• The Girl Who Dreamed: A Hong Kong Memoir of Triumph Against the Odds

    HK$138.00
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    At the age of 14, Sonia Leung was raped by her ping-pong coach.
     
    She had moved from China two-and-a-half years earlier to join her family in Hong Kong, but she could not fit in. The family of six lived in a cramped subdivided hut in a Kowloon squatter village but rarely communicated with each other. The difficulties of adjusting to colonial Hong Kong heightened the tensions between her parents. Feeling trapped and unloved, Sonia was too afraid to tell anyone about the rape. She saved money by working part-time at McDonald's and, a year later, she bought a one-way plane ticket to Taipei and ran away from home.
     
    The Girl Who Dreamed is a memoir of her childhood in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – and how, through work and further education, she found her way to an independent life away from the family and world from which she needed to free herself.
  • Octopus: The Pioneering Story of the World’s First Contactless Payment Card

    HK$238.00
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    Nowadays most people are familiar with payments using contactless cards, or even mobile phones. But few know that just after Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, the city launched the world's first payment system using the then-new contactless smart technology.

    Drawing on the author's inside knowledge, this is a definitive history of how the Octopus card emerged, and how it progressed to become the most successful transport-based payment card. Disappointments and mistakes along the way are detailed and comparisons are made with similar systems in Singapore, London, South Korea and Japan. Chapters on lessons learned and the prospects for cashless societies round out the book.

  • Where Strange Gods Call: Harry Hervey’s 1920s Hong Kong, Macao and Canton Sojourns

    HK$90.00
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    By Harry Hervey, introduced and annotated by Paul French
     
    No. 1 in the China Revisited series
     
    As a young man in the southern United States in the early years of the twentieth century Harry Hervey dreamt of travelling to Asia. He also dreamt of writing novels, movie scripts and travel books. He would do all these things. Eventually, in 1923, Hervey managed to find a way to get to the Far East working on a cruise liner. He was to spend time sojourning in Hong Kong, Macao and Guangzhou. His impressions of his travels through southern China, contained in his 1924 travelogue Where Strange Gods Call, is both lyrical and detailed, as well as atmospheric and informative. Walking from Central to Kennedy Town; the basement “dives” of Belcher’s Street to the private dining rooms of Queen’s Road; Macao’s Praia Grande to its infamous fan-tan houses, Hervey is a fascinating flâneur and guide. So too in Guangzhou, a city in upheaval, where Hervey encounters those fleeing warlord violence in the north and is granted an audience with Dr Sun Yat-sen.
     
    Hervey’s impressions of China would stay with him for the rest of his life, not least in his treatment for the 1932 movie Shanghai Express. Sadly, in the intervening century since the first publication of Where Strange Gods Call in 1924, Hervey’s name and work have been largely forgotten. Yet his early travel writing was to influence his later bestselling novels, popular short stories and Hollywood screenplays which, in turn, influenced American perceptions of Hong Kong, Macao and China.

    This publication of Hervey’s impressions of southern China also includes the sketches of his good friend the Savannah artist Christopher Murphy Jr., which were included in the first edition of Where Strange Gods Call and bring Hervey’s descriptions further to life.

    “Approaching Canton we were gliding past ugly, ramshackle dwellings and go-downs; grass-thatched house-boats, sampans, junks, and lighters, and millions of roofs that were flung in uneven terraces against the sky.”

     

  • The Slightest Chance

    HK$118.00
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    In war, you can pretend to be someone you’re not. Yet, in war, people find out who you really are.

    Hong Kong, 1941. Anglo-Australian civil servant Dominic Sotherly’s colonial sojourn in Hong Kong becomes complicated by his double life in both war and love. Enigmatic Englishwoman Gwen Harmison possesses secrets of her own – plus an unrelenting desire for liberty. Inscrutable Eurasian Chester Drake is but one of Gwen’s secrets.

    From gaiety at the Peninsula Hotel to persecution both inside and outside of internment, the story journeys from war-ravaged Hong Kong to war-weary China.

