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Born when monster-men from the brave country stole nine dragons and one fragrant harbour from the kingdom at the centre of the world, Hong Kong couldn’t avoid allegorical analysis if it bundled itself into a car boot and headed north to assist with public security investigations. A long-suffering foster-child; the plague towns of Camus and Defoe; an unruly bird with golden eggs. Explore 16 unique visions not about Hong Kong, but about what Hong Kong is like. -
The New Territories takes up about 85% of Hong Kong’s land area and boasts a history going back a thousand years -- yet very little, outside academia, has been written about it. Exploring Hong Kong’s New Territories addresses this shortfall by shining a spotlight on some of the area’s historic monuments and temples. It takes on some of the more family-friendly hiking trails, explores abandoned villages and visits monasteries both ancient and modern. It also looks at the continuing development of new towns and the architecture of urban density and gives detailed information on how everything can be visited using public transport. -
Kowloon West, Hong Kong 1992. The police are facing a heavily armed criminal fraternity on the streets of Yau Tsim and Mong Kok. Newly recruited British inspectors continue to be posted to the most active areas of the Territory by a senior management previously scarred by the rampant corruption of the 1970s. Yau Ma Tei Police Station is no exception, managed predominantly by British inspectors who are expected to settle in, learn their command and assimilate into the local Chinese culture and its criminal activity. Mike Sharp introduces the reader to an extraordinary way of life through the eyes of Inspector Graham Brooke, who has departed an unpromising life in merchant banking and is doing his best to handle the everyday challenges of policing a local population who may or may not want to be policed by an Englishman or indeed any other characters sent from the departing colonial power. -
William Barnes is a 43-year-old ecologist in Hong Kong whose life has been turned upside down since Eva, his Chinese wife, was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to murder her boss.
Desperate to keep this arrest a secret from his friends and colleagues, and to protect his two young children, Barnes finds himself reluctantly drawn into a cathartic reunion at his old school – the scene of a childhood trauma – and a weekend at the Hong Kong rugby sevens tournament with a group of former classmates, during which his sense of alienation and despair swells to a climax.
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With sensitivity and tenderness, Starkie Mak has captured a tale of the immigrant experience, from the eyes of a child. Masterfully rendered with careful homage paid to the children’s books that have touched the hearts of so many, Mak’s brush strokes and calligraphy evoke the turbulent emotions and difficulties a child must surely experience when having their little world upended, only to have a much larger and foreign world unfold before them.
In a heartbreaking parting, a child says goodbye to her family and is left with her imagination as guide. In search of a new life in a new land, a child retreats into the realm of fantasy. Through the devastating pain of childhood loss emerges the joy of a child’s triumph.
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Illustrated by Harry Harrison
Pin Yin Panda has beauty, brains and a healthy ego to match. So on Chinese New Year’s Eve she makes a surprise announcement: next year will be the first Year of the Panda! Will the tradition of millennia be swept aside or will this practically perfect panda be put in her place? And what does the Edinburgh Zoo have to do with it? Find out in this funny and fabulous new companion story to the Chinese Calendar Tales!
Features the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race, panda diplomacy and 12 Chinese Zodiac stickers. Launched at Edinburgh Zoo 2012!
Age range: 7 to 12
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by Jonathan Chamberlain In 1986, Jonathan Chamberlain and his wife Bernadette had their first child, Stevie, a daughter. Stevie was immediately diagnosed with Down's syndrome. A few months later it became clear that she had a serious heart defect that required a `hole in the heart' operation. Something went wrong during the operation and Stevie suffered a momentary lack of oxygen that left her severely brain-damaged. For the remaining seven and a half years of her life she was blind, epileptic and unable to sit, let alone walk. She was profoundly handicapped. Wordjazz for Stevie is the story of Jonathan's life with Stevie and the deeply beneficial impact she had on his life. It is a story of great love. It is also the story of how this almost overwhelming surge of loving energy led Jonathan to found first the Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association, and then later another charity to take into China the same idea that the key to supporting children like Stevie is to support their parents - and to see the problem as one involving the whole family. The story that Jonathan tells is made even more poignant by the fact that it deals also with his wife's unsuccessful battle with cancer. In the end Jonathan is left to bring up his son Patrick as a single father. This is a short book but intense and deeply moving. "This may be the most moving story you will ever read," said Britain's Sunday Telegraph. Look inside this book Click on the following link to view sample pages from Wordjazz for Stevie. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt. Pages 7-35 -
Overcoming vertigo — and countless injuries which have left him officially disabled — the 'Human Spider' has scaled nearly 100 skyscrapers worldwide: from the Petronas Towers in Malaysia to Taipei 101, from Chicago's Sears Tower to the Golden Gate Bridge. Reward and punishment have been received in equal measure — the flamboyant Frenchman has gained international fame and raised thousands of dollars for charity, but has also been arrested, beaten and prosecuted.
Many people ask whether it is madness to undertake such perilous ascents without the use of safety equipment. But in Alain's view, it is madness not to follow your dreams! This is the inspiring story of a man who has conquered fear and exceeded his own limits: the world's greatest urban climber.
"For Robert, tall buildings are his mountains. He eulogises the views from their summits and (police permitting) revels in the freedom." — The Guardian
Look inside this book
Click on the links below to view sample pages from With Bare Hands. You will need a pdf reader to view these excerpts. -
Why does the issue of Tibet rouse such passions on both sides? And is there any way to find common ground?
Chinese-speaking journalist Annelie Rozeboom worked as a foreign correspondent in China for ten years. During that time she was able to interview numerous Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet, as well as Chinese residents, Western observers and the Dalai Lama himself. As these people explain their life stories, it becomes clear to the reader why they think the way they do. The book also shows how history washed over this remote kingdom and how the Tibetans and the Chinese came to take such opposing positions.
Waiting for the Dalai Lama is a uniquely valuable book which approaches the emotive issue of Tibet from all angles.
Look inside this book
Click on this link to view sample pages from Waiting for the Dalai Lama. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.
