The New Chinese Cooking of Hong Kong

The pot is boiling in Hong Kong, again and as ever. The fateful year approaches — 1997 — when British sovereignty over the territory of the ‘Fragrant Harbour’ (Hong Kong’s original Chinese place name) reverts to China. There is feverish speculation about what it all means, what it will entail, how it will affect Hong Kong, this dot on the mainland coast, this geographic place and state of mind that has been called by the writer Jan Morris ‘the last jewel of the Empire’, a ‘stupendous epilogue’ to imperial history. The People’s Republic has pledged to allow things to go on much as they have been. Changes will come, but for the vast majority of Hong Kong’s people — those who will remain and carry on no matter what the future brings — the best and only option is to continue as they have now for decades: working, gambling, building. And, as always, they will have the great fortune to enjoy the most varied and delectable cuisine to be found anywhere in the world.