Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography

The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography collects in one volume more than 500 specially commissioned entries on men and women from Hong Kong history. Ninety contributors, including prominent academics, journalists and other experts, have written entries for the collection. The contents are arranged alphabetically and include some 370 illustrations in colour and black and white. The first of its kind for Hong Kong, the dictionary will be an enduring work of reference for scholars and researchers and a source of pleasure for the general reader.

Hong Kong’s history is rich in colourful characters and fascinating life stories. This illustrated dictionary collects in one volume a representative cross-section of the personalities who have made this city the cosmopolitan place it is today. The cast of characters includes men and women from diverse cultural traditions and many different walks of life. The great and the good are included: governors, admirals, film stars, taipans, writers, revolutionaries and other famous names. But there are surprises too: long-forgotten movers and shakers of their day; ordinary people who illustrate some aspect of Hong Kong history; gangsters and scoundrels — even a few eminent failures. In short, the Dictionary is a kaleidoscope through which Hong Kong’s many different faces over several centuries are revealed.

This collection of more than 500 specially commissioned entries is the first dictionary of lives spanning the whole of Hong Kong history. Ninety contributors, including prominent academics, journalists and other experts, have written entries for the collection. Although no single-volume dictionary can ever be comprehensive or definitive, the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography will be an enduring work of reference for scholars and researchers and a source of pleasure for the general reader.

May Holdsworth’s previous books include Foreign Devils: Expatriates in Hong Kong, and The Palace of Established Happiness: Restoring a Garden in the Forbidden City. Christopher Munn is the author of Anglo-China: Chinese People and British Rule in Hong Kong, 1841–1880.

“Hong Kong has always had its full measure of remarkable people. Both saints and sinners, they have come from all the ethnic groups in Hong Kong’s ebullient population. What has been missing is an accessible record of who these people are and what they did. Their stories will now come to life again in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography and, let us hope, be joined by new entries in the years to come.” —David Wilson (Lord Wilson of Tillyorn), Governor of Hong Kong, 1987–92

“A painstakingly researched and engagingly written collection of vignettes of the characters, good and bad, who made Hong Kong. It has tremendous scope and gripping detail, making it a very timely scholarly resource as well as a delightful treasure trove of the city’s past.” —Frank Dikötter, author of Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962