This is a fictionalized account of the life of William Jardine (called Dirk Struan in "Tai-pan")- founder of the trading giant Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd. This is the "Princely Hong" which is refered to as the Noble House of Hong Kong in Clavell's books.

This book is riviting- and somewhat illuminating historically. If you long for the good old days- take a peek into the 19th century- you will change your mind real fast!

This book grabs you from the first pages, and holds you till the last- it is a masterpeice!

One of the best books I have read. Best of all James Clavell's novels. The book is filled with adventure,mystery and continual intrigue. The characters are inter-woven to keep you interested in all their activities.

Right behind Shogun as the best James Clavell book. Total excitement and adventure. A must-read

Excellent book. Has exceedingly great pictures of modern HK, invaluable, really invaluable. That's about all I can say.

This is THE book on Hong Kong. The pictures are amazing and show how enormus the city actually. The style is very much like the "Above" books by Robert Cameron, though this one has a map to show where the pictures were taken as well.

This book is made following the same style of Cameron's "Above" Series. Lots of old pictures compared to new ones, where you can see how much has HK changed in a short time. Amazing pictures of the skyscraper architecture of this outstanding city, aerial views of Central HK, Kowloon, the new airport, New Territories. This is a MUST HAVE book. One of the BEST aerial pictures book I have ever bought.

Patrick Yu was born and grown up in Hong Kong. He is the first Chinese who served as the Crown Counsel. Being discriminated by the British government, Yu rejected an offer as a judge of the High Court. This book depicted his life story, including his school and university life in Hong Kong, moved to China and worked under the National government in China during the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, his university life in Oxford, etc. I like this book for a few personal reasons: (1) when Yu worked for the National government during the World War II, he served at the Seven War Zone. It was the same area and same years that my father served for the Natinal Government. I heard the name of the places and people since I was a girl. I shared the information in the book with my 89-year old father. (2) Yu obtained his primary college education at University of Hong Kong, me too. I was graduated from HKU in 1989. (3) Yu's old home at Shelly Street at Central District in Hong Kong is very close to my old home at Caine Road. I thinbk we can consider as "old neighbors." When I read the book, it reminds me my hometown, Hong Kong.
It is a very interesting book. And I really enjoy it!

People outside Hong Kong might think that this is a local legal literature, but the stories themselves are of universal favour. The stories of a great barrister in the last colony are not really extraordinary adventurous and exciting, but his description of the cases he mentioned in this book worth enough for people who are interested in law.

By reading this book, you will see what you are living for and what law really is.

It was the last minute business trip offered to me earlier this year. It would have been my first trip to Asia. I was excited, scared and anxious at the same time. A business woman all alone in Hong Kong for a month? I had to learn about the place. So I came across this book in my local library and it was a gem! Book contains first hand experience stories written by western travelers visiting Hong Kong. Some were there for the first time, some had ancestors there, some were expatriots. But each and every story had unique voice and each and every one was wonderful account of the experiences one can expect to have while visiting this place of magic. I enjoyed the book because it had really funny stories, that would make you giggle. So one had to be careful not to read them in public because the occasional laugh would cause heads turn. However, I understood the culture, customs and people so well, that I got attached to Hong Kong more than I ever thought it possible. It was hearthbreking coming home. I know I will have to go there again. Soon. Business or otherwise. And then - I will carry with me my own copy of the Travelers Tales. It is one of the kind traveler's book. One that deserves to be displayed in personal library!

I read this book two weeks before our first (but hopefully not last) trip to Hong Kong. Other travel books gave me information on where to stay, where to eat, where to buy. But this book told me stories that made me eager to experience the SAR.

We first arrived in Hong Kong early one morning, tired, but determined to do something on our first day. We set out for the Star Ferry, something you must take whenever you have the chance. Taking the MTR subway to Central, we came above ground to find ourselves in the midst of what initially appeared to be some sort of social unrest. There was an official ceremony going on in the park, blocked off by police. There were thousands of women massed right outside. Both sides seemed ill at ease with the other.

