Chapter Summaries

The chapter introduced 1950s Hong Kong as a rapidly growing but turbulent city, describing its industries, police, entertainment, transport, and social customs. It left the story poised to begin amid a society shaped by wealth, migration, and competing powers.

• Hong Kong's population, land prices, foreign investment, and real estate industry rose as the city shifted from a trading port toward industrialization.
• The chapter described widespread crime, low police clearance rates, and people who took the blame for others at police stations.
• Miss Hong Kong contestants, songstresses, dance hostesses, and live-in Self-combed Maids navigated the era's entertainment and household customs.
• People relied on hometown chambers of commerce and societies for help, while newcomers could seek support from fellow townsmen.
• Factories and workers multiplied, tycoons emerged, and Big Sky Twos robbed ships around Hong Kong and Macau.
• Rickshaw pullers competed with newer transport, while young men generally sought careers in the police or societies rather than factory work.

In 1951 Hong Kong, Song Tianyao, a thirty-five-year-old businessman reborn in an eighteen-year-old’s body, applied to the Police Training School despite wanting to pursue business instead. He passed the literacy test and offered a bribe, but the interviewer rejected his application.

• Song Tianyao recalled his impoverished family’s hopes that police training would provide a steady income.
• Song Tianyao considered the dangers of police work and preferred the business opportunities of postwar Hong Kong.
• A fat uniformed sub-inspector called Song Tianyao into the registration room and asked him to read a story from the Sing Tao Daily.
• Song Tianyao read the newspaper article fluently and placed 2,000 Hong Kong dollars on the newspaper.
• The sub-inspector knocked the money to the floor and sternly rejected Song Tianyao’s application.

After failing to enter the police force, Song Tianyao left for Tsim Sha Tsui and reconsidered his ambitions, deciding that business could make money faster than police work. The chapter ended with Zhao Wenye returning to dock labor and Song Tianyao walking back toward the Jialin Road Squatter Area.

• Song Tianyao failed the police recruitment interview when the inspector rejected his bribe and barred him from applying again.
• Song Tianyao told Zhao Wenye about the rejection, and Zhao Wenye worried about the family’s lost opportunities and the borrowed money.
• Song Tianyao and Zhao Wenye rode a rickshaw to Central Pier and took the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui.
• Song Tianyao reflected that the Star Ferry earned more than a policeman could collect in bribes and decided that doing business paid better.
• Zhao Wenye went to the freight depot to resume dock labor, while Song Tianyao ate rice noodle rolls on Chung Hau Street and continued toward home.

After failing the police exam, Song Tianyao returned home to find neighbors demanding repayment of their loans, and he promised to pay them all back within three days. His mother berated him for losing the money and failing the exam, while he insisted he would handle the debt.

• Song Tianyao returned to the Squatter Area as neighbors whispered about his failed police exam.
• Zhao Meizhen argued with several neighbors who demanded repayment of the money they had lent her family.
• Song Tianyao threatened the neighbors with a cleaver and promised to repay everyone within three days.
• The neighbors left, and Zhao Meizhen dragged Song Tianyao inside and scolded him for failing the exam.
• Song Tianyao told Zhao Meizhen he had given the interviewer the money, and she demanded to know how they would repay the neighbors.

Song Tianyao’s engagement to Li Suzhen collapsed when her parents announced they would marry her to A-Quan as his concubine. Zhao Meizhen defended the match and asked Suzhen what she wanted, while Song Tianyao remained composed as Suzhen weighed her prospects.

• Zhao Meizhen took Song Tianyao’s cigarettes and urged him to find work at the docks, but he insisted he would handle his debt himself.
• Li Laoshi, Auntie Hong, and Li Suzhen visited the Song family, and Auntie Hong announced that Suzhen would marry A-Quan the following month.
• Zhao Meizhen protested that Suzhen and Song Tianyao were engaged and accused Li Laoshi’s family of breaking their agreement after taking an engagement gift.
• Auntie Hong said Song Tianyao’s failed police exam left him with only dock or factory work, and she wanted Suzhen to marry A-Quan for security.
• Zhao Meizhen asked Suzhen whether she agreed to become A-Quan’s concubine, and Suzhen noticed that Song Tianyao showed little reaction.

