Racism in Hk

GEC1C23: History of Hong Kong

with English Writing Requirements

DR. NG PAK-SHEUNG

Book Report, Draft 2

Word count: 1880 words

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| Student Name: | Abdel Menam Abdel Naiem |

| Student ID: | 15121856x |

| Group ID: | ? |

| Date: | 8/03/16 |

The book I chose was named Hong Kong State of Mind, written by Jason Y. Ng, and published by Blacksmith Book in 2010. This book is broken up into a series of unrelated short stories highlighting the different idiosyncrasies of Hong Kong, that only a native person from Hong Kong would understand. It is split up into three main sections, the people of Hong Kong, the things they do, and the places they go. The author was born in Hong Kong, but grew up in Italy, the United States, and Canada before returning to Hong Kong as an adult. The author was able to offer a unique and fresh perspective on how native person from Hong Kong, who has vast worldly experience, thinks of his city compared to other major foreign cities. By understanding the thought process and reasoning behind the action of the locals of Hong Kong, one will be able to get a much better appreciation and understanding of this great city. Having started the city under the rule of the British, often at times the locals were seen as inferior and treated poorly. This decades long treatment of racism has led to an unspoken bond between the natives, and has also led to a system of keeping outsiders at an arms length, that can be often construed as racism.

The author uses great analogies when discussing the point he is trying to prove about the way things are done in Hong Kong, to other real life situations. In the chapter Laws of Nature, he starts off by discussing a documentary on the Discovery channel when animals are hunting and killing other animals as a means of survival. As a little boy he would wonder why the film crew would not intervene to save the animal getting eaten. He then goes...