兩行書 (Part 2/4)

A History of Hong Kong - Frank Welsh

In 1842 a "barren island" was reluctantly ceded by China to an unenthusiastic Britain. "Hong Kong", grumbled Palmerston, "will never be a mart of trade". But from the outset the new colony prospered, its early growth owing much to the energy and resourcefulness of opium traders, who soon diversified in more respectable directions. In 1859 the Kowloon Peninsula was sold to Britain, and in 1898 a further area of the mainland, the "New Territories", was leased to Britain for 99 years - the arrangement from which the present difficulties spring. Despite its extraordinary economic success, which has made it one of the world's leading commercial centers, Hong Kong has never quite shaken off the raffishness of its early days. It has continued to be a source of embarrassment to British governments, and now, as its enforced return to China approaches, its future is the focus of worldwide attention and speculation. This work is an evocation of Hong Kong and the characters of those who shaped it, from its buccaneering origins to its post-war growth.

A Concise History of Hong Kong - John M. Carroll
When the British occupied the tiny island of Hong Kong during the First Opium War, the Chinese empire was well into its decline, while Great Britain was already in the second decade of its legendary "Imperial Century." From this collision of empires arose a city that continues to intrigue observers. Melding Chinese and Western influences, Hong Kong has long defied easy categorization. John M. Carroll's engrossing and accessible narrative explores the remarkable history of Hong Kong from the early 1800s through the post-1997 handover, when this former colony became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The book explores Hong Kong as a place with a unique identity, yet also a crossroads where Chinese history, British colonial history, and world history intersect. Carroll concludes by exploring the legacies of colonial rule, the consequences of Hong Kong's reintegration with China, and significant developments and challenges since 1997.

A Modern History of Hong Kong - Steve Tsang
From a little-known fishing community at the periphery of China, Hong Kong developed into one of the world's most spectacular and cosmopolitan metro-poles after a century and a half of British imperial rule. This history of Hong Kong -- from its occupation by the British in 1841 to its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 -- includes the foundation of modern Hong Kong; its developments as an imperial outpost, its transformation into the ""pearl"" of the British Empire and of the Orient and the events leading to the end of British rule. Based on extensive research in British and Chinese sources, both official and private, the book addresses the changing relations between the local Chinese and the expatriate communities in 156 years of British rule, and the emergence of a local identity. It ends with a critical but dispassionate examination of Hong Kong's transition from a British Crown Colony to a Chinese Special Administrative Region.

A History of Hong Kong - G. B. Endacott
Although in the first edition, published in 1958, the author modestly describes this book as an introduction that does not claim to be definitive, this history of Hong Kong has never been superseded as the standard work and remains in steady demand. It is now reissued in `Oxford in Asia Paperbacks' with four new chapters, plus a a revised final chapter on the war and postwar period.

Robert Kuok A Memoir - Andrew Tanzer
Robert Kuok is one of the most highly respected businessmen in Asia. But this legendary Overseas Chinese entrepreneur, commodities trader who made his first million on the London sugar market, hotelier of the Shangri-la chain, and property mogul has maintained a low profile and seldom shed light in public on his business empire or personal life. That is, until now. In these memoirs, the 94-year-old Kuok tells the remarkable story of how, starting in British Colonial Malaya, he built a multi-industry, multinational business group. In reflecting back on 75 years of conducting business, he offers management insights, discusses strategies and lessons learned, and relates his principles, philosophy, and moral code.
Kuok has lived through fascinating and often tumultuous times in Asia – from British colonialism to Japanese military occupation to post-colonial Southeast Asia and the dramatic rise of Asian economies, including, more recently, China. From his front-row seat and as an active participant, this keen, multi-cultural observer tells nearly a century of Asian history through his life and times. Readers interested in business, management, history, politics, culture and sociology will all enjoy Robert Kuok’s unique and remarkable story.

