Fortune's Bazaar

The Making of Hong Kong

By: Vaudine England

Narrated by: Vaudine England

A timely, well-researched, and “illuminating” (The New York Times Book Review) new history of Hong Kong that reveals the untold stories of the diverse peoples who have made it a multicultural world metropolis—and whose freedoms are endangered today.

Hong Kong has always been many cities to many people: a seaport, a gateway to an empire, a place where fortunes can be dramatically made or lost, a place to disappear and reinvent oneself, and a melting pot of diverse populations from around the globe. A British Crown Colony for 155 years, Hong Kong is now ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Here, renowned journalist Vaudine England delves into Hong Kong’s complex history and its people—diverse, multi-cultural, cosmopolitan—who have made this one-time fishing village into the world port city it is today.

Rather than a traditional history describing a town led by British Governors or a mere offshoot of a collapsing Chinese empire, Fortune’s Bazaar is “a winning portrait of Hong Kong’s vibrant mosaic” (Publishers Weekly). While British traders and Asian merchants had long been busy in the Indian and South East Asian seas, many people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds arrived in Hong Kong, met, and married—despite all taboos—and created a distinct community. Many of Hong Kong’s most influential figures during its first century as a city were neither British nor Chinese—they were Malay or Indian, Jewish or Armenian, Parsi or Portuguese, Eurasian or Chindian—or simply, Hong Kongers. England describes those overlooked in history, including the opium traders who built synagogues and churches; ship owners carrying gold-rush migrants; the half-Dutch, half-Chinese gentleman with two wives who was knighted by Queen Victoria; and the gardeners who settled Kowloon, the mainland peninsula facing the island of Hong Kong, and became millionaires.

A story of empire, race, and sex, Fortune’s Bazaar presents a “fresh…essential” (Ian Buruma), “formidable and important” (The Correspondent) history of a special place—a unique city made by diverse people of the world, whose part in its creation has never been properly told until now.

Best Book On Early Days Of Hong Kong

Excellent writing style. Excellent reading. Learned a lot listening to this. Highly recommended. The fact that the author was a journalist probably helped.

Reading Family Trees, Then It Got Better

The older history of the people of Hong Kong seemed derived from reading family trees. Once we arrived in the 20th century the narrative finally became interesting to me. My wife is Hong Kong and I understand even more now why she despises the CCP.

More Than Expected

In total, both a fascinating history of a place and a political history if a port city. In the first half, it was laid before me in a style familiar to and desired by genealogists. The credits provided that explanation. A primary observer as a source provided the rich reporting to enable that. Excellent!

compelling work

I liked the writing. It was paced well, but thoughtful. I gained an insight into the city's society.

Great Jeopardy Prep

if you want to know the entire genealogy of Hong Kong, then this is the book for you. I was hoping for so much more. . . . didn't even bore me to sleep, unfortunately. Only recommend this read if you just love boring history books.