    From real history, meet the one-legged Chinese admiral who led Hong Kong’s daring ‘Great Escape’ and the Japanese Christian soldier who risked his life for the enemy. And, uniquely during the occupation of Hong Kong, discover how one Englishwoman made history in her defiance of Imperial Japan.

  • The Dictionary of the Asian Language

    HK$138.00
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    with cartoons by Ming

    Of course there is no single Asian language. But plenty of vogue words from this booming continent are entering English.

    Did you know there is a flower named after former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il? The Chinese have a word – shengnu, literally leftover – for the new phenomenon of unmarried women over thirty. Can you tell your jeepney from your jilbab, or yakuza from the yellowshirts?

    These are just some of the hundreds of words that illuminate little corners of life and culture in a pan-Asian selection of keywords from the zeitgeist.

    Look inside this book
    Click on the following link to read pages from The Dictionary of the Asian Language. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

    aaiiiyah! to Ayutthaya

  • Chinese Ghosts Revisited: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences

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    Do the Hong Kong Chinese experience ghosts, hauntings, spirit mediumship, ESP and other paranormal phenomena just like people in the West? Or is their culture so different that the ghost accounts in this book will seem bizarre to anyone else?

    This classic presentation of cases is based on 3,600 interviews, questionnaires and observations in Hong Kong in 1980/81, updated by recent materials over 30 years later. Interestingly, in spite of clear influences from ancestor worship and Confucian/Taoist/Buddhist culture, parapsychological theories of apparitions from the West also apply to the Chinese cases.

    For this 2017 edition, Charles Emmons has revisited his earlier conclusions and added new material that has come to light in the intervening years. This book remains the only major cross-cultural study comparing Chinese with Western ghost experiences.

    Look inside this book
    Click on the following link to read pages from Chinese Ghosts. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

    Strange Cases on Exhibit

  • Remembering Bruce Lee: And Jon Benn’s Other Adventures

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    “Kung Fu?” The Big Boss Loves Adventure

    Even four decades after the passing of Asian martial-arts superstar Bruce Lee (1940-73), his achievements still attract adoration from millions of movie fans. The biggest fan of all may be Jon Benn, who befriended the high-kicking hero while playing “the Big Boss”, a villain in Lee’s acclaimed 1972 movie The Way of the Dragon.

    In Remembering Bruce Lee, a tell-tale autobiography, Jon reminisces fondly about his experiences with Lee and a lifetime of other adventures. From facing Lee’s fists of fury to riding in a cowboy posse, from almost starting the Third World War to a nude scene with sex symbol Bo Derek, much has happened to Jon for the sake of appearing in movies.

    But that’s not all. From exploring ancient Mexican temples and falling into a volcano to eavesdropping on communists in Cold War Europe, from doing business with former Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos to girls-in-hot-pants waving Passports to Pleasure, one heck of a lot has happened to Jon away from the cameras too.

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    Click on the link to read pages from Remembering Bruce Lee. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts. 

    Contents & Introduction

     

  • The Tale of a Dark Horse

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    Illustrated by Harry Harrison

    It's 135BC and Emperor Han Wudi is desperate for a horse… but not just any horse. The horse he wants is tall, dark and handsome, fleet as a bird and free as a gipsy. But will it ever be pinned down? A tale of mystery, history and the fabulous Silk Road!

    Highlights the “heavenly horses” of the Ferghana Valley, Han Wudi and his conquest to the West, and the Silk Road.

    Age range: 7 to 12

  • The Tale of Desmond Dog

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    Illustrated by Harry Harrison

    Desmond Dog is noble, honest and brave… but he’d also make an excellent pirate!

    Will the hero of the fishing village of Hong Kong be lured into a life of crime by infamous pirate queen Ching Shih? Find out in this exciting tale of trickery, temptation… and treasure!

