Along the Southern Boundary: A Marine Police Officer’s Frontline Account of the Vietnamese Boatpeople and their Arrival in Hong Kong

HK$180.00

  • USD: US$23.01
  • CNY: CN¥165.49
  • GBP: £18.05
  • EUR: €21.12
  • AUD: AU$35.07

By Les Bird

With a foreword by Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, Governor of Hong Kong, 1987-1992

We had no jurisdiction outside of Hong Kong waters. But we could see their vessels sinking in heavy seas. It was life or death, right there. We just went.”

Former Marine Police officer Les Bird tells of the harrowing sea journey to Hong Kong made by tens of thousands of refugees in the years that followed the end of the Vietnam War. As he patrolled the southern maritime boundary of Hong Kong, he photographed their makeshift boats and later the people-smuggling vessels coming in – including the Sen On, a freighter ship that was abandoned by its crew and ran aground on Lantau Island.

With this previously unpublished collection of personal photographs, taken by himself and his former police colleagues, he tells the stories of these boatpeople – the young children, the father who just bought a boat to embark on a 1,000-mile journey, and the disillusioned North Vietnamese battle-hardened veterans – all searching for a new life.

LOOK INSIDE THIS BOOK
Click the following links to read excerpts from the book.

Introduction

OR

SKU: 9789887554738 Categories: , , Tags: ,

Description

We had no jurisdiction outside of Hong Kong waters. But we could see their vessels sinking in heavy seas. It was life or death, right there. We just went.”

Former Marine Police officer Les Bird tells of the harrowing sea journey to Hong Kong made by tens of thousands of refugees in the years that followed the end of the Vietnam War. As he patrolled the southern maritime boundary of Hong Kong, he photographed their makeshift boats and later the people-smuggling vessels coming in, including the Sen On, a freighter ship that was abandoned by its crew and ran aground on Lantau Island. With this previously unpublished collection of personal photographs he tells the stories of these boatpeople – the young children, the father who just bought a boat to embark on a 1,000-mile journey, and the disillusioned North Vietnamese battle-hardened veterans – all searching for a new life.

By the same author:
A Small Band of Men

Additional information

Weight 560 g
Dimensions 203 × 203 mm
Pages

172

Binding

Paperback

Illustrations

120 colour photos, with four maps

About the author

Born in 1951 in England, Les Bird joined the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1976 and served for two decades in the lead-up to the change of sovereignty. He was a rural officer in the remote fishing town of Tai O, he was involved in bringing in Vietnamese refugees along the Southern Boundary, and he chased down the “big flyer” daai fei smuggling speedboats which carried stolen luxury cars across Mirs Bay to China.

Bird is married with two daughters and still lives in Hong Kong. He has previously written his memoir: “A Small Band of Men: An Englishman’s Adventures in Hong Kong’s Marine Police”. His website is at www.lesbirdhk.com.