The Queen of Statue Square: New Short Fiction from Hong Kong

Synopsis

What does it mean to be a ‘Hong Kong person’? Hong Kong has never been an independent state, nor has it completely reverted to mainland Chinese control. Once a British colony, now a semi-autonomous Special Administrative Region of China, Hong Kong is something of a mystery even to itself. Although it has long had a majority Cantonese Chinese population, the presence of significant expatriate communities—Western, Indian, Filipino, and others—creates a unique cultural diversity. This is evident in Hong Kong’s literary output as well: although Cantonese is by far the majority language, English writing occupies a small but enduring niche. In this collection of short stories, eight writers explore the question of what it means to be in, from, and of the Hong Kong of the past, the present, and the future.

About the Editors

Marshall Moore is the author of seven books, including the novels Bitter Orange (2013) and The Concrete Sky (2003), and the collection The Infernal Republic (2012). A native of eastern North Carolina, he has been a resident of Hong Kong for six years. He teaches at Lingnan University.

Xu Xi (許素細) is the author of nine books of fiction and essays. Recent titles are Access: Thirteen Tales (2011), the novel Habit of a Foreign Sky (2010), and the essay collection Evanescent Isles: from my city-village (2008). She is also editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong writing in English, and in 2010 was named writer-in-residence at City University of Hong Kong, Department of English, where she founded and directs Asia’s first low-residency MFA in Creative Writing.