Culture Shock! Hong Kong: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Shock! Guides)

By Betty Peh-T'i Wei and Elizabeth Li

Book Overview

Whether you travel for business, pleasure, or a combination of the two, the ever-popular Culture Shock series belongs in your backpack or briefcase. Get the nuts-and-bolts information you need to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558689311
• ISBN13: 9781558689312
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Graphic Arts Center Pub Co
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

dated but beneficial cultural reference

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.

Good historical information, but time for an update

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.