    Ages 6 to 12

  • Out of stock

    Sketches of Soho

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    In this full-colour book illustrating life in the colourful area south of Hollywood Road, Hong Kong, Lorette Roberts paints the town red – and orange, and yellow, and green, and blue… 

    There is a centre foldout of the rainbow-hued Staunton Street restaurants; elsewhere you will find the crimsons and pinks of tiny boutiques and musicians playing live in a purple bar. And those Soho-ites – from uniform in their working clothes to bright and exotic in their street party costumes – they are all there. You might even see yourself! 

    Yet there is more: the reds and golds of the temple and lantern shops, the muted ochres and turquoises of the old shophouses, the green trees and busy street market in vivid colour and, last but not least, the silver of the Mid-Levels Escalator which leads us to this vibrant district.

    A fold-out map at the back of the book will guide you through the less familiar streets. And don't forget to check out the connections between each page and find the ubiquitous snails. 

    Part of a series of best-selling books by this well-known artist, Sketches of Soho is the perfect gift item for residents and visitors alike.

  • Designing a Life: A Cross-Cultural Journey

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    Designing a Life tells the inspiring story of Kai-Yin Lo, a determined woman born to a wealthy Hong Kong family who had to build her own future following an abrupt change in the family's fortunes. After a first job at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, she made her way to Time Inc. in New York to establish a new life.

    Encouraged by her first collection being accepted by Cartier New York, she employed talent, innovation and determination to become a designer of international renown, respected as an ambassador for cross-cultural exchange in art, design and thought.

    “Kai-Yin is a polymath and a phenomenon, having seamlessly juggled an analytical career as a scholar, historian, teacher and editor, with the artistic and imaginative flair of an amazing jewellery, accessory designer and ceramic artist.” – Thomas Heatherwick, Founder, Heatherwick Studio, London

    “In her role as Visiting Professor of the University of the Arts London, Kai-Yin Lo has done very valuable work as an effective contributor and ambassador, promoting understanding and application of cross-culture.” – Professor Jeremy Till, Head, Central Saint Martins, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London

    “Never ceasing to learn and create, Kai-Yin has proven herself to be an outstanding artistic and intellectual entrepreneur who blends harmoniously the aesthetic and the practical. The Asia Society on both sides of the Pacific has benefited from her generosity of spirit and cultural expressions.” – Ronnie C. Chan, Chairman, Asia Society Hong Kong Center

    “Kai-Yin Lo is a creative tour de force whose jewelry designs re-interpreting Chinese traditional design principles were at the forefront of a reappraisal of traditional Chinese culture. She also seeks to share her interests with others through the philanthropic support of dialogues and talks that foster an understanding of new issues in Asian culture. These have included some of the most important cultural leaders of our time, such as Xu Bing, Tan Dun, and Shen Wei.” – Melissa Chiu, Director, Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

  • Forty Nights (Eating Smoke #2)

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    The stand-alone sequel to the international bestseller Eating Smoke

    Former commando Chris Thrall returned from a year in Hong Kong suffering severe psychosis from crystal meth addiction. The medical profession said recovery was unlikely and recommended admitting him to a psychiatric hospital.

    There’s nothing wrong with me!”

    Chris refused all intervention and his life descended into a chaotic cycle of drug use that almost killed him... until salvation came in a surprising form.

    In this long-awaited follow-up to Eating Smoke, Chris tells a harrowing yet refreshing and often hilarious account of addiction and one gutsy journey to recovery.

    "After the harrowing events in Eating Smoke, if you thought Chris Thrall departed Kai Tak bound for a life of cream teas and Little England 'normality'... then you've likely not experienced the depravity and horror of drug addiction. In Forty Nights, Chris continues to confront his demons with his usual engaging honesty, side-splitting Royal Marine humour and storytelling at its finest." – Phil Whelan, RTHK

  • Great Leaps: Finding home in a changing China

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    In Great Leaps, Colin Flahive explores China’s rural-urban migration against the backdrop of his own transition from Colorado to southwest China. There, in Yunnan province, he partnered with three friends to open a café that became much more than simply an outpost of Western cuisine in a far-flung corner of the world.

