19.Jun.2010 On Hong Kong
I haven’t done any Short Saturday for a while, because I’m reading short stories from Love in A Fallen City by Eileen Chang for our Asian book group this month which I will talk about after I finish the collection. I love that the book is set mainly in Hong Kong. Having been there three times, I have a rather romantic view of Hong Kong, whose literal meaning of the Chinese name means “fragrant harbour”. The country is vibrant, resilient, and very much alive.
In the war time many people from mainland China ran to Hong Kong. As this could be done only by people who had money and Hong Kong went to become a great autonomy of its own, the small island is until now viewed as the place for the rich higher class people by the mainlanders.
Hong Kong was officially “returned” to China in 1997 by the British. When raising the flags, China flag must be raised above Hong Kong flag. Funny but, as an Australian passport holder I am allowed to enter the region for 90 days, while Chinese passport holder is only allowed 7 days. I guess Hong Kong remains the unreachable dream land for the mainland Chinese.
A couple of places in the book:
Repulse Bay
Tsim Sha Tsui
I haven’t read many books set in Hong Kong. One that I’ve read was Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah, a memoir, which I read many years ago, so apology if the review is a bit rusty. I remember it as a pretty good book. If you’re interested in movies, one that I completely fell in love with is City of Glass, a romantic movie. City of Glass is such a fitting name, since Hong Kong is full of skycrapers and at night the whole city is alive with lights from the myriads of tall glassy buildings. It’s so pretty.
Have you books or movies set in Hong Kong to recommend?
mee 
