Details
What sort of changes has Hong Kong seen in the eighteen years since its return to China. And what sort of support has the motherland provided to Hong Kong's development? How has the support influenced it? Do the people of Hong Kong feel a sense of belonging where the motherland is concerned? And what sort of enlightenment and reflection has Hong Kong occasioned in the mainland? The author has strived to portray the reality of post-return Hong Kong, including: the tests faced by the PLA's Hong Kong garrison (as well as its achievements); the path to success and the contributions of a number of Hong Kong's elites; charity in Hong Kong; the lives of the city's people, as well as its culture, media, and education; the origins of clean governance in Hong Kong; the challenges the city faces, and its prospects.The author has written the truth of Hong Kong post-return. Some chapters, particularly the one on clean governance, go beyond simply portraying Hong Kong's success; they hold instructive value for both the mainland and many other countries and regions.
About Author
Zhang Yawen was born in 1944, has been selected as a "national level writer" by the China Writer's Association, and is a recipient of the central government's honorary stipend provided to distinguished men and women of letters. She is a past winner of the Lu Xun Prize, the national "Best Works Award", and the Xu Chi Award for Non-Fiction Novels. Her collected published works, including novels, non-fiction novels, essays, and plays, total tens of thousands of pages. Her novel A Chinese Woman at Gestapo Gunpoint was given as a gift by President Xi Jinping to King Phillipe of Belgium. Her works have been translated into English, French, and Hindi, among other languages.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword Summons and Meditations 5
Chapter 1 The Long, Arduous Sino-UK Negotiations 13
Chapter 2 The motherland is strong, because it has me!
Hong Kong is strong, because it has me! 109
Chapter 3 Beneath the Lion Rock: Hong Kong’s Spirit
of Struggle 139
Chapter 4 Silent Love, Pure Feelings 169
Chapter 5 Years Lost from Extraordinary Lives 199
Chapter 6 Daily Life In Hong Kong: Medicine,
Culture, Media, and Education 261
Chapter 7 From Corruption to Clean Government:
a Difficult Metamorphosis 291
Chapter 8 To what do centuries past summon us? 322
Afterword Using Right to Write Truth 371
Sample Pages Preview
“Hong Kong is not the Malvinas, and China is not Argentina!”—A cry from the depths of the soul of a humiliated, long-oppressed nation.
May 20, 2012, was the day the fiery phoenix came into bloom. As I walked along the streets of Hong Kong, sprays of flaming red
royal poincianas (called “phoenix flowers” in Chinese) enveloped the tips of branches high overhead. Seen from afar, they seemed like clusters of flames. In a bustling world built of reinforced concrete, the quiet, powerful blooms grabbed the eye with a thriving vitality that felt almost like a visual attack.……
Looking towards the towering buildings blocking out the sun and sky, at the interweaving streams of people, I couldn’t help but let my imagination wander through the forest of my thoughts. Wen Yiduo’s famous poem “Song of Seven Sons” fl ashed through my
mind:
Hong Kong
I keep my night vigil
A leopard guarding the gates of empire
Mother! I am meek, but I am a stronghold
The sea-sent lion, vile and fierce, is set upon me
Dining on my flesh, swallowing my excess
Mother! I weep, wailing for you in vain.
Mother! Let me hide in your embrace!
Mother! I want to return, mother!
This is bloodcurdling lament awoke in me long-slumbering memories. I revere Wen Yiduo—the Chinese nation needs more scholars like him, people with courage and a strong moral backbone. One can’t help but regret the long years the Chinese people spend under feudal rule. They stripped us of our dignity, our character, our moral backbone, and replaced them with a slave like obsequiousness to kings and power.
A person with no moral backbone is like an animal with a snapped spine crawling upon the earth. A nation with no moral backbone is weak and easily bullied—prey for great powers, fodder for invaders.
