his tome by a former director of Hong Kong's Dao Hong Bank is not a
light beach read. It'sa scholar's work that starts with the Pope's 1493
division of the "heathen" world between Spain and Portugal and traces Hong
Kong's history to the present. It chronicles the astonishing growth of Hong
Kong's financial community which began as a sleepy fishing village and
became a world capital.
Welsh writes of the early days of colonial life with its snobbery and greed and continues to the world of drugs, sex and slavery. The story it tells is more exciting than any fiction could be, and relevant more than ever on the eve of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty.
