Description

‘Impressive … Fascinating’ Sunday Times

‘An authoritative history’ Financial Times

‘Gripping and richly researched’ Rana Mitter

A superb new history of the rise of China and the fall of Hong Kong to authoritarian rule.

The rise of China and the fall of Hong Kong to authoritarian rule are told with unique insight in this new history by Michael Sheridan, drawing on eyewitness reporting over three decades, interviews with key figures and documents from archives in China and the West.

The story sweeps the reader from the earliest days of trade through the Opium Wars of the 19th century to the age of globalisation and the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. It ends with the battle for democracy on the city’s streets and the ultimate victory of the Chinese Communist Party.

How did it come to this? We learn from private papers that Margaret Thatcher anguished over the fate of Hong Kong, sought secret American briefings on how to handle China and put her trust in an adviser who was torn between duty and pride. The deal they made with Beijing did not last.

The Chinese side of this history, so often unheard, emerges from memoirs and documents, many new to the foreign reader, revealing how the party’s iron will and negotiating tactics crushed its opponents. Yet the voices of Hong Kong people – eloquent, smart and bold – speak out here for ideals that refuse to die.

Sheridan’s book tells how Hong Kong opened the way for the People’s Republic as it reformed its economy and changed the world, emerging to challenge the West with a new order that raises fundamental questions about progress, identity and freedom. It is critical reading for all who study, trade or deal with China.

Publisher Review

Early praise for Michael Sheridan's The Gate to China 'A delightful piece of writing and research which describes the remarkable history behind the handover of this unique and exciting city. The unravelling of the deal between the Chinese Communists and the British gives a bitter-sweet flavor to Sheridan's brilliant portraits of the individuals who played a role on both sides' Jasper Becker, author of The Chinese 'Deeply researched and beautifully written, Sheridan's book provides a fresh perspective on the extraordinary story of Hong Kong. His depiction of the motives, fears, internal struggles, and negotiating tactics of the Chinese officials who dealt with Hong Kong is a revelation, with broader lessons for a world watching the rise of China ... Essential reading for anyone interested in the saga of a city whose fate has dominated the headlines' Mike Chinoy, former CNN Senior Asia Correspondent and Beijing Bureau Chief Praise for Michael Sheridan's Romans 'Enchanting and extravagant ... As an elegiac evocation of the Roman genius loci ... I know of nothing to touch its wit, its poetry and its intelligence' Richard Holmes, Daily Telegraph 'A lingering, evocative description ... vivid moments of historical drama' Harriet Paterson, The Times 'A delightful excursion through the history, politics, and culture of the Eternal City' Kirkus Reviews 'Eternal, maybe; eternally corrupt, certainly, is his thesis, elegantly and sometimes wittily expressed in a series of interconnecting essays' Robert Carver, New Statesman 'The reader ... will be delighted and will wish the book were longer' Library Journal