44 | Stephen Vines, Defying the Dragon: Hong Kong and the World's Largest Dictatorship

Compounding Curiosity

My guest today is Stephen Vines. Steve is a British journalist, writer, broadcaster and restaurateur, who was based in Hong Kong for over 30 years from 1987 to 2021. He is also the author of Defying the Dragon: Hong Kong and the World's Largest Dictatorship, which is today’s focus.

In Defying the Dragon and today’s conversation, Stephen documents Hong Kong’s recent struggles with the "One country, two systems" models, places it in the wider context of the CCP’s history of dictatorship, and explains Hong Kong’s values of protest and identity.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Steve Vines.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page on https://compoundingpodcast.com/ep44

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Show Notes:

[00:00:31] - [First question] - how you Steve came to Hong Kong in 1987 and why he left in 2021

[00:14:23] - Why couldn’t the CCP honour the 1 country 2 systems model?

[00:18:03] - Why did the British make the New Territories a 99 year lease and not land in perpetuity like the rest of Hong Kong? Would this whole situation be avoided or would China still find a way to get Hong Kong back?

[00:22:31] - Differences between Hong Kong and Macau

[00:28:04] - If the one country two systems model was a trial run for incorporating Taiwan back into China, why has the CCP done such a terrible job?

[00:33:48] - Thoughts on Hong Kong Identity

[00:41:53] - Anything we haven’t covered about Hong Kong today?

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Connect with Steve:

Defying the Dragon: Hong Kong and the World's Largest Dictatorship: https://amzn.to/3WgT6rz

Hong Kong: China's New Colony: https://amzn.to/3sKGNGk

Steve’s Website: https://stephenvines-author.com/about/

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