Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong

Ghetto at the Center of the World is an incredible book about an incredible place. Chungking Mansions is a 17-storied building in Hong Kong that has become an international trade hub because of it’s low prices and central location, gathering at any given time about 4 thousand people in it’s guest houses, stores and restaurants. It is one of the most cosmopolitan places on Earth, the author counted no less than 129 nationalities in the three years of research for the book.One of the central concepts of the book is the one of “low-end” globalization, described thus by the author: “Low-end globalization is very different from what most readers may associate with the term globalization—it is not the activities of Coca-Cola, Nokia, Sony, McDonald’s, and other huge corporations, with their high-rise offices, batteries of lawyers, and vast advertising budgets. Instead, it is traders carrying their goods by suitcase, container, or truck across continents and borders with minimal interference from legalities and copyrights, a world run by cash. It is also individuals seeking a better life by fleeing their home countries for opportunities elsewhere, whether as temporary workers, asylum seekers, or sex workers. This is the dominant form of globalization experienced in much of the developing world today.”“It is amazing how much can be obtained in Chungking Mansions, from lodging to a haircut to halal barbecue, to whiskey of all price ranges, to sex, to computer repairs, to TV remotes, to spy cameras installed in pens and glasses, to stationery, to groceries, to laundry service, to medicines, to legal advice for asylum seekers, to spiritual sustenance for Christians and Muslims. As one well-read informant explained, “There is a self-sufficient ecosystem in Chungking Mansions.” One might never leave the building for weeks or months on end, since virtually all that one might need is in the building itself.”The book brings a fascinating ethnography about how these different nationalities and cultures manage to live side by side. Racism exists and is rampart, specially from the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese against South Asians and Africans, but grievances are largely put aside in the everyday struggle to make money. It is not a Disney-perfect relationship, but a human and imperfect one, with highs and lows.The book is very well researched and organized in chapters dedicated to the place, the people, the goods, the laws and the future. It is one of the books that really made me feel like I have traveled to this fascinating place. Highly recommended.

Chungking Mansions is an infamous building in Hong Kong. It is a labyrinth of exotica, adventure , and otherness. In many ways it is a shadowy unknown place to many who live in Hong Kong and the countless travelers it attracts yearly. What is for sure is that we want to know more about it. Specifically more about the eclectic array of people that walk and work in its corridors each day. This fine work by Gordon Mathews satiates this curiosity quite fully.Exploring the history of the building, its many personalities, the goods and businesses that pass through, and the new transformations, Gordon Mathews produces a landmark text. This work is particularly compelling because it addresses some misconceptions about Chungking Mansions, namely its safety and criminality and redresses these issues. It shows us that the building is intricately placed in what Mathews terms `low end globalization'. Millions of phones sold in this building sold by Pakistani tradesmen can be traced to the streets of Lagos. Illegal workers support their families in Calcutta by washing dishes or handing out flyers for the many restaurants in the building. Sex workers save money to start businesses back in their home countries. The most contemporary feature of the building is the rise in African traders passing through, this phenomenon is explored in detail and provides context for the transformations visible in the streets around Chungking Mansions.Another important contribution this text offers is that of acknowledging asylum seekers in Hong Kong and showing their particular struggles in the territory. Many of these asylum seekers who have fled torture or the threat of political assassination frequent Chungking Mansions and contribute to an understanding of the place as a bourgeois location. The truth being that whilst the building is populated with people from disparate parts of the world, they are often the middle class entrepreneurs of their countries, and many of the businesses in Chungking Mansions themselves can be comfortably profitable.Mathews is astute in pointing out that the fortunes and future of Chungking Mansions are tied to global caprices. Changes in visa regulations, the Olympics, and even 9/11 have changed the people and business practices that occupy Chungking Mansions. These factors reconfirm another important point that the author makes, whilst Chungking Mansions is in Hong Kong, it is not `of' Hong Kong. As such this book will tell you much about the building, much about trade with China, and much about low end globalization, it will tell you less however about Hong Kong. After all Chungking Mansions is an island of otherness in this city, a ghetto at the center of the world.

I've stayed at Chungking Mansions years ago--during my lean traveling years. I really didn't realize how much was going on at Chungking Mansions at the time. It was a good read for me because it brought back pleasant memories. For those people who are not familiar with Chungking Mansions, it will bring to light problems with immigration, economics and just what makes Hong Kong tick.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It dives in to the world of trade from a small industrial perspective. It also looks at how cultural differences are overlooked amongst residents of Chung King Mansions. This book really draws the reader in since the research took place within the last 12-15 years. I would recommend giving this book a try.

Mathews' work is the product of the best kind of obsession. His ability to put life in CKM into a broader context, to build rapport with people, to notice detail, to run a team of student researchers (some of whom I imagine are now well equipped to go on to do their own work), and to report so clearly on what is happening makes the book a pleasure to read. Ethnography's often done these days, but rarely so well. And it's combined here with a kind of awareness of global issues that is really thought provoking.The chapters on cell phone trading, the vignettes of the traders and their businesses, and how his research has affected lives inside CKM are particularly interesting.As an aside: back in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, I spent a fair bit of time living in CKM, and can say the author really caught the spirit of the place.

I guess this is someone's PhD thesis written up as a book and it is done really well.

This is a book for people who has actually been to, or are planning to pay a visit to ChungKing Mansions or those who are generally interested in micro towns. Fascinating on how a building has somehow managed to turn itself into an important trading hub for those passing through from many foreign countries, and houses so many people from different aspects of life - Chinese guesthouse workers, travellers passing through, africans trading goods, pakistanis selling mobile phones, drug dealers, asylum seekers... Baring in mind this mix of backgrounds the place doesn't really have a seedy feel one might think. When I visited the 17 storey building first hand in 2011 I didn't feel any less scared or vulnerable than walking in London. We even saw some monks who resided in ChungKing's residence because it is the cheapest accommodation around that district; a district completely surrounded in 5star hotels and designer brands. Reading this book definitely gave me a different outlook when visiting ChungKing Mansions, to me it wasn't a place crammed with criminals but an important trading hub and employment resource from fraught souls trying to earn money to send home to their families.

I grew up in my young childhood years in Chungking Mansions, in the early 1970s, so this was an interesting product and it was quite multicultral, as the book implies but a real s***hole. I was interested in the early part of the book mainly. Product arrived within delivery time, no hassles

A must-read for anybody who visited or stayed in Chungking Mansions and wants to understand the place. The author tells highly interesting stories populated by vivid characters, giving a unique insight into modern Hong Kong. Bottom line - open borders and liberal visa policies do not harm and are ultimately helpful in creating prosperity and spreading it beyond the privileged few.

Poorly written reduction of a research thesis with a handful of anecdotes anyone who has lived in HK might tell.Trade as it has continued from ancient times and in all cultures and civilisations. Nothing new and few insights sorry to say.