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Some periods in history are best illuminated by the stories of the people who lived through them. This is one such story ? the bizarre but true account of Peter Hui, a man involved with scandal, corruption, drugs, pirates, triads and colonial high society; who collaborated with the Japanese, spied on the Communists and fought with American servicemen on R who really did, for a short time, own all the opium in Hong Kong.

Why does the issue of Tibet rouse such passions on both sides? To find out, Annelie Rozeboom interviewed Tibetans inside and outside Tibet, as well as Chinese and Western observers and the Dalai Lama himself. As these people explain their experiences, the reader sees why they think the way they do, and why the Tibetans and Chinese have taken such opposing positions. A collection of very different viewpoints which look at Tibet from all angles.

There is a darkness in men's hearts that war sets free. When their war is over, they bring that darkness back home with them. It's a short trail from the jungles of Vietnam to the forests of the Appalachian Mountains. A complex tale involves a journey back to Vietnam and into the dark past: a past where Clausewitz, the philosopher of war, meets de Sade, the philosopher of man's own individual evil.

This book contains secrets and stories about Hong Kong that have never before been published. Prepare to have your preconceived notions of this bustling Asian financial hub butchered as you journey through crevices, enter hidden portals, clamber over barbed-wire fences, evade security guards and infiltrate derelict structures to travel back in time. Your hosts are an anonymous grassroots squad of explorers who will show you a side of Hong Kong only a specialist minority know about. Although the city has some of the most expensive property on the planet, an unknown world awaits beyond the shimmering skyscrapers and under the glitzy malls. This is the hidden kingdom of non-spaces: environments and structures that lie fallow, usually abandoned and left to rot, or suspended in limbo awaiting evictions and demolition. The HK Urbex crew -- a covert collective of urban explorers whose exploits merge archaeology, ethnography, historiography and anthropology -- unearth dead zones on the periphery of the city. They invite you to explore haunted schools, rummage through old crime scenes, reconnoitre condemned buildings and uncover the scraps of modernisation which wont be recorded in history books. So come inside, confront the aesthetic of loss, discover the value of dead architecture and see Hong Kong as youve never seen it before.

In Great Leaps, Colin Flahive explores China's rural-urban migration against the backdrop of his own transition from Colorado to southwest China. There he opened a café that became much more than an outpost of Western cuisine in a far-flung corner of the world.Salvador's Coffee House became home to more than 50 young women from mountain villages. Most knew nothing about coffee, but they moved to the city to work at Salvador's and earn their independence.

I cant 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. Barbaras 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 in Stanley Camp, 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.

On July 1, 1997, the red flag of China was hoisted over Hong Kong - and the untried idea of "one country, two systems" was put into practice. Farewell, My Colony is a real-time journal of the end of an era. American journalist Todd Crowell captures a unique moment in history as Britain soldiers through the last months of its colonial rule, China waits restlessly to resume its sovereignty, and Hong Kong buzzes with speculation.

The handover in 1997 saw Hong Kong's transition from colonial to communist rule under the auspices of 'one country, two systems'. But twenty years on, the real impact of the sovereignty change is just starting to register, with a rapid erosion of freedoms. Believing that we are stronger together, PEN Hong Kong invited some of the city's most prominent writers to contribute to an anthology of essays, fiction and artwork that marks this historical milestone.

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 business center of 19th-century Asia? The British wanted relief from summer heat and the Peak was the obvious place to escape it. The Governor adopted Mountain Lodge as a summer getaway, and the Peak Tram made access easier. This book describes the popular tourist area then and now.

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.

Reminiscences and recipes of favorite international dishes from households, restaurants and back lanes which you can enjoy today in Hong Kong, that classy old gal who will forever reign as the Queen of Cuisine for all who knew her when she was the jewel of the British Empire. Fred Schneiter shares a nostalgic romp back into that less hurried era - and the tantalizing cuisines and tempting cookpot scents of that cozy time await you here.

This collection of 36 essays examines some of the pressing social, cultural and existential issues facing Hong Kong. It takes us from the gravity-defying property market to the plunging depths of old age poverty, from urban streets to traffic-free islands, from the culture-shocked Western expat to the misunderstood Mainland Chinese and the disenfranchised domestic worker. The result is a treatise on modern Asian life that is thought-provoking, touching and immensely entertaining.

Robert Wang fled the Chinese civil war as a child and came to Hong Kong with nothing. It was a harsh place in the 1950s but he was determined to rise to the top. With the 1997 handover to China approaching, and no one knowing what the end of British rule would bring, Robert hatched an audacious scheme to safeguard the fortunes of Hong Kong's richest tycoons -- but swimming with sharks has its dangers.

Learn Chinese the natural way - from a Norwegian! Join Cantonese fundamentalist Cecilie Gamst Berg as she journeys through the non-stop surrealism that is today's China. Traveling by camel, sleeper bus and train across the deserts of Xinjiang, through the backwoods of Tibet, over the mountains of Sichuan to the outlying islands of Hong Kong, Cecilie shows how China is not only the fastest-changing place on earth, but also the most fun.

Hong Kong is famous for its vibrant, busy street scene. This book introduces us to two dozen real people who provide its outdoor color. Here you'll meet a flower seller, a street musician, and a tram driver; a bouncer, a shoe shiner, and a gas canister delivery man; a tailor's tout and a lifeguard; one man who makes a living climbing bamboo scaffolding, and a woman who ferries visitors around the harbor on a sampan. Portrait photography by Michael Perini illustrates each engaging life story.

Hong Kong is a city where limousines outnumber taxis, partygoers count down to Christmas every December 24, and giant billboards of fortune tellers and cram school tutors compete with breathtaking skylines. This collection of essays zeroes in on the city's idiosyncrasies with deadpan precision. An outsider looking in and an insider looking out, Jason Y. Ng has created a travel journal for the tourist and a user's manual for the wide-eyed expat.

In 2010, bookish 22-year-old Shannon Young 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.