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Gordon Mathews

Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong Paperback – Illustrated, June 30, 2011

by Gordon Mathews (Author)

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There is nowhere else in the world quite like Chungking Mansions, a dilapidated seventeen-story commercial and residential structure in the heart of Hong Kong’s tourist district. A remarkably motley group of people call the building home; Pakistani phone stall operators, Chinese guesthouse workers, Nepalese heroin addicts, Indonesian sex workers, and traders and asylum seekers from all over Asia and Africa live and work there—even backpacking tourists rent rooms. In short, it is possibly the most globalized spot on the planet.

But as Ghetto at the Center of the World shows us, a trip to Chungking Mansions reveals a far less glamorous side of globalization. A world away from the gleaming headquarters of multinational corporations, Chungking Mansions is emblematic of the way globalization actually works for most of the world’s people. Gordon Mathews’s intimate portrayal of the building’s polyethnic residents lays bare their intricate connections to the international circulation of goods, money, and ideas. We come to understand the day-to-day realities of globalization through the stories of entrepreneurs from Africa carting cell phones in their luggage to sell back home and temporary workers from South Asia struggling to earn money to bring to their families. And we see that this so-called ghetto—which inspires fear in many of Hong Kong’s other residents, despite its low crime rate—is not a place of darkness and desperation but a beacon of hope.

Gordon Mathews’s compendium of riveting stories enthralls and instructs in equal measure, making Ghetto at the Center of the World not just a fascinating tour of a singular place but also a peek into the future of life on our shrinking planet.

Print length

241 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

June 30, 2011
Dimensions

9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
ISBN-10

9780226510200
ISBN-13

978-0226510200
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hong Kong's Chungking Mansions is the most notorious flophouse in Asia. . . . The shabby tenement is today as much about global commerce as tourism. What the building should be renowned for, argues Gordon Mathews in his fluid and enjoyable field study "Ghetto at the Center of the World", is the ingenious way 'low-end globalists' eke out profits from petit arbitrage. . . . It reads like a first-rate business book."--Wall Street Journal

"In this wonderful book Gordon Mathews takes on an intriguing project: daily life as it is lived, articulated, dreamed, denied, regretted, and defended in a rather rundown but very public building in Hong Kong. The residents of Chungking Mansions are economically blocked from the rest of the city and often racially discriminated against, so how do such marginalized people survive, much less prosper? This is the conundrum at the heart of "Ghetto at the Center of the World". Mathews tackles it by providing a vivid description of the people who live their lives in the building's dimly lit hallways, restaurants, and shops, and by analyzing the larger material and political forces at work. The resulting account is as informative and revealing as it is entertaining."

--William Jankowiak, author of Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City

About the Author

Gordon Mathews is professor of anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Global Culture/ Individual Identity: Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket and What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds, coauthor of Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation, and coeditor of several books.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0226510204
Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; Illustrated edition (June 30, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 241 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780226510200
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226510200
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #783,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #34 in Hong Kong History
- #1,168 in Chinese History (Books)
- #2,848 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)

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4.2 96 ratings

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Solari

An incredible account of the hidden side of globalization

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2016

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Ghetto at the Center of the World is an incredible book about an incredible place. Chungking Mansions is a 17-storied building in Hong Kong that has become an international trade hub because of it’s low prices and central location, gathering at any given time about 4 thousand people in it’s guest houses, stores and restaurants. It is one of the most cosmopolitan places on Earth, the author counted no less than 129 nationalities in the three years of research for the book.

One of the central concepts of the book is the one of “low-end” globalization, described thus by the author: “Low-end globalization is very different from what most readers may associate with the term globalization—it is not the activities of Coca-Cola, Nokia, Sony, McDonald’s, and other huge corporations, with their high-rise offices, batteries of lawyers, and vast advertising budgets. Instead, it is traders carrying their goods by suitcase, container, or truck across continents and borders with minimal interference from legalities and copyrights, a world run by cash. It is also individuals seeking a better life by fleeing their home countries for opportunities elsewhere, whether as temporary workers, asylum seekers, or sex workers. This is the dominant form of globalization experienced in much of the developing world today.”

“It is amazing how much can be obtained in Chungking Mansions, from lodging to a haircut to halal barbecue, to whiskey of all price ranges, to sex, to computer repairs, to TV remotes, to spy cameras installed in pens and glasses, to stationery, to groceries, to laundry service, to medicines, to legal advice for asylum seekers, to spiritual sustenance for Christians and Muslims. As one well-read informant explained, “There is a self-sufficient ecosystem in Chungking Mansions.” One might never leave the building for weeks or months on end, since virtually all that one might need is in the building itself.”

The book brings a fascinating ethnography about how these different nationalities and cultures manage to live side by side. Racism exists and is rampart, specially from the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese against South Asians and Africans, but grievances are largely put aside in the everyday struggle to make money. It is not a Disney-perfect relationship, but a human and imperfect one, with highs and lows.

The book is very well researched and organized in chapters dedicated to the place, the people, the goods, the laws and the future. It is one of the books that really made me feel like I have traveled to this fascinating place. Highly recommended.