Song Tianyao accepted Li Suzhen’s decision to marry someone else as a concubine and left home without showing anger. After buying a Western suit, he traveled to Luk Yu Tea House, where he said he had just arrived in Hong Kong and had come to see it.

• Li Suzhen told Song Tianyao and their families that she would follow her parents’ wishes, and Song Tianyao congratulated her on her coming wedding.
• Zhao Meizhen drove Li Laoshi and his family from her home while Song Tianyao went out to meet a friend.
• Song Tianyao bought a dark blue suit, a shirt, a tie, shoes, and a leather wallet at the Flying Leap Tailor Shop, then asked the owner to donate his old clothes.
• Song Tianyao traveled by Star Ferry and rickshaw to Luk Yu Tea House, where he told the greeter that he had just arrived in Hong Kong and had come to see the teahouse.

Song Tianyao met Wu Jinliang at Luk Yu Tea House and asked him to find a job at a Chinese trading firm. He sought work connected to smuggling and dockside inspections, and left Wu Jinliang a fifty-dollar fee to arrange it.

• Wu Jinliang learned that Song Tianyao was a fellow Chao Feng townsman and offered to help him.
• Song Tianyao bought Wu Jinliang a cigarette, introduced himself, and explained that he wanted a job with a Chinese trading firm.
• Song Tianyao said he wanted the most profitable kind of trading work, and Wu Jinliang understood that he meant smuggling.
• Song Tianyao told Wu Jinliang he had worked in a dockside warehouse handling Marine Police and Commerce and Industry Department inspections.
• Song Tianyao placed fifty dollars before Wu Jinliang as a fee for finding him work.

Song Tianyao paid Wu Jinliang to arrange an introduction to the second son of the president of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce, hoping to secure a trading-firm job. After a song stirred his thoughts, he rewarded the young pipa player and left the story poised for his next move.

• Song Tianyao gave Wu Jinliang a thousand Hong Kong dollars to arrange a banquet and nightclub outing with the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce president's second son.
• Wu Jinliang booked Song Tianyao a private room at Luk Yu Tea House, drawing curious looks from the other guests.
• A young pipa player offered Song Tianyao a song, and he paid her a dollar to perform.
• The song's lyrics caught Song Tianyao's attention, and he praised them as fine lyrics.
• After sitting quietly with his thoughts, Song Tianyao placed five dollars on the table for the young songstress.

Song Tianyao learned about Chu Xiaoxin and the secretary job Wu Jinliang had arranged for him, then traveled with Wu to a floating restaurant to meet the second young master. They boarded a boat bound for Tai Pak, where the meeting was due to take place.

• A young songstress played the pipa for Song Tianyao, who recognized her technique as belonging to the Chongming School.
• Wu Jinliang returned and told Song Tianyao that Chu Xiaoxin had agreed to meet him that evening at the Taibai Seafood Restaurant.
• Wu Jinliang explained the Chu Family's business, Chu Xiaoxin's position, and the family connections keeping watch over his trading company.
• Song Tianyao agreed that the secretary job suited him, and he and Wu Jinliang left for the floating restaurants in Kowloon Tong.
• Wu Jinliang hailed a boat to Tai Pak, and Song Tianyao boarded with him.

Wu Jinliang arranged a lavish dinner aboard the Taibai Seafood Restaurant so Song Tianyao could meet Chu Xiaoxin, the owner of Likang Trading Company, about a secretary position. After Song Tianyao impressed Chu Xiaoxin with his poise, he used subtle gestures to ensure the evening’s songstresses attended to the men, leaving his first meeting with his prospective employer underway.

• Wu Jinliang and Song Tianyao boarded the Taibai Seafood Restaurant, where Wu had reserved the entire upper deck for their meeting with Chu Xiaoxin.
• Chu Xiaoxin arrived, and Wu Jinliang introduced Song Tianyao as a former Chinese manager at a Macau trading company seeking work as a secretary.
• Song Tianyao lit Chu Xiaoxin’s cigarette and explained that he was eighteen, had studied at Man Chi College, and had left school when his family fell on hard times.
• Three songstresses came upstairs, and Song Tianyao suggested that the one Chu Xiaoxin admired sit with him and peel his crab.
• Song Tianyao signaled Wu Jinliang to invite the chosen songstress over, then suggested Wu choose another to pour his wine.

