Author | Alice Poon (潘慧嫻) |
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Language | English |
Subject |
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Genre | non-fiction |
Published |
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Publication place | Canada |
ISBN | 978-0-97387600-0 (first edition, hardcover) |
Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong | |||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 地產霸權 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 地产霸权 | ||||||||||||
Jyutping | dei6 caan2 baa3 kyun4 | ||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | deih cháan ba kyùhn | ||||||||||||
Hanyu Pinyin | Dì chǎn bà quán | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | real estate/property hegemony | ||||||||||||
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Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong ( Chinese: 地產霸權; lit. 'real estate hegemony' [1] or "property hegemony" [2]) is a book written by Alice Poon Wai-han [3] ( traditional Chinese: 潘慧嫻; simplified Chinese: 潘慧娴; Jyutping: pun1 wai6 haan4; pinyin: Pān Huìxián), a former personal assistant of Kwok Tak-seng, the late co-founder of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Sun Hung Kai Properties. [3] She also worked for another Hong Kong-based conglomerate, Kerry Properties. [4] The book was about some real estate tycoon families of the former British colony, [5] especially Li Ka-shing family, Kwok Tak-seng family, Lee Shau-kee family, Cheng Yu-tung family, Pao Yue-kong family and Kadoorie family, who controlled "property-cum-utility/public services conglomerates" of Hong Kong. [6] [7]
The book was written in Richmond, British Columbia. [8] Poon resided in Steveston, [9] a neighbourhood in the city.
According to a book review, as of December 2010, in less than 6 months of publishing, the Traditional Chinese edition had been re-printed 7 times to the 8th print. [10] The first Traditional Chinese edition also contained revised and updated materials that did not appear in the first English edition. [7]
After the publication of the Traditional Chinese translation, it popularised the Chinese book title 地產霸權 as a term to describe the real estate tycoons of Hong Kong, according to Hong Sir in his column in Apple Daily. [11]
The original English edition was reviewed by Canada Book Review Annual (CBRA) as a Canadian book. [8] CBRA "was founded to provide Canadians with an evaluative guide to all the English-language and Canadian-authored scholarly, reference, trade, children's, and youth books published in Canada each year." [12]
The Traditional Chinese translation was also reviewed by Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily in 2011, with title Dào dǐ shì shéi zài kòng zhì xiāng gǎng ? ( lit. 'Who Controls Hong Kong?'). [7] [13] Since Nanfang Media Group, the publisher of Southern Metropolis Daily, is a state-owned media, the review was also interpreted by a Shenzhen-based academician, as an opinion from the central Chinese government regarding the tycoons themselves. [13] According to the book review, the Simplified Chinese edition had some chapters censored. [7]
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link)Political institutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in many ways were designed to protect business interests. The term "real estate hegemony," which emerged circa 2010, reflected public resentment against the politically powerful business elite.
"Hegemony" has been on everyone's lips since people turned against the property tycoons. Now, it seems anything that draws flak from some segments of the public can be denounced as such. Beyond "property hegemony", consider such examples as "supermarket hegemony" and "luxury hegemony".
Land is the city's most precious natural resource and was historically controlled by a few tycoon families, writes Alice Poon in her book "Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong."
In all cases, these property-cum-utility/public services conglomerates are controlled by powerful Hong Kong families: the Lis of the Cheung Kong/ Hutchison group, the Kwoks of the Sun Hung Kai Properties group, the Lees of the Henderson group, the Chengs of the New World Development group, the Pao and Woo of the Wharf/ Wheelock group and the Kadoories of the CLP Holdings group.