5 people found this helpful

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PeeJ

The island of Chungking Mansions

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2011

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Chungking Mansions is an infamous building in Hong Kong. It is a labyrinth of exotica, adventure , and otherness. In many ways it is a shadowy unknown place to many who live in Hong Kong and the countless travelers it attracts yearly. What is for sure is that we want to know more about it. Specifically more about the eclectic array of people that walk and work in its corridors each day. This fine work by Gordon Mathews satiates this curiosity quite fully.
Exploring the history of the building, its many personalities, the goods and businesses that pass through, and the new transformations, Gordon Mathews produces a landmark text. This work is particularly compelling because it addresses some misconceptions about Chungking Mansions, namely its safety and criminality and redresses these issues. It shows us that the building is intricately placed in what Mathews terms `low end globalization'. Millions of phones sold in this building sold by Pakistani tradesmen can be traced to the streets of Lagos. Illegal workers support their families in Calcutta by washing dishes or handing out flyers for the many restaurants in the building. Sex workers save money to start businesses back in their home countries. The most contemporary feature of the building is the rise in African traders passing through, this phenomenon is explored in detail and provides context for the transformations visible in the streets around Chungking Mansions.
Another important contribution this text offers is that of acknowledging asylum seekers in Hong Kong and showing their particular struggles in the territory. Many of these asylum seekers who have fled torture or the threat of political assassination frequent Chungking Mansions and contribute to an understanding of the place as a bourgeois location. The truth being that whilst the building is populated with people from disparate parts of the world, they are often the middle class entrepreneurs of their countries, and many of the businesses in Chungking Mansions themselves can be comfortably profitable.
Mathews is astute in pointing out that the fortunes and future of Chungking Mansions are tied to global caprices. Changes in visa regulations, the Olympics, and even 9/11 have changed the people and business practices that occupy Chungking Mansions. These factors reconfirm another important point that the author makes, whilst Chungking Mansions is in Hong Kong, it is not `of' Hong Kong. As such this book will tell you much about the building, much about trade with China, and much about low end globalization, it will tell you less however about Hong Kong. After all Chungking Mansions is an island of otherness in this city, a ghetto at the center of the world.

25 people found this helpful

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Deborah Fortuna

Great read.

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

I've stayed at Chungking Mansions years ago--during my lean traveling years. I really didn't realize how much was going on at Chungking Mansions at the time. It was a good read for me because it brought back pleasant memories. For those people who are not familiar with Chungking Mansions, it will bring to light problems with immigration, economics and just what makes Hong Kong tick.

One person found this helpful

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etheromis

The underground trade center of Chung King Mansions

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed reading this book. It dives in to the world of trade from a small industrial perspective. It also looks at how cultural differences are overlooked amongst residents of Chung King Mansions. This book really draws the reader in since the research took place within the last 12-15 years. I would recommend giving this book a try.

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J. Ubois

Excellent, Readable, Worthwhile

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2011

Verified Purchase

Mathews' work is the product of the best kind of obsession. His ability to put life in CKM into a broader context, to build rapport with people, to notice detail, to run a team of student researchers (some of whom I imagine are now well equipped to go on to do their own work), and to report so clearly on what is happening makes the book a pleasure to read. Ethnography's often done these days, but rarely so well. And it's combined here with a kind of awareness of global issues that is really thought provoking.

The chapters on cell phone trading, the vignettes of the traders and their businesses, and how his research has affected lives inside CKM are particularly interesting.

As an aside: back in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, I spent a fair bit of time living in CKM, and can say the author really caught the spirit of the place.

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ali

Great read if you know the building.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2023

Verified Purchase

I guess this is someone's PhD thesis written up as a book and it is done really well.

koya

Interesting reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a book for people who has actually been to, or are planning to pay a visit to ChungKing Mansions or those who are generally interested in micro towns. Fascinating on how a building has somehow managed to turn itself into an important trading hub for those passing through from many foreign countries, and houses so many people from different aspects of life - Chinese guesthouse workers, travellers passing through, africans trading goods, pakistanis selling mobile phones, drug dealers, asylum seekers... Baring in mind this mix of backgrounds the place doesn't really have a seedy feel one might think. When I visited the 17 storey building first hand in 2011 I didn't feel any less scared or vulnerable than walking in London. We even saw some monks who resided in ChungKing's residence because it is the cheapest accommodation around that district; a district completely surrounded in 5star hotels and designer brands. Reading this book definitely gave me a different outlook when visiting ChungKing Mansions, to me it wasn't a place crammed with criminals but an important trading hub and employment resource from fraught souls trying to earn money to send home to their families.

2 people found this helpful

MR M C DOLMAN

OK book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

I grew up in my young childhood years in Chungking Mansions, in the early 1970s, so this was an interesting product and it was quite multicultral, as the book implies but a real s***hole. I was interested in the early part of the book mainly. Product arrived within delivery time, no hassles

MP

Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2012

Verified Purchase

A must-read for anybody who visited or stayed in Chungking Mansions and wants to understand the place. The author tells highly interesting stories populated by vivid characters, giving a unique insight into modern Hong Kong. Bottom line - open borders and liberal visa policies do not harm and are ultimately helpful in creating prosperity and spreading it beyond the privileged few.

3 people found this helpful

Mr P F Dunne

Poor Read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

Poorly written reduction of a research thesis with a handful of anecdotes anyone who has lived in HK might tell.
Trade as it has continued from ancient times and in all cultures and civilisations. Nothing new and few insights sorry to say.

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