Chinese diaspora? Yes, indeed there is one, and it has ramifications for many countries, including Canada.

With an introduction by Gary Hamilton, who teaches sociology at the University of Washington, this collection of nine academic essays looks at the social, cultural, and economic ripples caused by Hong Kong’s growth from a “colonial backwater” in the 1950s to one of the main manufacturing, financial, and service centres of East Asian capitalism.

In his essay, Edgar Wickberg, a University of British Columbia historian emeritus, traces the organization of overseas Chinese migration in the 19th century, which created the first wave of Chinese immigration to North America. Along with Wickberg, several of the essayists make clear how much the type of immigrant has evolved from the 19th century’s small businesspeople and often-exploited labourers to the extremely wealthy and powerful entrepreneurs of today, who bring with them their values, their families, and their far-flung economic interests.

Assistant geography professor Katharyne Mitchell’s “Hong Kong Immigration and the Question of Democracy: Contemporary Struggles over Urban Politics in Vancouver, B.C.” looks at conflicts between Hong Kong immigrants in two disparate areas of Vancouver: the upper-income, formerly white enclave of Shaughnessy Heights, and the established business community of downtown Chinatown. Interestingly, in the Chinatown struggle for power, the immigrants were defeated by a somewhat conservative status quo, while in Shaughnessy, their 1992 battle to defeat zoning bylaws was successful, partly thanks to the support of local developers who wanted to open the community to new housing projects – and thus new profit.

This collection will help Westerners shed their outdated views of Hong Kong and better understand its history, economic power, and immigration.