Jet-lagged, we were rather apprehensive as we tried to find our way out to the ferry. Until I realized that it was Sunday, and that the voices sang a different song than the Cantonese we had heard so far. We were in the midst of Fillipina housemaids who gather on their one day off to visit with their countrywomen. I explained to my wife what was happening, including a description of what life was like for these women and how they came to be there. Elaine wanted to know how I knew this.

"I read about it in the Traveler's Tales book".

This book told stories of Hong Kong that steered us to places we might not have learned from the traditional guides and gave us a flavor for places that we knew not to go to.

I've read the Japanese guide. I don't know if it will prove to be as good as the Hong Kong book in the field, but it has proven to me that this is an entertaining series to the armchair tourist as well as intrepid travelers.

I first was attracted to this book by its cover--a charming photo of the happy faces of a group of Chinese men watching an opera and, once I had read my first story, "A Perfect Pig", describing Mr. Chung Wa Pui's long search for the perfect little white jade pig, I knew this was no ordinary book. These, indeed, are "traveler's tales"--personal accounts selected from the writings of diverse individuls who have visited or lived in Hong Kong--choice selections offering a pleasing mix of fact and folklore.

Did you know, for example, that the Portuguese influence in the East was such that Portuguese foods, architectural designs, and even Portuguese words were borrowed by the Chinese and others? The Chinese word "joss", the incense burned in Buddhist temples, was adopted from the Portuguese "dios"...We discover that, just a ferry boat ride away from the teeming throngs of Hong Kong, Lantau, the largest of the 235 outlying islands--larger even than Hong Kong--provides miles of wooded areas and secluded beaches, linked by hiking trails...We learn, also, of intriguing dining opportunities in Hong Kong, like the Yat Chau Health Restaurant, serving such delicacies as Double-Boiled Wild Duck with Deer's Penis or Spring Chicken with Sea Dragon & Sea Horse, dishes guaranteed to help restore one's physiological balance...Fascinating glimpses of a captivating part of the world. Truly a remarkable book. Nadine Greenup.

I studied this book for 2 weeks before my first trip to Korea and Hong Kong. Wow! Very informative with lots of basic but important details about meeting rituals, business card etiquette and tons more! My Boss who has been traveling to Asia for 16 years wants a copy of this fabulous book!

Our consulting staff recommends this book to all business women travelling to Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. For each country, it covers rules of business and social etiquette, gift-giving, how to handle what westerners consider to be sexual harassment, a list of recommended hotels, restaurants and "in" nightspots, and helpful suggestions on how to conduct business successfully in the local culture. Truly a bargain at this price. John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute.

If you're a bargain hunter, Born to Shop Hong Kong is a must! Almost every one of Suzy's recommendations are stellar. She makes it easy for you to find those one of a kind treasures to bring home-at discount prices. The book groups stores in geographical areas and provides easy to follow maps so you save time. For those who get tired of shopping, she offers unique sightseeing tips such as the Opera singers at Temple market. The restaurants she recommends are frequently entertaining in themselves, such as the one with a doctor who prescribes a meal based on your health. She's a friendly, funny writer with honest reviews of merchants. Her advice on avoiding tourist traps will save you time and money. I was in Hong Kong alone but felt like I had a friend along in Suzy's book. Suzy takes you places the average tourist would never experience. My sister, a flight attendant who just moved from Hong Kong and a co-worker who leads trips to the area had not been to many spots I visited-thanks to Suzy. "Born to Shop" has specific transportation advice on reaching your destination, includes conversion charts and it's a perfect purse size with a stain resistant plastic cover! She thought of everything. I'm going to France next and you can be sure I will buy Born to Shop Paris.

This book was my bible for 10 days in H.K. Not only were all the shopping recommendations right on, the hotels, especially The Conrad, and resturants were all excellent recommendations. Now what Suzy needs to do is write a book for the rest of China!

Since the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese government in 1997, the former British colony seems to be slowly slipping out of the world's attention. In Mr. Fenby's look at the year 1999 as Hong Kong lived it, we see not only why we need to watch Hong Kong closely, but we realize what stakes China is playing with as it slowly comes to terms with theis quasi-democratic city and its place in the world.

