Here we present a chapter from Chinese Ghosts, Charles Emmons' cornucopia of ghost stories and experiences he collected in Hong Kong in the early 1980s. He updated the book for a new edition last year. Chapter 9: Anatomy of a Legend This is a very interesting case that helps illustrate the social processes involved in rumor, and sometimes eventually [...]
In this excerpt from Street Life Hong Kong, Aberdeen harbour fisherman Kwok Shu-Tai talks about his life and work in his own words. The interviews in the book were carried out by Nicole Chabot and are accompanied by photographs from Michael Perini. I KNOW EVERYBODY IN ABERDEEN and everybody here knows me. They call me by a nickname – ‘Ah-Q’, [...]
In the 1980s, Bruce Aitken became one of the world’s most successful money launderers. 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 [...]
The Peak is one of the most exclusive areas in Hong Kong. Here the affluent enjoy an idyllic lifestyle in mansions sited amongst the tropical vegetation which has grown up around them. It was not always like this and when the British took over Hong Kong the Peak was just one section of a “barren rock”. No one bothered with [...]
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 [...]
A message arrives from David Nunan, author of Other Voices, Other Eyes: Expatriate Lives in Hong Kong... I’m sitting in a restaurant that featured in Other Voices. In the book, it’s described as follows: The restaurant, a Spanish tapas bar, is run by a father and son team from Katmandu. Actually, the restaurant largely runs itself while the father and [...]
Our new book The Peak: An Illustrated History of Hong Kong’s Top District has just been reviewed in the South China Morning Post. The area’s evolution is brought to life in The Peak through the use of an impressive 140 pictures, including early paintings showing The Peak towering over the young colony, photographs of the first Peak mansions such as The [...]
From Other Voices, Other Eyes by David Nunan Chapter 4 One for the road Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she became a butterfly. — Barbara Haines Howett She was feeling the strain before they left Yung Shue Wan Main Street. They had left the Central Ferry Pier late, all because of Howard, who had been detained [...]
Why do people come to Hong Kong, and why do they often plan a stay of three weeks and then stay for 20 years? David Nunan has interviewed 74 residents to try to get an idea of what they have gained from Hong Kong, and how it has changed them. These were 38 men and 36 women, ranging in age [...]
Share If you cannot view this email, please Click Here to view an online version. Unsubscribe/Update Profile | Share With Friends | Subscribe Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong NewsletterMarch 2018 New book: The Peak: An Illustrated History of Hong Kong’s Top District The Peak: An Illustrated History of Hong Kong’s Top Districtby Richard J. GarrettPart of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong [...]
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? David Nunan has interviewed 74 Hong Kong residents of a wide variety of ages and nationalities. Every one of them has a story. To find out what he discovered, simply come [...]
Both the English and Chinese editions of PEN Hong Kong's anthology Hong Kong 20/20: Reflections on a borrowed place are now available at Kubrick bookshop in Yau Ma Tei! The Chinese version, titled 香港二十, will be launched at Kubrick at 4pm on Saturday March 3. The bookshop is next to the Broadway Cinematheque on Public Square Street. Find out more here.
Come to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum at 4.00pm on Saturday February 24 and hear Patricia O'Sullivan tell the little-known story of the Hong Kong Naval Dockyard Police Force. The history of the force doesn’t suffer so much from lost documentation as from the lack of any in the first place. At some point in the 1850s it emerged by [...]
Glenn Leibowitz is the host of Write With Impact. In his latest podcast he interviews former American diplomat Syd Goldsmith, author of Hong Kong on the Brink, a memoir of Hong Kong's brush with the Cultural Revolution in 1967. Glenn says: In our conversation, which we conducted in person in Taipei, Syd shares how, despite never considering himself a writer [...]
The Gresson Street gunfight happened in Wan Chai 100 years ago this week. Why has it been forgotten for so long? Patricia O'Sullivan has spent a decade digging out the full story for her book, Policing Hong Kong – An Irish History. Now, Stuart Heaver has written a feature about the event. A running gunfight was now played out in [...]
If it's not one royal society, it's another. Have no fear, if you missed David Leffman's talk about William Mesny at the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong last year, you can listen in to the talk he gave to the Royal Asiatic Society in London in December. David has been visiting China as a travel writer for 25 years, [...]
Charles Emmons' book Chinese Ghosts Revisited: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences came out just before Hallowe'en last year, and hopefully many people have enjoyed finding a spooky read in their Christmas stockings. It has now been reviewed by New Dawn magazine. Chinese Ghosts Revisited holds the unique position of being the only reference work comparing the supernatural and [...]
Share If you cannot view this email, please Click Here to view an online version. Unsubscribe/Update Profile | Share With Friends | Subscribe Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong Newsletter November 2017 New book: Other Voices, Other Eyes Other Voices, Other Eyes: Expatriate Lives in Hong Kong by David NunanThe stories of expats in Hong Kong – the most dynamic, dramatic and [...]