In the 1980s, Bruce Aitken became one of the world’s most successful money launderers. What started innocently enough, by answering an ad in the newspaper, turned into a globe-trotting lifestyle of moving money – huge sums of money – for some of the world’s most notorious and shadiest characters. From the jungles of Vietnam to the money capitals of the [...]
A message arrives from David Nunan, author of Other Voices, Other Eyes: Expatriate Lives in Hong Kong... I’m sitting in a restaurant that featured in Other Voices. In the book, it’s described as follows: The restaurant, a Spanish tapas bar, is run by a father and son team from Katmandu. Actually, the restaurant largely runs itself while the father and [...]
Why do people come to Hong Kong, and why do they often plan a stay of three weeks and then stay for 20 years? David Nunan has interviewed 74 residents to try to get an idea of what they have gained from Hong Kong, and how it has changed them. These were 38 men and 36 women, ranging in age [...]
If it's not one royal society, it's another. Have no fear, if you missed David Leffman's talk about William Mesny at the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong last year, you can listen in to the talk he gave to the Royal Asiatic Society in London in December. David has been visiting China as a travel writer for 25 years, [...]
Join us for the sixth edition of "Meet the Authors" at Bookazine! Don't miss the chance to talk to two great writers: John Saeki, author of a colourful and alternative portrait of Hong Kong in the 1950s, The Tiger Hunters of Tai O; and Alice Poon, author of a historical novel about Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, The Green Phoenix. When: Wednesday [...]
Under-resourced and ill-prepared, three constables at the squalid Police Station on Cheung Chau stood no chance against a ruthless pirate gang in 1912. Five more policemen lost their lives in a bloodbath in Wan Chai that might have been averted. But travel forward just a little and the outcome at a hold-up in Canton Road is very different. These three [...]
Eating Smoke author Chris Thrall is the subject of a fascinating new podcast on BFBS, the British Forces Broadcasting Service. 'Coming Home: Chris Thrall' is a feature-length story about addiction, redemption and recovery chronicling Royal Marine Chris Thrall's journey from Royal Marine Commando to a crystal meth addicted gang member of the notorious Hong Kong Triads. Chris joined the Royal [...]
Author John Saeki talks us through the process of writing his new novel, The Tiger Hunters of Tai O. The Tiger Hunters of Tai O came into existence as a direct result of hiking on Lantau island. Hikes are a great way of putting yourself in touch with places that have resisted change over the decades. You can walk off [...]
Come and meet seven Hong Kong authors -- Rachel Cartland, Larry Feign, Feng Chi-shun, Peter Mann, Jason Ng, Graham Reels and Guy Shirra -- as they celebrate, discuss and debate the 20 years that have passed since Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997. Thursday June 15, 6pm-7.30pm, at Bookazine in Prince's Building, Central. Free entry, and wine will be [...]
Fifty years ago today, Syd Goldsmith was almost beaten to death by an angry mob in Hong Kong. On May 11, 1967, amid rumours of unrest at a factory, Syd, then a young US diplomat on his first offshore posting, was sent out into the streets to get a first-hand look. He quickly found himself in deep trouble amid the [...]
Lena Sin, one half of the team behind How to Hong Kong, tells us how their illustrated book came about... The idea for How to Hong Kong sprung from my husband’s mind, not mine. Though it would become something of an obsession for me, I was steadfastly against it at the beginning. “I think you should write a book about [...]
Ray Hecht says: I’ll be in Shanghai on March 24th, at Garden Books, for a public reading from my novel South China Morning Blues. I’m very excited to be able to do this in Shanghai, the most epic city in China. Last year on my book tour I was able to travel to Beijing, among other cities, and of course all [...]
On the evening of Wednesday January 18th, you're invited to Bookazine's first "Meet the Authors" session in Prince's Building, Central. Among the writers present will be Peter Mann with his new memoir Sheriff of Wan Chai. Wine will be served and stories will be told. Full details in the evite above. Hope to see you there!
These days Chris Thrall is a successful author. But it wasn't always so. In the 1990s he left the Royal Marines to find his fortune in Hong Kong, but instead found himself homeless and hooked on crystal methamphetamine. In a downward spiral, he also began working for a triad society as a doorman in one of their nightclubs in Wan [...]
Watch this short film by Andrew Guthrie which tells the story of Paul Au: how he was smuggled into Hong Kong from wartime Vietnam in the 1970s and how he set up a second-hand vinyl record shop in Sham Shui Po, a low-rent district in north Kowloon, which is still popular today. The full story -- with lots of photos [...]
Guidebook writer David Leffman is heading back to remote parts of Guizhou province on Tuesday, to pick up the trail of William Mesny - the British-born "Mercenary Mandarin" who became a general in the Chinese army. But before he goes, he will be giving an illustrated talk about Mesny to the Royal Asiatic Society in the Centre for Visual Arts, [...]
Press Release South China Morning Blues: Stories that detail a life in 21st century China for Asians and Gweilos alike China. To the rest of the world, it is a booming, menacing powerhouse that threatens to engulf everything with its ever growing economy. To those who reside in it, it is more complex than that. As the author of a [...]
I met up with Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong-based historian (left), and Shun Chi Ming, director of the Hong Kong Observatory (centre), to talk about the wartime diary of Graham Heywood. Over tea at the Observatory, a beautiful Victorian building hidden away on a forested hill in the middle of Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Geoff and CM explained how Heywood's diary [...]