Publisher's Synopsis
Meiji Graves in Happy Valley looks into the lives of Japanese residents in Hong Kong in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These Meiji-era Japanese residents came from a variety of backgrounds and occupied an ambiguous position in Hong Kong, navigating between the Chinese and colonial expatriate population. This ambiguity, combined with their own internal class distinctions and the absence of a defined middle class, meant that the early Japanese community in Hong Kong initially struggled to come together as one, and failed to achieve the critical mass that would have given it the influence required to set up its own burial ground.
