Culture Shock! Hong Kong (Paperback)

by Betty Wei (Author), Elizabeth Li (Author) "YOU CAN SENSE IMMEDIATELY the pulse of Hong Kong as your plane touches the Chek Lap Kok airport runway on the edge of the blue..." (more)
Key Phrases: peak tram, yum cha, ancestral graves, Hong Kong, Legislative Council, Chief Executive (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With over three million copies in print, CultureShock! is a bestselling series of culture and etiquette guides covering countless destinations around the world. For anyone at risk of culture shock, whether a tourist or a long-term resident, CultureShock! provides a sympathetic and fun-filled crash course on the do's and don'ts in foreign cultures. Fully updated and sporting a fresh new look, the revised editions of these books enlighten and inform through such topics as language, food and entertaining, social customs, festivals, relationships, and business tips. CultureShock! books are packed with useful details on transportation, taxes, finances, accommodation, health, food and drink, clothes, shopping, festivals, and much, much more.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher
Newly redesigned and updated in 2005! --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company; Revised edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558686487
• ISBN-13: 978-1558686489
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,221,974 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but there's more to know (and other books can help), November 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Culture Shock!: Hong Kong (Culture Shock Series) (Paperback)

When I lived in Hong Kong in the 90's, Wei's book was a useful introduction to ways to behave around Hong Kong hosts and clients. But the book suffers from a typical Hong Kong problem, the reluctance to prepare the first-time visitor for the more unpleasant "underbelly" of Hong Kong society, which any westerner has to deal with. There is a general sense of insecurity in Hong Kong society which affects all interactions with westerners, business or social, and grows out of the tragic influx of millions of refugees fleeing China to the safety of British Hong Kong - this aspect of Hong Kong is not dealt with by Wei, but is dealt with in Jan Morris's Hong Kong (which contains much other fascinating information). A knowledge of this tragic history (which is often too painful for Hong Kong Chinese to discuss - like any criticism of Hong Kong, it causes loss of "face"), is essential for any understanding of how the place works. The unpleasant fallout from this historical situation, in terms of the societal frustration and bad public behaviour it causes, is dealt with brilliantly in Bo Yang's The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis in Chinese Culture. Two novels of Hong Kong, Timothy Mo's The Monkey King and Paul Theroux's Kowloon Tong, offer suprisingly accurate takes on many actions and attitudes that the vistor and short term resident in Hong Kong will encounter, but can again be too painful to discuss. All the above books deal with things Betty Wei doesn't, and knowing about them will enrich your understanding of this interesting city during your visit/domicile there. Also helpful for understanding Hong Kong is the "classic" Hong Kong book, Myself a Mandarin, by Austin Coates.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good historical information, but time for an update, April 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Culture Shock!: Hong Kong (Culture Shock Series) (Paperback)

This book contains a lot of good historical information on Hong Kong, but it came out before the biggest historical event of recent years -- the return of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule. I hope the authors are working on an updated version. It would also benefit from the inclusion of a good map to give people planning their first visit to Hong Kong a sense of proportion and location.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dated but beneficial cultural reference, October 30, 2000

By	J. K. Kelley "penslinger and long-term book j... (Eastern WA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Culture Shock!: Hong Kong (Culture Shock Series) (Paperback)

While I've not been to Hong Kong, I've had supervisors and co-workers who were Hong Kong persons, and have done some reading about this unique cultural mix. Thus I can't speak for the accuracy of all details except to say that the ones I can verify are accurate.

The authors' knowledge of the SAR is clearly that of the native, and an effort has been made to explain cultural nuances that a non-Hong Kong author might never have seen. (Example: the way of life of the vast majority of low-paid publicly-housed wage labourers, most of whom are Chinese.) Of course, there's a tradeoff: we do not get the perspective of a non-Hong Kong person as to what stands out. Ideally one author would have been native and another an immigrant.

It was published, however, before the 1997 handover, so a lot has probably changed since then and I can't recommend it for those interested in the politics and government of Hong Kong. For those interested in the culture--which will change only slowly, barring drastic action by Beijing--it's a very useful reference.