In this splendid, lavishly illustrated cultural history of Hong Kong, Leo Ou-fan Lee asks what makes “his” city so special. A “rational answer,” he explains, is difficult to come up with, as Hong Kong “thrives on confusion and contradiction” (p. 1). Inspired by architect and theorist Rem Koolhaas, Lee assumes the posture of an archaelogue and a local flâneur: His book includes six chapters dedicated to different regions of Hong Kong, their streets and sites, and their connections with literature and film, concluding with two more thematic chapters—“Hong Kong Lifestyle” and “City and Country”—the latter dealing with this former British colony's relationship with the rest of China since 1997.
Lee argues that most Western observers have overemphasized Hong Kong's role in the global economy, ignoring the “dynamics of local culture and its interaction with the official political regime” (p. 7). Although he occasionally groups a diverse range of sources...