The conventional story of Hong Kong celebrates the people who fled the mainland in the wake of the establishment of the People\'s Republic of China in 1949.
Drawing on wide-ranging research, Unsettling Exiles sheds new light on Hong Kong\'s ambivalent relationship to the mainland, its role in the global Cold War, and the origins of today\'s political currents..
Chin argues that Hong Kong identity emerged from the collective trauma of exile and dislocation, as well as a sense of being on the margins of both the Communist and Nationalist Chinese regimes During the Cold War.
Both the PRC and governments in the Southern Periphery implemented strict migration and deportation policies in pursuit of border control, with profound consequences for people in transit.
Chin develops the concept of the Southern Periphery-the region along the Southern frontier of the PRC, outside its administrative control yet closely tied to its political space.
She emphasizes that flows of people did not stop at Hong Kong\'s borders but also bled into neighboring territories such as Taiwan and Macau.
Chin foregrounds the experiences of the many people who passed through Hong Kong without settling down or finding a sense of belonging, including refugees, deportees, undesirable residents, and members of sea communities.
Angelina Y.
Unsettling Exiles recasts identity formation in Hong Kong, demonstrating that the complexities of crossing borders shaped the city\'s uneasy place in the Sinophone world.
In this telling, Migrants thrived under British colonial rule, transforming Hong Kong into a cosmopolitan city and an industrial and financial hub.
The conventional story of Hong Kong celebrates the people who fled the mainland in the wake of the establishment of the People\'s Republic of China in 1949
