New book: Hong Kong Takes Flight: Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Global Hub, 1930s – 1998

Hong Kong Takes Flight: Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Global Hub, 1930s – 1998 (Harvard UP)

by John Wong (The University of Hong Kong)

Commercial aviation took shape in Hong Kong as the city developed into a powerful economy. Rather than accepting air travel as an inevitability in the era of global mobility, John Wong argues that Hong Kong’s development into a regional and global airline hub was not preordained. By underscoring the shifting process through which this hub emerged, Hong Kong Takes Flight aims to describe globalization and global networks in the making. Viewing the globalization of the city through the prism of its airline industry, Wong examines how policymakers and businesses asserted themselves against international partners and competitors in a bid to accrue socioeconomic benefits, negotiated their interests in Hong Kong’s economic success, and articulated their expressions of modernity.

Contents

Introduction

1. Mapping Hong Kong:  The Making of a Place in an Evolving Air Space
2. Re-orienting Hong Kong:  Re-sizing and Conforming to Emerging Geopolitics after World War II
3. Branding Hong Kong:  Fashioning Cathay’s Pacific
4. Upgrading Hong Kong:  The Colony Takes Flight
5. Catapulting Hong Kong:  Economic Liberalization and Geopolitical Transformations
6. Recasting Hong Kong:  The Making of a “Hong Kong” Airline

Conclusion:  What Next for Hong Kong?