BOOKS | HISTORY
The Making of Hong Kong by Vaudine England review — how women got ahead
This rich account reveals a riotous mix of peoples, customs — and concubines
The Sunday Times
Protected woman: The Fourth Concubine of Hexing of Hong Kong, 1864
ALAMY
Hong Kong “was never just another Chinese city”, Vaudine England writes in her wonderful story of the many peoples and religions that made up the “glorious mosaic” of a flourishing, cosmopolitan trade port.
The British colony on the south China coast drew enterprising types from the empire and beyond. They came from India, southeast Asia, the Americas and Europe; Yankee sea captains, Siamese rice traders, Parsi merchants, rogues out of Joseph Conrad and Jewish dynasties all the way from Baghdad.
Take Mohammed Arab, a young sailor who is said to have raised the flag over the “barren rock” in 1841 and “lived, loved and prospered” in the polyglot Hong Kong of the 19th century. His respectful obituaries recorded that he had a Malay wife, an
