Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street. If Peter had been only a little bit different he could have been an important man. But this is a riches to rags to riches to rags story. As we follow Peter's life - his ups, his downs - we see in sharp focus what it was like to be a Chinese man in the British territory of Hong Kong through most of the years of the 20th century. And yet this book is not just one man's tale. It is the story of a time and place - colonial Hong Kong, Portuguese Macau and the South China hinterland - seen from the unique point of view of a man who was at home at all levels of society. This is the bizarre story of a man who really did, for a very short time, once own all the opium in Hong Kong. If Suzie Wong had been a real person, Peter Hui would have known her. "This is a true story but it reads like a novel. It is a cracking read." - David Tang
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By T. Luard
Format:Paperback
Like the city in which it's set and the character whose story it tells, this book is by turns appealing and infuriating, exotic and banal, brutally frank and outrageously over-the-top. Peter Hui was, among other things, a playboy, kungfu fighter, wartime collaborator with the Japanese, tailor, tombola operator, triad associate, restaurant manager and mastermind of armed robberies. A slight and dapper man, he was also a great charmer, drinker, gambler and womaniser. "Fooling around" is his favourite expression. He comes over as vain, deceitful, superficial, aggressive, misogynistic and amoral.
But he's also a damn good story-teller. And his life makes a damn good story. Just how true it is, who knows? Somehow, though, the self-portrait that emerges is both entertaining and convincing. And it also amounts to a magnificently entertaining and convincing portrait of Hong Kong itself. Not the stunted Special Administrative Region of today, nor the stuffy British colonial society of yesterday, but the stomach-churning, free-wheeling, money-making, all-singing all-dancing all-horseracing side of Hong Kong as lived by Hong Kong people for most of the 20th century. The real Hong Kong, which has seldom before been captured in print -- at least in English.
All credit then to author Jonathan Chamberlain for not turning off his microphone in disbelief or disgust as his subject, whiling away his lonely and impecunious old age on the outlying island of Cheung Chau, continued his life story night after night with a string of ever more unlikely former careers and conquests - amorous, pugilistic or otherwise. And for not over-editing it afterwards.
Or maybe the author made the whole thing up himself and it's all a brilliant satire on Hong Kong society.... Read more ›
But he's also a damn good story-teller. And his life makes a damn good story. Just how true it is, who knows? Somehow, though, the self-portrait that emerges is both entertaining and convincing. And it also amounts to a magnificently entertaining and convincing portrait of Hong Kong itself. Not the stunted Special Administrative Region of today, nor the stuffy British colonial society of yesterday, but the stomach-churning, free-wheeling, money-making, all-singing all-dancing all-horseracing side of Hong Kong as lived by Hong Kong people for most of the 20th century. The real Hong Kong, which has seldom before been captured in print -- at least in English.
All credit then to author Jonathan Chamberlain for not turning off his microphone in disbelief or disgust as his subject, whiling away his lonely and impecunious old age on the outlying island of Cheung Chau, continued his life story night after night with a string of ever more unlikely former careers and conquests - amorous, pugilistic or otherwise. And for not over-editing it afterwards.
Or maybe the author made the whole thing up himself and it's all a brilliant satire on Hong Kong society.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Chris Thrall
Format:Paperback
Jonathan Chamberlain has done history a great favour; filling in what for many a keen observer is a void in Hong Kong's not-so-distant past.
In KING HUI, he preserves from the sands of time a story like no other; one that weaves its way through the Fragrant Harbour's colourful colonial heritage; a rich tapestry as depicted by an aging `Peter' Hui, a man that at one time owned all the opium in Hong Kong.
". . . Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street . . ."
How true the backcover blurb! But this story is so much more. It's an invitation into the psyche of the Chinese mind. It's where East accommodates West, then fellow East, then West again. It's a rare insight into Hong Kong's idiosyncratic culture and meteoric rise to become the trading capital of the world, as told, rather refreshingly, from the straight-talking perspective of a local witness and without an Orientalist agenda.
It's the story of Peter Hui - revered kung fu fighter, slickly dressed entrepreneur, handsome womaniser, gambler, drinker; friend of the rich, the famous, the powerful . . . as well as the destitute, the deviant and the downright dangerous. But most of all it's a touching story, told with candour and flavoured with nostalgia, from the heart of an endearing old man; one who no doubt realises he is not long left for this world and has a tale he believes should to be told . . .
