aberdeen Harbour, and a secret tunnel to underground wine cellars. There are rugged shores and stunning mountain views; the elegant architecture of The Repulse Bay and Victorian waterworks at Tai Tam; and riotous dragonboat races at Stanley beach!

Whether you are a resident or a first-time tourist, this book will introduce you to new and delightful aspects of the Southside.

Previously published as 'Sketches of Stanley'

Add to basket Details
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.

Look inside this book

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

Contents

Add to basket Details
Out of stock
Boxed Set of 12 Chinese Calendar Tales

HK$1,198.00
USD: US$153.38
CNY: CN¥1,110.55
GBP: £120.10
EUR: €141.17
AUD: AU$230.52
CAD: CA$209.21
JPY: ¥24,100
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

An entire set of all 12 Chinese Calendar Tales, plus companion title The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, in a beautiful display box. Perfect as a gift for Chinese New Year, Christmas, birthdays or any other special occasion!

Includes:

The Tale of Run Run Rat / The Tale of Oswald Ox / The Tale of Temujin [Tiger] / The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit / The Tale of Chester Choi [Dragon] / The Tale of Sybil Snake / The Tale of a Dark Horse / The Tale of Rodney Ram / The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey / The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster / The Tale of Desmond Dog / The Tale of Ping Pong Pig / The Tale of Pin Yin Panda

Details
The Tale of Rodney Ram

HK$100.00
USD: US$12.80
CNY: CN¥92.70
GBP: £10.02
EUR: €11.78
AUD: AU$19.24
CAD: CA$17.46
JPY: ¥2,012
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

Rodney Ram is gorgeous, from his ear-tips to his toes. But there’s just one problem – he doesn’t want to lead his flock! Then famine grips Guangdong Province, and the sheep are in mortal danger. Will Rodney rise to the challenge, and save their woolly hides? Find out in this shaggy tale of shyness, sheep and an awful lot of luck!

Features the Legend of the Five Rams of Guangzhou, the city of Guangzhou and the history of rice cultivation in China. Shortlisted for the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2016.

Age range: 6 to 12

Add to basket Details
The Mercenary Mandarin: How a British adventurer became a general in Qing-dynasty China

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
Jersey-born William Mesny ran off to sea as a boy and jumped ship at Shanghai in 1860 when he was just 18. Amid the chaos of foreign intrigue and civil war in 19th-century China, he became a smuggler, a prisoner of the Taiping rebels, a gun-runner and finally enlisted in the Chinese military.

After five years of fierce campaigning against the Miao in remote Guizhou province, Mesny rose to the rank of general and used this privileged position to travel around China – to the borders with Burma, Tibet and Vietnam – writing opinionated newspaper articles, collecting plants and advising government officials on the development of railways, telegraphs and other modern reforms.

Mesny eventually settled in Shanghai with a 16-year-old concubine and published Mesny's Chinese Miscellany, a weekly magazine about his experiences. But his story was not to end well. After his implication in an illicit arms deal, his fortunes never recovered, and when he died in 1919 he was working as a desk clerk.

David Leffman has spent over 15 years footstepping Mesny’s travels across China, interviewing locals and piecing together his life story from contemporary journals, private letters and newspaper articles.

Look inside this book

Click on the following links to view sample pages from The Mercenary Mandarin. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts. Foreword

Add to basket Details
Fishing in Hong Kong: A How-To Guide to Making the Most of the Territory’s Shores, Reservoirs and Surrounding Waters

HK$170.00
USD: US$21.76
CNY: CN¥157.59
GBP: £17.04
EUR: €20.03
AUD: AU$32.71
CAD: CA$29.69
JPY: ¥3,420
with John Peters and Lizzie Sharp-Eliazar

Did you leave your fishing rods at home before relocating to Hong Kong, unaware that such a densely populated place could support recreational fishing?

Mike Sharp and John Peters walk you through the local angling spots and describe key tactics normally known only by Hong Kong anglers. Carp fishing, pier fishing, and trolling for game fish are just some of the topics covered in a warm, descriptive text beautifully illustrated by Lizzie Sharp-Eliazar.

Whether you live in a skyscraper or a village, this book will encourage you to get out onto the territory's beautiful waters or rocky shore and cast a line―in the hope that the next one will be the one that didn't get away.

Look inside this book
Click on the images on the left to view sample pages from Fishing in Hong Kong.

Add to basket Details
Out of stock
Hong Kong Unveiled: A journey of discovery through the hidden world of Chinese customs and culture

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 Unveiled is an "access all areas" pass into Chinese culture and customs. Though written with a Hong Kong slant, it applies to any Chinese community worldwide.

Invited to a Chinese wedding or business function and don’t know the correct form? This book will lead you through the minefield where an innocent mistake could see you lose your friend or your business connection. Want to change a run of bad luck? Or are your jokes falling flat with your Chinese friends? Find out how and why in this far-ranging book – which also explains how many seemingly strange customs came about.

Look inside this book
Click on the links to read pages from Hong Kong Unveiled. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Introduction Mistranslations At the restaurant

Details
Getting Along with the Chinese: For Fun and Profit

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
Are the Chinese really so inscrutable?