    Over the course of a decade, Salvador’s Coffee House became home to more than fifty young women from mountain villages in the surrounding countryside. Most knew nothing about coffee or Western food, but they moved to the city to work at Salvador’s and earn their independence.

    Great Leaps follows the challenges faced by Colin, his partners and his employees as they leave their old lives behind to make a new home in a foreign land. They encounter unlikely successes, endure heartbreaks and nearly lose everything. But by taking the leap together, they all find their own places in the modern Chinese dream.

    Look inside this book
    Click on the following link to read pages from Great Leaps. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

    Chapter 1: From the Countryside

  • Beijing: Portrait of a City

    HK$218.00
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    and Lucy Cavender

    Beijing: Portrait of a City is the shared work of some of the city's finest writers who lead us through ‘hutong’ alleys, antique markets, artists' communities, gay bars, parks and the nostalgic streets of memory. They beguile with poems, amuse with camel anecdotes and thrill with two murder stories one a genuine antique, the other a fictional contemporary. They take us back to the often-ignored Mongolian roots of the city and project forward to ask whether spectacular modern architecture will suffice to return Beijing to what it sees as its ancient place at the centre of the world.

    The book interweaves its written work with a collection of wry and telling photographs of different aspects of the city, creating a compelling portrait of Beijing.

    The contributors including Zhu Wen, Adam Williams, Roy Kesey, Ma Jian, Alfreda Murck, Tim Clissold, Catherine Sampson, Peter Hessler, Karen Smith, Paul French, Michael Aldrich, Hong Ying and Rob Gifford, all published authors and experts in their field have spent many years living in Beijing and know it from the inside. Their individual contributions combine to leave a highly original and unforgettable impression of one of the world’s oldest and most fascinating cities.

  • The Alphabet of Vietnam

    HK$108.00
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    When men come back from wars, they bring their wars back with them

    When Joe dies, his brother Jack thinks it’s an accident... until the parcel arrives with Joe’s diaries and notebooks, and the map of the cabin high up in the Appalachians where Joe’s war buddy, Wash, is hiding out with a girl he’s kidnapped – just the latest in a long line of girls. Joe has one last favour to ask of his brother. He wants Jack to rescue the girl and – if he has to – kill Wash too.

    So starts a complex and intense tale that 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.

    But there are too the incendiary eyes of innocent judgment. And there is love – and love is complicated.

    Look inside this book
    Click on this link to view sample pages from The Alphabet of Vietnam. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

    Chapter 1

  • Tibet, the Last Cry

    HK$158.00
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    Eric Meyer and Laurent Zylberman were the only freelance journalists allowed into Tibet after the 2008 riots which left parts of Lhasa in ruins. They saw the friction between two cultures: police and soldiers patrol the towns, while crowds of Han immigrants pour into the region like new frontier settlers seeking their fortunes. Tibet is going through drastic economic change, shaking up ancient ways of life and altering the fragile ecological balance of the once-nomadic high plateau.

    China is massively investing to turn Tibet into a modern country. Downtown shops crammed with made-in-China fashion are run by battalions of saleswomen in uniform, and nightclubs draw crowds of Tibetan teenagers in search of Western music.

    A series of black-and-white photographs intertwine – often in a single shot – the clashes between two very different communities who have never fully understood each other. Narrated day by day, both text and images immerse the reader in an eye-opening journey across the roof of the world.

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    Click on these links to read pages from Tibet, the Last Cry. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts.

    On Board the High Speed Train #T-27   Photo section 3

  • By Harry Franck, introduced and annotated by Paul French
     
    No. 4 in the China Revisited series
     
    In the 1920s the American travel writer Harry A Franck was known to readers as the “Prince of Vagabonds”. His wanderings were family affairs and he arrived in southern China in 1923 with his wife, their two young children and his mother. Franck always claimed that his travel plans were random, subject to chance encounters and whatever caught his eye.
     
