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First published in 1988, Hong Kong is a portrait of the British Empire's last, most anachronistic outpost, as the countdown to the handover gathers momentum. Written with her trademark elegance and panache, Morris depicts a city tragically suspended between a colonial past and the uncertainties of China's future. 'It is difficult to think of anyone who could recount this tale with such authority, elegance and sensitivity as Jan Morris ... Here, she portrays what has always been Britain's most adjective-defying colony ... Morris so clearly likes the place, but she is not sentimental, nor is she blind to Hong Kong's flaws; she is aware of rootlessness in the teeming energy.' TLS 'The book captures the contradictions and mad terror of Hong Kong better than could a novel - it's a dramatic documentary ... ' Evening Standard 'The definitive study.' Washington Post
About the author
Jan Morris was born in 1926 of a Welsh father and an English mother. She spent the last years of her life with her partner Elizabeth Morris in the top left-hand corner of Wales, between the mountains and the sea. Her books include Coronation Everest, Venice, the Pax Britannica trilogy and Conundrum. She was also the author of six books about cities and countries, two autobiographical books, several volumes of collected travel essays and the unclassifiable Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. She was recognized in 2018 for her outstanding contribution to travel writing by the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. In the same year, In My Mind's Eye: A Thought Diary was published. It was followed by a second volume of diaries, Thinking Again, in 2020, and then her posthumously published final book, Allegorizings, in 2021.
Summary
A portrait of the British Empire's last, most anachronistic outpost, as the countdown to the handover gathers momentum. It depicts a city tragically suspended between a colonial past and the uncertainties of China's future. It captures the contradictions and mad terror of Hong Kong.