China Hand Fred Schneiter delves into the lighter side of Chinese psychology, and in doing so demystifies one of the toughest markets in the world. With an unfailing sense of humor, he offers insights for Sinophiles, Sinophobes and everyone in between. On the Hong Kong bestsellers list for twelve months, this book is now back in a new edition — the essential item to pack in your China survival kit.

"Everyone working with Chinese, in or out of China, should read this and send a copy to their boss." -- Daniel Ng, managing director, McDonald's Hong Kong/South China

"Should be required reading for everyone setting out for China for the first time. Lighthearted and highly readable." -- Donald M. Anderson, president, US-China Business Council

Look inside this book!
Click on the following link to read pages from Getting Along with the Chinese. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Prologue and Chapters 1 & 2

Add to basket Details
The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey

HK$100.00
USD: US$12.80
CNY: CN¥92.70
GBP: £10.02
EUR: €11.78
AUD: AU$19.24
CAD: CA$17.46
JPY: ¥2,012
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

Ming Kee is the cheekiest monkey in Yunnan, and her jungle friends are getting REALLY annoyed! Then one day she offends the Emperor Taizong of Tang! Ming Kee flees the jungle… but where has she gone, and will she ever return? And will she ever mend her mischievous ways? A tale of mayhem, monkey business… and the getting of wisdom!

Highlights the famous Legend of the Monkey King, the extraordinary 7th-century Buddhist explorer Xuanzang, and the exceptional biodiversity of Yunnan Province.

Add to basket Details
Out of stock
Sheriff of Wan Chai: How an Englishman helped govern Hong Kong in its last decades as a British colony

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
In 1976, Peter Mann left a gloomy England for the last corner of the British empire: Hong Kong.

As a police inspector, he commanded a sub-unit and led a district vice squad in Kowloon, before joining the colonial government’s Administrative Service and working in the fields of transport, housing, security, environment and tourism. He also served as District Officer, Wan Chai. From raids on gambling dens to organising Governors' visits, his work involved him in all levels of Hong Kong society.

Mann’s memoir is an anecdotal, historical and racy account of Hong Kong’s last decades as a British colony and the colourful story of a young Englishman in the twilight of empire.

“Hong Kong is one of the most intriguing places in the world and its modern history is endlessly fascinating. This book is a highly readable addition to the canon of memoirs which illuminate the period.” – Rachel Cartland, author of Paper Tigress

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Sheriff of Wan Chai. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt. Arrival in Hong Kong

Details
Collected Hong Kong Stories

HK$128.00
USD: US$16.39
CNY: CN¥118.66
GBP: £12.83
EUR: €15.08
AUD: AU$24.63
CAD: CA$22.35
JPY: ¥2,575
For an arresting mosaic of the great and complex metropolis known as Hong Kong – and an insight into what the people of the city live by and die for – a reader need look no further than the Collected Hong Kong Stories of David T. K. Wong.

Wong, a native son of this once British Crown Colony and now Special Administrative Region of China, has drawn upon his own experiences as a journalist, educator, government official and businessman to assemble a range of memorable characters for his tales. They range from barmen to labourers, from jockeys to expatriate bureaucrats, from scholars to tycoons, and each is infused with insights into the collective soul of the edgy, anomalous and perplexing place he finds himself.

These 18 stories are carefully crafted in the grand tradition of O. Henry, Maugham and Saki. Each has been individually published in a magazine or broadcast over radio in Britain, the United States, Hong Kong or elsewhere. They can be dipped into and savoured separately or feasted upon all in one go. Either way, the result can only be satisfying.

“David T. K. Wong is an exceptionally fluent writer whose compelling stories cover a wide range of themes. His talent sparkles, inveigles and mesmerizes.” – Sylvia Tankel, Editor of Short Stories International

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to read pages from Collected Hong Kong Stories. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts. One Two

Add to basket Details
How to Hong Kong: An illustrated travel journal

HK$198.00
USD: US$25.35
CNY: CN¥183.55
GBP: £19.85
EUR: €23.33
AUD: AU$38.10
CAD: CA$34.58
JPY: ¥3,983
In this joyful travel sketchbook, Hong Kong is captured through the hearts of a writer and an artist.

From the winding, incense-filled streets of Sheung Wan to the pandemonium of a wet market in North Point to the sleepy island backwater of Tai O, Lena Sin and Nicholas Tay take you on a wonder-filled journey that shines a light on the softer, more romantic side of this chaotic city.

Filled with tales of growing up in Hong Kong, Lena weaves personal anecdotes and conversations with locals with richly-illustrated watercolours and photographs by herself and artist husband Nicholas. The result is an intimate portrait of a city that is at once vibrant and energetic as well as charming and nostalgic.

Add to basket Details
The Tale of Desmond Dog

HK$100.00
USD: US$12.80
CNY: CN¥92.70
GBP: £10.02
EUR: €11.78
AUD: AU$19.24
CAD: CA$17.46
JPY: ¥2,012
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

Desmond Dog is noble, honest and brave… but he’d also make an excellent pirate!

