Our newest book -- Diamond Hill, Feng Chi-shun's tale of growing up in a Kowloon-side squatter village in the 1950s -- is launched at the Foreign Correspondents' Club at 5pm on Monday 12th October. All welcome! But if you can't make it to the FCC, three copies of the book are on offer to those who can answer this question: [...]
This month's prize giveaway is the Chinese edition of Ken Ing's Wing Chun Warrior. It's in Hong Kong shops retailing at HK$78. For Chinese readers, here's the blurb: 梁紹鴻，Duncan Leung，詠春善戰者。由兒時好友、已故電影巨星李小龍介紹去學詠春功夫。1955年，年僅十三歲的他以「三跪九叩」之禮，拜詠春第六代葉問為師，成為葉問的「第一私家門徒」。 1955至59這四年間，葉問親自上門，悉心教導梁紹鴻，傾囊相授，跟他練習，還傳授「實踐」詠春的秘訣。梁紹鴻天天練武、練功六小時；要學以致用，他就上街打架、上武館「講手」，實踐所學。他對中國武術各門各派的打鬥經驗可謂獨一無二。1964年，一次行俠仗義令梁紹鴻有緣遇上一位老人。那老人教他「空手入白刃」、「貼身搏擊」、「無聲殺敵」等技巧。1974至76年，梁紹鴻在美國紐約設館授徒。中、外習武者上館挑戰可謂無日無之，他未嘗敗北，因此應付外國武藝的經驗也相當豐富，可謂世上絕無僅有。 1976至2002年間，梁紹鴻在美國弗吉利亞灘 （Virginia Beach）定居，受聘於美國海軍海豹隊（U.S. Navy Seals）、美國聯邦調查局（ FBI ）及美國特警部隊 （SWAT）。2002年8月，梁紹鴻接受可能是他有生以來最大的挑戰：要在兩年內，培養六名中國少年成為世界級職業「散打」拳手。於是，他到了中國去完成這能人所不能的使命。 The first three readers (with Asian mailing addresses) who tell us this -- Where did martial arts master Duncan Leung open [...]
This memoir of a native son of a Kowloon-side squatter village – the first book ever on Diamond Hill, in either Chinese or English – is a revelation. Shocking in places, wistful in others, it 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 [...]
The Hong Kong Book Fair -- the week-long book sales event that drew 800,000 people last year -- is on again as of today in Wan Chai's Convention Centre. We're taking a break this year and not manning a stand, but some of our titles can be found at Booth 1A01-26, in Hall 1. This includes the new Chinese edition [...]
Thanks to ULN at the insightful blog Chinayouren for his review of Chinese Gods: … in terms of surprises, this book delivers from the preface. First, you discover it was actually written and self-published by Chamberlain 30 years ago, inspired by a series of painted glass figures he collected from local markets. It goes on [...]
One of our bestselling titles from last year — King Hui: The Man Who Owned All The Opium In Hong Kong, by Jonathan Chamberlain — was chosen by Dymocks Booksellers last month as one of their 100 great reads of the decade. Below we print the first few pages of the book. Introduction This is the story of a man’s [...]
To the Metropark Hotel in Wan Chai, ground zero for Hong Kong's swine flu panic, to make delivery of a consignment of English-language books for those poor overseas travellers confined to their lodgings for a week. They may have seen precious little of Hong Kong during their stay, but at least they'll be able to read about it, and I'm [...]
Once shunned as the result of forbidden liaisons, and confined to set roles in society, Eurasians are now celebrated as models and actors, and find themselves ideally placed to take advantage of the growing commercial and cultural exchanges between Asia and the rest of the world. You might call it a Eu-turn in fortunes. Kirsteen Zimmern is a Hong Kong-born [...]
It’s interesting how a new book can single-handedly open up a new section of the market. We always publish in the Asian niche, but the publication of Wing Chun Warrior has suddenly brought interest from a host of Chinese-language bookshops that we’ve not previously sold through. The key to this was an appearance by author Ken Ing on RTHK Radio [...]
On Saturday I attended a very enjoyable event at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival: a panel of three authors, Rana Dasgupta, Xujun Eberlein and Nam Le discussing the art of the short story. Moderator was Chris Wood of the Asia Literary Review. Thankfully not all the panellists agreed with one another, so there was an element of back-and-forth which [...]
To the Hong Kong Arts Centre in Wanchai last night, where a performance of keyboard, guitar and electric violin heralded the opening of the new MCCM bookshop. Led by Mary Chan, MCCM has been publishing bilingual art and design titles since 2001, but this is their first venture into retail. The shop occupies one side of the Arts Centre lobby [...]
This is an article I wrote for Reading Matters, the in-shop newsletter published by Bookazine. HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS: Hong Kong has a thriving industry of independent publishers. Here is even better news: this is not London or New York, and most (if not all) presses are happy to receive manuscripts directly from authors. So, assuming you’ve written [...]
Chinese fung shui tells us there is a dragon inhabiting every green valley, protective of the mountains and its route to the sea. Hiking into the hills of Hong Kong for a weekend picnic, Siu Ming and his parents suddenly find their path blocked by a forest fire. Can the mountain dragon help? Or is the mythical creature equally at [...]
Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street. If Peter had been only a little bit different he could have [...]
From Clearwater Bay to Tai Long Wan, the Sai Kung Peninsula is Hong Kong’s back garden – a place where people go to swim, hike, eat seafood alfresco, and otherwise escape the city. But besides the popular beaches and waterfront restaurants, there is an abundance of hidden attractions, and artist Lorette Roberts has discovered them for this book. Such is [...]
Yeeshan Yang’s book of investigative journalism Whispers and Moans has been brought to the big screen by Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau. Starring Athena Chu, Candice Yu and Monie Tung, the movie (Chinese title: 性工作者十日談) had its premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival on 28th March. The prolific Herman Yau is this year’s Director in Focus. There’s an [...]