THE DRAGON AND THE CROWN: HONG KONG MEMOIRS

While Hong Kong's spectacular economic growth and political development have been well documented, the social and cultural lives of the ordinary people swept up in the changes have not found a significant voice. Through the personal experiences of Stanley Kwan and those around him, this book gives such a voice to people whose lives have been profoundly affected by the dramatic changes, as Hong Kong transitioned from an entrepôt to an international financial centre and from a colony to become a part of China.

Wedged between the East and the West – the Dragon and the Crown – Stanley Kwan's life experiences reflect the forces pulling at Hong Kong. He was born into a traditional Chinese banking family but attended King's College under the British colonial system. Fired up by patriotism during the war, he joined the Nationalist Chinese army and served as an interpreter for American forces in southwest China. In 1949, two of his brothers went to the Mainland to join the socialist revolution. Although tempted to join, he stayed in Hong Kong, worked for a British firm and became a "China watcher" at the American Consulate General. He finally joined a local Chinese bank – Hang Seng Bank where, as head of the Research Department, he launched the Hand Seng Index and witnessed the dramatic cycles of the Hong Kong economy. With the prospect of 1997, Stanley Kwan deliberated on his future and decided to retire to Canada in 1984, joining the tide of immigrants from Hong Kong.

The book contributes to the ongoing search for Hong Kong identity in the Special Administrative Region and will resonate among people in Hong Kong as well as those interested in the fate of the former colony.

Stanley S. K. Kwan was born in Hong Kong in 1925 into a traditional Chinese banking family. He attended King's College until the fall of Hong Kong in 1941 and joined the Chinese army as an interpreter for US forces during the war. From 1962 until he retired in 1984, he headed the Research Department in Hang Seng Bank. He launched the Hang Seng Index in 1969, served on the government's Statistics Advisory Board during 1976–84 and was awarded the MBE in 1985. He now lives in Toronto, Canada.

Nicole Kwan is the niece of Stanley Kwan. She has a BA degree from Smith College and MAs from Yale University and the University of Hong Kong. She worked in international banking for over twenty years while based in Hong Kong.

"The Dragon and the Crown is a fascinating account of the twentieth-century history of Hong Kong. Stanley Kwan is the master of the telling detail as he recounts the saga of his extended family, torn between capitalist, colonialist Hong Kong and the Chinese Communist revolution. Kwan's own odyssey is gripping as a survivor of the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, wartime interpreter in mainland China for US troops, auto dealer, banker, creator of the influential Hand Seng Index and, ultimately, target of Communist China's velvet-gloved attempt to recruit sympathizers among Hong Kong's rich and famous." – Jan Wong, author of Red China Blues and Beijing Confidential

"This book makes an important contribution to Hong Kong's business history and provides an insider's account of the often uncomfortable transformation of the Hang Seng Bank from an old-fashioned currency and gold dealer into an outstanding financial institution. The author is particularly impressive in his analysis of the contrasts between Chinese and Western business cultures. Stanley Kwan also describes Hong Kong's special political strains, describing in detail the way in which business leaders assiduously wooed their British rulers while carefully cultivating mainland officials. The Dragon and the Crown offers a moving account of the impact on the author and his extended family of China's political and economic turbulence in the last century, which deserves to be widely read." – Leo Goodstadt, author of Uneasy Partners and Profits, Politics and Panics

"Our lives today seem dull compared to those who lived through the war, and not only witnessed but experienced the tussle between the Nationalists and Communists in the borrowed place of British colonial Hong Kong. Political ideology has always been a divider even among family members. Old heartaches come alive through the retelling of the personal stories in this book to remind us of lost hope and the need to soldier on nevertheless." – Christine Loh, CEO of Civic Exchange