Will the hero of the fishing village of Hong Kong be lured into a life of crime by infamous pirate queen Ching Shih? Find out in this exciting tale of trickery, temptation… and treasure!

Ages 6 to 12

Add to basket Details
Dateline Mongolia: An American journalist in nomad’s land

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
Michael Kohn, former editor of the Mongol Messenger newspaper, is one steppe ahead of the journalistic posse in this epic Western set in the Far East.

Kohn’s memoir of his time in Mongolia is an irresistible account of a nation where falcon poachers, cattle rustlers, exiled Buddhist leaders, death-defying child jockeys and political assassins vie for page one. A turf war between lamas, shamans, Mormon elders and ministers provides the spiritual backdrop in this nation which had only just been liberated from Soviet rule. From the reincarnated Bogd Khaan and his press spokesman to vodka-fuelled racing entrepreneurs and political leaders unclear on the concept of freedom of the press, Kohn explores one of Asia’s most fascinating, mysterious and misunderstood lands.

“Genghis Khan may have stormed across the steppes seven centuries ago but Michael Kohn has probably covered nearly as many miles around one of the world’s most remote and untamed nations.” — Tony Wheeler, founder, Lonely Planet

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Dateline Mongolia. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Chapter 1 - The Frozen Capital

Add to basket Details
Policing Hong Kong – An Irish History

HK$158.00
USD: US$20.23
CNY: CN¥146.47
GBP: £15.84
EUR: €18.62
AUD: AU$30.40
CAD: CA$27.59
JPY: ¥3,178
Part of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series

Hong Kong, 1918. A tranquil place compared to war-torn Europe. But on the morning of the 22nd January, a running battle through the streets of Wanchai ended in “The Siege of Gresson Street”. Five policemen lay dead, so shocking Hong Kong that over half the population turned out to watch their funeral procession.

One of the dead, Inspector Mortimor O’Sullivan, came from Newmarket: a small town nestled deep in rural Ireland. He, along with a dozen and more relatives, had sailed out to Hong Kong to join the Police Force.

Using family records and memories alongside extensive research in Hong Kong, Ireland and London, Patricia O’Sullivan tells the story of these policemen and the criminals they dealt with. This book also gives a rare glimpse into the day-to-day life of working-class Europeans at the time, as it follows the Newmarket men, their wives and families, from their first arrival in 1864 through to 1941 and beyond.

“This groundbreaking book is a story of life, death, and crime in colonial Hong Kong. It is also an account of an important part of Hong Kong’s population that has eluded most historians: the European working class. With an arsenal of previously untapped materials in Ireland, Britain and Hong Kong, Patricia O’Sullivan tells the remarkable tales of the families who built their own ‘little Ireland’ in Hong Kong.” – John M. Carroll, Dept. of History, University of Hong Kong

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Policing Hong Kong – An Irish History. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Introduction

Add to basket Details
Hong Kong on the Brink: An American diplomat relives 1967’s darkest days

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
Syd Goldsmith’s first taste of China’s Cultural Revolution is blood on his tongue. It’s 1967. Hong Kong is simmering, plagued by communist-led riots and strikes, crippled transport, punishing water-rationing, takeover threats from Beijing and roadside bombs. And Syd — the only Caucasian Foreign Service Officer at the American Consulate General who speaks Cantonese — is made responsible for reporting and analysis of the Hong Kong government’s ability to survive.

The CIA station chief and the head of Macau’s gold syndicate play major roles in Syd’s story, along with Newsweek’s Sydney Liu and Maynard Parker, and a steady stream of inquiring foreign correspondents and China-watchers. Richard Nixon makes a cameo appearance — to talk football with Syd since the consul general won’t see him — in this riveting memoir of a year when Hong Kong’s “borrowed time” seemed about to expire.

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Hong Kong on the Brink. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Chapters 1 to 3

Add to basket Details
Volume 1: Old Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell

HK$168.00
USD: US$21.51
CNY: CN¥155.74
GBP: £16.84
EUR: €19.80
AUD: AU$32.33
CAD: CA$29.34
JPY: ¥3,380
Not your typical photo book!

David Bellis, founder of the popular local history website Gwulo, shows you a selection of his favourite photos of old Hong Kong. So far, so familiar.

But then he takes you on a deep dive to discover and understand the photos’ most minute and revealing details. Plague-ridden rats, flapper hats, and chocolates are just a few of the surprising clues you’ll investigate. Finally, David helps you piece the clues together to uncover the photos’ hidden stories.

Part of a five-volume series; to see the other books, click here.

Add to basket Details
Out of stock
Hong Kong 20/20: Reflections on a borrowed place

HK$148.00
USD: US$18.95
CNY: CN¥137.20
GBP: £14.84
EUR: €17.44
AUD: AU$28.48
CAD: CA$25.85
JPY: ¥2,977
(Go to Chinese edition)

The handover in 1997 saw Hong Kong’s smooth transition from colonial to Communist rule under the auspices of the ‘one country, two systems’ framework. But twenty years on, the real impact of the sovereignty change is just starting to register: the city’s near-total economic integration with the mainland, a massive influx of Chinese visitors, simmering cross-border tensions and a rapid erosion of freedoms. Believing that we are stronger and louder together, PEN Hong Kong invited some of Hong Kong’s most prominent literary and creative minds to reflect on the city’s post-colonial development, in a definitive compendium of essays, poems, fiction and artwork that marks this historical milestone.

