Hong Kong 20/20: Reflections on a Borrowed Place (Pen Hong Kong Anthology) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9887792764 ISBN 13: 9789887792765

Publisher: Blacksmith Books, 2017

Synopsis

The handover in 1997 saw Hong Kong’s smooth transition from colonial to Communist rule under the auspices of the ‘one country, two systems’ framework. But twenty years on, the real impact of the sovereignty change is just starting to register: the city’s near-total economic integration with the mainland, a massive influx of Chinese visitors, simmering cross-border tensions and a rapid erosion of freedoms. Believing that we are stronger and louder together, PEN Hong Kong invited some of Hong Kong’s most prominent literary and creative minds to reflect on the city’s post-colonial development, in a definitive compendium of essays, poems, fiction and artwork that marks this historical milestone.

Michael Braga · Mary-Jean Chan · Jennifer S. Cheng · Kris Cheng · Chow Hon Fai · Larry Feign · Harry Harrison · Gérard Henry · Louise Ho · Oscar Ho Hing Kay · Tammy Ho Lai-Ming · Sarah Howe · Law Lok Man, Louise · Arthur Leung · Leung Ping-Kwan · Louisa Lim · Shirley Geok-lin Lim · Lui Wing Kai, Eric · William Nee · Jason Y. Ng · Margaret Ng · Timothy O’Leary · Michael O’Sullivan · Ilaria Maria Sala · Mishi Saran · Shahilla Shariff · Shen Jian · So Mei Chi · Tang Siu Wa · Eddie Tay · Chip Tsao · Stephen Vines · Marco Wan · Wawa · Kate Whitehead · Joshua Wong · Nicholas Wong · Xu Xi · Marco Yan · Chris Yeung · Douglas Young

With forewords by Timothy Garton Ash and Kevin Lau Chun-to.

About this title

About the Author:

PEN Hong Kong is one of the 148 centers of PEN International. Founded in 2016, it is a not-for-profit bilingual society of Hong Kong-based writers, poets, publishers, editors, translators, journalists and academics, aimed at promoting literature and defending the freedom of expression in Hong Kong.

Review:

Hong Kong is one of the world's greatest cities. It will be at the centre of some of the political and intellectual arguments of the century ahead. My own bet is that the success of Hong Kong's pluralist citizenship will come out on top whatever the challenges. Reading many of the contributions [in Hong Kong 20/20] confirms me in that view. -- Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong

Hong Kong 20/20 is a journey, both bleak and invigorating, through one of the world's most extraordinary political experiments twenty years after the handover. It is opinionated, combative, energising, and unlikely to be available in a Xinhua bookstore near you. -- Tom Phillips, China correspondent, The Guardian

Seldom before have so many of the clearest-eyed observers provided such a broad set of essays, poems, short stories and cartoons about Hong Kong's evolution. Anyone passionate about the city's future, or even just curious, should read it. -- Keith Bradsher, Shanghai bureau chief, The New York Times

'Borrowed place, borrowed time' was a phrase coined to describe colonial Hong Kong in the years before its return to China. Now a different clock is ticking, and it is twenty years since the 1997 handover. This collection of stories, poems, essays and cartoons is a vivid stock-taking of where Hong Kong is now, and where it may yet be going. These 'reflections' are themselves a reflection of the people of the city ― diverse, spiky, resilient, always surprising, wonderfully talkative. -- Douglas Kerr, professor of English, University of Hong Kong

About this edition

• Publisher: Blacksmith Books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 9887792764
• ISBN 13: 9789887792765
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Ho Tammy, Ng Jason, Saran Mishi, Schafer Sarah, Wong Nicholas