. . .... Read more ›
In KING HUI, he preserves from the sands of time a story like no other; one that weaves its way through the Fragrant Harbour's colourful colonial heritage; a rich tapestry as depicted by an aging `Peter' Hui, a man that at one time owned all the opium in Hong Kong.
". . . Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street . . ."
How true the backcover blurb! But this story is so much more. It's an invitation into the psyche of the Chinese mind. It's where East accommodates West, then fellow East, then West again. It's a rare insight into Hong Kong's idiosyncratic culture and meteoric rise to become the trading capital of the world, as told, rather refreshingly, from the straight-talking perspective of a local witness and without an Orientalist agenda.
It's the story of Peter Hui - revered kung fu fighter, slickly dressed entrepreneur, handsome womaniser, gambler, drinker; friend of the rich, the famous, the powerful . . . as well as the destitute, the deviant and the downright dangerous. But most of all it's a touching story, told with candour and flavoured with nostalgia, from the heart of an endearing old man; one who no doubt realises he is not long left for this world and has a tale he believes should to be told . . .
. . .... Read more ›
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The All-time Hong Kong Tale . . .
8 Jan 2011
By Chris Thrall
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Jonathan Chamberlain has done history a great favour; filling in what for many a keen observer is a void in Hong Kong's not-so-distant past.
In KING HUI, he preserves from the sands of time a story like no other; one that weaves its way through the Fragrant Harbour's colourful colonial heritage; a rich tapestry as depicted by an aging `Peter' Hui, a man that at one time owned all the opium in Hong Kong.
". . . Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street . . ."
How true the backcover blurb! But this story is so much more. It's an invitation into the psyche of the Chinese mind. It's where East accommodates West, then fellow East, then West again. It's a rare insight into Hong Kong's idiosyncratic culture and meteoric rise to become the trading capital of the world, as told, rather refreshingly, from the straight-talking perspective of a local witness and without an Orientalist agenda.
It's the story of Peter Hui - revered kung fu fighter, slickly dressed entrepreneur, handsome womaniser, gambler, drinker; friend of the rich, the famous, the powerful . . . as well as the destitute, the deviant and the downright dangerous. But most of all it's a touching story, told with candour and flavoured with nostalgia, from the heart of an endearing old man; one who no doubt realises he is not long left for this world and has a tale he believes should to be told . . .
. . . and when you're compelled to read the last page of this book again and again as I was, head spinning with thoughts and emotions brought to bear by the life of someone you've never even met, you fully appreciate why Jonathan Chamberlain is best placed to tell it.
*Chris Thrall is the author of the true story: "Eating Smoke: One Man's Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong's Triad Heartland"
In KING HUI, he preserves from the sands of time a story like no other; one that weaves its way through the Fragrant Harbour's colourful colonial heritage; a rich tapestry as depicted by an aging `Peter' Hui, a man that at one time owned all the opium in Hong Kong.
". . . Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street . . ."
How true the backcover blurb! But this story is so much more. It's an invitation into the psyche of the Chinese mind. It's where East accommodates West, then fellow East, then West again. It's a rare insight into Hong Kong's idiosyncratic culture and meteoric rise to become the trading capital of the world, as told, rather refreshingly, from the straight-talking perspective of a local witness and without an Orientalist agenda.
It's the story of Peter Hui - revered kung fu fighter, slickly dressed entrepreneur, handsome womaniser, gambler, drinker; friend of the rich, the famous, the powerful . . . as well as the destitute, the deviant and the downright dangerous. But most of all it's a touching story, told with candour and flavoured with nostalgia, from the heart of an endearing old man; one who no doubt realises he is not long left for this world and has a tale he believes should to be told . . .
. . . and when you're compelled to read the last page of this book again and again as I was, head spinning with thoughts and emotions brought to bear by the life of someone you've never even met, you fully appreciate why Jonathan Chamberlain is best placed to tell it.
*Chris Thrall is the author of the true story: "Eating Smoke: One Man's Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong's Triad Heartland"
›
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