Ghetto at the Center of the World
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"In this wonderful book Gordon Mathews takes on an intriguing project: daily life as it is lived, articulated, dreamed, denied, regretted, and defended in a rather run-down but very public building in Hong Kong. The residents of Chungking Mansions are economically blocked from the rest of the city and often racially discriminated against, so how do such marginalized people survive, much less prosper? This is the conundrum at the heart of Ghetto at the Center of the World. Mathews tackles it by providing a vivid description of the people who live their lives in the building's dimly lit hallways, restaurants, and shops, and by analyzing the larger material and political forces at work." -William Jankowiak, author of Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City"
Product Description
There is nowhere else in the world quite like Chungking Mansions, a dilapidated seventeen-story commercial and residential structure in the heart of Hong Kong's tourist district. A remarkably motley group of people call the building home; Pakistani phone stall operators, Chinese guesthouse workers, Nepalese heroin addicts, Indonesian sex workers, and traders and asylum seekers from all over Asia and Africa live and work there - even backpacking tourists rent rooms. In short, it is possibly the most globalized spot on the planet. But as "Ghetto at the Center of the World" shows us, a trip to Chungking Mansions reveals a far less glamorous side of globalization. A world away from the gleaming headquarters of multinational corporations, Chungking Mansions is emblematic of the way globalization actually works for most of the world's people. Gordon Mathews' intimate portrayal of the building's polyethnic residents lays bare their intricate connections to the international circulation of goods, money, and ideas. We come to understand the day-to-day realities of globalization through the stories of entrepreneurs from Africa carting cell phones in their luggage to sell back home and temporary workers from South Asia struggling to earn money to bring to their families. And we see that this so-called ghetto - which inspires fear in many of Hong Kong's other residents, despite its low crime rate-is not a place of darkness and desperation but a beacon of hope. Gordon Mathews' compendium of riveting stories enthralls and instructs in equal measure, making Ghetto at the Center of the World not just a fascinating tour of a singular place but also a peek into the future of life on our shrinking planet.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Gordon Matthews does a fine job in telling us everything there is to know about a building hardly anyone in Hong Kong knows a lot about. I have been to Chungking Mansions a number of times but mostly for a nice Indian meal. I would never dream of staying there or purchasing any of the items on display.
The author examines all possible aspects of Chungking Mansions starting off with the history of the building - maybe complex is a better word - and who owns it and how it is run.
Chapter Two talks about the people who use Chungking Mansions and it is incredible what a variety of people use Chungking Mansions. I was amazed to find that it is such a popular place with Africans and South Asians. Also up until I read this book it didn't know that it was possible to be an asylum seeker in Hong Kong.
Chapter Three deals with the variety of goods passing through Chungking Mansions and here again I was amazed at the variety of goods and the techniques used. The Gold smuggling operation made me smile because I didn't think anyone would volunteer to do it this way.
Chapter Four describes how the Authorities and the Hong Kong Police deal with the illegal activities in Chungking Mansions.
Chapter Five deals with the future of Chungking Mansions and even the author agrees that the Mansions will eventually have to be torn down. As of now the Mansions are 50-odd years old and by far the oldest building in that part of Hong Kong. And even though it is the most decrepit building in this area every time I go there it strikes me as the most globalised spot on earth or as the author puts it an "exotic third world in a safe first-world city" I would rather be sorry to see it go.
About the only complaint I have is that the writing style is a bit dry at times, but this may well be the result of the anthropological nature of the author's full-time profession. Else as I said before, this is an excellent study on all aspects and life in Chungking Mansions.
The author examines all possible aspects of Chungking Mansions starting off with the history of the building - maybe complex is a better word - and who owns it and how it is run.
Chapter Two talks about the people who use Chungking Mansions and it is incredible what a variety of people use Chungking Mansions. I was amazed to find that it is such a popular place with Africans and South Asians. Also up until I read this book it didn't know that it was possible to be an asylum seeker in Hong Kong.
Chapter Three deals with the variety of goods passing through Chungking Mansions and here again I was amazed at the variety of goods and the techniques used. The Gold smuggling operation made me smile because I didn't think anyone would volunteer to do it this way.
Chapter Four describes how the Authorities and the Hong Kong Police deal with the illegal activities in Chungking Mansions.
Chapter Five deals with the future of Chungking Mansions and even the author agrees that the Mansions will eventually have to be torn down. As of now the Mansions are 50-odd years old and by far the oldest building in that part of Hong Kong. And even though it is the most decrepit building in this area every time I go there it strikes me as the most globalised spot on earth or as the author puts it an "exotic third world in a safe first-world city" I would rather be sorry to see it go.
About the only complaint I have is that the writing style is a bit dry at times, but this may well be the result of the anthropological nature of the author's full-time profession. Else as I said before, this is an excellent study on all aspects and life in Chungking Mansions.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A must-read for anybody who visited or stayed in Chungking Mansions and wants to understand the place. The author tells highly interesting stories populated by vivid characters, giving a unique insight into modern Hong Kong. Bottom line - open borders and liberal visa policies do not harm and are ultimately helpful in creating prosperity and spreading it beyond the privileged few.
Format:Paperback
I found this thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. Gordon Matthews convinces us that the famous (and sometimes, unfairly, notorious) Chungking Mansions is indeed one of the most important and revealing buildings in the world. His style of writing is warm and personable, and he makes for a very pleasant companion as he leads us through the ramshackle malls and corridors of a unique high-rise complex, and introduces us to the remarkable lives of the people who live and trade there. He represents the people he studies with unfailing sensitivity and respect (including those marginalised by drug addiction or the sex industry).
It's also a lively account of the pleasures, and occasional risks and ethical dilemmas of committed ethnography. No doubt as inspiring for students of anthropology - as it was for me, as a tourist with an amateur's interest in Hong Kong, it's academically rigorous, and a perfectly engaging holiday read.
What particularly struck me in Matthews' accounts of the interactions of the small-scale traders, in what he calls `low-end globalization', ie. the suitcase entrepreneurs who travel huge distances from every continent on often tiny margins of profit and loss, is the importance of everyday friendliness and informal trust. Certainly he refers to racial and cultural conflicts, but one has a vivid sense that the success of so many deals of this kind relies on the readiness of traders, often from entirely different cultural backgrounds, to befriend each other over a cheap curry and a cup of tea for the purposes of a shared modest profit. One even hopes that the cold-hearted masters of large-scale multi-national capitalism might learn from this.
It's also a lively account of the pleasures, and occasional risks and ethical dilemmas of committed ethnography. No doubt as inspiring for students of anthropology - as it was for me, as a tourist with an amateur's interest in Hong Kong, it's academically rigorous, and a perfectly engaging holiday read.
What particularly struck me in Matthews' accounts of the interactions of the small-scale traders, in what he calls `low-end globalization', ie. the suitcase entrepreneurs who travel huge distances from every continent on often tiny margins of profit and loss, is the importance of everyday friendliness and informal trust. Certainly he refers to racial and cultural conflicts, but one has a vivid sense that the success of so many deals of this kind relies on the readiness of traders, often from entirely different cultural backgrounds, to befriend each other over a cheap curry and a cup of tea for the purposes of a shared modest profit. One even hopes that the cold-hearted masters of large-scale multi-national capitalism might learn from this.
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