Hong Kong Trilogy (Extended Edition)

Published in 2007, "The Hong Kong Trilogy" is a collection of short stories about the baby boomer generation, a mix of Chinese and Western influences, who emerged in the 1950s, grew up in the 1960s, and took center stage in the 1970s to perform the grand opera of a new Hong Kong. All three protagonists are quintessential Hongkongers. Author Chan Koonchung uses traditional romance and sophisticated social dynamics to portray the deep psychology of a corner of Hong Kong. This year's book fair sees the release of an expanded edition of "The Hong Kong Trilogy," which includes two new stories, "A Chronicle of a Night Banquet of Startling Years" and "The Day I Was Hit on the Head by a Book," in addition to the original two short stories and one novella. Spanning over thirty to forty years, these are the author's Hong Kong stories.

Chan Koonchung says: "The Hong Kong Trilogy" has its origins and predecessors. "A Chronicle of a Night Banquet of Startling Years" was originally published in the student newspaper of the University of Hong Kong in April 1974. It was my last semester before graduating, with final exams approaching and essays piling up. I don't know why I still felt compelled to write stories about the Ningbo and Shanghai émigrés, my parents' generation, who came south. I must have read a lot of the diaspora literature by Chinese writers who drifted to Taiwan. I never intended to write fantastic allegories, but in March 2008, by some strange coincidence, I wrote "The Day I Was Hit on the Head by a Book," inspired by the mysterious death of Lo Chi-wah of Ching Man Book Co., by the cyclical reincarnation of Hong Kong's upstairs bookstores in the medieval era of readers, and by the vague feeling that Hong Kong's old sentiments might eventually wither away, as many people went north and never returned—all during the 'first year' when China displayed its 'new normal' of prosperity."