Hong Kong: The Tropical Mixing That Made It
Has Hong Kong ‘always been a Chinese city’? Was it a model British colony? Or was Hong Kong something else – a Eurasian city with its own distinct history and flavour? Do the answers to these questions help explain Hong Kong’s current issues? These and other questions – about the no less controversial topics of race, sex and empire – are the subject of Vaudine England’s Fortune’s Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong. This is the product of many years of research – in archives, in attics and in new interviews with descendants of some of Hong Kong’s very first families.
➽ Details
Speaker: Vaudine England
Moderated by: Gareth Richards
Organised by: Penang Institute and Gerakbudaya Bookshop
Date and Time:
Monday, 27 October 2025
8.00–9.30pm
Note: Registration is FREE. However, only in-person attendees are required to register.
Online viewers may watch the live stream on Penang Institute’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
Location:
Penang Institute
10 Jalan Brown
10350 George Town
Pulau Pinang
➽ About the Speaker
Vaudine England was a journalist for three decades in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong for the BBC, Reuters, the Far Eastern Economic Review and several London newspapers. Then she discovered the joys of history, and has made a specialty of investigative work into the past with the help of archives, oral history and a nose for a good story. Her book – Fortune’s Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong – was published in 2023. She is now based in Amsterdam.
➽ About the Moderator
Gareth Richards is a writer, editor and bookseller. His most recent book (as co-author) is Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia: Critical Perspectives (2021).