In 1925, Sir Cecil Clementi, the British Governor of Hong Kong, wrote a rapturous ode to the colony at night, evoking the illumined streets, the ships glimmering in the harbour, the threads of light circling the Peak that looms above the city, 'ending where the roadways touch the mountain-crest'. As soon as he had written the word 'ending', however, its utter absurdity struck him:

LRB 3 July 1997 | PDF Download