Fortune's Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong

The author goes on a lot in the introduction that this is not a traditional history of Hong Kong that focuses on the elites of the Europeans or the Chinese. Instead will focus more on the in-between people, those people who were not in some clearly defined groups but even the clearly defined groups turn out to often not to be as clearly defined as historians once pictured it. It does not mean that this will focus specifically on Eurasians because there were a lot of different groups from the beginning: Armenians, Indians, Jewish, Malay, Parsi and others. However, this does not mean that the focus in on the "common" people. The people mentioned are the ones that made an impact on Hong Kong and may even be considered elite--even if only for a time--not matter what their beginnings, humble or not.It is interesting to see how many different groups influenced the shaping of the beginning of Hong Kong, even if some groups left or their influence diminished as time went on. The book also goes through the atrocities and hardships of WWII occupation, the rebuilding, the transition to China control and its uncertain future today.The breadth is impressive. There is not doubt this was thoroughly researched and does not veer away from addressing race, prejudice, discrimination and the exploitation of women. Sometimes it does drag on with lists of names of people, marriages and children that I can't remember or keep straight.

A fascinating and exhaustive look at how one of the most famous cities in the world as created and how it shaped the fortunes of nations. Without Hong Kong history would have been very different.