City Between Worlds: My Hong Kong

Hong Kong is perched on the fault line between China and the West, a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Leo Ou-fan Lee offers an insider’s view of Hong Kong, capturing the history and culture that make his densely packed home city so different from its neighbors. The search for an indigenous Hong Kong takes Lee to the wet markets and corner bookshops of Mong Kok, fishing villages, temples, teahouses, noodle stalls, Cantonese opera, and Cantopop. He also finds the “real” Hong Kong in shopping malls, high-rise residential towers, and neon-lit skyscrapers in Central, where development and commerce overshadow other values—except family. Lee explores Hong Kong’s geography and colonial history, revisiting life on the Peak, harborfront godowns, and tenements. He critically examines Hong Kong in film, romance, crime, and social life before the 1997 handover. Whether from Tsing Yi Bridge or Victoria Peak, Hong Kong’s multifaceted essence is revealed, a city forever between worlds.