What is Hong Kong? According to the British, a “barren rock” without meaningful history; to China, a part of Chinese soil from the beginning of time, finally returned to its rightful place in 1997. When protests erupted in 2019 and were met with escalating suppression, Louisa Lim, a journalist raised in Hong Kong who as an adult has covered the region for more than a decade, felt compelled to tell Hong Kong’s untold stories. In Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, Dr. Lim combines history and memoir to explicate Hong Kong’s history, the present reality that Hong Kong is not “just another Chinese city,” and the future that may be unfolding.
In an interview conducted on June 27, 2022, Louisa Lim centers Hong Kongers as she discusses a diverse cast of characters including the memorable and mysterious King of Kowloon.