傅厚澤《傅德蔭傳》
別號傅老榕的澳門一代賭王，傅德蔭，以煙土、賭博發跡，其後涉足糧油、金融、船務，五十年代轉戰香港，發展實業包括製衣、地產；傅氏從一名窮鄉青年，奮發成為企業王國之奠基者，然而低調行事，樂於濟貧救災。其傳奇一生，多少反映了在時代洪流下的奮鬥者故事。但傅氏亦是具爭議之人物，背後縈繞著眾多故事，包括其曾背上的漢奸嫌疑、曾遭遇之擄人勒索事件，可是人言人殊，坊間流傳了頗多不真實的說法。而了解其人，莫如至親，傅氏長孫傅厚澤，親述與祖父之相處往事，並憑藉大量家族珍貴記錄、資料實證，期望能還原一個更有血肉的賭王面貌。

Colonial Hong Kong in the Eyes of Elsie Tu (1913-2015)
Elsie Tu is well known as a social activist and crusader against injustice and corruption in Hong Kong. In this powerful personal statement, she expresses her views about the injustices in the past colonial system and her fears about present day economic colonialism. This is a book with strong messages for today. Mrs Tu’s deep concerns about the current international scene have the most immediate and obvious topical relevance. But there is an equally strong lesson in her description of the corruption that used to be so pervasive in Hong Kong and her battles against it. She reminds us forcefully of the need for continued vigilance if corruption and its awful effects are not to return. However, the most important message of this book pervades all parts of it the example of a life devoted to improving things for the ordinary people of Hong Kong, a life not just lived according to high principles, but characterized by a dogged and fearless determination to fight for those principles, to be an activist. This book is important because it records the beliefs, some of the experiences and above all the commitment of one of the most notable people of post-war Hong Kong. By giving rich insights into the mind and beliefs of an extraordinary and indomitable person, it brings to life the recent history of Hong Kong and challenges the next generation of Hong Kong people to contribute as much. Readers may have heard of Hong Kong’s economic miracle during the second half of the twentieth century, but they may not be aware of the suffering and injustices caused by greed and corruption at that time. This book shows how the society’s struggle stirred the spirit of determination upon which the Hong Kong we know today was built The book will also give readers a bird’s eye view of the worldwide scale of suffering and injustices caused by nations seeking economic and political domination. “I write this book because I believe that human beings can only comprehend the present when they understand the past, and they can only make a better future when they learn from previous errors. And I feel compelled to alert the younger generation of the dangers that confront the world today from those obsessed with wealth and power. I hope that all prejudices and evil ambitions can be set aside, and an equal playing field can be created for all nations.” - Elsie Tu

Hong Kong's Journey to Reunification: Memoirs of Sze-yuen Chung (1917-2018)
Sze-yuen Chung is a veteran Hong Kong politician and an important figure in the development of Hong Kong over the past forty years. He has played a significant role in Hong Kong's political, economic, educational, and social development from its time as a British colony to its designation as a Special Administrative Region of China. Indeed, he is probably the only native son of Hong Kong who was closely and actively involved in the entire process of transferring Hong Kong's sovereignty back to China.
These memoirs record Chung's personal experiences in Hong Kong's political scene in the two decades between 1979 and 1999 and his role in the Sino-British negotiations that led to the transition from British colonial rule to a position of autonomy under Chinese sovereignty.
Chung's reflections -- much of which are published here for the first time -- are a valuable source of information on this important period in the history of Hong Kong. It will be of interest to all those who wish to know what actually happened during those pivotal years when the future course of Hong Kong was determined.

The Memoirs of Jin Luxian, Volume 1: Learning and Relearning, 1916–1982
Jin Luxian is considered by many to be one of China’s most controversial religious figures. Educated by the Jesuits, he joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained priest in 1945 before continuing his studies in Europe. In 1951 he made the dangerous decision to return to the newly established People’s Republic of China. He became one of the many thousands of Roman Catholics who suffered persecution. Convicted of counter-revolutionary activities and treason, he was imprisoned for 27 years and only released in 1982. His subsequent decision to accept the government’s invitation to resume his prior role as head of the Shanghai Seminary and then assume the title of Bishop of Shanghai without Vatican approval shocked many Catholics. Now, some thirty years later, still serving as Bishop and regarded as one of the leading figures in the Chinese Catholic Church, Jin recounts formative experiences that provide essential insight into the faith and morality that sustained him through the turbulent years of the late 20th Century. In this volume of memoirs Jin recalls his childhood and education, his entry into the Society of Jesus and formation as a priest, his return to China, imprisonment and, finally, his release and return to Shanghai.

