This book captures the essence of Hong Kong's development in the past two decades from 1997 to 2017. It is broken into four parts — economics, society, politics and culture.

Hong Kong's role remains as a gateway for global trading houses, businessmen, investors and traders. Hong Kong continues to be an open economy and has stuck to free trade policies, as one of the former four successful “tiger economies” in East Asia. In the political and international relations realm, this book examines Hong Kong's relations with China, other major powers and the world at large. It also covers domestic developments, including legal developments. Other chapters in the book examine cultural developments in Hong Kong from specific case studies of iconic animation character to trans-boundary popularity of Hong Kong popular culture in China.

With contributions from Alvin CAMBA, Henry CHAN, Yoshihisa GODO, Wing Lok HUNG, Sean KING, Tuan Yuen KONG, Tai Wei LIM, Carol MA, Samantha MA, Parama SINHA PALIT, Zhengqi PAN, SIM Japanese Culture and Gaming Society, Hiroshi TAKAHASHI, Ghim Yeow TAN, Katherine TSENG, Elim WONG, Kai Keat YEO and Chun Wang YEUNG, this book provides a snapshot of Hong Kong in the past twenty years and is a fascinating read.

Readership: This book is intended for students as well as professionals and the general public interested in understanding Hong Kong culture, history and politics. 
Keywords:Hong Kong;China;East Asia;;1997;Economic;PoliticsReview:

“Hong Kong is often referred to as a crossroad of the East and West. However, Hong Kong is not merely an intersection of China and the Western world, but has unique history and culture. When I started learning Cantonese in Tokyo, many other students who were similarly motivated were from an older generation than me, and interested in Hong Kong films. This is proof that Hong Kong shown on the screen attracted the Japanese audience as a unique city. Hong Kong has been depicted as a city that is 'exotic' and 'chaotic' in popular media in Japan and the West. Of course, it is certain that orientalism of Japan and the West is present. However, what promotes such imagination and description seems to be the 'freedom' that Hong Kong possesses. I am particularly interested in how this free and somehow chaotic atmosphere of Hong Kong, 20 years after the handover of sovereignty, will generate new culture and evoke our new imagination. I recommend this publication to readers who want to better understand Hong Kong in all its facets and from different perspectives.”

Masakazu MATSUOKA
Hitotsubashi University
Key Features:The book is timely as it deals with a topic that is in the news in 2017. The future of Hong Kong has been debated and scrutinized intensely since the 2014 Occupy Central and 2012 National Education protests. Since then, Hong Kong has been forging a new relationship with a new administration in BeijingIt has regional and international implications. Hong Kong's “One Country Two Systems” served as a model for possible reunification with Taiwan. Regionally, observers are using Hong Kong as a barometer for the future of Chinese governance. Internationally, Hong Kong's international financial center makes it an important node in the globalized worldVery often, Hong Kong's popular culture is left out of academic analyses on the city state. There are macro and micro case studies examined by different scholars in this publication and they explain the popularity of Hong Kong popular cultural characters like the animation McDull and also classic cop films that resonate with an East Asian and even international audienceThe diversity of scholars in this volume makes it exciting, with contributions from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Their multidisciplinary backgrounds also contribute to the value-add of the volume. There is a strong attempt to include individual scholars of different political orientation, background, training, professional experience and expertise to present a balanced view of Hong Kong's development

Tuan Yuen KONG

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