Mr. Fenby writes the book as essentially a journalist's diary that spans the entire course of 1999 - the final year that Mr. Fenby was editor of the South China Morning Post, arguably the premiere English-language newspaper in Hong Kong. He details not only the key figures in Hong Kong politics and the economy - at a very personal level - but also how China deals with Hong Kong and how the events of 1999 (everything from Falun Gong to the Taliban) shaped China's responses.

I think Mr. Fenby sees 1999 as not only the year that China stopped observing Hong Kong and began acting, but also the year that many of the fundamental agreememnts laid down between China and Hong Kong got tested. He shows the slow erosion of judicial and political autonomy caused, not through outright repression, but by behind-the-scenes deal-making and a desire of the political powers-that-be in Hong Kong not to ruffle mainland feathers.

His book is eminently readable and in many parts reads more like a political thriller than a diary or a report. If there is one criticism with the book, it is that when Mr. Fenby loses his job at the South China Morning Post in July of 1999, his personal hurt comes out quite clearly in the course of the narrative and possibly influences his objectivity throughout the rest of the year. However, were it me, I think that I would be hard-pressed to maintain even Mr. Fenby's level of detachment.

All in all, the book is not only fascinating and illuminating, but it is also quite enjoyable. I found myself caught up in the power play between China and Hong Kong as if it were a first-rate novel. However, the book is not a novel, and it does contain some rather chilling messages for the future of Hong Kong. If you have any interest in China - or interest in China's relationship with the Western world - I recommend not missing this book.

I read Mr Fenby's book on a plane ride from Rio to Hong Kong. It was the perfect antidote to spending hours on a plane. The first part of the book is a compendium of facts, views and background on Hong Kong particularly as they relate to the handover to China. So by the time I got to London I was an expert on the fascinating topic. I then started on the diary section where Jonathan picks out news items and events during his last year in Hong Kong. Now I was an expert on the "Handover" I could laugh at all his wonderful one-liners. (Such as his final sentence on a piece describing some particularly errant behaviour by the authorities in Hong Kong: "One country, three systems"). He also contrasts, with devastating effect, the ideological flag waving for the "love of motherland" with almost daily reports of corruption in China. A wonderful book that will educate and amuse in equal doses.

Hong Kong Action Theatre! 2nd Edition is a game based on Chinese action films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Killer. It attempts to accurately portray the style of these films and tries to cover all the genres: kung fu, wire fu, gunplay, and so on.

Players portray actors in Hong Kong cinema. Characters are created using Guardians of Order's simple Tri-Stat system, rounding out the character with skills like gun combat and kung fu and special attributes to set the actor apart like Director's Friend or Cantopop Star.

The actor is the character that players will be portraying every single game. Their abilities and attributes will remain stable. However, the character's Role changes from one session to the next.

Each session is a movie, and the Role is the actor's part in the movie. A Role can be anything from Triad Assassin to Hard-Boiled Cop to Drunken Fisherman. Each Role has unique abilities that stack on top of your actor's for that specific session.

Another interesting quirk of the game is Stunts. During combat, players are encouraged to have their characters do the wild and death-defying stunts of Hong Kong cinema. The wilder and more dangerous the stunt, the better the reward. Characters are rewarded by the gamemaster with Star Power points which represent the Actor's pull in the cinema world and his or her popularity with the audience. These can be cashed in for rerolls and other goodies such as script rewrites (e.g. the villain happens to be standing next to barrels of flammable liquid).

The game also contains a lot of "real-world" information on Hong Kong and the history of Hong Kong cinema that some might find interesting and others might find to be a waste of space in a roleplaying game book.

The game is great. With an energetic group with a feel for the Hong Kong action genre, you can make movies to rival Hong Kong blockbusters. In some respects, I feel that HKAT lumps too many of the genres together with no demarcation between gun fu, kung fu, and wire fu films, and so they all get smushed together. In general, it's fun, original, creative game and a worthy second edition to the original by Gareth Michael-Skarka.

Gameplay is episodic, with each game session being a "movie" independent of other game sessions. The movies can cover any of the traditional Hong Kong action film genres.