Song Tianyao tried to win over Chu Xiaoxin at dinner by indulging his appetite for pleasure before advising him on how to profit from his medicine trading company. He left Chu weighing Song’s proposals to smuggle medicines or invest in a registered pharmacy and hospital.

• Song Tianyao paid for dinner and invited Wu Jinliang and Chu Xiaoxin to join him, while Wu chose a songstress to sit beside him.
• Song Tianyao sent the remaining songstress to play the pipa in the corner and described Japanese love hotels and private bathrooms to excite Chu Xiaoxin.
• Chu Xiaoxin asked Song Tianyao how he could make money from his medicines, and Song explained why Hong Kong law restricted sales to overseas markets.
• Song Tianyao proposed smuggling medicines to the Mainland and North Korea as a fast, risky route, or buying a registered pharmacy and setting up a hospital as a slower, legal investment.

Song Tianyao accepted Chu Xiaoxin’s offer of a three-month trial job and treated the dinner party to stories and generous tips. He left with Chu Xiaoxin and Wu Jinliang for the nightclub after thanking the pipa player, who accepted only half his gift.

• Chu Xiaoxin offered Song Tianyao a three-month trial job with a monthly salary of 230 dollars, and Song accepted the opportunity.
• At dinner, Song entertained Chu Xiaoxin with stories about his romantic adventures and proposed going to North Point Dance Hall Nightclub.
• Song teased Chu Xiaoxin’s songstress by offering increasingly large sums, then gave her a hundred-dollar tip on Chu Xiaoxin’s behalf.
• When Chu Xiaoxin tipped the songstress himself, Song passed the returned hundred dollars to Wu Jinliang’s companion as a tip.
• Song gave the pipa player two hundred dollars for playing through dinner, but she accepted only one hundred, and he said he would return for drinks.

Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin left the pleasure boat, and Chu offered to buy drinks at a nightclub. The chapter then recounted how Li Caifa’s Lichi Garden rose to dominate Hong Kong’s nightclub scene.

• Song Tianyao left the pipa player a generous tip without pursuing her.
• Chu Xiaoxin offered to pay for drinks and showed Song Tianyao the Ford 49 he had bought.
• Song Tianyao considered how Chu’s lavish spending could leave him short of money and create chances to earn more.
• The chapter described how the Canton Restaurant and the Paramount once led Hong Kong’s nightlife.
• Li Caifa opened Lichi Garden, used a dance-hostess strike to challenge the Paramount, and later expanded the club into Hong Kong’s leading entertainment venue.

Song Tianyao, Chu Xiaoxin, and Wu Jinliang arrived at Lichi Garden, where Chu Xiaoxin learned that other young masters were backstage with Judy before her performance. Song Tianyao calmed Chu Xiaoxin and tipped a waiter, and the group entered the nightclub.

• Song Tianyao, Chu Xiaoxin, and Wu Jinliang reached Lichi Garden after being delayed by traffic on Seven Sisters Road.
• A waiter told Chu Xiaoxin that Judy would perform at ten and that Young Master Kai, Young Master Rong, and others were backstage with her.
• Chu Xiaoxin scolded the waiter, while Song Tianyao gave him ten dollars and explained that he was not Chu Xiaoxin's family servant.
• Chu Xiaoxin entered Lichi Garden's lobby with Song Tianyao and Wu Jinliang.

Chu Xiaoxin sent ten baskets of roses to singer Gu Mei at Lichi Garden, provoking Young Master An, who led Gu Mei’s Young Masters’ Club. After Chu Xiaoxin explained that he only meant to support her singing, Young Master An accepted his explanation and invited him and his companions to drink.

• Manager Jin welcomed Chu Xiaoxin, Song Tianyao, and Wu Jinliang to the nightclub and introduced himself to Song Tianyao.
• Chu Xiaoxin ordered ten baskets of roses sent to Gu Mei and waited by the entrance as they were delivered.
• Young Master An angrily challenged the customers, then confronted Chu Xiaoxin when he learned the roses were from him.
• Chu Xiaoxin said he had sent the roses to support Gu Mei and was not competing with Young Master An for her.
• Young Master An accepted Chu Xiaoxin’s explanation, invited him and his companions to his table, and ordered champagne and beer.

Song Tianyao stepped in to rescue Chen Judy from jeering customers by offering two thousand Hong Kong dollars on Chu Xiaoxin’s behalf. A drunken plainclothes policeman accepted the challenge and approached, leaving Chu Xiaoxin facing a potential loss of face.