Michael Braga · Mary-Jean Chan · Jennifer S. Cheng · Kris Cheng · Chow Hon Fai · Larry Feign · Harry Harrison · Gérard Henry · Louise Ho · Oscar Ho Hing Kay · Tammy Ho Lai-Ming · Sarah Howe · Law Lok Man, Louise · Arthur Leung · Leung Ping-Kwan · Louisa Lim · Shirley Geok-lin Lim · Lui Wing Kai, Eric · William Nee · Jason Y. Ng · Margaret Ng · Timothy O’Leary · Michael O’Sullivan · Ilaria Maria Sala · Mishi Saran · Shahilla Shariff · Shen Jian · So Mei Chi · Tang Siu Wa · Eddie Tay · Chip Tsao · Stephen Vines · Marco Wan · Wawa · Kate Whitehead · Joshua Wong · Nicholas Wong · Xu Xi · Marco Yan · Chris Yeung · Douglas Young

With forewords by Timothy Garton Ash and Kevin Lau Chun-to.

"The success of Hong Kong’s pluralist citizenship will come out on top whatever the challenges. Reading many of the contributions [in Hong Kong 20/20] confirms me in that view." — Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong

Details
The Tiger Hunters of Tai O

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, 1954. The British colony was not yet ready to hear about a Eurasian policeman having an affair with the police commissioner’s daughter. Twenty-two-year-old Simon Lee tasted swift punishment. He was banished to the outer fringes of the territory, to the far tip of a wild and distant island a stone’s throw from mainland Chinese waters — to Tai O, the ancient and murky trading post where fishermen, salt-farmers and refugees were thrown together with spies, pirates and triads. Pink dolphins swam the waters, eagles fished the sea, and some still believed that a tiger prowled the hills at night.

It was a place haunted by history, where corpses had floated in the bay just a decade earlier when Japanese troops occupied the police station, and everybody had a secret about what they did during the war.

Life was unpredictable for the band of beer-swilling misfits that staffed Tai O Police Station. Some said they needed reining in. But when a stranger was murdered on a beach, accused of being a Communist spy, Lee found himself on an unexpected collision course with his own masters in Central. Who had the dead man been working for? What did the secret agents know? Why was Central so eager to brush the execution aside? And who or what really was the ‘tiger’?

Add to basket Details
Confessions of a Hong Kong Naturalist

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
by G. T. Reels

Confessions of a Hong Kong Naturalist is a natural history memoir, tracing the journey from novice to expert of an aspiring naturalist, Graham Reels, as he follows a trail of discovery into the miraculously fascinating and diverse world of Hong Kong's wildlife.

The memoir falls naturally into two parts, the first covering the seven-year period 1988-1995 in which Reels gained the knowledge and experience that qualified him to undertake the Hong Kong Biodiversity Survey in 1995-1998. Early chapters include descriptions of work as a research assistant at Hong Kong University, an M.Phil. study from a hut at Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve, a survey of Hong Kong's freshwater wetlands, and work at Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden. The territory-wide Biodiversity Survey is covered in the second half of the book.

Throughout the memoir, different animal species that Reels encountered (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects) are named and described, and their ecological or behavioural attributes discussed in a lively and informal manner. Similarly, a range of fascinating human characters whose lives intersected with the author's in his study of Hong Kong's wildlife are introduced and engagingly portrayed.

Add to basket Details
The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster

HK$100.00
USD: US$12.80
CNY: CN¥92.70
GBP: £10.02
EUR: €11.78
AUD: AU$19.24
CAD: CA$17.46
JPY: ¥2,012
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

Rickshaw is a proud, vain and extremely noisy rooster living in the backstreets of 1920s Shanghai. When the Annual Race along the famous Bund is announced, winning is a matter of national pride for the contestants representing Shanghai’s international Concessions. But Rickshaw Rooster has other ideas! Will the foreigners win again, or will a local hero carry the day? Find out in this tale of loyalty, ruffled feathers and cocky determination!

Highlights 1920s Shanghai, its famous Bund, the international concessions, the end of empire and the rise of nationalism in China, and the special characteristics of people born in the Year of the Rooster.

Add to basket Details
Chinese Ghosts Revisited: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
Do the Hong Kong Chinese experience ghosts, hauntings, spirit mediumship, ESP and other paranormal phenomena just like people in the West? Or is their culture so different that the ghost accounts in this book will seem bizarre to anyone else?

This classic presentation of cases is based on 3,600 interviews, questionnaires and observations in Hong Kong in 1980/81, updated by recent materials over 30 years later. Interestingly, in spite of clear influences from ancestor worship and Confucian/Taoist/Buddhist culture, parapsychological theories of apparitions from the West also apply to the Chinese cases.

