“Based on interviews and memoirs, Foreign Devils presents a picture of the lives of expatriates in Hong Kong. Their recollections – candid, quizzical, touching, serious, and not so serious – are concerned as much with the great events and dramas of the day as with the delights and annoyances of ordinary life. Each found his or her own way of engaging with the place – the Governor agonizing over decisions for the future Special Administrative Region no less than the single mother of adopted Chinese babies. They are all participants in the story of modern Hong Kong, which developed out of the matchless synergy of Western enterprise and Chinese ingenuity. The historical panorama would have been much less colourful without their commitment, talents, humour, and even, occasionally, their skulduggery.”.
