Memories of the Past: Book Review of Portrait of Hong Kong

Hong Kong has a special relationship to time. There is almost no other political jurisdiction in the world with an active countdown to its own ending—which, in the city’s case, is July 1, 2047, when the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, granting the former British colony a “high degree of autonomy” under Chinese rule, expires. This condition colors the lives of residents with a strange anxiety. We experience an identity crisis not just in the present tense, but also the past and the future: who were we, who are we now, and what will we become?

• Hong Kong