The short story I have chosen is "Insignificant moments in the history of Hong Kong" taken from Xu Xi's History's Fiction: stories from the city of Hong Kong. The story consists of two diaries written on 30th June and 1st July 1997 which describe how the main character, Lam Yam Kuen, spent these two important days in Hong Kong's history. Through the description of Lam's visit to Uncle Check's restaurant and the dinner party at his workplace, the author shows the diverse feelings of Hong Kong people towards the handover of Hong Kong to her motherland, China.

Author's background

Xu Xi is a Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong and she is one of Hong Kong's foremost contemporary English language novelists. She is described like a camera zooming down from the peaks and penthouses to close-ups of the crowded flats and side streets of Hong Kong. Her book is populated...