Moon Handbooks Hong Kong: Including Macau and Guangzhou (Moon Handbooks : Hong Kong)

Jan Morris's book, Hong Kong, has all the history and colourful anecdotes you'll want to know, brilliantly told in a good narrative. She goes into a lot of detail about the sad story of all those millions of refugees, how they survived, exploiting each other in a sweat-shop environment under a thin veneer of British law, which made Hong Kong so different from the dictatorships around it. There's also the whole story of the British, with lots of good anecdotes. Since she's a Westerner she does not have the obsession with "losing face" that is such a dominant part of Chinese culture (she explains it very well, though) and can lead to denying the truth when it comes to the realities of Hong Kong.

Timothy Mo's The Monkey King is a great story about a Hong Kong Chinese family through several generations. As a Westerner I was astonished at how helpful this book was in "preparing me" for the interesting types of locals I met again and again.

Bo Yang's The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis in Chinese Culture is a harder, unblinking look at the underbelly of Chinese society - the pushy crowds, the harsh language, the public spitting that Hong Kong is unfortunately well-known for. If you're bringing young family to Hong Kong, pick this book up along with Jan Morris's. It will help you deal with your kids' reaction to some (to us) bizzare aspects of Chinese society - the drug stores selling Chinese natural medicines made from animal reproductive parts, ...and can help you talk to your children the first time they see locals spit, belch and break wind in public. Bo Yang's book goes into the long history of stultification of society in Chinese history under the centuries of repressive rulers. It is a sad but enlightening read, and will make you appreciate more the classics of Chinese culture: the poetry of Li Po and Tu Fu, the novel The Story of the Stone, Confucius, etc.

Paul Theroux's Kowloon Tong is a fascinating novel of the Handover period that neatly captures many Hong Kong types - Chinese, British, even American. A great Graham Greene-ish novel that is also a great guide to Handover Hong Kong and beyond.

And Austin Coates' Hong Kong classic, Myself a Mandarin, tells the illuminating, often hilarious tale of a 1950s British Magistrate dealing with Chinese culture in the (then) unspoilt countryside of the New Territories, and the inevitable clash (What do you do when there's no real concept of "libel" in Chinese thought?). Still relevant to today.

Many people wish Hong Kong to suceed since its handback to China, but the Western visitor/expat will be better served by learning what he or she is actual in for, than to be given essentially a tourist bureau pamphlet, as some of the following reviews seem to do. The books above, along with the Moon Guide, will help prepare you for what you'll actually experience. Good voyage!


Another Great Tour Guide on the Pearl of the Orient   September 6, 2000
 20 out of 21 found this review helpful

This is 1 of the 2 tour guides I recommend for Hong Kong besides Fodor's. As a local who grew up and used to live in Hong Kong, I was both surprised and excited about how much foreigners can dig deep through this city. Post-colonial Hong Kong still preserves the heart-beat of Chinese heritage underneath the burgeoning veneer of high-tech development and finances.

The official airline of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific unveiled its newest operation logo couple of years back with slogan "Heart of Asia". The Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) strived to revive tourism that was correlated with the regionwide stock market plunge in 1997 by launching the campaign "Hong Kong: City of Life" in 1998 to attract visitors. Featured was a 7-day-6-night package from the US including airfare and hotel for $899 including tax.

Dubbed "Heart of Asia" and "City of Life", this volume of "Hong Kong Handbook" will surely be your pocket guide to explore this exotic capital of Asia. The book included history and remarkable events associated with this newest Chinese SAR (Special Administrative Region), along with its rich mixed cultures and lifestyles.

In addition to the usual tips on fine dining, hotels from 5-star to no-star, shopping bargains and transportation, this handbook devotes incredible amount of pages on almost all the districts within the city. It would be a tremendous loss for any Hong Kong visitor to stay in central (downtown) area and the usual tourist spot like The Peak, Ocean Park and Po Lin Monastery. This handbook guides you to local areas like Mongkok, Yaumatei, and even outlying islands Po Toi Island, Tung Ping Chau, and Cheung Chau. One of the preserved wildlife area, Sai Gung Peninsula, is illustrated with lucid photos. You might wish to allocate 3-4 days hiking through the trails that provides panoramic view of the South China Sea.

The Hong Kong Handbook offers more than just a packaged tour can satisfy. You might completely stay away from urban areas and venture through monasteries or explore one of the biggest man-made water reservoir Plover Cove. The border with mainland is just 15 miles from the main financial center. The guide would be a must-have for those who wish to see the other side of Hong Kong.


A "must-have" for the serious explorer of Hong Kong.   February 22, 1999
 1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Anyone planning a trip to Hong Kong would be wise to pick up a copy of this book. I recently returned from a two-week exploration of the SAR, and I found this book to be invaluable. Not only did it give me maps and all the essentials, but it gave me insight into the people and culture that surrounded me. The only thing I found lacking was the glossary of Chinese phrases.


The best Hong Kong travel book   December 31, 1997
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

While the book is older than some, and may be in some regards a bit out of date (hint to publisher - bring out a revised version), for instance some of the restaurants no longer exist, I found this to be the best book (and I brought many with me). The recommendations are solid, the highlighted points of interest are the most consistant (and often off-beat) and the essays and comments are the best (this is the only book for instance that explained why bamboo is used as scaffolding),