馮平山 (1860-1931)，廣東新會會城高第里人、慈善家。

LAM WOO -- Master Builder, Revolutionary, and Philanthropist - Moira M. W. Chan-Yeung
This book focuses on Lam Woo, a well-known, highly successful building contractor whose company was based in Hong Kong at the beginning of the twentieth century. At a time when Hong Kong was expanding rapidly, Lam Woo contributed significantly to the building of its infrastructure such as land reclamation, and the construction of dockyards and roads. Using in-depth historical studies on Anglican Christianity in Hong Kong and China, rich archival sources, and historical photographs, this book illustrates the life of a man, who was a pioneer builder of majestic heritage buildings throughout Hong Kong such as St. Paul’s Church, St. Paul’s Coeducational College, the Diocesan Boys’ School, and St. Stephen’s College, all of which remain in use today. Lam Woo was more than a builder-his selfless support of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s revolution earned him the title of the“Perfect Revolutionary”. As one of the founders of St. Paul’s Girls’School, known today as St. Paul’s Coeducational College, Lam Woo promoted the establishment of the Hong Kong YMCA and left a lasting legacy for Hong Kong and his native Guangzhou through his philanthropist (慈善家) activities in education.

A Seventh Child and The Law - 余叔韶

The author comes from a distinguished family in Hong Kong. His father, Yu Wan, was an eminent figure in educational circles both before and after the Second World War. In Part I of this book, there is a detailed description of the unique circumstances under which the author, as a matriculation student, was awarded a government scholarship to enter the University of Hong Kong in 1938. Altogether unpredictably this started a chain of events which landed him in two wartime jobs in China: with British Naval Intelligence and the Chinese Nationalist Army respectively. After the war, he won a Victory Scholarship to further his education at Oxford and finally qualify as a barrister-at-law. He attributes his good fortune to being the seventh child of his father who was himself a seventh child. Hence the title of this book.Part II of this work consists of an accurate separate account of eight actual court cases handled by the author as Defense Counsel. These specially chosen and cleverly captioned cases all make fascinating reading, because each of them carries a distinct flavor of its own ranging from murder trials with an unexpected turn of events and a variety of fraud cases to an intriguing account of an attempt to set up an innocent traffic policeman which was only barely frustrated. The manner in which the defense in each case was conducted is of particular interest.

A Lifetime in Academia: An Autobiography - 黃麗松

After receiving a classical Chinese primary and a bilingual secondary education in his father's school Rayson Huang entered the University of Hong Kong in 1938. The forty-eight years thereafter, except for two short intervals, were spent in studying, teaching, research, and/or administration in universities in Hong Kong, China, Britain, the United States, Singapore and Malaysia. The first of the two intervals, of about a year, came as a result of the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese in late 1941 when he moved, as a refugee, into Free China and after a spell of school teaching started his career in a university in Kweilin. The second interval, lasting some six months, was spent making his way by land, air, and sea via Chungking the war-time capital in China's hinterland, and India, to England to take up a scholarship awarded him by the Rhodes Trust at Oxford. The last seventeen years of his working life were taken up serving as vice-chancellor of Nanyang University, the controversial Chinese university in Singapore, and of Hong Kong University.This autobiography records Rayson Huang's diverse university experience of a half century. It also gives an account of the siege of Hong Kong and life in war-torn China and of two bodies on which he later served: the Legislative Council in Hong Kong and Beijing's Drafting Committee which formulated a Basic Law for the territory after its return to China in 1997.