For this 2017 edition, Charles Emmons has revisited his earlier conclusions and added new material that has come to light in the intervening years. This book remains the only major cross-cultural study comparing Chinese with Western ghost experiences.

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Chinese Ghosts. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Strange Cases on Exhibit

Add to basket Details
The Dictionary of the Asian Language

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
with cartoons by Ming

Of course there is no single Asian language. But plenty of vogue words from this booming continent are entering English.

Did you know there is a flower named after former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il? The Chinese have a word – shengnu, literally leftover – for the new phenomenon of unmarried women over thirty. Can you tell your jeepney from your jilbab, or yakuza from the yellowshirts?

These are just some of the hundreds of words that illuminate little corners of life and culture in a pan-Asian selection of keywords from the zeitgeist.

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from The Dictionary of the Asian Language. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

aaiiiyah! to Ayutthaya

Add to basket Details
Other Voices, Other Eyes: Expatriate Lives in Hong Kong

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
The stories of expatriates in Hong Kong – the most dynamic, dramatic and diverse city in the Asia-Pacific region – come to life in this book.

Why did they come? Why do they stay? How did Hong Kong change them and their view of the world? What did they gain and what did they lose?

Human beings are on the move, driven by economic globalisation, political persecution, love or simple curiosity; and this global flow defines the age in which we live. From these expat stories, larger themes loom: identities transformed; racism, naked and clothed; blended relationships; and the tensions and tolerance engendered through peoples, languages and cultures in contact.
Look inside this book Click on the following link to read pages from Other Voices, Other Eyes. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt. To begin at the beginning

Add to basket Details
Farewell, My Colony: Last Days in the Life of British Hong Kong

HK$128.00
USD: US$16.39
CNY: CN¥118.66
GBP: £12.83
EUR: €15.08
AUD: AU$24.63
CAD: CA$22.35
JPY: ¥2,575
20th anniversary edition

In the heart of Beijing, a large digital clock marked off the seconds until July 1, 1997, when the red, five-star flag of China would be hoisted over Hong Kong – and the grand but untried idea of “one country, two systems” would be put into practice.

Farewell, My Colony is a real-time journal of the end of an era by an objective observer. American journalist Todd Crowell captures a unique moment in history as Britain stoically soldiers through the last months of its 156 years of colonial rule, China waits restlessly to resume its sovereignty, and Hong Kong buzzes with endless speculation.

He tells how Hong Kong’s Chinese and expatriates, taipans and cagemen come to terms with the impending change of rule. He mingles with the rich and famous and common people alike. A long-term resident, he votes in elections controversially called by Governor Chris Patten. He then follows the selection of a rival legislature, and of Patten’s successor, shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa, as the first chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The city’s pulse is charted by his pen, through to the pomp, circumstance and partying of the day of handover itself. Now, 20 years later, Crowell has updated this valuable historical record with reflections on what has happened to Hong Kong since 1997.

Add to basket Details
香港二十 – 反思回歸廿載

HK$128.00
USD: US$16.39
CNY: CN¥118.66
GBP: £12.83
EUR: €15.08
AUD: AU$24.63
CAD: CA$22.35
JPY: ¥2,575
香港筆會編 (Go to English edition)

1997年，香港從英國殖民管治順暢轉變成「一國兩制」下的共產黨管治。然而二十年過去，主權移交的真正衝擊方才降臨：香港與大陸經濟近乎全面融合，大陸遊客大量湧至，跨境衝突局勢緊張及自由被高速磨蝕。

眾聲喧嘩力則剛，香港筆會於是邀請本港最優秀的作者來反映香港殖民地時代後的轉變，以散文、詩歌、小說及畫作去為這歷史時刻留下印記。

Michael Braga · Mary-Jean Chan · Jennifer S. Cheng · 鄭嘉怡· Kris Cheng鄭樂捷· 周漢輝· Larry Feign方南理 · Harry Harrison · Gérard Henry敖樹克 · Louise Ho何少韻 · Oscar Ho Hing Kay何慶基 · Tammy Ho Lai-Ming · Sarah Howe · 羅樂敏· Arthur Leung · Leung Ping-Kwan梁秉鈞 · Louisa Lim林慕蓮 · Shirley Geok-lin Lim · 呂永佳 · William Nee倪偉平 · Jason Y. Ng · Margaret Ng · Timothy O’Leary 柯天銘· Michael O’Sullivan · Ilaria Maria Sala · Mishi Saran沙美智 · Shahilla Shariff · Shen Jian · 蘇美智 · 鄧小樺· Eddie Tay鄒竹文 · 陶傑 · Stephen Vines韋安仕 · Marco Wan溫文灦 · Wawa · Kate Whitehead · Joshua Wong黃之鋒 · 黃裕邦· Xu Xi 許素細· Marco Yan · Chris Yeung楊健興 · Douglas Young 楊志超

Kevin Lau Chun-to 劉進圖及Timothy Garton Ash 為本書作序。

「香港是國際一大都會。在未來一個世紀，香港都會成為政治及學術討論的中心。我的推測是香港多元人口的成就會帶領本城跨越任何障礙。閱讀[《香港二十》的]文章讓我確認這個看法。」

- 彭定康，末代港督

Add to basket Details
The Tale of a Dark Horse

HK$100.00
USD: US$12.80
CNY: CN¥92.70
GBP: £10.02
EUR: €11.78
AUD: AU$19.24
CAD: CA$17.46
JPY: ¥2,012
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

It's 135BC and Emperor Han Wudi is desperate for a horse… but not just any horse. The horse he wants is tall, dark and handsome, fleet as a bird and free as a gipsy. But will it ever be pinned down? A tale of mystery, history and the fabulous Silk Road!

