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Golden Boy:

Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Front Cover
59 Reviews
Macmillan, Nov 29, 2005 - Travel - 342 pages
At seven years old, Martin Booth found himself with all of Hong Kong at his feet. His father was posted there in 1952, and this memoir is his telling of that youth, a time when he had access to the corners of a colony normally closed to a "Gweilo," a "pale fellow" like him.

His experiences were colorful and vast. Befriending rickshaw coolies and local stallholders, he learned Cantonese, sampled delicacies such as boiled water beetles and one-hundred-year-old eggs, and participated in vibrant festivals. He even entered the forbidden Kowloon Walled City, wandered into a secret lair of Triads, and visited an opium den.

From the plink-plonk man with his dancing monkey to the Queen of Kowloon (a crazed tramp who may have been a Romanov), Martin Booth saw it all---but his memoir illustrates the deeper challenges he faced in his warring parents: a broad-minded mother who embraced all things Chinese and a bigoted father who was enraged by his family's interest in "going native."

Martin Booth's compelling memoir, the last book he completed before dying, glows with infectious curiosity and humor and is an intimate representation of the now extinct time and place of his growing up.
  

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Review: Gweilo: Memories Of A Hong Kong Childhood

User Review  - Bernard - Goodreads

Gweilo: A Memoir of a Hong Kong Childhood Review Martin Booth's Gweilo is honestly one of the best autobiographies anyone will read. This final book of his will be remembered as his greatest epitaph ... Read full review

Review: Gweilo: Memories Of A Hong Kong Childhood

User Review  - Alex Kwong - Goodreads

I happened upon this book when I was on vacation with my family in Hong Kong. My family and I had moved to the United States when I was little, and while I remember much about the city, I did not get ... Read full review

All 59 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

Port Out
1
The Fragrant Harbour
36
Sei Hoi fau Dim
44
Three Lives on the Edge
96
Firecrackers Funerals and Flames
113
Dens Ducks and Dives
126
Living on Clouds
164
Ida Su Yin the Light of Tin Hau and the Wrath of Yen Lo
254
Hiking to Buddha Swimming with Colonel Noma
281
Mong Kok Revisited
311
Homeward Bound
330
Glossary
339
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Martin Booth
Limited preview - 2005
Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Martin Booth
Limited preview - 2006
Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
Martin Booth
Limited preview - 2006
View all »

Common terms and phrases

Ah Lam Ah Shun amah arrived asked balcony bamboo beach birds bloody bottle bowl British building called Cantonese China Chinese Ching cloth Communist coolies Corfu deck door dragon enquired eyes face father feet ferry fish Fourseas front gweilo hair Halfie hand harbour head hills HMS Tamar Hong Kong Hong Kong island island Japanese joss-sticks Joyce junk knew Kowloon Walled City legs lived looked minutes missee Mong Kok mother replied Nathan Road naval never night no-one officer pai dong parents passengers pavement Peak Tram pink gin Queen of Kowloon returned rice rickshaw road room boys round sampans side smoke snake Soares Avenue squatter stood street swim temple took trees Tsim Sha Tsui typhoon walked wanted watch whilst window woman Wong wooden wore Yau Ma Tei

References from web pages

Reviews for Golden boy : memories of a Hong Kong childhood ...
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Southwest Public Libraries: New and Notable Fiction
Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood, Golden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood Martin Booth The last work of the internationally known Booth, ...
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Macmillan Academic Marketing
Picador 352 pages Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 $14.00 Trade Paperback, Pub Year : 2006 ISBN-10: 0-312-42626-7 ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42626-2 ...
www.macmillanacademic.com/ Academic/ Book/ BookDisplay.asp?BookKey=4692565

Hong Kong Is Fantasy Land for a Young Adventurer - New York Times
Martin Booth describes his close encounters with typhoons, cobras, boiled beetles and an opium den in the 50's
www.nytimes.com/ 2005/ 12/ 21/ books/ 21grim.html

Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Golden Boy, by Martin Booth, Paperback
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angloinfo Hong Kong - Bookshop: Biography & Memoirs
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About the author (2005)

Martin Booth wrote the nonfiction histories Cannabis and Opium and the novel Hiroshima Joe, among many other books. He began this memoir of his childhood after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2002 and died shortly after completing the manuscript in 2004. An internationally known, Booker Prize--shortlisted novelist and writer, Booth was considered an authority on everything from the history of Chinese organized crime syndicates to the conservation of the African rhino. Opium: A History is regarded as the definitive book on the subject, and he is the author of eight other works of nonfiction, eleven novels, and five works of children’s fiction.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Golden Boy
TitleGolden Boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood
AuthorMartin Booth
PublisherMacmillan, 2005
ISBN0312348177, 9780312348175
Length342 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
Travel / Asia / China
  
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