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Hong Kong on the Brink: An American Diplomat Relives 1967's Darkest Days
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About Hong Kong On The Brink: An American Diplomat
Product Description Syd Goldsmith’s first taste of China’s Cultural Revolution is blood on his tongue. It’s 1967. Hong Kong is simmering, plagued by communist-led riots and strikes, crippled transport, punishing water-rationing, takeover threats from Beijing and roadside bombs. And Syd — the only Caucasian Foreign Service Officer at the American Consulate General who speaks Cantonese — is made responsible for reporting and analysis of the Hong Kong government’s ability to survive. The CIA station chief and the head of Macau’s gold syndicate play major roles in Syd’s story, along with Newsweek’s Sydney Liu and Maynard Parker, and a steady stream of inquiring foreign correspondents and China-watchers. Richard Nixon makes a cameo appearance — to talk football with Syd since the consul general won’t see him — in this riveting memoir of a year when Hong Kong’s “borrowed time” seemed about to expire. Review "It's an informative, engaging read filled with vivid historical detail...gripping when it gets to the riots... With China having forced concessions from the Portuguese administration in Macau after the 1966 riots that gave it effective control of the city, and Beijing-controlled businesses already deeply embedded in Hong Kong, the survival of British rule was in the balance. Goldsmith's book conveys an urgent sense of just how close we came to just having celebrated the 50th anniversary of the handover rather than the 20th." South China Morning Post "A lively, informative and well written effort and, for me, an evocative trip down memory lane. The personality sketches are deft and right on the mark." Burton Levin, former US Ambassador, Consul General and Asia Society Director in Hong Kong About the Author As the American Consulate General's Hong Kong/Macau Political Officer during the 1967 Emergency, Syd Goldsmith had access to everything the CIA, a Chinese “Deep Throat,” and Hong Kong Government contacts would share as the colony faced Chinese Cultural Revolution-inspired threats to its very existence. He has been a diplomat, advisor to Chinese companies, concert flutist, and university professor during his 40 years in Chinese places. Syd, Hsiu-chen and their two children call Taipei home.