Highlights the “heavenly horses” of the Ferghana Valley, Han Wudi and his conquest to the West, and the Silk Road.

Age range: 7 to 12

Add to basket Details
The Cleaner: The true story of one of the world’s most successful money launderers

HK$200.00
USD: US$25.61
CNY: CN¥185.40
GBP: £20.05
EUR: €23.57
AUD: AU$38.48
CAD: CA$34.93
JPY: ¥4,023
with a foreword by Howard Marks, bestselling author of Mr. Nice

In the 1980s, Bruce Aitken became one of the world’s most successful money launderers. Discover the ingenious methods he used to shift vast sums of currency across the globe.

From humble beginnings in New Jersey, Bruce was destined to be a baseball player until fate intervened, in the form of a knee injury, and forever changed the course of his life.

What started innocently enough, by answering an ad in the newspaper, turned into a globe-trotting lifestyle of moving money – huge sums of money – for some of the world’s most notorious and shadiest characters. From the jungles of Vietnam to the money capitals of the world, Bruce moved in circles where people would unquestioningly hand over millions of dollars to him on a handshake, to be deposited into Swiss bank accounts.

Learn the truth behind the Lockheed Scandal, the Cessna-Milner affair, the Nugan Hand scandal and one of the largest drug busts in US history that brought the party to an end. It all started to crash via an event in Reno, Nevada, and nearly cost Bruce the rest of his life in prison.

“A unique and perfect insight into the money-laundering world of thirty-odd years ago.” – Howard Marks

Add to basket Details
Hong Kong Confidential: Life as a Subversive

HK$148.00
USD: US$18.95
CNY: CN¥137.20
GBP: £14.84
EUR: €17.44
AUD: AU$28.48
CAD: CA$25.85
JPY: ¥2,977
A former senior Chinese Administrative Officer has at long last lifted another little corner of the veil of half-truths and anodyne official releases which hitherto shrouded many of the decisions and evasions under the long Hong Kong governorship of Sir Murray MacLehose.

David T. K. Wong — who started working life as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant at the age of 13 before becoming a journalist, teacher, colonial bureaucrat, international businessman, and then a writer of short stories and novels — is clearly a man of many parts. He has now turned his narrative skills to producing a pungent, sardonic, cerebral and revelatory insider memoir of his experiences in the upper reaches of the colonial administration during the 1970s.

In doing so, he draws attention to the political, cultural and economic cross-currents that have always swirled through the uniquely paradoxical city. As a Chinese, he constantly found himself struggling with a three-horned dilemma: how to serve the people of Hong Kong, who paid his salary; the wider Chinese nation, from which he was culturally and emotionally inseparable; and the demands of the British crown, to which he had publicly sworn his allegiance.

Hong Kong Confidential is a valuable contribution to the historical mosaic of a dynamic Chinese community living through turbulent times.

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Hong Kong Confidential. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Chapter 1: Interregnum

Add to basket Details
Volume 2: Old Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell

HK$168.00
USD: US$21.51
CNY: CN¥155.74
GBP: £16.84
EUR: €19.80
AUD: AU$32.33
CAD: CA$29.34
JPY: ¥3,380
Not your typical photo book!

David Bellis puts more of his favourite old Hong Kong photos under the magnifying glass, revealing the photos’ secrets, and uncovering their hidden stories. Flying Italian miners, and the most beautiful woman you’ll never see are just two of the surprises in store for you.

David runs the popular local history website Gwulo, home to over 15,000 photographs of old Hong Kong.

Part of a five-volume series; to see the other books, click here.

Add to basket Details
Tin Hats and Rice: A Diary of Life as a Hong Kong Prisoner of War, 1941-1945

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
“I can’t visualise us getting out of this, but I want to TRY to believe in a future,” wrote 23-year-old Barbara Anslow (then Redwood) in her diary on 8th December 1941, a few hours after Japan first attacked Hong Kong.

Barbara's 1941-1945 diaries (with post-war explanations where necessary) are an invaluable source of information on the civilian experience in British Hong Kong during the second world war. The diaries record her thoughts and experiences through the fighting, the surrender, three-and-a-half years of internment, then liberation and adjustment to normal life.

The diaries have been quoted by leading historians on the subject. Now they are available in print for the first time, making them available to a wider audience.

