Grand Old Man of Hong Kong: Sir Shouson Chow by Victor Zheng and Charles W. Chow Hong Kong University Press HK$180
Chinese biographies frequently take the Latin injunction de mortuis nil nisi bonum ('of the dead, speak not ill') to embarrassing lengths. This book continues the unfortunate trend. In the process, a fascinating, multi-layered life story is rendered as dry as dust and - to continue with the hackneyed metaphors that help hold this book together - as dull as the proverbial ditchwater.
Shouson Chow formed part of what, until very recent times, was a rare species: a genuinely 'local' person. An indigenous villager from Wong Chuk Hang on Hong Kong Island, where his family had been settled for centuries, this connection meant Chow was one of the few historical public figures in the territory who really was a 'Hong Kong Chinese'; the overwhelming majority of others so labelled came from elsewhere to start with.
From a very early age Chow was a promising scholar in both Chinese and English, and was one of the first batch of students selected by the Chinese government to study in the United States. On his return to China he was appointed to a variety of official posts, most notably in Korea, before the Chinese republic was established. He then embarked on a successful business career.
The Pacific war years are largely glossed over. No surprises here; few prominent local individuals covered themselves with glory in that difficult time, and Chow was no exception. Only one local member of either the Legislative or Executive Council did not work with the Japanese in any way during their occupation of Hong Kong, and he was a local Portuguese, barrister Leo d'Almada e Castro Jnr, who decamped to Macau with his wife.
All the other members of the pre-war local elite - all of them - participated to some degree in the Japanese administration of Hong Kong. Swept under the rug wherever possible by other families, this period is mostly glossed over here.