This is a solid system for a Kung Fu movie action game. This is made by Guardians of Order, so it uses the Tri-Stat System (if you've played BESM, this will be very familiar). The basic system is based on three stats: body, mind, and soul. You use these base stats to calculate your health, energy, starting star power, and attack and defense values. You then buy attributes and defects that customize your character. HKAT! 2 offers a wide variety of attributes and defects that allow you to build any kind of character. And if the attribute or defect you need doesn't exist, you can make a new one! (The GM, of course has say on what is allowed.) HKAT! 2 has the unique concept that the PCs (Player Characters) are actors playing roles in movies. When you make your character you make an actor, and can only buy an attributes and defects that are open or actor only. Then you use star power to bid on the role you want to play. Now you buy role attributes and defects to add to your character to simulate the special effects crews and such (the role attributes and defects go away at the end of a movie), and you can use leftover star power to improve the role too. What's cool about the role/actor concept is that your group can play a wide variety of games, say a horror action thriller one time, then a waxia (as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) next. Also using star power, one person can have the lead role one movie, and some else can outbid him for the lead next time, so everyone gets a chance to be at the center of a game. At the end of a movie, the GM hands out star power rewards you use on the next movie. What you get is based on what you bid as well as how well everyone did and bonuses the GM may hand out. This encourages everyone to work as a group, as if the group "wins" the movie, everyone will get more star power. Another good point is that if you die, it's not necessarily bad, because it's only your role that dies, not your actor, and if you die heroically, this can be worth bonus star power!
Make no mistake, this is a Role-playing game, with emphasis on role-playing rather than dice roles and statistics and rules. While creation is a little involved, it's fairly straightforward one you get use to it. For resolving actions the Tri-Stat system offers one of the simplest systems I've seen.
Combat is also petty simple, I won't go into the details here, if you've played other tri-stat games, you'll be on familiar turf. HKAT! 2 does, however offer some optional combat rules that are worth mention. When you attack, you can choose whether to deliver a high, low, or medium kick or punch and you can target an opponent high, low or torso. The type of blow you deliver gives a bonus or penalty to your damage and initiative, for example, a light punch will let you attack sooner, but won't do as much damage as a hard kick. The attack location affects your opponent's defense, if you attack low, but you opponent defends high, your opponent will have a harder time defending.
The system, in summary is simple, yet flexible enough to handle any thing from swordplay and magic attacks in ancient China to a fierce shootout in modern Hong Kong.
And finally, I'll cover the quality of the book. As is typical of Guardians of Order, this is a well-done book. It's a good read with cool art and it is very clear. There is also a lot of extra martial here besides just the game. There is a section on Hong Kong, one on the history of Hong Kong film, one with summaries on a lot of Hong Kong films, and finally some sample adventures to get you started. The extra info is really great, especially for some like me who only has little knowledge on Hong Kong film; this book is a treasure trove of info for creating you own Hong Kong action film game. The only flaw I saw in this book is that the last line in some of the sidebars at the beginning of the book was truncated, and while this is annoying, no impotent information was lost (it was mostly flavor text) and this flaw doesn't greatly detract from enjoyment. Given how error riddled other role-playing games (just look at the errata on 3rd edition D&D) are, I couldn't justify taking off a point for this. I highly recommend this book if you want a simple and flexible system for an action Hong Kong style game.

This is William Marshall at the top of his form, writing once again about the police officers of Yellowthread Street in British Hong Kong. Chief Inspector Pfeiffer, Inspector O'Yee, and Auden and Spencer are challenged this time by a locked room mystery, a mysterious assignment for O'Yee "from Headquarters", and by a congenial set of brothers who are into fantasy fulfillment as psychotherapy. Marshall skilfully weaves the three stories together; all 3 denouements are superbly done.
I can regularly be seen on the D.C. Metro, when reading a Marshall book, with my eyebrows way up my forehead, as Marshall either turns the tension up yet another notch, or describes some of the most bizarre scenes in crime fiction. This time, my facial muscles hurt from the scene with Spencer and the seagulls. Not to be missed!
Marshall is one part Ed McBain's 87th Street police procedurals, one part Janwillem van de Wetering's Gripstra/De Gijr existential police procedures in Holland and elsewhere, and one part Frederick Forsyth, in terms of the suspense involved. With ingredients like that, how can you miss?

