A lovely way to get greater insight into a place is to read about it.  Non-fiction books can certainly give you the details, the history and the facts.  However, biographies, memoires and novels can give you all these and more, especially when they are well researched with lively, intriguing characters.  Below I share some of my favourite books about Hong Kong.  I highly recommend them if you want to get a feel for this amazing city.

This is by no means a complete list of books on Hong Kong and they are all written from an expat point of view rather than a local one.  They are in no particular order.

James Clavell “Tai Pan” This is set in the very early years of the colony.  The story follows the rivalry of the heads of two large trading companies, one of which is loosely based on Jardine Matheson Holdings (a Scottish company that used to operate out of Hong Kong).  Extremely well researched with wonderful details of daily life ofboth the Westerners and the Chinese James Clavell was not only a master of historical fiction but also a master of characters and suspense.  I found it hard to put down.

James Clavell “Noble House” 

The story of the Struan family (head of the ‘Noble House’ trading firm in the novel Tai Pan) is picked up over a hundred years later in the 1960s.  The story follows different characters of Hong Kong, American and Eurasian extraction and weaves them together to another suspenseful climax.  A fabulous insight into mid 20th century Hong Kong for those of us who weren’t there.

John Lanchester: Fragrant Harbour

This easy read crosses back and forth over time and weaves together very different people and their stories of coming to Hong Kong.  The british journalist at the end of the 20th century, the ‘Old China Hand’ who came before the war and stayed on for the rest of his life, a Chinese nun and a contemporary Hong Kong Chinese family. The story is spread from the 1930s, through World War 2 and on into the 1990s.  For me, experiencing Hong Kong in the early 2000s I was able to relate to parts about the 1990s and found the parts set earlier fascinating.  The title is a direct translation of the Chinese name for Hong Kong.

Richard Mason: The World of Suzie Wong

A classic Hong Kong novel.  This is a modern fairy tale set in the brothels of 1950s Hong Kong.  The story follows artist, Robert Lomax and his relationship with prostitute Suzie Wong.  It was made into a successful film with  William Holden and Nancy Kwan. I enjoyed the aspects about the cross-culture relationships between westerners and Asians.

Martin Booth: Gweilo

This is a memoir of an English boy growing up in Hong Kong shortly after World War 2.  Extremely engaging and a delightful peek into a boy’s experience of life in the colony. It also inspired me to try more local food of my current home city. An extremely good read.

Janice Y.K. Lee: The Piano Teacher

Told in two time periods, (pre/ mid WW2 and post-war Hong Kong) this story was far grittier and more harrowing than I had expected.  Told from the points of view of two characters whose lives later cross, this is a look at events during the war, including the round up foreigners into camps and what life was like for those in Japanese occupied Hong Kong.  Not as well written as other books mentioned above and with less developed characters, it none the less engaged me enough to read it on my very bumpy bus ride to work.