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Gweilo: Memories Of A Hong Kong Childhood by Martin Booth (Paperback, 2005)
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Befriending rickshaw coolies and local stallholders, he learnt Cantonese, sampled delicacies such as boiled water beetles and one-hundred-year-old eggs, and participated in colourful festivals. Martin Booth is internationally known as a writer and biographer.
- Buy it nowGweilo: Memories Of A Hong Kong Childhood by Martin Booth (English) Paperback Bo
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Evocative, funny and full of life - a beautifully written and observed childhood memoir of growing up in colonial Hong Kong shortly after World War 2. Martin Booth died in February 2004, shortly after finishing the book that would be his epitaph - this wonderfully remembered, beautifully told memoir of a childhood lived to the full in a far-flung outpost of the British Empire... An inquisitive seven-year-old, Martin Booth found himself with the whole of Hong Kong at his feet when his father was posted there in the early 1950s. Unrestricted by parental control and blessed with bright blond hair that signified good luck to the Chinese, he had free access to hidden corners of the colony normally closed to a Gweilo, a 'pale fellow' like him. Befriending rickshaw coolies and local stallholders, he learnt Cantonese, sampled delicacies such as boiled water beetles and one-hundred-year-old eggs, and participated in colourful festivals. He even entered the forbidden Kowloon Walled City, wandered into the secret lair of the Triads and visited an opium den. Along the way he encountered a colourful array of people, from the plink plonk man with his dancing monkey to Nagasaki Jim, a drunken child molester, and the Queen of Kowloon, the crazed tramp who may have been a member of the Romanov family. Shadowed by the unhappiness of his warring parents, a broad-minded mother who, like her son, was keen to embrace all things Chinese, and a bigoted father who was enraged by his family's interest in 'going native', Martin Booth's compelling memoir is a journey into Chinese culture and an extinct colonial way of life that glows with infectious curiosity and humour.Product Identifiers
PublisherTransWorld LTD
ISBN-139780553816723
eBay Product ID (ePID)87215801
Product Key Features
Book TitleGweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
AuthorMartin Booth
FormatPaperback
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2005
GenreBiographies & True Stories
Number of Pages384 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height198mm
Item Width127mm
Item Weight262g
Additional Product Features
Title_AuthorMartin Booth
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom
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Ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- 17 Jan, 2025
Delightful reading experience
As an ex-pat from 1990's Hong Kong, this book brought back a flood of wonderful memories. I was transported back to a small colony where I could feel the humidity, smell the food stalls, wonder at the culture and be swept along by the author's own passion living in 1950's Hong Kong.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 12 Aug, 2020
Gweilo
The writer captures the essences of a Hong Kong childhood perfectly. Beautifully evocative, conveyed to the reader perfectly. A wonderful testament to the late author. Highly recommended. A cracking good read.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 20 Jan, 2017
Very good read
Very much enjoyed this book. Well written and really congers up the atmosphere of this era.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 09 Apr, 2023
Brilliant review of Hong Kong in the 1950s
Brilliant, one of the best books I've read in ages!Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 24 Jun, 2020
Autobiography
Excellent book.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