If you have not read any of Marshall's Hong Kong Police stories you have missed a real treat. Hard to find, but worth the effort. Makes you want to put Hong Kong back in the hand of the Brits today just to ensure the continuation of these characters. Wow!

... This is an informative and enjoyable book, and lets you delve into Hong Kong culture and eating culture in a way the other books don't. The inside cover has a quick reference of several Cantonese terms in English and Chinese characters, including counting numbers and the very important "ngoh5 hei6 sou3 xig6 ge3" (I am a vegetarian). The book closes with over 50 pages of Cantonese phrases (including "I am ill", "I am pissed", "I want to throw up", and "Thank you, that was delicious"; a glossary of foods and terms; and a Hong Kong culinary dictionary (explains the main ingredients and cooking method). Each transliterated word is coded with the proper intonation, distilled into 6 basic tones. There are 200 beautifully photographed pages of places to eat (from concept to neon to mobile dai pai dong, to street restaurants); a discussion of the banquet; and analyses of staples, such as soups and noodles, rices and meats, and sauces. There are sections on shopping, picnics, utensils, medicinal foods, and "chinese table rules" (no vertical chopsticks please).

Back in 1991 I set off for a twelve-month global journey. With me I had a few essentials, money, clothes, my wife and a collection of Lonely Planet Travel Guide Books. After a few weeks in India we found that the books were as essential to our survival as food and water. We went on to use the Lonely Plant Guide Books (or the LP as we termed them) though out Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, North American, Canada and Mexico. Sometimes our travels would be so fast and furious that we would not read about our next destination until we had arrived the town's bus depot. We grew to love and trust the LP - it never let us down. As you might imagine I was therefore thrilled to receive their latest departure in to travel writing "World Food Hong Kong ". Furiously I dived in to its pages. When I saw that pocket size book was written by Richard Sterling a guy who would - quote " go anywhere and court any danger for the sake of a good meal" I new I would be in for an interesting literary adventure.
Richard Sterling's other titles include; Dining With Headhunters; The Fearless Dinner; and the award wining Travelers' Tale. His much-applauded writing has won him praise from The James Beard Foundation and kudos from the Lowell Thomas awards.
The book 's contents are broken down fourteen chapters -
World Food Hong Kong starts with the essential aspect of understanding the domains cuisine culture. Sterling enlightens us on the island's history, flavors and influences. My learning began. It would seem that Hong Kong's cuisine is a melting pot of the nations tastes with the addition European influences; olive oil, ketchup and asparagus all worked themselves in to the fabric of the island's "local" cooking.
Staples and specialties are next; rice, noodles, tofu, meat, sauces flavorings - the list continues as do the lessons. We all know that in 1295 Marco Polo introduced the noodle to Italy but did you know he made his mark on the Chinese too; he introduced the kiss? The content continues with Drinks, Home Cooking, and Celebrating with Food. Food as Medicine is where I must pause to narrate. Sterling reminds us that the Chinese believe that "food, medicine and health are all part of the same continuum. This is derived from the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang, which applies as much to human health as it does to the cosmos. When all in the universe is in its proper balance, harmony reigns. But in a condition of imbalance, we risk ill health, misfortune violence and destruction. Lesson: Seek balance!" If you are seeking balance try the Yin Yang soup or if you are feeling peaky there is always the Lizard soup chicken and cloud fungus.
Seeking knowledge of unusual foods? Then move to the next chapter "The Bold Palate". These are foods for the brave. How about preserved eggs, snake or baby mouse wine? That is right the wine is made by preserving still-suckling baby mice in rice wine. Apparently this is jolly good for rejuvenating the body's organs. For those who have survived the journey thus far normality is ahead. Shopping and Markets, where to Eat and Drink, Understanding the Menu and a modest Recipe Section are all a great read. The where to eat chapter covers the complete dining gambit from the very upmarket Peninsular to low down street food and must try dim sum.
For the gourmet traveler the book finishes with a handy English to Cantonese culinary dictionary a must have for those who want to appear to know their jellyfish from their junk food.
As I close I am relived to say the Lonely Planet does it again, a captivating unpretentious little book, nit just physically but also financially suited for anyone's pocket. - Written By Jeremy Emmerson GobalChefs