Gweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood

By Martin Booth

In this delightful memoir, Martin Booth shares about his childhood exploring Hong Kong in the post WWII period as the son of a British civil servant stationed in Hong Kong.  This was the time when Hong Kong was blossoming from a sleepy fishing village to the grand metropolis that is today.  In lucid details that are highly unusual of a young child, Martin Booth tells wonderful stories in his expeditions and learning in Hong Kong’s lesser known places and people.

The booming phase of development in Hong Kong comes alive in Martin Booth’s vivid memories.  He tells of the struggles of refugees from China trying to find a place and a livelihood; the prostitutes and drug dealers in the seedy parts of the Kowloon Walled City; a Russian lady who was half-delusional and dropped real diamonds into his mother’s hands in exchange for a mere one hundred dollars; a monkey entertainer losing his livelihood as the companion monkey was let loose and electrocuted on the power line; and how villagers who fought the Japanese secretly buried the killed Japanese soldiers upright so that they shall never rest in peace.   The natural curiosity of a foreign child eager to learn gives incredible color to his daring expeditions.  Every story is a riveting account of details, conversations and emotions.  Told in a clear passion for Hong Kong, the book lends itself in an authenticity that far exceeds any history book or exhibition that I have come across growing up here.

Most of the places depicted, such as the Kowloon Walled City, have since become a distant memory and no longer exists today.  As such, for most of Hong Kong people today, Martin Booth’s memoir becomes a rare and rich source of heritage told from a very special angle—a gweilo (foreign man) who can amply claim nativity in this exciting phase of the development of Hong Kong.