    He arrives in a Hong Kong which is building modern department stores and large houses while labourers sleep on straw mats beside the harbour. In Macao he visits temples, ancient forts and, of course, casinos. And then to Canton (Guangzhou), a city in flux where new buildings are transforming the waterfront, the ancient city walls are being demolished, and the traditional rookeries of small lanes are being replaced by wide asphalt roads as the city rapidly modernises. Franck also provides us with a highly detailed description of Shamian Island a year after the tumultuous strikes and boycotts that meant naval gunboats and barbed wire still protected the small foreign enclave.
  • Out of stock

    Thirty-six Views of Lion Rock

    HK$350.00
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    by Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze, published by Blue Lotus Editions

    Lion Rock is not just any mountain. It’s Hong Kong’s most famous peak, laden with symbolism and meanings that are evolving over time. Inspired by Hokusai’s important woodblock series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” which was created in 1830, Romain set out to capture Hong Kong’s famous peak in a similar yet contemporary fashion, in order to express the many faces of this legendary mountain top.

    Lion Rock is featured in each of the photos, some in the far distance obscured by high-rise buildings, traffic or bustling markets. In other images, it is more prominent, far removed from the urban jungle, oozing peace and tranquility. Some photos are shot at the break of day, others during the blue moment at dusk. In short, Thirty-six Views of Lion Rock reads like a letter to the mountain that Hongkongers know and love so well.

  • The Chakrata Incident

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    Major Max Devlin, poised for a commanding post in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, is seconded to the SIS for a joint assignment with the CIA at Chakrata, the headquarters of India’s All-Tibetan Special Frontier Force, aka the 22s.

    Together with his American counterpart, Devlin is tasked with training and preparing a newly formed elite unit of the 22s for covert cross-border ops inside Tibet, as part of a tripartite project funded by the US to monitor China’s ever-expanding presence in the disputed areas. What begins as a welcome escape for the desk-bound Gurkha officer at the Ministry of Defence quickly becomes deadly toxic – and politically explosive.

    A shamanic curse on the misogynist US Ranger risks torpedoing the mission. An Indian cabinet headed by a Sinophile premier and peopled by self-serving ministers is bitterly split on where national (read personal) interests lie. Into the mix come a ruthlessly ambitious Indian intelligence officer whose allegiance is unto himself and a bunch of local politicians bent on avenging the deaths of their salacious sons at the hands of Devlin and his Gurkha sergeant Deepraj.

    Once across the Sino-Indian border, the SFF soldiers will be alone – unattributable and expendable if captured by the PLA. Deep into and high on the Himalayas, they come face-to-face with death and torture. Caught in the spinning geopolitical web are three remarkable women – two Tibetan officers and a Muslim combat surgeon – whose courage, faith and skill will be tested to the limits in circumstances beyond their wildest imagination.

    As for Devlin, faced with a call on his principles as a professional soldier and the realisation of his cherished ambition in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, he must decide how the die is cast.

    A prequel to The Dharma Expedient and Devlin’s Chakra, The Chakrata Incident is Max Devlin’s swansong as a British soldier, setting the scene for his and the trusted Deepraj’s intrepid adventures in the unforgiving terrain that is at the very heart of Asia.

  • The Tale of Rodney Ram

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    Illustrated by Harry Harrison

    Rodney Ram is gorgeous, from his ear-tips to his toes. But there’s just one problem – he doesn’t want to lead his flock! Then famine grips Guangdong Province, and the sheep are in mortal danger. Will Rodney rise to the challenge, and save their woolly hides? Find out in this shaggy tale of shyness, sheep and an awful lot of luck!

    Features the Legend of the Five Rams of Guangzhou, the city of Guangzhou and the history of rice cultivation in China. Shortlisted for the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2016.

    Age range: 6 to 12

  • The Tale of Sybil Snake

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    Illustrated by Harry Harrison

    Everybody adores Sybil Snake – she’s beautiful, clever and extremely charming. But all is not as it seems in the Emperor’s menagerie, and Sybil is more of an enchantress than meets the eye! A tale of mystery, missing treasure and the extraordinary magic of love. Ssss… sss… ss… s… s… s…

    Features the Legend of Lady White Snake, the true story of Wu Zetian (China’s only female Emperor) and Kublai Khan’s famous menagerie.