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Tin Hats and Rice. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

Foreword and introduction

Add to basket Details
Sunset Survivors: Meet the people keeping Hong Kong’s traditional industries alive

HK$288.00
USD: US$36.87
CNY: CN¥266.98
GBP: £28.87
EUR: €33.94
AUD: AU$55.42
CAD: CA$50.29
JPY: ¥5,794
with photography by Gary Jones

Sunset Survivors tells the stories of Hong Kong’s traditional tradesmen and women through stunning imagery and candid interviews. Covering a myriad of curious professions that are quickly falling into obscurity, from fortune telling to face threading and letter writing to bird cage making, readers soon find themselves immersed in the streets of old Hong Kong.

Filled with interviews, photographs and little-known facts about the city’s twilight industries, Sunset Survivors is a tribute to those who keep the flame burning in a city besieged by foreign imports and stiff competition. This book is a celebration of Hong Kong’s cultural identity. It preserves the memory of these hardy men and women, and educates visitors and locals on the foundations on which the city was built.

An up-close and personal look at the industries and workers that gave rise to the Hong Kong of today, Sunset Survivors is more than just a travel or coffee-table book; it is a tribute to the city’s character, a celebration of its roots and a guide to its evolution.

In a city undergoing a dramatic cultural shift, balancing social and political upheaval, the need to document Hong Kong’s traditional livelihoods has seldom been greater. Capturing the true personality of this metropolis, Sunset Survivors is a vital piece of history.

Add to basket Details
Chinese Street Food: A Field Guide for the Adventurous Diner

HK$168.00
USD: US$21.51
CNY: CN¥155.74
GBP: £16.84
EUR: €19.80
AUD: AU$32.33
CAD: CA$29.34
JPY: ¥3,380
Street food is the fuel of daily life in China, just as it has been for generations. In every Chinese city, adventurous travelers seeking a deeper understanding of authentic Chinese culture can find unique local street foods unavailable anywhere else in the world.

If you want to sample these treasures but don’t know where to start, look no further. With full-color pictures, taste descriptions, Chinese characters and pinyin names of hundreds of foods from 53 Chinese cities, this book gives you all the information you need to find the most delicious local dishes China can offer.

"Frank Kasell is one of China's best food bloggers. His blog is a giant, eating travel adventure." - City Weekend magazine, Shanghai

Add to basket Details
The Tramways of Hong Kong: A history in pictures

HK$168.00
USD: US$21.51
CNY: CN¥155.74
GBP: £16.84
EUR: €19.80
AUD: AU$32.33
CAD: CA$29.34
JPY: ¥3,380
For more than a century, trams have plied their trade along the northern coast of Hong Kong Island. During that time, they have witnessed the transformation of the local economy from a colonial backwater to the massive financial centre that is the modern city. The post-war years, from the 1960s onward, have seen the radical redevelopment of much of the area along streets such as Hennessy Road and Des Voeux Road, while the reclamation of land along the seafront has seen the tramway, which once skirted the shore, pushed further and further inland.

Today, Hong Kong trams still provide a vital public service, carrying vast numbers of passengers daily to and from their work or shops, and Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where it is still possible to ride on the top deck of a double-deck tram. This album explores the history of the tramways of Hong Kong Island through the 20th century. Drawing upon a fascinating selection of photographs, most of which have never been published before, it traces the evolution of the streetscape over that period – giving readers a vivid reminder of a city that has been radically altered over the past half-century.

Add to basket Details
Destination Shanghai

HK$138.00
USD: US$17.67
CNY: CN¥127.93
GBP: £13.83
EUR: €16.26
AUD: AU$26.55
CAD: CA$24.10
JPY: ¥2,776
18 true stories of those who went...

For the privileged a cosmopolitan pleasure ground; for the desperate a port of last resort.

A pot of gold at the end of an Oriental rainbow; a thick slice of hell denounced from the pulpit.

The start of a journey for many; the end of the road for some.

A place to find fame, or to seek anonymity; rogues, chancers, showgirls, criminals…

For so many people from so many lands, there was one phrase that sent a tingle of hope or a shiver of anticipation down every spine:

“DESTINATION SHANGHAI”

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to read pages from Destination Shanghai. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Contents and Introduction

Shanghai’s Most Charming Gangster: Elly ‘The Swiss’ Widler (1940)

Add to basket Details
The Tale of Sybil Snake

HK$100.00
USD: US$12.80
CNY: CN¥92.70
GBP: £10.02
EUR: €11.78
AUD: AU$19.24
CAD: CA$17.46
JPY: ¥2,012
Illustrated by Harry Harrison

Everybody adores Sybil Snake – she’s beautiful, clever and extremely charming. But all is not as it seems in the Emperor’s menagerie, and Sybil is more of an enchantress than meets the eye! A tale of mystery, missing treasure and the extraordinary magic of love. Ssss… sss… ss… s… s… s…

Features the Legend of Lady White Snake, the true story of Wu Zetian (China’s only female Emperor) and Kublai Khan’s famous menagerie.

