Hong Kong has long held a fascination for travellers, and has been an inspiration to those who lived there. This new collection of writings gives a remarkable insight into Hong Kong's past, with pieces that date as far back as the Song Dynasty and continue to the present day. The sixty extracts are taken from novels, poems, short stories, biographies, letters, postcards, diaries and even speeches - many never published before - and they are illustrated with contemporary photographs and sketches. Writers include Queen Victoria, Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling, and W. H. Auden, as well as soldiers and sailors, doctors and clergymen, painters and photographers, tourists and travellers, the rich and the poor, Europeans and Chinese. Lord Palmerstone comments in 1844 on the addition to the British Empire, the first settlers describe the difficulties of life in the new colony, late Victorian ladies struggle with the language, heat, and social obligations, and the war years bring letters from the POW camps. Through these passages you will be able to experience Hong Kong and its people, from past to present, in a unique and personal way.