The Last of China’s Literati - Bell Yung

In this biography of Tsar Teh-yun (蔡德允), centenarian poet, calligrapher, and qin master, Professor Bell Yung tells the story of a life steeped in the refined arts faithful to the traditional way of the Chinese literati. Set in the two cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, this book recounts the experiences of an individual who lived through war, displacement, exile, and unrequited longing for home and for a style of living lost forever. Yet Madame Tsar sustained, as one of its last exemplars, much of that style of living despite being a woman in the largely male world of the refined arts. The author weaves a picture of an extraordinary but also tragic figure extraordinary as daughter, wife, mother, and a celebrated musician, poet, and calligrapher; tragic as a member of the literati exiled from Shanghai to Hong Kong and always longing for the lost world of the refined arts. She was known particularly for her accomplishments as a teacher and performer on the qin – instrument par excellence of the literati. The book delves into her teaching method and musical style to a degree rarely found in the literature of this kind, and is thus an important contribution to musicological study. Through this life of one member of China’s last generation of literati, Professor Yung provides rich material for anyone interested in the cultural and social history of twentieth-century China, especially for those with a special interest in qin music, or the place of women in this period.

The Archaeology of Hong Kong - William Meacham

Archaeological investigation began in Hong Kong in the 1920s and showed that the territory had a considerable prehistoric occupation, now known to extend back at least 7,000 years. Sites abound on outlying islands and along the coastline of the New Territories. More than two hundred sites of the Neolithic and Bronze Age have been recorded, and many have been systematically surveyed and excavated; quite a few have been published in detail. Scientific studies of excavated materials have thrown much light on prehistoric life in the area. A large brick chamber tomb of the Han period (206 BC–AD 220) discovered in 1955 marks the beginning of the historical era. Considerable new data has been obtained on the early historical period as well.

The last sixteen years in particular have witnessed a geometric expansion of archaeological data, as large-scale excavations lasting several months have become common and full-time professional contract archaeologists have established practice in the territory. This intensive pace of fieldwork and research has yielded a wealth of information on the material culture of the early inhabitants of the area. There is at present no synopsis of this mass of new data, and very little of it has been published. The aim of this book is simply to present a very general and concise review of the most salient data, to serve as a summary of the first eighty years of archaeology in the territory. In addition, the author provides anecdotes from his own experience in the field since 1970, to give a flavor of the issues, controversies and personalities that have characterized local archaeology.

Piecing Together Sha Po - Mick Atha and Kennis Yip

Hong Kong boasts a number of rich archaeological sites behind sandy bays. Among these backbeaches is Sha Po on Lamma Island, a site which has long captured the attention of archaeologists. However, until now no comprehensive study of the area has ever been published.

Piecing Together Sha Po presents the first sustained analysis, framed in terms of a multi-period social landscape, of the varieties of human activity in Sha Po spanning more than 6,000 years. Synthesising decades of earlier fieldwork together with Atha and Yip’s own extensive excavations conducted in 2008–2010, the discoveries collectively enabled the authors to reconstruct the society in Sha Po in different historical periods.

The artefacts unearthed from the site—some of them unique to the region—reveal a vibrant past which saw the inhabitants of Sha Po interacting with the environment in diverse ways. Evidence showing the mastery of quartz ornament manufacture and metallurgy in the Bronze Age suggests increasing craft specialisation and the rise of a more complex, competitive society. Later on, during the Six Dynasties–Tang period, Sha Po turned into a centre in the region’s imperially controlled kiln-based salt industry. Closer to our time, in the nineteenth century the farming and fishing communities in Sha Po became important suppliers of food and fuel to urban Hong Kong. Ultimately, this ground-breaking work tells a compelling story about human beings’ ceaseless reinvention of their lives through the lens of one special archaeological site.

The Happy Valley - Ken Nicolson

Hong Kong’s oldest Western cemetery garden is located in Happy Valley.

This history and tour highlights the need for urgent action to conserve the built and natural heritage resources of this important cultural landscape. The author challenges the reader to reconsider the basic approach to heritage conservation adopted in Hong Kong where a false dichotomy persists between natural and built heritage conservation initiatives. The Hong Kong Cemetery provides an excellent example of a precious cultural landscape which is deteriorating because simplistic approaches to site management have failed to understand and protect the complex interrelationship between the natural (flora and fauna habitats) and built (monuments and memorials) heritage resources.

