Consuming Hong Kong （Edited by Gordon Mathews and Tai-lok Lui）

Consumption forms an essential part of Hong Kong people’s lives today, but until now little serious attention has been paid to it. This book fills this gap, in a fascinating way. The contributors to this volume explore such topics as:
 
•the coming of shopping malls to Hong Kong
•tenants’ senses of home in cramped public housing
•the experiences of movie-going
•alcohol as a marker of social class
•the pursuit of fashion
•Chinese art and identity among Hong Kong collectors
•the dream and reality of owning a flat
•Lan Kwai Fong and its mystique
•the McDonald’s Snoopy craze of fall 1998
•cultural identity and consumption in Hong Kong today
 
This book shows how the detailed ethnographic study of consumption in Hong Kong can lead to a deeper understanding of Hong Kong life as a whole, as well as of consumption in the world at large.
 
Gordon Mathews is a professor of anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the author of Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong. He has been awarded two Vice Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Awards during his time at CUHK.
 
Tai-lok Lui is the Chair Professor of Hong Kong Studies with the Department of Asian and Policy Studies (APS) of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (FLASS), Director of the Academy of Hong Kong Studies, Director of the Centre for Greater China Studies, at The Education University of Hong Kong.
 
Professor Lui has widely researched and published in topics including class analysis, economic sociology, urban sociology, and Hong Kong society. He also actively contributes to the Hong Kong community by serving on various committees in governmental and professional bodies as well as those related to social services over the years.