The Other Hong Kong Report 1994 (review)

226 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. i, Spring 1996 able space is devoted to categorizing these paired characterizations, there is no general discussion ofhow the structural principle ofbipolarity might shape or even overshadow thematic concerns. The theoretical and textual issues raised in Misers, Shrews, and Polygamists are so complex that many ofdiem could only be answered in independent monographs on each novel. Professor McMahon has taken on the multilayered task of writing textual histories, creating a literary and ideological context for these works, and constructing models ofelite male sexuality and subjectivity. Any of these would be daunting enough, given the state ofresearch on eighteenth-century fiction, not to mention sexual practices. His pathbreaking discussions of the more than fifteen novels in this study open many rich and provocative areas for further research and theorizing. Maram Epstein University of Oregon Maram Epstein is an assistantprofessor in the Department ofEastAsian Languages and Literatures at the University ofOregon specializing in Ming-Qing vernacular fiction. Donald H. McMillen and Man Si-wai, editors. The Other Hong Kong Report 1994. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1993. xxxv, 502 pp. Paperback $49.95, isbn 962-201-633-2. As stated on the back cover of the book, The Other HongKong Reportis aimed at providing "an alternative and more critical set of analyses on developments in Hong Kong compared to the official HongKong Report"—die latter being the report prepared by the colonial government. Instead ofpresenting an elitist point of view that attempts to write history from the top, this volume tries to identify "the people's and die community's aspirations and frustrations in various circumstances " and depict the people as "agents of change in die social, moral, political, or cultural landscape of Hong Kong." The sixth edition of The Other HongKong Report series, this volume seeks to y niversi y examine the most significant happenings and issues in Hong Kong from July 1993 to June 1994. What it finds is that 1993-1994 was a year of contradictions—of economic prosperity but political gridlock, ofincreasing political participation but ofHawai'i Press Reviews 227 decreasing interest among the people over political matters, and ofexpanding social services but growing community dissatisfaction. First ofall, what stands out most prominendy about 1993-1994 is the contradiction between economic optimism and political pessimism. For Hong Kong, the die was cast for the year when Governor Patten said on July 9 tiiat it was "better for Britain to take unilateral action on constitutional reforms in the territory than to surrender on principles." Beijing responded by formally inaugurating a fifty-seven-member PreliminaryWorking Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Preparatory Committee, in order to discredit the Patten-led Hong Kong government and to marginalize the partially democratized Legislative Council. At the end of1993, Beijing further announced that it will dismantle Hong Kong's three-tier system ofgovernment in 1997 and reorganize the HKSAR government in accordance with its interpretation of the Basic Law. Nevertheless , oblivious to this political conflict between Beijing and London, the Hong Kong stock market and the property market continued to rise in a buying frenzy fueled by overseas investors. Furthermore, the Hong Kong economy posted a real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of5.6 percent for the whole of1993. The Hong Kong economy has grown so fast that the government has considered a policy ofimporting workers into the colony. There is also the contradiction between increasing political participation and growing political apathy. On the one hand, there are many indicators that participation in formal Hong Kong politics has shot up, such as the formation ofpolitical parties, the lively debates in the Legislative Council, posters appearing on nearly every block advertising various political parties, and die frequency ofpublished political opinion surveys. These democracy indicators have led the senior volume editor to assert that the traditional bureaucratic subculture (including "bureaucratically absorbed politics") has become unpopular and outdated in Hong Kong. On the other hand, opinion polls have pointed to a decrease in the people's interest in political matters. These polls have showed that the people of Hong Kong have been generally very ignorant ofthe content of Patten's reform proposals; they do not like...