Few would dispute that Hong Kong prospered as a global hub during the Cold War era. Yet seldom do we focus on this British colony at the doorstep of mainland China as a linchpin of Sino-American connections.1 In his first monograph, Peter E. Hamilton reminds us of the critical role the city served in fashioning transpacific networks against the backdrop of the global dynamics during the Cold War. Made in Hong Kong tells more than just the story of Hong Kong; it explains the making of a global network in which Hong Kong functioned as a nexus.
Foregrounding the networks and strategies of mobile and pragmatic operators whom Hamilton calls kuashang (straddling merchants), this book explores a social ecosystem that not only weaved Hong Kong into a global network but also underwrote the city's economic and political transformations. Underscoring the American social capital of these Hong Kong elites, Hamilton...