The first three chapters introduce the cemetery garden concept as it evolved in early nineteenth-century Europe, and was eventually established in Hong Kong by the British. The second half of the book provides a self-guided tour of the cemetery highlighting its resources as well as explaining the main conservation problems and possible solutions to protect the cemetery.

Governors, Politics and the Colonial Office - Gavin Ure

This book explores the making of public policy for Hong Kong between 1918 and 1958. During much of this period, the Hong Kong government had limited policy-making capabilities. Many new policies followed initiatives either from the Colonial Office or from politicians in Hong Kong. This book examines the balance of political power influencing how such decisions were reached and who wielded the most influence―the Hong Kong or British governments or the politicians. Gradually, the Hong Kong government, through implementing new policies, improved its own policy-making capabilities and gained the ability to exercise greater autonomy. The policy areas covered by this book include the implementation of rent controls in 1922, the management of Hong Kong's currency from 1929 to 1936, the resolution of the financial dispute over matters arising from World War II, the origins of Hong Kong's public housing and permanent squatter resettlement policies, negotiations over Hong Kong’s contribution to its defense costs and the background to the granting of formal financial autonomy in 1958. Governors, Politics and the Colonial Office will be of interest to historians and political scientists, and to anyone with a general interest in the social, economic and political development of Hong Kong.

Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island

Jason Wordie has established an enviable reputation as a historian of Hong Kong who can communicate to a general audience and engage them with the way buildings and places reveal the history, changing nature and culture of Hong Kong. His knowledge of Hong Kong and its history is complemented by an eye for the intriguing, and a wonderful sense of the telling anecdote that humanizes and brings history to life. In this book, he takes the reader on fifty tours through the urban and historic places of Hong Kong Island ranging from Central through Wan Chai, to Shau Kei Wan then to Shek O, along the south coast from Stanley to Aberdeen, completing a circuit of the Island through Pok Fu Lam, Kennedy Town to Sheung Wan. Each place is introduced with an essay that describes the area and the way it has changed, then the reader is taken on a walk around the area’s streets with the important, interesting, curious and historically illuminating sites described and illustrated. This is a book to read for the pleasure that the author’s insights give to the lover of Hong Kong, to carry as one travels around Hong Kong, and to use as a guide book when following the suggested routes. The outstanding photographs taken by three of Hong Kong’s most notable photographers, Richard Abrahall, Tony Hedley and John Lambon, help make this not just a guide book, but a book to revisit many times as a handsome contemporary record of this ever-changing city.

The Peak: An Illustrated History of Hong Kong’s Top District - Richard Garrett

The Peak is Hong Kong’s top residential district, where property prices are as high as the altitude. How did it become an exclusive enclave in the bustling business center of 19th-century Asia?

The British wanted relief from summer heat and the Peak was the obvious place to escape it. When the Governor adopted Mountain Lodge as a summer getaway, development accelerated and the opening of the Peak Tram in 1888 made access easier. Gradually a community developed and a church, a club and a school were established.

This book describes how the now-popular tourist area developed over time and adapted as needs changed.

Signs of a Colonial Era - Andrew Yanne and Gillis Heller

In the street names of Hong Kong, a rich history of the city can be found. The authors, in this illustrated book, explore that history as they explain the origins and meanings of those names. Through their exhaustive research, Signs from a Colonial Era provides the stories behind the well-known streets and those that are obscure and puzzling. But a few have resisted their efforts, so there is a chapter of mysteries to intrigue and challenge the reader.

This is a book to be read in two ways. From the front you can find all the streets named after royalty, or governors, or other groups such as taipans, and see the naming of streets as a narrative of Hong Kong’s development and society. In the other direction, starting from the index, it can be used as a reference book to find the answers to those names that have long puzzled you.

The bilingual author team gives the Chinese street names, exploring those that were just chosen to sound like the English name and sometimes changed to avoid unfortunate Cantonese meanings, and those others for which the Chinese name has no connection with the English one.

This is a book for everyone who has ever puzzled over a street name as they explore Hong Kong.