    Age range: 7 to 12

  • The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey

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    Illustrated by Harry Harrison

    Ming Kee is the cheekiest monkey in Yunnan, and her jungle friends are getting REALLY annoyed! Then one day she offends the Emperor Taizong of Tang! Ming Kee flees the jungle… but where has she gone, and will she ever return? And will she ever mend her mischievous ways? A tale of mayhem, monkey business… and the getting of wisdom!

    Highlights the famous Legend of the Monkey King, the extraordinary 7th-century Buddhist explorer Xuanzang, and the exceptional biodiversity of Yunnan Province.

  • The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster

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    Illustrated by Harry Harrison

    Rickshaw is a proud, vain and extremely noisy rooster living in the backstreets of 1920s Shanghai. When the Annual Race along the famous Bund is announced, winning is a matter of national pride for the contestants representing Shanghai’s international Concessions. But Rickshaw Rooster has other ideas! Will the foreigners win again, or will a local hero carry the day? Find out in this tale of loyalty, ruffled feathers and cocky determination!

    Highlights 1920s Shanghai, its famous Bund, the international concessions, the end of empire and the rise of nationalism in China, and the special characteristics of people born in the Year of the Rooster.

  • Hong Kong On Air

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    As the Hong Kong handover boom fizzles into the Asian economic bust, a young American couple's marriage and careers tumble into a maze of television news, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie.

    TV news veteran Muhammad Cohen's engaging, often hilarious novel captures the mood ahead of the July 1997 handover when Hong Kong reigned as the centre of the universe, a multicultural melting pot bubbling with pure gold. As the Asian crisis abruptly ends the party, mainland China emerges, eclipsing Hong Kong. For everyone whose job or business falls under China's lengthening economic shadow, Hong Kong On Air presents a fresh angle on how it all began. For media watchers, Hong Kong On Air broadcasts the backstage secrets of television news the way The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay illustrated the dark side of comic books.

    For newspaper reporter turned TV producer Laura Wellesley, the morning show at Franklin Global Networks Asia means going to bed before dark and swallowing the first rule of broadcast news: the anchor is always right, especially when it's American-born Chinese egomaniac Deng Jiang Mao. The station's fortunes and Laura's outlook improve with the arrival of Peter Franklin, the 28-year-old son of FGN's billionaire founder. But Franklin's eye falls on mainland-born graphics drone Pussy, Laura's control room nemesis, and a butterfly emerges from the web he spins.

    For Laura's husband Jeff Golden, the production line for his Golden Beauties lingerie runs through a cagey mother minding their stores on Long Island, cookie tins stuffed with cash smuggled over the border, and hot tubs in Hong Kong's Jewish Community Club and mainland brothels. Cut out of his own multi-million dollar deal, Jeff's consolation prize is Yogi, a Japanese banker with a yen for "Jew food" and men raised on it.

    During Hong Kong's pre-handover boom, FGN Asia becomes a hit, a star is born, and mistakes are easy to overlook. But the economic crisis ripens relationships for treachery, creates opportunities for revenge, and moves China centre stage, triggering a great leap forward for some, a long march to failure for others.

  • The Great Walk of China: Travels on foot from Shanghai to Tibet

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    What kind of people would you meet if you decided to walk across the world's most populous country?

    The Great Walk of China is a journey into China's heartland, away from its surging coastal cities, where the ripples of prosperity are only just beginning to be felt and many find themselves left behind.

    Through his conversations with the people he meets along the way, the Chinese-speaking Earnshaw paints a portrait of a nation struggling to come to terms with its newfound identity and its place in the world. Our wandering guide never backs away from sensitive and sometimes uncomfortable topics, and captures the essential kindness and generosity of the Chinese people with brilliant clarity.

    Look inside this book
    Click on the following link to view sample pages from The Great Walk of China. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.

    Prologue