Age range: 7 to 12

Add to basket Details
Hong Kong Noir (Akashic noir series)

HK$125.00
USD: US$16.00
CNY: CN¥115.87
GBP: £12.53
EUR: €14.73
AUD: AU$24.05
CAD: CA$21.83
JPY: ¥2,515
Edited by Jason Y. Ng and Susan Blumberg-Kason

Published in association with Akashic Books

Akashic continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighbourhood or location within the city of the book.

Hong Kong Noir features brand-new stories by Jason Y. Ng, Xu Xi, Marshall Moore, Brittani Sonnenberg, Tiffany Hawk, James Tam, Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang, Christina Liang, Feng Chi-shun, Charles Philipp Martin, Shannon Young, Shen Jian, Carmen Suen and Ysabelle Cheung.

What will Hong Kong look like in five years, ten years, or thirty years when the “one country, two systems” promise expires? It’s impossible to foresee. Hong Kong’s future may be beyond our control, but some things aren’t. We can continue to write about our beloved city and work our hardest to preserve it in words.

When we asked our contributors to write their noir stories, we didn’t give them specific content guidelines other than to make sure their stories end on a dark note. What we received was a brilliant collection of ghost stories, murder mysteries, domestic dramas, cops-and-robbers tales, and historical thrillers that capture Hong Kong in all its dark glory. The result is every bit as eclectic, quirky, and delightful as the city they write about.

Look inside this book
Click on the following links to read pages from Hong Kong Noir. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Contents and Introduction

Add to basket Details
The Slightest Chance

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
In war, you can pretend to be someone you’re not. Yet, in war, people find out who you really are.

Hong Kong, 1941. Anglo-Australian civil servant Dominic Sotherly’s colonial sojourn in Hong Kong becomes complicated by his double life in both war and love. Enigmatic Englishwoman Gwen Harmison possesses secrets of her own – plus an unrelenting desire for liberty. Inscrutable Eurasian Chester Drake is but one of Gwen’s secrets.

From gaiety at the Peninsula Hotel to persecution both inside and outside of internment, the story journeys from war-ravaged Hong Kong to war-weary China.

From real history, meet the one-legged Chinese admiral who led Hong Kong’s daring ‘Great Escape’ and the Japanese Christian soldier who risked his life for the enemy. And, uniquely during the occupation of Hong Kong, discover how one Englishwoman made history in her defiance of Imperial Japan.

Add to basket Details
Chungking Mansions: Photographs from Hong Kong’s last ghetto

HK$158.00
USD: US$20.23
CNY: CN¥146.47
GBP: £15.84
EUR: €18.62
AUD: AU$30.40
CAD: CA$27.59
JPY: ¥3,178
Squatting amid the luxury hotels and malls of modern Kowloon, Chungking Mansions resembles the dirty vent of a giant subterranean machine. This Hong Kong landmark is a hotbed of criminality and home to pimps, hookers, thieves and drug pushers. The five 17-storey towers also offer the city’s last low-rent refuge for asylum seekers and immigrants coming to start a new life.

Nepalese guesthouse owners rent out rooms to Bangladeshi workers, and Pakistanis sell mobile phones to Nigerian traders who hire Indian cargo companies to ship them home. Food stalls fill the air with the savoury aromas of international cuisine, and more than 200 guesthouses, as well as two floors of shops selling black-market, counterfeit and bargain goods, establish this unique place as a global hub of trade and multiculturalism.

In 2009, shortly after a Canadian tourist disappeared from Chungking Mansions without a trace, photographer Nana Chen began wandering the corridors. Using her camera as a guide, she discovered the Chungking Mansions not visible to the naked eye: the beating pulse that gives this notorious destination its hypnotic appeal. With compassion and courage, Chen sought to craft a portrait of Hong Kong’s last ghetto and its inhabitants before its vibrant character is erased forever by the inevitable march of progress.

“I grew up in the vicinity of Chungking Mansions. Nana Chen's intimate, visceral pictures of the Mansions are so unsentimentally authentic and beautiful that I am speechless and deeply moved.” – Chan Koonchung, author of The Fat Years

Add to basket Details
Great Leaps: Finding home in a changing China

HK$128.00
USD: US$16.39
CNY: CN¥118.66
GBP: £12.83
EUR: €15.08
AUD: AU$24.63
CAD: CA$22.35
JPY: ¥2,575
In Great Leaps, Colin Flahive explores China’s rural-urban migration against the backdrop of his own transition from Colorado to southwest China. There, in Yunnan province, he partnered with three friends to open a café that became much more than simply an outpost of Western cuisine in a far-flung corner of the world.

Over the course of a decade, Salvador’s Coffee House became home to more than fifty young women from mountain villages in the surrounding countryside. Most knew nothing about coffee or Western food, but they moved to the city to work at Salvador’s and earn their independence.

Great Leaps follows the challenges faced by Colin, his partners and his employees as they leave their old lives behind to make a new home in a foreign land. They encounter unlikely successes, endure heartbreaks and nearly lose everything. But by taking the leap together, they all find their own places in the modern Chinese dream.

Look inside this book
Click on the following link to read pages from Great Leaps. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

Chapter 1: From the Countryside

Add to basket Details

Subscribe to our mailing list