Introduction

We present what we feel is a timely book on foreign communities in Hong Kong. What do Hong Kong people want the rest of the world to think about Hong Kong? Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city with traders, businessmen, and merchants coming from almost everywhere in the world. It has a culture, which while fundamentally Chinese, has long been under foreign influence. Its people speak the English language, receive Western education, and adopt Western lifestyles. It is a place where foreigners have settled down, formed their families, and made their home. Hong Kong is a “world city," a city that belongs to the international community, and which recognizes the contribution of local people and foreigners alike in making the place what we find today.