• Gu Mei toasted Chu Xiaoxin after finishing her song, while Song Tianyao learned that Chu’s flower baskets had earned her a substantial tip.
• Chen Judy spotted Chu Xiaoxin and called his name before she began singing, prompting customers to jeer at her.
• Song Tianyao persuaded Chu Xiaoxin not to intervene personally, then offered two thousand dollars to anyone willing to answer for insulting Chen Judy.
• A drunken plainclothes policeman revealed his gun holster and came forward to claim the money, making Chu Xiaoxin turn toward him with a grim expression.

Chu Xiaoxin ordered Song Tianyao to attack a drunken policeman, triggering a standoff between the police and Chao Yong Yi. The police faced a surge of gang members as the chapter ended.

• Chu Xiaoxin demanded that Chao Yong Yi's leaders throw out the policeman and break his legs, but Chan Ah-sap warned him against assaulting a cop.
• Chu Xiaoxin challenged Song Tianyao to hit the policeman with a beer bottle, and Song struck him on the head.
• Chan Ah-sap and the other gang leaders restrained the policeman as his armed colleagues rushed over and threatened them.
• Chan Ah-sap took the policeman's pistol and threatened the officers, while one of his men went to summon reinforcements.
• Dozens of armed gang members stormed into the nightclub as the bloodied policeman fled back inside.

Song Tianyao urged Chu Xiaoxin to make the brawl look like a personal quarrel with Cheung Wing-kam’s godson, keeping the conflict from implicating Chao Yong Yi. Chu Xiaoxin attacked the policeman again, and Chan Ah-sap’s men shielded him as the confrontation escalated.

• Manager Kam stepped between Chan Ah-sap and the policemen, and Chan Ah-sap handed over his pistol and backed down.
• The injured policeman threatened the group and revealed that Cheung Wing-kam, the Kowloon District Chinese inspector, was his godfather.
• Song Tianyao warned Chu Xiaoxin that Cheung Wing-kam could target Chao Yong Yi and advised him to frame the fight as jealousy over a singer.
• Chu Xiaoxin asked Song Tianyao what to do, and Song told him to attack the policeman again to establish the personal quarrel.
• Chu Xiaoxin smashed a beer bottle against the policeman’s head and punched him, while Chan Ah-sap and Chao Yong Yi’s men rushed in to protect him.

After Chu Xiaoxin’s fight with Cheung Wing-kam’s godson brought both sides to a stalemate, Song Tianyao arranged to seek help from a Chiu Chow detective. He left Lichi Garden for Yau Ma Tei Police Station while Chu Xiaoxin stayed behind to deal with the police and Li Caifa.

• Manager Kam asked both sides to hold their peace until Li Caifa arrived, hoping to use the dispute to build ties with Cheung Wing-kam.
• Song Tianyao asked Chu Xiaoxin whether he knew any Chiu Chow officers in the police, and Chu Xiaoxin named detective Yan Hung.
• Song Tianyao decided Chu Yaozong should not intervene yet and advised Chu Xiaoxin to treat Li Caifa politely while standing firm with the police.
• Chu Xiaoxin ordered Chan Ah-sap to send Ah Ju and Ah Kun to protect Song Tianyao.
• Song Tianyao left Lichi Garden in Chu Xiaoxin’s Ford and asked the driver to take him to Yau Ma Tei Police Station.

Song Tianyao went to Yau Ma Tei Police Station with two Chao Yong Yi Double Red Poles, Rotten-Life Ju and Fish Stall Kun, guarding him. He reached the station and went upstairs to find detective Yan Hung, while the two enforcers waited outside with the money he gave them.

• Song Tianyao learned that Rotten-Life Ju and Fish Stall Kun were Double Red Poles responsible for guarding Chao Yong Yi docks.
• Song Tianyao arrived at Yau Ma Tei Police Station after ten at night and saw the disorderly activity outside.
• Song Tianyao offered a cigarette to the constable on duty and asked for Yan Hung from the detective squad.
• The constable directed Song Tianyao to the second-floor interrogation room and warned Rotten-Life Ju to put away his daggers.
• Song Tianyao gave Rotten-Life Ju and Fish Stall Kun five hundred Hong Kong dollars each to thank them for accompanying him.