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Foreword Some of the most influential and important people in our world are the quiet, thoughtful ones who see the need for a change or an innovation and set about bringing it into being. One of these people is Stanley Kwan, the creator of the Hang Seng Index, one of the key tools of financial information in Hong Kong, not just for Hong Kong, but also for the world. Hong Kong has evolved since the end of World War II from a colonial port on the China coast into a major centre of the global economy. Social and cultural development has gone hand in hand with the economic, but has been much less well documented in the scholarly literature or the popular press. Many men and women contributed to the making of Hong Kong society. Some were rich and famous, or did great deeds that were recorded in print or on stone. Most just struggled quietly to survive in difficult conditions. The life stories of these men and women give us a deeper, fuller understanding of the evolution of Hong Kong. Stanley Kwan belongs to both these categories. He has given the world some of the most widely recognized and frequently cited indicators of the Hong Kong economy; yet with the self-effacing modesty characteristic of the scholarmerchant (rushang) that he is, he has led a quiet and simple life. His world, part and parcel of the evolving open and pluralistic Hong Kong, and so beautifully described in this book, is one in which his involvement with banking goes hand in hand with a profound dedication to Chinese culture and history. This book is therefore not only a “people’s history” of Hong Kong, but also a probing analysis of Hong Kong identity, and what it means to be living in a Chinese society. As the return to Chinese sovereignty drew near, Stanley Kwan went through a process of analysis and questioning about the past and the future, a process that eventually led him to emigrate to Canada. His description of his decisionmaking is deeply moving; he articulates, with care and sincerity, the process that has so enriched Canada, and connected this country so closely to Hong Kong.  The Dragon and the Crown Scholars as well as general readers who have an interest in Hong Kong and modern China owe Stanley Kwan a great debt for sharing his touching and thoughtful story, first in the Chinese version which we edited as Volume 2 of the Hong Kong Life Stories series published in 1999 by the University of Toronto–York University Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, and now in this enriched and rewritten English version. Reading his memoirs is an enlightening and enjoyable treat. Diana Lary Bernard Luk Vancouver Toronto ...

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