Made in Hong Kong: Transpacific Networks and a New History of Globalization
Peter Hamilton
Columbia University Press: 2021
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When the last decade of British colonial rule over Hong Kong was counting down, every Wednesday afternoon at half-past two, a large brass Chinese gong would be struck, sharply, its reverberations audible even in the deepest recess of the press room located halfway down the wide hallway outside.

The sound informed the few dozen people sipping tea from porcelain cups in the antechambers—one chamber for official members, appointed by the governor, and one chamber for the others—that it was time to do the business for which they were there.

As reporters grabbed notebooks and scrambled for seats to observe the chamber, members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council—nearly all unelected—crossed the corridor’s red carpet and assumed their seats in the high-ceilinged chamber repurposed from its previous existence as the Supreme Court.

• Tags: Francis Moriarty, Hong Kong, Issue 23, Peter Hamilton